Pure Pop for Now People

On April 2nd we were treated to a wonderful “unplugged” show with the Boston based trio Buffalo Tom (featuring Newburyport’s own Tom Maginnis on drums).  Buffalo Tom was opening the new Loft space of the Portsmouth Music Hall.  The band was touring to support this year’s excellent “Skins” disk.  The acoustic setting complimented the voice of singer Bill Janovitz as he did not have to strain as much.  In this quieter setting I missed the powerful roar the band typically displays, but this show allowed me to appreciate the group’s lyrics and wonderful punk/pop melodic sensibilities all the more.  New songs such as “She’s Not Your Thing” and “The Kids Just Sleep” really shined.

Last month we finally caught up with The Smithereens, a band I have been listening to for over 30 years.  They were touring behind their great new record “2011,” their first record of new material in 12 years.  Amazingly, they sounded as fresh an energetic as if they were playing for the first time.  Classics like “Blood and Roses” and “Behind a Wall of Sleep” rocked with great muscle and authority.  The band still has 3 original members, and roared thru their show without a setlist with leader Pat DeNinzio’s calling out the songs as they went along.  The Smithereens have been biding their time recently with odd cover records (Beatles “B-Sides,” Tommy, etc) so the quality of the new CD was a surprise.  I asked Pat after the show why the delay when they obviously had so much good material and he told me that the record company did not want to release it, and only did so after the group agreed to release their “Tommy” cover disc (further evidence, if you needed it, of how fucked up the current record industry is).

On a final note, the new disk by New Jersey Pop-Meisters “Fountains of Wayne” called “Sky Full of Holes” is excellent, power pop at its best! (FOW is another band who has evaded me in concert)