 Every
nasty habit I've had to suppress for the sake of love, money, or the law
comes screaming into my forebrain and drips like toxic sweat off of my
brow whenever this disc blares out of my speakers. No wonder There
imploded in a cloud of bad trouble and imported smoke and flashing blue
lights- they played music that just begged the inner outlaw to go
ridin'. You remember There, right? 'Course you do, your girlfriend
still has their logo tattooed on her ass. They were Boston's retro-fitted
boogie rock kingpins, the Foghat of Lower Allston, the Bachman
fuckin' Turner Overdrive of Middlesex County, and they were the
sole torch carriers for the kind of rampant, shameless rock and roll
decadence not seen around these parts since "Slow Ride" was
number 8 on WCOZ's top ten charts. Who knows if they'll ever slip
back into the tailored, cucumber-stuffed leather trousers and show these
mopey lunchbox kids what it's like to truly destroy a stage and everything
around it, but just in case you never get your chance to be there for
There first hand, "We Are..." is about as close as you
can get without a contact high or a bruised thigh. Recorded over many
sweaty nights at the once-prominent Linwood Grille, back in the
halcyon days when it was still Super Rock central, "We Are" is deftly
edited to sound like one mammoth, all night/all right dynamite monster
boogie show. Complete with roaring crowd noise that was either ripped from
an old Sabbath record or a Red Sox game (no matter how much they
love you, Boston crowds are still content to just stare and half-smile you
to death), it's a double gatefold live gonzo-fest shrunk down to 5 inches
of manly indulgence, and it's pure caveman genius. All the perennial crowd
faves are on deck- the crunching, UFO meets Guns N' Roses
boogie metal overdose of "Motorchild", the arena ready
southern rock groove of "Can You Picture That", the slinky
power-Nuge riffola of "My Head" and plenty more
beloved fist shakers. It's also got a few snaky covers- Sabbath and
Purple, natch- and lots of chest thumping onstage banter. There
they are, and There they will always be, brothers and sisters.
During the last intro of the set, right before they blaze into "Picture
That", There promises to "See you all again real soon, at the
Redneck Fest." You know what? One way or the other, I bet you will. Bring
your own cucumber. |