Anthology in Bloomington, MN

It's impossible to believe that
punk
-era music this
rock
, this raw, this heartfelt and this good has been buried for near twenty years. Like a
new wave
Jonathan Richman
,
Revelons
leader
Gregory Lee Pickard
gets to the soul of the teenage
song in structure and vocal tone, although his abstract lyrics points to something much artier.
"97 Tears"
sets the template for
the Cars
while
"My Town"
shows what could have happened if a young
Edge
played guitar for
Joy Division
. Of course, there's little need for imaginary players when
Fred Perry
of
Television
and
Jay Dee Dougherty
or
Patti Smith Group
are your backing band. This disc compiles a grab bag of known cuts, studio session and live recordings, although the primal urgency of even the band's best quality recordings means that the difference between session and stage is minimal. But even if these songs existed only on a cracked and melted 78 RPM record, they would still be worth your attention. ~ Joshua Glazer