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Eye on the Scene

Local CD Review I

Balboa
Live Like This (plus) (Wonderdog Records/Single Sound)

For those of you who have had your head under a rock for the past 20 years or so, Balboa is the Big Kahuna of local indie rock, the founding fathers who blazed the trail for all Knoxville rock bands of any importance to follow. The group is universally revered by all longtime Knoxville scenesters, and rightly so. And it's a wonderful thing to see the entirety of Balboa's recorded legacy finally released on one CD.

The brainchild of local mad scientist guitar guru Terry Hill, Balboa also featured the guitar artistry of Hector Qirko, bassist Richard Battaglia and drummer Steve Housewright. The combination of Qirko's blues and country swing techniques with Hill's more avant garde guitar mangling created a unique mix, and the rhythm section hammered it all down into a precise and even logical sound. It made perfect sense, and still does.

Back in the day, Balboa was considered to fall somewhere under the nebulous umbrella of punk rock, a genre that wasn't nearly as stilted and regimented in the late '70s as it is now. The band's independence, idealism and freeform artistry definitely fit into the punk aesthetic, which was—at the time—about creative and political freedom.

The first wave of punk was inextricably linked with the art world (see the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Television, et. al.) and Balboa was an art-rock band that purposely steered clear of pretension. What makes the tunes on Live Like This (plus) sound so classic is that they are not bound within a time-specific context. To this day, the songs sound urgent and modern.

I could go on and on about how great this CD is and all the accompanying memories it conjures—about how the band sounds like King Crimson meets Richard Hell & the Voidoids, about how cool it was to sneak into the legendary Cumberland Avenue cesspool Bundulee's Lounge and hang out with all the other underage skinny tie new-wavers, about the legion of Knoxville rockers who took their inspiration from the band...

Hearing these great old songs brings back the innocence of a time when it seemed like things really were gonna change. That sense of optimism and "we can do whatever we want" is what transforms garage rock into high art. Balboa had all the right ingredients at the right time and it was sheer magic. Now, go buy this CD and get transformed on your own.

Local CD Review II

The Faults
The Faults (Lynn Point)

We all knew that Mic Harrison was a good songwriter, but he often took a backseat to bandmate Scott Miller when the two were in the V-roys. On that band's first CD, Just Add Ice, Harrison's "Sooner or Later" stood proudly beside Miller's "Goodnight Loser" and "Pounding Heart." By the second album, though, the difference in the Scott Miller songs and the Mic Harrison songs was starkly apparent: Miller's plaintive country-ish ballads contrasted with Harrison's pop sensibility, and that difference, in hindsight, maybe, showed the tattering seams of the band.

But none of that matters much now. Miller's got his own solo project under way, and Harrison's new band, the Faults (with Mic, Robbie Trosper on guitar, and originally featuring former V-roys rhythm section Jeff Bills and Paxton Sellers; Bills has been replaced by drummer Jason Peters, and the band is looking for a replacement for Sellers, who won't be able to tour this summer), has rebounded with a solid record, scheduled for release on April 24, that highlights Harrison's knack for disarming, upbeat rock 'n' roll.

They come out swinging, opening the new album with "Dishonest Jenny," a song that Mic wrote and performed with the V-roys. There's something familiar about what follows, too—even though it's all new material, it's still the well-crafted, energetic pop that we all expect from Harrison. "Let the Angel Lie" and "Big Show" are bouncing pop-rock with rich harmonies and sing-along choruses; "Watertown" is dirty hard rock with, honestly, the slightest imprint of Judas Priest on it; "Whispering Goodbye" swings, resembling the V-roys' "Hold on to Me." The revelation of the record is Trosper, whose full-sounding leads give the songs a biting edge.

From his stint in one of Knoxville's best-regarded bands in recent years, Harrison has a built-in credibility factor. With the help of an able band, he lives up to the expectations.

Go.

...but check the calendar for times before you do.

Thursday: The Metro Pulse Best of Knoxville Party on Market Street and Market Square, of course, which neatly dovetails with Nickel Creek and the rest of the Sundown in the City bill.

Friday: Bob Dylan and the Black Crowes with the North Mississippi Allstars at Chilhowee Park. Does Dylan really need an explanation?

Saturday: Sara Jordan and the Leftovers with Slow Blind Hill at Ijams Nature Center. Great blues in a great park. Bring a blanket.

Sunday: Mike Ill at 319 Gay Street. Ill scares me, in that dark, gothic, tortured way.

Monday: Jean Hess at Townsend Gallery. Last chance to see this wonderful show...

Tuesday: Sheila Turnage at Barnes and Noble. Turnage will be signing copies of Haunted Inns of the Southeast.

Wednesday: Rest up for Southern Culture on the Skids, Thursday night's Market Square show...

—Emma "Not Liquored Up Nor Lacquered Down—yet" Poptart
 

April 26, 2001 * Vol. 11, No. 17
© 2001 Metro Pulse