not that anybody was missing me, but sorry for the month of silence. i’d like to say that i was so pleased by national political events that i didn’t feel the need to rant, but the reality is that there just isn’t enough time to do everything. so here’s a post i started back around thanksgiving… and finished today. and a pledge to be a bit more up-to-date in 2007.
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it sure is nice to know that literate pop/rock can still draw a decent crowd on a tuesday night. and the tuesday before thanksgiving, even. the pernice brothers rolled through town and played a magnificent set of tunes for an appreciative—one might even say reverent—audience. drawing heavily from the most recent release and sampling the previous four full-length albums, joe pernice led his 5-piece band capably, if not particularly thrillingly. but rock and roll thrills take a backseat to songwriting skills in pernice’s world and, for him, it works wonderfully.
the only down moments in the evening turned out to be what might have looked like the highlights if you were perusing a setlist after the show. the first was a cover of the zombies’ song “the butcher’s tale,” which felt deliberately obscure and sounded out of place in the context of pernice’s own accessible melodies.
the second was a well-intended, but ultimately tedious run-through of the jonathan richman pseudo-classic “pablo picasso,” with special guests joe harvard (apparently he’s not only boston-area-working-class-rock-royalty, but also pernice’s cousin, which explains the soundman gig) and, get ready for it—jonathan richman. sounds dreamy, but felt more nightmare-y around the 15th minute and the richman guitar solo.
at the risk of sounding like an ungrateful child, let me put my “there must be a pony in here somewhere” persona back on and say thank god there is a viable way for artists like joe pernice to at least make some sort of a living making music. from the scud mountain boys to the latest pernice brothers release “live a little,” joe has produced a consistently excellent stream of melancholy, cerebral pop. if you don’t believe me, listen to “somerville” below. and then, consider buying something from joe.
