*** Ted Leo/Pharmacists
TREBLE IN TROUBLE
(Ace Fu)
On his new
five-song EP, mod-rocker Ted Leo remembers that the original British mods cared
about more than just mopeds and bullseyes. "There's a man in Brooklyn who
police are messing up 'til dawn/While the man in California gives them
semi-automatic guns," he sings on "Abner Louima v. Gov. Pete Wilson," the
scathing indictment of police brutality that sets off Treble in Trouble.
It's a refreshingly clear-headed tune from the former frontman of Chisel, whose
solo debut last year was muddled by his somewhat misguided, if ambitious,
explorations of dub production techniques. Here he forgoes samples and boombox
embellishments in favor of a snappier and more straightforward guitar-driven
pop rock that's spiked by high-wire vocals and the brashly sympathetic playing
of friends from the Warmers, the Make-Up, and the Secret Stars. On "The 11th,"
Leo proves he's got more than Jam grabs up his sleeve -- "And what if
instead/We weren't so wed to the tools of our own stupification?" he yelps over
an off-time guitar riff and Amy Farina's clanging snare reports. And he closes
out the EP with a delicate reading of Thin Lizzy's "Little Girl in Bloom,"
including boy-girl harmonies just in case anyone doubts his knowledge of
rock-and-roll history.
(Ted Leo opens for J Church upstairs at the Middle East next Thursday,
November 16. Call 864-EAST.)
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