- Label: 'Think Like A Key Music'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
- Release Date: '15.5.26.'- Catalogue No: 'TLAK1236'
Our Rating:
Live At The Paradise Ballroom in Boston and recorded as part of WBCN's legendary live concert series on August 27th, 1979. Catching The Shirts at the height of their powers. Plus two bonus songs from the Paradiso in Amsterdam. The Shirts were Annie Golden, Arthur Lamonica, Robert Racioppo, John Piccolo, John Criscione and Ronnie Ardito.
The album opens with a short Intro with one of WBCN's DJ's called Carter welcoming them onstage so It Can Start With A Handshake a perfect way for them to introduce themselves, as super tight new wave rockers straight outta CBGB's, building a reputation for tight sets worthy of joining a lineage from Lou Reed and Patti Smith on down who have recorded live shows for WBCN Boston's coolest radio station.
They thank the audience for coming out on a Monday night before going into Love Is A Fiction a delightful slice of Soda Shop new wave pop, Annie is over Love and is just about having a good time while thanking Walter for the house sound. Tell Me Your Plans tell me how I fit into your life, is it worth it, or should they just spread their wings and fly off, like they want to go on the lam hitting the road out of town like any ambitious rock band should.
One Last Chance is all you'll ever get, before you're out the door once more, she tells you all the way she'll ghost you, she'd even doxx you given One Last Chance if that had been a thing in the late 70's, just do what she tells you to and you'll be good, I can't believe the audience aren't chanting along to the chorus.
Empty Ever After clearly has a Blondie influence but also adds madrigal style guitars, they sing to the rafters. Teenage Crutch has all the nervous energy suggested, all the uncertainty of amphetamine rush of that Teenage Crutch they crave, while still of an age for it to be an acceptable desire.
I Feel So Nervous is a keyboard led song of the nervous energy you feel when your eyes lock onto the one you really want, they are locked onto the dance of desire like a new wave Romeo and Juliet.
Can't Cry Anymore she's had enough and has moved on, this romps along with Annie letting us know all the ways she's been let down by you and has had enough of it.
I Wanna Be A Rocker and go and sell your soul to get a Marshall stack, this is a rave up power pop punk anthem that should get an audience punching the air in delight. Laugh And Walk Away has a Sparks feel to it, this is urgent and makes clear that the easiest way to move on is to just laugh and Walk Away avoiding the worst fights. They Say The Sun Shines is a play on the old The Sun Doesn't Shine anymore but transfused with catchy new wave pop rock energy, guitars exploring and expressing the way they feel.
Outside The Cathedral Door close to where Procul Harum haunt the graveyard, this slow song of loves desolation, the record collection has been split in two, they dream of playing the great cathedral, so I guess they still hadn't played the Paradiso in Amsterdam yet, that is a sonic cathedral.
They thank WBCN and The Paradise over the intro to Poe that has a cool jammed feel, they coalesce and the beat builds and builds to when the fist pumping should begin, along with the claims of them wanting you to let them live and rock like the maniacs they are, building the set to a climax, making sure everyone goes nuts at the end of it.
It's time for a new song Wrong Wrong Right a phrase that now seems to be Wrong Wrong Wrong most of the time, but they pull the levers and hear the whispers, with all the yelps and woah's for all the mystery they can bring to Boston on a Monday night complete with a false ending, a total rave up. Lonely Android has that Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy influence and the song feel's episodic with lots of stops and starts while barrelling along at hypersonic speeds.
Wrong Wrong Right Don't Get Me Wrong is speedy argument waiting to happen, over the heavy drum sound and splintered guitars Annie screams and wails at everything that's gone wrong before they say goodnight.
I've Had It is the first of two bonus songs recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam and is a perfect slice of pop rock fun with some interesting keyboard and guitar bits, while they just don't know what they have to get through to you, the vocalists switch with Annie on backing vocals.
The album closes with Laura In The Lion's Den with the entire Paradiso clapping along and going nuts on one of The Shirts best known songs, another tale of heartbreak and how Laura managed to escape from the clutches in the Lion's Den while the guitars detail the action.
Find out more at https://www.thinklikeakey.com/format/1929471-live-at-paradise-1979 https://the-shirts.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-paradise-1979
