Willie Loco/Boom Booms, Steve Cataldo, Unnatural Axe

LIVE AT THE MIDDLE EAST, Saturday Night, February 19, 2005
by joe viglione

The power of the new wave unfurled in all its glory as members of the original Boston scene gathered at the place where all the action is, Central Square's Middle East. Unnatural Axe played a short but explosive set of their greatest hits, and for someone who has watched the Axe over the decades - moving in on three decades now - it was more than impressive to see them deliver one of their best sets ever. Maybe it's automatic at this point, but this set had the energy, enthusiasm and refinement many of the groups playing upstairs at the same venue are searching for. They should have put their instruments down and ventured to the cellar - class was in session. The tough thing for this writer through it all was the 3 Thousand Dollar camera I was using refused to record! It is a major shame as I was getting some great shots in the viewfinder. Luckily Artie Freedman, Boston's irrepressible documentarian, had his tripod up and running - but it would have been a marvelous 2 camera shoot.

Steve Cataldo had Richie Bartlett from The Fools in this incarnation of The Nervous Eaters. They were great, of course, but not the original grunge sound of the band that held court down The Rat. It was Steve playing his familiar music with a cultivated intensity. Maybe somewhere between the old live show and the Elektra album - which is a nice combo as the Elektra disc never got the respect it deserved - because it was too polished. "Last Chance" and
"Loretta" were highlights, and this was the perfect bridge between The Axe and the Godfather of Boston Rock & Roll (imagine a nice Don Michael Corleone!), Willie Loco Alexander and his original Boom Boom Band. Having watched El Loco onstage since he and The Mezz opened for TELEVISION in 1975, having listened in on a practice of the old Wild Honey band when Billy Cole was fronting the eventual Boom Booms - Sev Grossman, Billy Loosigian and David McLean, I can assure you these fellows were outrageously good. "Som Som Somerville" is a tremendously hypnotic hook - and it was performed a few years back at the same venue by a band called SLIDE at a tribute to Willie, but Loco's voice put the tune in its proper setting, the band not skipping a beat from when they packed the Paradise and helped pave the way - opening the floodgates for not hundreds but thousands of local acts who probably never even heard of them. As with The Axe the set by The Boom Booms was masterful - the volume much too loud for this critic who went to the very back of the room. And there is the paradox of Saturday, February 19, 2005. What were we doing here? Haven't we grown up yet. I walked up to one local rock legend who is scheduled to be on my tv show. He said "Can I help you?" I just looked at him. He stared back, then said "Oh, Joe! I got your email today." He shouldn't
feel badly - all our looks have altered, and this depressed me no end. I had to ask Mach Bell who an old colleague of ours was! And Frank Rowe of The Classic Ruins looked at me, I looked at him, we needed about 10 seconds to recognize each other. Like The Oracle as played by Mary Alice in THE MATRIX III saying she doesn't recognize herself anymore (having replaced her
Broadway friend the great Gloria Foster, the script blamed the powerful Merovingian for altering the equally powerful computer program's "looks"). So here we were, all back together again. Like some kind of Class Reunion for the "in with the outs" who made up the Boston Scene thirty years ago (and those like Brett Milano who came in the "second wave", or chapter, of the community). Willie Loco took the stage like a veteran minister and believe me when I tell you this, he had the energy of a twenty year old. It was tough for me to deal with the volume, I'm thinking "How on earth are these guys - Frank Dehler, Tommy White, Richie Parsons, Steve Cataldo, Sev, Billy, David and Willie - how are they able to get up there and do it all these years later? Have they found a rock & roll viagra?

Remember the culture shock at the Paradise when a rock & roll show would be invaded by the
Euro people from the next room? It was two crowds who couldn't figure out what each other was into. At least at the Middle East you have a young twenty-something contingent who have a comprehension of the magic being generated underneath their "happening" scene upstairs.
So when a straggler takes the flight of steps down and into the dungeon, they have a chance to be splashed with something very real - a music that has survived in a way it is safe to say the myriad collection of new songwriters in the street level rooms of The Middle East won't ever know in the year 2035. How can they? Architects of the Boston scene like Willie Alexander are once in a lifetime heroes. It is also safe to say Willie Loco will probably still be outplaying those thirty years his junior, his musical grandchildren, when that day rolls around.



http://www.971zht.com/iplaylist/album/554504/

Loco Live 1976Willie Alexander & The Boom Boom Band
Released 2001 on Captain Trip
Available on: CD Willie "Loco" AlexanderMain Performer

Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band signed a three-album deal with producer Craig Leon and MCA records back in the '70s, but the group imploded after tracking just two albums which failed to capture their magic. Decades later, the Tokyo-based Captain Trip records has seen fit to issue this single CD, which includes portions of two live shows and a bonus 45 rpm. It achieves what the major-label releases did not. The CD begins with material engineered by Jesse Henderson at Boston's notorious nightspot the Rat on August 27, 1976, exactly one month before the recordings this band made for the Live at the Rat album (September 27, 28, and 29 with Jesse Henderson as well). "Pup Tune," "At the Rat," and "Kerouac" sound much clearer on this CD, a better mix than what was released on the legendary double LP from the nightclub, and three more songs to boot. The performances are excellent. Eight additional titles were recorded in May of 1976 at the Club in Cambridge by Erik Lindgren of the band Moving Parts. Dramatically different than the Rat recordings, this earlier tape is muddier -- bootleg quality, but that doesn't stop the power from seeping through. These are historic concert tapes of the band performing "For Old Time's Sake" (aka "Cause I'm Taking You to Bed"), "Garbage Man," and a rare live version of "Gin," the single that landed Willie Alexander his post-MCA deal with New Rose/RCA in Europe. The woman in the audience talking at the prelude of "Garbage Man" is totally annoying, and it is a sin marring what is a fine performance. This is a slow, very nasty version of the sexual escapade that is "Garbage Man" -- as close to the sound of Alexander's former group, the Velvet Underground, as the Boom Boom Band cared to get. This song, along with "Dirty Eddie," caused much controversy in the "Loco" camp. Reportedly, the band became afraid of letting Alexander be Alexander on MCA, but the whole reason they got signed was because of his ability to write great ock & roll with no inhibitions. Hearing this CD will thrill as well as infuriate the devoted followers of Willie Loco because it preserves the power of his performance, and proves that producer Craig Leon and the members of the Boom Boom Band should've just let loose in the studio and allowed the artist the opportunity to do what he does best. The demos that secured the deal with MCA were brilliant, and there was no need to re-record them except in a live setting. "Mass. Ave." is an all-out rocker on this CD, the May performance one of the Boom Boom Band's earlier shows boasting a raw energy and enthusiasm resulting in total artistic expression. "Rock 'n' Roll Lick #76," a masterpiece of song construction, is sublime and, along with "Rhythm a Baby," reveal how cohesive and extraordinary this ensemble was. People say that Barry & the Remains were a live phenomenon which studio recordings failed to capture. That could be said of the Boom Boom Band as well. However, this disc, and the long out-of-print Sperm Bank Babies live radio broadcast from 1976, are able to set the record straight. This is primal Willie "Loco" Alexander with his Boom Boom Band before the politics and the recording industry did a number on them. What it lacks in production is more than made up for with the spirit and energy that sizzle in these CD grooves. The two bonus tracks at the end were released on Somor records and are outtakes from the MCA sessions recorded by Craig Leon. "Dirty Eddie" was perhaps the finest single tune produced for MCA and was rejected for being "too dirty." The band, the label, management, and the producer attempted to "refine" Willie Alexander, and in doing so, stifled him and derailed their gravy train. "She Wanted Me (Nazi Nola)," a live eggae track recorded in the studio, is completely raunchy, and half trying, obliterates the other recordings that were released on the two MCA Boom Boom Band albums. France and Japan revere Willie Loco Alexander for the genius that he is, and this album, despite the jarring caused by the three different tape sources, is very powerful and lots of fun. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide