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The Deal - Goodbye September |
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06 August 2005 |
Hawks
Perfect World Radio - (Not Lame) The Deal Goodbye September - (Not Lame) We've all noticed that if you just wait it out long enough, just about anything will find its way to a CD. Take the Hawks, for instance. Two albums were released by Columbia in the early 80's and goodbye. Even further below the radar was The Deal, who managed one LP that they released independently after numerous major label stops and starts. Well, those who were fans then will rejoice in the release of these two collections of outtakes and demos. Those who weren't might find themselves scouring eBay for each band's original output. Me? Well, if you got a lead on The Deal's LP I'd love to know about it. I didn't completely by-pass the Hawks when they first appeared. I thought that there self-titled debut had a couple of solid moments, but felt that their follow-up was far too polished for my ears. The ratio's pretty much the same with Perfect World Radio . Songs like "Only Love Is Real" and "Living Inside Your Love" (great tune that almost sounds like a Plimsouls outtake thanks to its gritty vocal) have a comfortably familiar power pop vibe. Otherwise, songs like "Roxanne" and "Pretty Promises" sound a little too much like the songs you skipped over on your radio. Hey, this is decent enough music from some pretty talented individuals (four of the five were songwriters - which might account for some of the inconsistency), but the whole rarely takes off for me. And then there's The Deal. The Deal had Big Star's legacy close to their hearts and perfected their own brand of power pop built around some raw guitar, rough edges, and a good-time DIY feel that comes through like a stamp of approval. Now, I don't know what their lone legitimate release sounds like, but the tunes that make up Goodbye September come together to make up for a real gem of a power pop record. It's pretty hard to find songs like "Picture A Lady" and the sharp "Don't Go Out" anything short of irresistible. Drawing from Mark Roebuck's songwriting skill, The Deal had a more dedicated rock and roll side that finds a home on songs like "Marianne" and the ferocious "DC-10s" ("ferocious" if only for Haines Fullerton's lead guitar). Elsewhere, The Deal search for the perfect pure pop song and find it in "Cinnamon Square" and the pretty "Hopi". It's skinny-tie power pop that deserved to have a larger audience than it did. Releases like these do a huge service in charting rock and roll history as it becomes clear that nothing's written in stone. While the Hawks don't move me, The Deal indeed does and I now count them among some of their perhaps better known contemporaries. I love it when that happens.
5.5 - Hawks
7.8 - The Deal
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