Boston, Mass

It's cleaning day in the Child Family Home (for Wayward, er, Musicians), and as is often the case my choice of music that has "widespread family appeal" has been narrowed down to a VERY small selection of tunes. Hmm. Tracy thinks the Clash is to obnoxious (that's the point, innit!?!?!?)... The Rush selection is barely tolerated, and the kids are clamouring for their usual fare: The "Cars" soundtrack and "Kung Fu Fighting," which I enjoy, but not after a day full of it (yesterday's drive into and out of Denver).

So lets make the best of the situation, shall we?

Todays selection is one of my favorite homages to the glory and guts of Rock n Roll, to my mind a MASTERPIECE of rock songcraft, hooks, and guitar drive, my beloved Del Fuego's major label debut "Boston, Mass." For a brief period in my life they were The SHIT. Just deep dirty (yet oddly clean of attitude and subject ala Sprinsteen) rock, they actually were the center of my favorite TV commercial EVER, the Lite Beer commercial which featured their music and a voiceover from their leader Dan Zanes proclaiming that they were just folk troubadors at heart: "Rock n Roll is just folk music, 'cuz it's music fer folks." Poetry and truth, lemme tell you.

This is rock music: Loud guitars, pounding drums, danceable grooves... The Del Fuegos wrote a 10-song love letter to Boston and Rock n Roll and it stirs me up to this day. AND, as an added bonus, it's one of the few groups Tracy and I can fall back on as a favorable listen, and I'd argue that it is our best choice; the Indigo Girls can get too righteous and political, the Fray can get too mellow and weepy, and Coldplay veers a little too close to "wierd" at times for Tracy's likeing. The Fuegos, though... Well, they're just fun. The songs don't demand anything, politically or cranially. But they are very persuasive: Sing along... Dance... Turn it up... Louder...

Great stuff.

Cheers!

Chris