Gotham Garage - Various Artists
(Enoch)

www.enochrecords.com

For the past year or so, you may have heard or read people talking about a new interest a Garage Rock. Of course, these people are the same folk who, in 1991, referred to Nirvana as a new group. In other words, not new at all, just not yet picked up by Rolling Stone or Spin. For whenever Garage Rock truly began (the whole debate as to what qualifies as the beginning of Garage Rock could take forever, and I don't have that long, and hopefully neither do you), it has continued to exist ever since, as there couldn't have possibly ever been a year, or even a month, in the last 40 years or so that didn't have scores of amateur teenage combos with varying levels of musical aptitude trying to bash out a reasonable tune on discount-sale guitars and cheapo amps, making up in power and determinacy what they lacked in musical smarts or polish. Why? Because there was always a place for it. Sometimes, like in the mid to late 1970s when the Sex Pistols and Ramones were making national waves, it was because raw no-frills guitar rock was in fashion. Other times, like earlier in the same decade when James Taylor and Elton John reigned the pop charts, it was because it wasn't!

And through it all, one place you could always find such music was New York City. And that's why when Jay Michaelson, leader and guitarist/vocalist for New York's garage combo The Swains, decided to put together a compilation CD of what the city currently has to offer as far as Garage, he had no shortage of groups to choose from. Gotham Garage, recently released on his label Enoch Records, is the result, and the proof that The Big Apple still, as always, offers a smorgasbord of Nuggets-fueled fun and fury.

And just as the Nuggets box set exemplified how diverse the music categorized as Garage can be (The tough-sounding Monks don't sound anything like the friendly Gants, but we all seem to agree both bands should be filed under Garage), such diversity is equally evident on Gotham Garage. Some bands are content just finding a cool groove and riding it for the duration of the track, lyrics and melody being an afterthought. Others demonstrate concentrated songwriting effort. Some tackle the spirit of 1960s Garage. Others seem more interested in late 1970s punk or power pop. Some go for speed. Others for distance.

And just about all tracks succeed. Of the seventeen tracks featured, not one is worthless.

My three favorites: "Trust Fund," by Charm School, charms indeed. This hard-rocking song about the joys of life outside the rat race has a catchy melody, good female vocals, and brings to mind the 1980s underground sounds. Equally enjoyable is "All Right" by The Demands, from New Jersey. Written and sung by leader Jahna Rain (one of the best vocalists on the collection), "All Right," is a very enjoyable ride, a solidly constructed pop song about getting over a breakup. And "Bridge & Tunnel" by The Fever, with a pounding beat from start to finish and a refrain that truly sticks, was the first song on the disc I gave an instant replay to.

Other delights include the Joan Jett-ish "Cryin' In The Night" from Boston's Downbeat 5, written and sung by their fronter Jen Rassler. I enjoyed the song on its own merits, but the nod to The Rolling Stones' "Rocks Off" at the start certainly grabbed my attention. Another Bostonian combo, Muck And The Mires, strut their Kinkish stuff admirably on "Doreen," a full meal of Britbeat-like guitars, danceable beat, and call and response vocals, all to the beat of a cowbell. "Don't Wanchoo No More" from The Recruders took me by surprise. At first, I heard a gruff lead vocal and a Sonics-like chord vamp, and that alone would have made for a cool Garage track. But I didn't expect the splendid backing vocals and harmonies that entered shortly after, nor did I expect the adventurous twist and turns the chords took. Nicely done.

"Here's To You" by The Drossells is pleasant Power Pop, and it pretty much the only real love song on the disc...There doesn't seem to be a lot of harmonious relationships in the world of Garage, as other tracks demonstrate: Thee Minks' contribution, "I Lie To Boys," is fun to listen to (just as their whole set was at the CBGB's *Gotham Garage* release party back in June), even if the common garage song lyrical topic of singer bragging about how bad he/she can be is a little cliché. The singer of the all female trio never does tell why she lies to boys. I'd ask, but I guess wouldn't get an honest answer. Perhaps she's the one The Swains are singing about on their song that precedes Thee Minks, "You Lied."

Gotham Garage serves many useful purposes. It demonstrates Garage is alive and well. It serves as a sneak-peek to stompers nationwide of what's happening in New York at the moment. It's a carrying case of the calling cards of seventeen decent bands. And for me, it not only turned me on to some bands I didn't know about and now want to see, but it also presented me with some recordings by the ones I have seen, permitting them to now reverberate across my room or office, so I can visit New York City without paying the Long Island Railroad first.

Nice work, Jay Michaelson. A Volume Two, please!

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