November 13, 2000

BOSTON HOUSE OF BLUES

There was a time and place for this. That time has passed. That place is gone...

Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of the Tom Tom Club must have had a rough time of it in the '80s. It's hard to be overshadowed, to play the loopy kid-sister to a smarter Talking Heads and the under-developed, ditz-dancing friend to a sexier, slinkier Blondie. But, you would think that with some distance, maturity, a new album, and a pocketful of sampling royalties, they would be ready to grow into their own. Not so. It's not just an awkward phase.

As the eight-is-enough backing band pick up their limp, synth-happy groove as if the '90s never happened, it's clear that while the Tom Tom Clubbers are certainly older, they haven't filled out much, they're not any smarter, and what once made them fresh, new wave, and punk now makes them stale.

Even the new stuff feels rewarmed. The new school shout-outs to the Beat Junkies, ("make it funky") and The Fugees ("on the scene like a Fellini dream") on the 'Genius Of Love' retread 'Who Feelin It' come complete with a gloriously un-hip "Oops! Yo' mama!" in the midst of the one-hit wonder itself, the song that Frantz explains, "needs no introduction," and overwhelmed by its now-apparent plinky-ness, we are struck by the frightening revelation that it may actually be better on the Mariah Carey track.

Not even guest reggae toaster Mystic Bowie's mad bouncing, the ratio of drums over people on stage, or vocalist Victoria Clamp's groovy dancing are distracting enough to hide daft lines like "Get fresh with attitude/From your longitude to your latitude!" or "Give it up for the turntables/We be musical vegetables!" The whole thing is as about as embarrassing as the Queen Mum reading a Wu-Tang lyric sheet. There is nothing funny or funky about the insipid, Monica Lewinsky inspired 'She's Dangerous'. This isn't a groove, it's a rut. There was a time and place for this. That time has passed. That place is gone.
Ben Wolford