The Scene

MusicDetour.com’s commentary on music, performances, and the DC metro area music scene

Last week, DC’s own The breakUps held a CD release party at The Black Cat.  Maybe that was a little odd, considering that Illness at Ease came out in 2009, but who cares?  Their soulful and rollicking fusion of Hammond-organ-punctuated R&B  and punk is straight out of the coolest clubs of four decades ago.  They can wait a while to bill a show as a CD release party if they want to.  My review of this insanely enjoyable album follows after the jump. 

As the breakUps’ strongest song live and best composition, “Everybody’s Girl” is a wise choice as the first track.  This song is in the long tradition of paeans to promiscuous young women.  If I were an A&R man, I’d be on the phone to my label executives to say, “We have the first  single!”  “Everybody’s Girl” accomplishes the goal of a leading track by bringing the listener into the album with its fun, aggressive groove.

Built around the same guitar hook, but in a different key, “Morningside Lane” makes an effective transition to the rest of the album.  Each verse drives as hard as “Everybody’s Girl,” and the pace continues into the chorus, as Tony taunts a beautiful and tragic burnout.  Then, each time through, the chorus downshifts to reveal The breakUps’ capability for depth.  However, before the listener might become concerned that the album could bog down, “Good To Lie” returns to fury.

Please do not think that The breakUps are not capable of working in other modes, with nuance and feeling.  “Baby Sez” is something The New York Dolls would have recorded if they could be earnest, with soul that is as Hitsville as it is Stax.  Like a slow song at the homecoming dance, “Baby Sez” changes up the pace while it tugs on emotions.  Returning to my A&R fantasy, I’d have this track pegged as the second single.

The whole album is a delightful disc-out-of-time.  Its tracks could be played between forty-year-old songs at an event like Amanda Otto’s monthly “Reaction” at Baltimore’s Sidebar, which the breakUps themselves have played, and fit right in.  The breakUps wear their influences on their sleeves, but still do inventive things with them.

To underscore this point, only an erudite listener would pick up on this album’s two covers, they blend so seamlessly with the original compositions.  The breakUps make The Q65’s brooding “Cry in the Night” even darker, as Carrie’s Hammond organ takes on a macabre edge.  The album’s final track is a louder, faster version of Larry & the Blue Notes’ “In and Out,” as if it had been covered by The breakUps’ heroes The Sonics.

You can purchase this CD online, but why would you want to when you can just pick one up at one of their gigs, which you need to check out anyway.