|
Two essential documents of Boston's underground compiled on one CD. First, an incredible collection of tapes recently discovered in Peter Greenberg's garage, featuring radio station recordings from 1976. A great example of Boston rock & roll that sees the light of day after 35 years! As if that wasn't enough, a furious live set by Lyres at a tiny Italian restaurant that became the home of Boston's underground punk and rock & roll movement. The 1970s garage punk band from Boston, DMZ, had dissolved in a 1978 train wreck. Jeff "Mono Mann" Conolly, DMZ's inspired singer and songwriter, decided to take a Vox organ-driven direction next in his Lyres. Lyres evolved into an amorphous group of players moving in and out of the band over the years with certain mainstays like Paul Murphy and Ricky Coraccio, DMZ's drummer and bass player respectively, hanging in longer than most. Ricky "Little Man" Carmel was the original guitarist for Lyres and was with Conolly, Murphy and Coraccio when they recorded the classic 1979 45 Don't Give It Up Now/How Do You Know? By the time Peter Greenberg, DMZ's lead guitarist, returned to Boston from Cincinnati in the summer of 1980 to join Lyres, the original line-up had also dissolved and Conolly was filling in players on an ad hoc basis. The next iteration of Lyres had some staying power and included, along with Conolly and Greenberg, Michael Lewis, DMZ's original bass player, and Howie Ferguson, who had been the drummer for the Real Kids. This band recorded Lyres' first two releases for Ace of Hearts Records, the EP AHS1005 and the 45 Help You Ann/I Really Want You Right Now. This batch of Lyres collapsed at the end of 1981. Conolly re-recruited Murphy and Phil Lenker (ex-21-645) and kept Greenberg for the 1982 Lyres after Mike Lewis split. However, for the recording at hand, Live At Cantone, Boston 1982, Coraccio got "the call" from Conolly to fill in the night of the show. From a historical perspective, this night at Cantone's is reported to be the only night where Conolly, Murphy, Coraccio, and Greenberg -- four-fifths of DMZ -- played together as Lyres -- except for a much later Spanish tour in 2009. Cantones was an Italian restaurant in Boston's financial district by day. By night, the suits were gone and left those cold and empty streets to the kids. This particular show is an energetic and raucous representation of the many, many nights Lyres cranked it out at Cantones. It was commonplace for the night to end at 2:30am with brawls that spilled out through broken windows into the street.
|
|