Adams' newer rhythm and blues quartet continues to establish itself as the kind of perfectly imperfect joyful noise making machine that T.A. has been tinkering with for the last hundred or so years. It is rare for someone as jaded and over-rocked as I to want to spin a disc over and over, but putting this one on repeat really makes me feel happy and goofy, which are more than simply my two favorite Disney character Special Olympians. Of particular interest to Roctober magazine readers is a nod to our mascot character Punk'nhead. Of course, Adams is musically harrassing and threatening our beloved gourd-domed teen, but coupled with the amazing compilation of Chris Ligon's greatest hits that Clang released last year, which featured Ligon and his lil' brother Scott (a proud TAR&RQ member) tipping their collective hat to Roctober's Alfred E. for the zine set, as far as we're concerned this is the all Punk'nhead all the time label. Speaking of the elder Ligon, some of his obtuse sensibilities seemd to have rubbed off on the already oddly-swewed Adams, as his soon-to-be-smash song "Imaginary Radio" (where Sun Ra is #1, the Beatles make new songs, and program directors are decent human beings) is profoundly Ligon-esque. And speaking of imaginary radio, the disc ends with an excellent cover of Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm," and on my imaginary radio station that tune is always followed up by James Brown's "Down and Out in New York City" in a segment I call "Rock & Roll Debate Club," with today's debate topic being "Resolved: Professional shoeshining provides positive and happy experiences for the worker."
I saw TARRQ at Woods House in St Louis. It's a place in the suburbs whose occupants, the Woods, throw house parties on a regular basis. It was one of the most smile-inducing, joy filled musical treats I've ever heard/seen.
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