The Figgs “slow charm” Pete Donnelly “When You Come Home”

(Good Land) The Figgs are a great band because they came out the box as such solid power poppers, but were still able to find garage rock and punk edges that many skinny tie-ers miss. Establishing themselves as a hardworking fave band in the early 90s, they were surprisingly sucked up by a major label, but came out stronger and more determined when they were unsurprisingly spit out by Capitol, and I have been excited by their steady flow of new material over the last coupla decades. That said, if you asked me what album to reissue by the Figgs this decade old dalliance might not be my first pick, as it has moments of uncharacteristic ballad-ish mellow that do not fit into my ideal Figgs mind-picture. But there are some hefty hooks here, and if you never heard this before you wont be able to tell when it came out – totally timeless! In other Figg feature stories, founding Figg-ment Pete Donnelly (also currently one of the Q's in the Terry Adams-meets-Scott Ligon version of NRBQ) has released a delightfully slick, garage rock-free power-popped singer-songwriter record that is a treat. Side two is a one two knockout, with  a rural-ish Replacements sounding “The Only One” followed up by the shuffle soul of “Can’t Talk at All,” and there’s even a tribute to Tom Ardolino! Not the Figgiest record, but fabulaously Figg-tastic, nonetheless.