The Plimsouls – Live! Beg, Borrow and Steal
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Plimsouls – Live! Beg, Borrow and Steal (October 31, 1981 Whisky A Go Go) /Alive Records
They left behind but two albums and one ep’s worth of material in their time together, but the Plimsouls left an indelible impression. Rooted in the sounds of the Beatles, Kinks and one-hit wonder American rock, they bristled with an energy that commanded the affection and respect of punk-era peers in Los Angeles bands like X and the Gun Club. It was a time before the ascendance of punk purism, a time when kids rocked out to anything that, well, rocked out.
Over the past 25 years as a solo artist, Peter Case’s writing has become more narrative and complex lyrically and more rooted in blues and folk traditions musically. With the Plimsouls, Case wrote arresting, aggressive pop tunes that centered on pressing young man blues matters — stuff like getting some and getting ahead. In a word, his songs conveyed urgency (better than Foreigner, who had to actually say the word, lacking the skill to imply it).
In guitarist Eddie Munoz, bassist Dave Pahoa and drummer Lou Ramirez, Case found the perfect messengers. Pahoa and Ramirez played with precision, power and swing. Munoz spat out guitar licks that framed and propelled Case’s tunes perfectly, something like Wally Bryson’s alternately pretty and pounding work with the Raspberries. Case himself played rhythm guitar and sang with the tough, but tender approach of an American John Lennon.
Live! Beg, Borrow & Steal (October 31, 1981 Whisky A Go Go) is a live recording and a testament to the band’s powerful performances. The recording is a little dry and a bit heavy on the ‘verb vocally but it gets the job done. The near-hits, “Now,” “Zero Hour,” and especially “A Million Miles Away” (a year or so away from its studio recorded appearance on Everywhere at Once) are forcefully represented, along with fifteen other relentless numbers.
The evening concluded with a cover fest that includes the Kinks’ “Come on Now” and Larry William’s “Dizzy Miss Lizzie,” and a nod to Eddie’s and Lou’s Latino heritage — a cover of Thee Midniter’s “Jump Jive and Harmonize.” The band’s New York fellow travelers The Fleshtones contributed spirited, doubtlessly inebriated, assistance on Little Richard’s ‘Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” and Freddie Cannon’s “New Orleans.”
Live! Beg, Borrow & Steal does the job live recordings are supposed to; it makes you wish you were there.
Reverberating: 8.3
Steve Wilson is the manager of Kief's Downtown Music and a lifelong musician and music writer. His weekly bundle of music reviews, Reverberations, will be appearing in KCFreePress each Tuesday.
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