Earlier this year, PERNICE BROTHERS released yet another great album, Live a Little, a mere year after their fine (and underrated) 2005 effort Discover a Lovelier You. The record marks a stylistic return to their first two albums and as such, this show drew heavily upon their second album, the 2001 masterwork The World Won’t End, along with the new album. This was fine by me, as I think The World Won’t End is their best album and I really like the new one as well. The highlights were a smoldering “Ballad of Bjorn Borg” and “Flaming Wreck” (both from The World Won’t End) and a great cover of THE ZOMBIES’ “Butcher’s Tale (1917)”. It was never one of my favorite songs on Odessey and Oracle (though I love that album), but they succeeded in making it their own and pulled it off remarkably well.
Another highlight was “Baby in Two”, my favorite song from 2003’s excellent Yours, Mine and Ours. “Weakest Shade of Blue” (also from Yours, Mine and Ours), the title track from their debut Overcome by Happiness and “There Goes the Sun” (from Discover a Lovelier You) were the only other songs played that didn’t come from either The World Won’t End or Live a Little.
Opener ELVIS PERKINS has gotten a lot of attention from bloggers lately, and I can see why. His voice and musical style reminded me a lot of JEFF MANGUM of NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL, but aside from a song or two where he upped the tempo of his tunes, I wasn’t really impressed.
I was, however, impressed with what I saw of BITTER BITTER WEEKS. Containing a former member of the now defunct Philly power-pop band THE BIGGER LOVERS (incidentally, Pernice Brothers drummer PATRICK BERKERY also played with The Bigger Lovers), this band follows in those footsteps by delivering powerful, catchy material. We got there late, so we only got to see three or four of their songs. They were playing a cover of DEVO’s “Gates of Steel” when we walked in, so that automatically got my attention. I just wish I could’ve seen more of their set.
