Hi Fi and the Roadburners

Flat Iron Years 86-89 (Victory)
by Scott Hefflon

When did these guys get so complex? When they played a Lollipop show a year or so ago, they we’re hard-drinkin’ punk rockabilly. Now they’re all swank and gussied-up like swing daddies. They were balls-out roadhouse rawk, don’t get me wrong, but this is more more involved, with far more instruments blowing. This ain’t just greaser rock, there’s swing here. The best moments (at least the most interesting, the most engaging) are when Hi Fi and the Roadburners let it rip. The snappy-dressed schmaltz is fine, but these guys can whale away, get yer toes-tapping, yer palm slappin’ yer thigh, and yer butt wigglin’. All the smoky blues sax and piano tinklin’ is sure sweet while I’m refilling my drink, but if I’m blind drunk and lookin’ for that sexy music to throw on while throwin’ it in, I’ll choose Morphine any day. And I hate Morphine. The first few tracks on The Flat Iron Years rock, then they sink into that jazz/blues quagmire, then, by track 12 or so, they pull out and start in on the Chuck Berry/Jerry Lee Lewis rock. Oh hell, there’s no consistency here… The liner notes explain that every other track or so on this hour-long, 20-song release was on their first CD on Delta Records, others are from an EP on Torpedo Records, and still others are from an unreleased album and demo. There’s something to be said for tracking, gents, cuz now we have to program our CD players if we wanna have any mood established and maintained for any length of time. Or hell, we can just listen to the first few songs, sweat a lot, then smoke a butt.
(346 North Justine St. #504 Chicago, IL 60607)