When you are about to listen to an album, half of which has been co-written by Andy Partridge, your ears are gonna perk up and boy did they! You can spot the Partridge influence, but the songs that Conte has wrote himself more than stand up.
Indeed if you didn't know that Partridge was involved in the first side only, you'd think he was involved in the second half, which is to Steve Conte's credit. Surprisingly, the first take became a concentration on the excellent Conte vocal, which is very close to an Elvis Costello Armed Forces affair, another good thing.
Conte comes from a background of being an ace sideman, most notably with New York Dolls, but more recently with Michael Monroe. Away from his noted Anime adventures, it is really noticeable at how the solo spotlight solo suits him.
His Guitar excellence is always gonna stand out and it does, particularly on All Tied Up. But there are also other outstanding moments. Decomposing A Song For You adds Brass and is particularly well put together and Girl With No Town is Motown jaunty. Both are Conte's own songs and you could easily believe Partridge was involved.
I Dream Alone is a splendid sprawling joy, all six minutes of it. It has a magnificent Guitar outro and the false ending works. admirably. Conte's songs do sound a little more American at times, but that suits the general feel and variation of the album.
Of Partridge's five songs, all are ace but two stand out. We Like It is all 1974 UK Glam, wonderfully so. One Last Bell has an arrangement that includes Dukes and Orange And Lemons Psychedelic trumpets that jump in completely unexpected. Although Fourth of July runs both songs close and you can spot Partridge's expertise with a lyric line. An Essential Listen all the way through.
You can buy The Concrete Jangle everywhere and really should. Suitably, it is on Little Steven's Wicked Cool label. You can listen to the full album here.
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