Those danceable beats, that tough-girl stance -- maybe somebody at Columbia thought the label was getting its own Blondie by buying up 415 Records and its principal asset, Romeo Void. Certainly, Benefactor was a more commercial-sounding effort than their debut album, with the band even agreeing to eviscerate the four-letter word in "Never Say Never," and elsewhere playing up-tempo dance-rock that almost, but not quite, overcame the disaffection of Debora Iyall's lyrics. But Romeo Void still was less a Blondie clone than an heir to X-Ray Spex or the Bush Tetras, playing bass-heavy, minimalist rock behind a pissed-off singer who, unlike Debroah Harry, wasn't kidding. "You don't get it?" asked Iyall. "Rain on you. And the world disappears."
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo