The Del Fuegos were proud sons of Boston, Massachusetts, but you might not have guessed that by listening to their debut album, The Longest Day, which mixed the swaggering thunder of heartland garage rock with the rootsy twang of Dixie-fried rockabilly and roots-conscious rock 'n' roll. While the band would later claim that producer Mitchell Froom slicked back their sound considerably from that of their raucous club shows, which earned them their hometown reputation, the results actually capture the band's swing and stomp without an excess of sonic affectation (something that would later become Froom's hallmark), reveling in the crack of Brent "Woody" Giessmann's drums, and the bark of Dan and Warren Zanes' guitars. And if Dan and Warren's songs didn't exactly stretch the boundaries of early rock archetypes, they honored the traditions in the best ways -- by playing roots rock with sweat, fire, good humor, and a lot of heart and soul. And you just can't argue the genius of this line from "When The News Is On": "And sometimes love is a lot like a shoe/ You run around too much and it'll fall apart." The Longest Day isn't the sort of album likely to change the way you look at rock and roll, but it will probably remind you why you love the stuff, and that's more than enough reason to slap it into your stereo and turn it up.
© Mark Deming /TiVo