Having wowed the garage rock squad with their first album, On Fyre, Lyres continued to deliver the goods here on their subsequent outing, which initially surfaced in 1986 on the Ace of Hearts label.
Stamped with the Boston, Massachusetts band’s signature emblem of pumping organ fills, gravel-throated vocals, endearingly sloppy drumming and fizzy, dizzy tremolo guitar tricks, the disc trembles and throbs with perennial excitement.
Tracks such as “How Do You Know?,” “Busy Men” and “Not Looking Back” swagger and grind with force and fury, and a cover of “No Reason To Complain,” which was originally recorded by the Alarm Clocks, is reprised in typical grubby form.
But as evidenced by a couple of songs on Lyres Lyres, there is another dimension to the band that extends beyond a “Nuggets” and “Pebbles” mentality. For example, “She Pays The Rent” is a slow-burning soul ballad that sounds like Percy Sledge fronting the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, and “The Only Thing” is enveloped in an air of melancholic psychedelic drowsiness.
Although a tad more diversified than the debut disc, Lyres Lyres (Munster Records) still hangs tight and right to a hardcore garage rock ethic. These guys have always made it perfectly clear where they’re coming from and have never compromised their position.
Owing a sneer, snarl and even a smile to the wild workings the Wailers, the Sonics, the Chocolate Watch Band and Question Mark and the Mysterians, Lyres Lyres pays earnest respect to the pioneers of garage rock while at the same time adding some tasty new herbs and spices to the well worn recipe.
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Cool! Lyres were a great Beantown band. I haven’t pulled that record out in years. Next…. Ace of Hearts label mates The Neats!