By Eleni P. Austin
The perfect Pop song has a few key ingredients; obviously it must be catchy, it must be memorable and it must feel effortless. Classic examples of this unwritten paradigm include the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There,” The Who’s “I Can’t Explain,” The Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw The Light” and the Raspberries’ “Go All The Way.”
More recently, Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” L’Avventura’s “Pretend You Don’t See Me,” The Empty Hearts’ “Perfect World” and Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” have carried that tradition into the 21st century. Tommy Keene is someone who could teach a master class in Pure Pop songcraft.
Tommy Keene grew up in Bethesda, Maryland and began playing piano as a child. By his teenage years, he was pounding the drums for a trio called Blue Steel.
In college he formed a two-piece, The Rage, with Richard X. Heyman. He then moved on to a well-known Washington, D.C. band, the Razz. They were popular enough to open for seminal Punk acts like Devo, the Ramones and Patti Smith. When the Razz collapsed, Keene became a touring sideman for a couple of different groups.
By 1982 he had formed the Tommy Keene Band in New York. That same year, he self-released his debut, Strange Alliance. Two years later, he recorded two EPs, Places That Are Gone and Back Again (Try…) for the North Carolina indie label, Dolphin.
The first EP received a glowing, four star review in Rolling Stone. It was also voted “Best EP” in the prestigious Village Voice critics’ poll. Keene’s sound was the perfect intersection of New Wave verve and Power Pop crunch.
Major record labels took notice and Keene signed a deal with Geffen. Songs From The Film arrived in 1986, it was great, but felt a little watered-down. Geffen nixed the original mixes from producers T-Bone Burnett and Don Dixon, and hedged their bets, replacing them with Beatles engineer, Geoff Emerick. Still, it spent 12 weeks in the Billboard Top 200, and served as a great introduction to Keene’s melodic charms.
He followed up on Geffen with the excellent Based On Happy Times. Despite contributions from Jules Shear and Peter Buck from R.E.M. the label didn’t give the record the big promotional push it deserved. Six years would elapse before he recorded another full-length album.
Keene hooked up with bassist Brad Quinn and drummer John Richardson, for the “…Happy Times” tour; a collaboration that continues to this day). He also relocated to Los Angeles. By the early ‘90s, he was ping-ponging between well-respected indie labels, Matador and Alias. The wonderful five-song EP, Sleeping On A Rollercoaster arrived in 1992.
He followed with Driving Into The Sun, in 1995, Ten Years After in 1996 and Isolation Party in 1998. He also found time to act as a touring guitarist with the Velvet Crush, Goo Goo Dolls and ex-Replacements front-man Paul Westerberg.
The new millennium saw the release of a live album, Showtunes, as well as a 2002 collaboration with Jay Bennett and Jeff Tweedy from Wilco and ex-Gin Blossom Robin Wilson, entitled The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down. He returned to the road opening for Guided By Voices. Crashing The Ether was released in 2006 and then he formed an alliance with GBV visionary, Robert Pollard. As the Keene Brothers they recorded Blues and Boogie Shoes.
In 2009 he signed with respected North Carolina indie, Second Motion Records, they released his ninth full-length, In The Late Bright. Two years later he recorded Behind The Parade.
As a way of clearing the musical cobwebs, Keene put his stamp on favorite classic songs by artists like Big Star, the Who, Rolling Stones, Donovan, Roxy Music and Television. The album, Excitement At Your Feet (slyly referencing the Who’s “See Me, Feel Me” without covering it), paved the way for his 12th album, Laugh In The Dark.
The record opens with the one-two punch of “Out Of My Mind” and “Dear Heloise.” On “Out…” a pile-driving rhythm collides with rippling guitar riffs. Our hero is at a romantic crossroads, waxing equivocal over a stalled relationship. “I could never leave this all behind…” becomes “I could always always leave you far behind, and go out of my mind”
“Dear Heloise” is powered by jangly guitars and rattle-snake shake percussion. Equal parts playful and plaintive, Keene is seeking the authenticity from the doyenne of helpful hints. “Settling down in Baltimore, you found fame and so much more/Tell us the truth now, Heloise.”
“I Belong To You” is anchored by jittery bass lines and an urgent beat. Sinewy guitar figures flutter and wow over this slightly morbid love letter. The brief guitar and keys coda that closes the tune will leave Power Pop fans moist with delight.
The guitars on “Last Of The Twilight Girls pivot between crunchy and sugar-sweet. The muscular arrangement, featuring a pummeling back beat, rumbling bass fills and spiraling guitar solo, nearly camouflages the lyrics’ stinging rebuke of an old flame. “Remember the one who had you thinking he was inside you, he gave you the air to breathe/And you were the one who cried alone and sobbed and let him to leave.”
The best tracks here are “Laugh In The Dark,” “I Want It To Be Over Now” and “Go Back Home.” A stutter-step rhythm sputters to life on the title track. Ringing guitar licks repeat the same circuitous cluster of notes. Keene’s mood seems dour but determined to experience true love. He’s getting laid; “get your ashes hauled forever…” still real love remains elusive.
The last quarter of the song is given over to a piquant display of guitar pyrotechnics, courtesy the Tommy Keene guitar army. He layers riffs that cascade, spark, and pinwheel, the final notes a honeyed rush of acoustic arpeggios.
The breezy vibe of “I Want It To Be Over Now” belies the lyrics’ bitter kiss-off. Accented by a hopscotch beat, walking bass lines and shimmery, tilt-a-whirl guitars, Keene is brusque and dismissive “Thanks for the ride, the same old same old/You couldn’t rate somehow, I want it to be over.” Yikes. The sunshiny guitar solo somehow ameliorates his curt dismissal.
Finally, “Go Back Home” sounds like a long lost track from Led Zeppelin’s epochal “III” album. Fueled by filigreed acoustic fretwork that connects with sustained slide guitar notes, the laid-back percussion locks into a relax-fit Bo Diddley beat.
Although Keene confesses “I’ve got the blues, as if I’m bleeding” he resolves to make a change; “I can’t go back to pins and needles, I’m off the track to where I really want to be/Get off the couch and say you mean it, no one can vouch for what never seems to be.”
Other interesting tracks include the countrified stride of “All The Lights Are Alive,” wherein crystalline guitar chords coalesce into a chiming Byrdsy guitar break. Meanwhile, If the Who and Big Star ever collaborated, it might sound like “Alone In Modern Times.” This song confirms Tommy Keene’s Guitar Hero cred. Slashing power chords give way to jangly acoustic riffs and crisp, candy-coated licks, as he yearns for affection and human connection. He wistfully acknowledges “I’m just holding on for my life.”
The album closes with the suitably majestic “All Gone Away.” It opens awash in psychedelic organ colors, sonic textures are slowly added until the drums ricochet through the mix. The lyrics are peppered with non-sequiturs like “Isn’t there a gun for honey, anyone from Delaware?” But the guitars weave an aural tapestry that creates a dream-like, hallucinatory sensation. The listener might even feel compelled to picture tangerine trees, marmalade skies and a girl with kaleidoscope eyes. It’s a potent finish to a nearly perfect record.
Long time comrades John Richardson and Brad Quinn handle drum and bass duties. Tommy Keene plays everythingelse himself. The album was recorded his home studio in just under two months. The drums were added in two days at Ardent studios (Big Star’s original headquarters), in two days.
In a perfect world, election cycles would last eight weeks and each Tommy Keene record would rocket to the top of the charts. Sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world. However, we can survive the next 14 months of hyperbole secure in the knowledge that Laugh In The Dark is an instant classic.
