Review of Runaway EP
Review by Matt Ashare
Boston Phoenix , 4-11 January 2001
Singing has never been one of Basketball Diaries author and poet/spoken-word
artist Jim Carroll’s strong suits, and his pipes haven’t improved
with age. So though covering fellow NYC poet/rocker Lou Reed’s
“Sweet Jane” back in the ’80s wasn’t such a bad idea (Reed,
after all, is pretty much in the same vocal boat), tackling
Del Shannon’s 1961 classic “Runaway” is more problematic because
it’s not the kind of song you can talk your way out of. Carroll
gives “Runaway” his best shot, and he gets through it without
hurting anyone. Anyway, what makes this five-track EP a welcome
addition to Carroll’s discography are the three tracks that
he recorded live at Seattle’s Crocodile Café in November 1998
and that document his brief return to the rock-and-roll stage
after a decade that had seen him stick mainly to the written
and spoken word. Backed by a band of Seattle rockers, including
Fastbacks guitarist Kurt Bloch, Truly guitarist Robert Roth,
and former Posies/current Fountains of Wayne drummer Brian Young,
Carroll rips through a pair of classics from his 1980 Jim Carroll
Band LP Catholic Boy (ATCO) — “I Want the Angel” and
“It’s Too Late” — as well as “Falling Down Laughing” from 1998’s
Pools of Mercury (Mercury). The disc is rounded out with
a demo version of “Hairshirt Fracture,” another Pools of
Mercury tune.
The original review was found at http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/music/01/01/04/OTR/JIM_CARROLL.html
©2001 Boston Phoenix