Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * *
Billy Joel perhaps said it best when he observed that, “You could dance and still look tough”, for nothing gets in the way of a community when the music starts, when the three minute jive insists that you join in and take in the mean streets but the tender hearted with the same glorious breath. For the world may seem like a collection of bones being rattled in a tin, the noise loud and frightening but instead it is the sweet serenade of flexed muscles sweating out a tune in which the audience has no choice but to observe and to take part in, the Shake, Stomp And Stumble of unrestricted melody.
It is tough to act tough, to play with the social conscious of the left behinds and the seemingly forgotten, and get them to rise up, not necessarily in confrontation, but in a reminder to those who seek the eternal salvation of the coin and the grasping of wealth, that there is more to existence than material gain, there is peace of mind and heart, and the best way to deliver that sermon is to take heed of the words of Greg Antista And The Lonely Streets and dance till dawn.
Shake, Stomp And Stumble is not just an album that reflects on community but on heritage as well, the Hispanic culture that resides in Southern California, the visual feeling that creeps upon the listener as they accept the invites that fell through the letter box door and urges the chance to let loose in a three minute dance off, is potent, powerful and whilst not having any of the songs on the album produced with Spanish lyrics, is impossible not to feel the flavour and texture of that way of life.
Joining Greg Antista is a wealth of musicianship that includes Jessica Kaczmarek, Warren Renfrow and Jorge E. Disguster, an experience born out of affiliations and previous musical ownership that was evident in Joyride, Foxy, Bustop Hurricanes, Bourbon Jones, Cadillac Tramps and Mink Daggers.
It is a wealth that is shared equally and with no sense of greed or unbalance in songs such as Goodnight Romona, Nasty Weather, Beat Down And Broken, the superb They Killed Lily Bell and Carmelita, it is a wealth that is poignant and thrilling, but one that is not without the touch of melancholy that all such albums rejoice in installing into the listener’s heart.
A remarkable album, a set of songs that live up to the expressions garnered and the stoking fires lit and fanned; an urge to Shake, Stomp And Stumble should not be dissuaded.
Greg Antista And The Lonely Streets release their debut album, Shake, Stomp And Stumble via Primal Beat Records on May 17th.
Ian D. Hall