The Plimsouls
THE CD: “One Night in America” (Oglio Records)
PERFORMER: The Plimsouls
This Los Angeles-based quartet had its relatively modest peak during the post-disco, pre-New Wave era that lasted from 1978 to 1983. In this period, artists like the Violent Femmes and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts espoused the anti-social ethos of punk, but incorporated (for the most part) the more refined musical stylings of late-70s rock and metal.
While rejecting disco’s superficiality, bands of this time, like the Police, retained more insightful themes (again, for the most part) while also moving music in a lighter direction.
Despite their somewhat obscure status in music history, the Plimsouls — as far as the music on this album goes — display those transitional themes in their music like a musical evolutionary map. (It’s fitting that 1978 and 1983 mark precisely the Plimsouls formation and dissolution.)
Recorded live in 1981, “One Night in America” includes unobtrusive, yet simplistic punk-pop fusions like “Hush Hush” and “Now.” (For a modern equivalent, think Blink 182.) The more morose “I Want What You Got” features sound manipulation that is almost like a prelude to the angst-ridden syth-ballads of “Flock of Seagulls” and Cory Hart. Tunes like “One More Heartache” and “Help Yourself” are distorted, bluesy throwbacks to the early and mid-1970s.
–By Morgan Kelly
