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Reddy Teddy - Booklet |
According to Joe Harvard
(Boston rock specialist) Reddy Teddy were to Boston in the 70's what the New
York Dolls were to New York...and then some. All of the founding band
members were longtime friends who'd been in the same grade at school:
Matthew MacKenzie (guitar), John Morse (vocals),Ted von Rosenvinge (bass)
and Joe Marino (drums).
Spending 39 minutes with the
Reddy Teddy LP is a very worthwhile use of your time. "Boys and Girls"
combines elements of Richie Valens and the Champs with pure power pop. "Shark
in the Dark" recalls Peter Townsend's classic mid-period writing for the Who,
as do the verses in "Moron Rock" and "Magic Magic". Not all of the Teddy
tunes recall earlier or contemporary influences, to be sure. There are tunes
like "Ooh-Wow!" and "Novelty Shoes", which are pure Reddy Teddy,
quintessential Boston rock; these are tunes referential only to fellow
Beanscenesters like Willie "Loco" Alexander and the Boom Boom Band.
Other elements of Rt's recorded work point solidly towards the future. "Ooh-Wow!"
predates and harkens to Meatloaf's later (and best) material. Bits of "Magic
Magic" sound like LA's great X, and the song "Romance" would be just
as comfortable in a set by Oasis, Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur, Jr. or any other
90's band. The guitar interplay of songs like "Magic Magic" and "Romance"
point the way towards groups like Television, and match the intensity of
Todd Rundgren's work with the Nazz. Indeed, it's no surprise that
years later, when Richard Lloyd left Television, he recruited Matthew
MacKenzie to play guitar on the very solid "Alchemy" LP. Bassis Scott
Barenwald was to become a member of Robin Lane & The Chartvusters.
The LP was produced by Willie
Alexander and Matthew MacKenzie (with a little help from Maxanne Sartori)
The album has never been re-issued to this day on CD.
I did a transfer from my LP to cd-r in 2003 (with SoundForge 6.0), and i revamped the original
sleeve in order to get the pictures you can see.
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