Search - Gerry Devine & Hi Beams :: Fire Lane

An overlooked gem of a songwriter's debut...

02/04/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I remember Gerry Devine as a fixture on the Greenwich Village NYC folk and rock club circuit in the early 1980s. He performed with a couple of bands, always outfront as lead singer and guitarist. Of these the most notable were the Floor Models, an alternative/rootsy band before anyone had clued into this type of music. On Fire Lane, Gerry teams with the same musicians. I love the CDs beautiful mixing of Buddy Hollyesque snap in the vocals and harmonies, and Searchers or Byrds-like musical textures underneath. The songs are all good. Some notes... Anybody Else, the opener, will make you want to dance and keep repeating the track... but let the CD play. Excuses Excuses is an intriguing country-style ballad that sounds as if Philip Roth wrote the lyrics. If I Ever Get Another Chance will stay in your ear. Drop of Rain is a little ponderous, but so beautiful it doesn't matter. If the Cry Cry Cry combo cuts a reunion record, they should tap this important new songwriter."