The Blasters: Life - Going Home

Alvin brothers blur the genres at reunion gig.

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Back in 2003, fraternal Blasters founders Dave and Phil Alvin reunited the original line-up for a run of shows to promote a compilation, and managed to bottle this live set at the Galaxy Theatre, Orange County, before Dave inexplicably pulled the plug once again.

Live: Going Home reiterates the review of the Alvin brothers’ contemporary Lost Time release; namely, that when these genre-splicing renegades manage to rub along, they’re ridiculously exciting.

Early cuts like Real Rock Drive and Border Radio set off down the tightrope between rockabilly, jump-jazz, blues and high-velocity punk, before the gearshift to the barbershop vocals of Crazy Baby and the doo-wop of Help You Dream. Later, the penultimate American Music seems an appropriate sentiment: few bands have put Uncle Sam’s spectrum of sub-genres through the blender with such success.

Henry Yates

Henry Yates has been a freelance journalist since 2002 and written about music for titles including The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Classic Rock, Guitarist, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer. He is the author of Walter Trout's official biography, Rescued From Reality, a music pundit on Times Radio and BBC TV, and an interviewer who has spoken to Brian May, Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie Wood, Dave Grohl, Marilyn Manson, Kiefer Sutherland and many more.