Album Review

Joe Viglione [allmusic.com]

Craig Leon produced the Ramones, Lisa Burns, Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band, and other groups in the mid-'70s during the new wave movement. This album by Moon Martin was recorded mostly at Suntreader Studios in Sharon, VT, as was the work Leon did with Alexander and Burns. Eleven originals and one cover all fall within the two minutes and 40 seconds to three-and-a-half minute compact range for the singer's essays. ''Rolene'' and ''Dreamer'' have charm, and Martin keeps things interesting with a Henry Gross-type vocal which falls somewhere between John Denver and Elvis Costello. Craig Leon's production is thin, but it works well enough for Moon Martin to get his point across. ''No Chance'' is an interesting song of love that isn't gonna happen, personal lyrics with new wave power pop sensibilities. As Phil Spector took the Ramones a step further than Craig Leon, Martin's music as heard here seems like it was tailor-made for cult status. In the hands of a singer/producer like Robert Palmer, Martin's material charted, as was the case with ''Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor),'' a song from his previous disc, Shots From a Cold Nightmare. Radio was not enamored of the brittle guitar and compressed drum sounds many of the '70s' artists were saddled with. Even the rendition of Fontaine Brown's ''Bootleg Woman'' has this high-end sound, but guitarist Jude Cole, bassist Dennis Croy, and drummer Rick Croy provide tight accompaniment to the modern-day Buddy Holly-style musings. ''The Feeling's Right'' has that Nick Lowe feel; it's just too bad this excellent song doesn't have Lowe's production to go along with it. Still, it's a good effort.