THE REAL KIDS
The New Rose Years (Last Call)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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This two CD pairs up the real Kids' excellent Outta Place mini-LP (also re-released by Norton with different bonus tracks as No Place Fast) with the elusive All Kinds Jerks live album, and on disc two, the even more elusive Hit You Hard album, both of which were from 1983. Many a person had told me that their Hit You Hard LP was terrible, and not worth picking up, which wasn't much of an option since I never could seem to find it anywhere. Well, those people lied, 'cause this is a great album. Sure, Andy Paley's production is a little slicker than their previous records, but it's hardly what I'd called "overproduced." It has some of my all-time fave RKs songs too: "She," "Now You Know" and the killer title track for instance. On "She's A Mess," pedal steel and slide graces this melancholy country tune. Recorded in Bruxelles while the band was on tour in Europe, it's every bit as much a classic as their other records.

© 2003 - Alan Wright