Tav Falco Albums (8)
'Love's Last Warning'
Release Date 8/12/2002
Tracks 21
Label Last Call
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Disappearing Angels'
Release Date 10/22/1996
Tracks 8
Label Sympathy for the Record Industry
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The off-the-cuff brilliance of the best of Tav Falco's music isn't always obvious even for the initiated. Balancing precariously between irony and sincerity, he has a unique ability at his best to raucously revive the spirit of the past while still sounding modern. His experimentation with styles, ranging from rockabilly and swamp blues to tango and lounge has sometimes resulted in a loose cacophony that his fans know and love -- as in his 1980 debut LP Behind the Magnolia Curtain -- and sometimes it manages to strike the sweet spot of modern revivalist entertainment, as in 1991's Life Sentence. The brief Disappearing Angels veers closer to the latter, but Falco's offbeat crooning reminds you that while his band -- Alex Chilton, Rene Coman, and Doug Garrison -- does play the tunes with naturalistic precision, the music herein is far removed from standard fare. His cover of Joe and Audrey Allison's "He'll Have to Go" is closer to Charlie Feathers than Jim Reeves, and if his "don't pity me" refrain from Angel Villodo's "Kiss of Love" doesn't bring a smile to your lips, then you're made of pretty stern stuff. Elsewhere, the Falco originals merge into the whole seamlessly, and overall this short 1996 CD is one of the best introductions to his brand of offbeat entertainment. ~ JT Lindroos, All Music Guide
'Return of the Blue Panther'
Release Date 2/23/1994
Tracks 12
Label Triple X
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
There is a good reason why a lot of '70s and '80s punk bands were attracted to '50s rockabilly and '60s garage rock. Punks, in many cases, craved rawness and simplicity, and neither of those things are hard to find in early rock & roll. Singer Tav Falco and his band Panther Burns were among the '80s/'90s bands that combined a rootsy outlook with a punky attitude. Falco wasn't slick or terribly polished; in fact, albums like Return of the Blue Panther totally rebelled against slickness. Recorded in Memphis in 1990, this collection of garage rock, blues-rock, and rockabilly certainly doesn't sound overproduced. Falco makes a point of keeping things as rough and raw as possible; if anything, he wanted to make Return of the Blue Panther (which was produced by Panther Burns bassist Rene Coman) sound like either hi-fi '50s mono or early stereo -- he certainly wasn't looking for an ultra-clean digital sound. Whether Falco and Panther Burns are turning their attention to Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On" or Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman," this CD is consistently earthy and raw -- so raw, in fact, that Falco's outfit ends up sounding like a bar band. There is certainly a lot of bar band appeal on tracks like "You Believe Everyone But Me," "Knot in My Pocket," and "I Got Love if You Want It," all of which make you feel like you have wandered into a dive that is cool and dingy at the same time. Return of the Blue Panther isn't remarkable or mind-blowing, but it's a sincere, decent celebration of rock & roll's most primal instincts. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
