The Atlantics - Big City Rock (Reissue) (1979/2019)

Power pop band from Boston, Massachusetts.

The Atlantics were a highly entertaining and popular club band in the 1970's Boston scene. The local radio shows gave them hit after hit, most notably a tape "Pop Shivers" and a tremendous 45 rpm "Lonely Hearts," which Gary Private had a minor hit with after the fact, but neither title is on this ABC Records debut. Manager Fred Munao's wife Susan Munao was busy managing Donna Summer, and the difference between solid vocalist Summer's string of hit singles and this band with so much potential is the fact that lead singer Bobby Marron was OK, just not good enough. Add that to the fact that this recording, produced by John Stronach, sounds strained, and the reason they failed to chart becomes obvious. Fred Pineau's guitar licks are certainly electric enough, but as Elliot Easton of the Cars was never allowed to do on record what fans saw him do in the same nightclubs where the Atlantics performed, Pineau also is used here as a solid rhythm, his leads limited, not allowed to pour his inventive guitar blasts all over these pop tunes. Jolts that the songs need. Founding member and co-songwriter Jeff Locke left this band to form UXB, a formidable pop unit with precise vocals and songs that hit the mark; but Locke left the nest with no professional guidance, so outside of some college radio success, UXB went nowhere, and the Atlantics minus Locke, even touring with Roxy Music or opening for Alice Cooper, couldn't bring titles like "I Can't Help It" to the masses. When You're Young has that David Bowie groove from "Boys Keep Swinging," but the Atlantics can't break out of the pop constraints, nor do they push the envelope beyond their self-imposed limitations. "Modern Times Girl" has the elements, but the production fails to pull it off. It needed a touch of grunge, a little electricity, and to stop being so cutesy. The record feels as forced as the photographs on the front and back of the album cover, and that was not what the Atlantics were about onstage. Perhaps a best-of live album would've been a better shot for the band. This album misses the bull's-eye by a few yards. The cover of Martha & the Vandellas Top Ten hit "Nowhere to Run" does just that -- it goes nowhere. Rather than be creative and add to the legacy of that tune, the band zips through it like a bad cover act. "Waiting for My Baby" might've been a hit had Martha Reeves covered this rather than the Atlantics re-recording her music. And the rest of side two descends into a redundant recycling of the same thin production and Marron's pretentious voice. The band had lots of heart, but they should have studied ABBA, the Beatles, and even their local peers, the Cars, to really make a go at the brass ring. For their years of apprenticeship and success in Boston, to deliver this to their fans is a major, major disappointment. With the tragic death of B.Wilkinson, a reunion may be impossible. Finding great live tapes of their finest moments may be in order.