POP MUSIC REVIEWS : TRUTH SHEDS QUIRKS
The Truth records for I.R.S. Records, Timbuk 3’s producer did its new album, and it once opened a show here for Squeeze. If that sounds like the resume of a quirky pop band, the Truth’s Wednesday show at the Roxy painted a far different picture.
The Truth’s straightforward, hard, mainstream rock ‘n’ roll is the kind of aggressive music you’d expect of an outfit opening for, say, Eddie Money--with whom the Truth is on tour.
Two years ago, the Truth did sound more offbeat, but since then leaders Dennis Greaves and Mick Lister have steered the music squarely toward album-oriented rock radio. Sure enough, radio has responded to the new single “Weapons of Love,” a mid-tempo rocker.
The Truth aims to make rough, full-bodied but intelligent hard rock, but it didn’t always accomplish that Wednesday, falling into a few too many lyrical and musical cliches.
Still, the band (Greaves and Lister are backed by a hired rhythm section) was also refreshingly free of the usual arena-rock poses. And the new album (which made up virtually the entire set) contains its share of standouts, including the propulsive “Cover Up My Face” and the evening’s one ballad, “The Edge of Town.”
The show was opened by House of Freaks, a promising Virginia duo consisting of a singer-guitarist and a drummer. The duo admirably blended its predominantly hard, edgy and abrasive sound with just enough softer and more melodic moments.
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