REVIEW: Moe Tucker, GRL-GRUP (EP) / "I'm Sticking With
You"/"After Hours" (Lakeshore Drive)
- Daniel Aloi
Back when she was in the Velvet Underground, drummer Moe Tucker must have kept a close eye - and ear - on Nico. You can hear a bit of the Teutonic chanteuse in Tucker's throaty singing style.
But Tucker's most recent solo work doesn't otherwise much resemble the Velvets' art-damaged debut. These two new CDs, released in December on Tucker's own label, pay loving tribute to '60s pop songs - including two from Lou Reed's catalog.
Tucker now lives in rural Georgia, where her kids are leaving the nest and she drums with Magnet. Recording in Atlanta, Tucker leads her band (including her onetime Half Japanese cohort John Sluggett) through covers of four Phil Spector-Jeff Barry-Ellie Greenwich love songs on GRL-GRUP, a title displayed in big license plate lettering on the CD's cover.
Tucker and her supporting cast achieve a scaled-down wall of sound that's low on sheen, big on heart - as she sings such teenage melodramas as "(And) Then He Kissed Me," "Be My Baby," "To Know Him Is To Love Him" and even "Da Doo Ron Ron." Indie-rock types shouldn't be surprised - Moe did a slew of classic rock'n'roll songs on her solo debut, "Playin' Possum." You can tell it's an act of love - one she dedicates to her former bandmate, the late Sterling Morrison.
Even Tucker's versions of the two Lou Reed songs on the single (both of which were also covered on the final Velvet Underground tour captured on "Live MCMXCIII") project a sweet backwards glance at the bouncy innocence of '60s AM radio - the kind of thing that was anathema to the Velvets' original artcore audience. Then again, Lou never made any bones about his love for the songs of Doc Pomus.
You can order these and other solo releases from Tucker directly (and even have them autographed) by writing to her at PO Box 2357, Douglas, GA 31534. Prices and other details are available on her web site, http://www.spearedpeanut.com/tajmoehal
Tucker's site, TajMoehal, is well-illustrated and fan-friendly -- she offers to make tapes (at a discounted price) of her solo CDs and will even autograph them for you if you ask. A monthly newsletter page keeps everyone abreast of not only her recording projects but her family members' latest accomplishments. And she's put out a call for VU bootleg masters for a project Polygram is undertaking. Links to other VU-related sites abound, as do links to other bands she likes or has worked with, including Half Japanese and Olivia Tremor Control.
