ELIZABETH McQUEEN & THE FIREBRANDS
Happy Doing What We're Doing (Freedom)

What a splendid idea! Austin producer Dave Sanger got together with a spunky girl singer and a tight band to honor one of my favorite eras of music, the late 70's English pub rock scene. We're talking pre-punk rootsy power pop artists like Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, early Squeeze and Elvis Costello, Brinsley Schwarz and more. Each band gets just one song covered by the Firebrands. It's usually their best tune, if that's possible to narrow it down. Ms. McQueen makes a valiant effort trying to duplicate a bunch of British blokes' singing styles. In most cases she does the songs justice if not copying them, at least not making ‘em any worse. Of course, it made me want to pull out my old vinyl to play the originals and to explore some of the bands I missed like Duck's Deluxe and Eggs Over Easy. There's so much good material from these bands that his could have easily been a double CD. I'd love to see a box set of the pub rock originals. Till then this is a great tribute and reminder of how good these bands were.

Released Feb. '05. Reviewed by Bill Frater.