Tom Leach – Recorded Live In Person
Tom Leach’s 1997 debut was a minor revelation. Recorded on a borrowed four-track tape recorder, the self-titled disc was marked by sparse instrumentation (guitar, snare drum and a mouth organ) and quirky, sad/funny country-tinged songs.
This EP, available by mail-order only, is the debut’s polar opposite — a breakneck, rocking, drunken romp that goes through eleven songs in 26 minutes on a Boston stage, scarcely pausing for breath amid a mix of Leach originals and brilliantly chosen covers. Among the songs run through their paces by Leach, guitarist Dave Steele and company are his own goofily charming “Doris Days”, Merle Haggard’s “Working Man Blues”, Dolly Parton’s “Kentucky Gambler”, and rockabilly Glen Glenn’s “Rains Rain”.
If there’s a statement of purpose to be found here, it’s the politically incorrect “I Like Booze”: “Well I don’t like working early, I don’t like working late/Tell the truth, I don’t like work at all/I just like getting paid,” Leach sings with glee. “I just like booze, I like to drink/And I like how booze makes me think/Alcohol is all I choose/I don’t like much, I just like booze.”
Leach ends matters on a somewhat higher plane, with an out-of-control take on Hank’s “I Saw The Light”. Truth be told, though, he still sounds like he’d prefer booze to eternal salvation.