I'm not going to go into the long and involved history of Certain General (see their MySpace) . Suffice it to say that they were a key aspect in the zeitgeist of NYC in the early 80s and the house band at Danceteria, yet, like the proverbial prophet, are held in higher esteem in Europe than in their hometown. An original line up reformed earlier this decade for a couple of shows including the 20 year re-union for the denizens of that illustrious club. This led to some major retrospective releases and some new material and ultimately, in 2007, a new UK album 'Invisible New York'. A band was got together to play a couple of shows - NYC & Philly - to mark it's release. For the occasion they recruited a new drummer and keyboard player to join the nucleus of guitarist Phil Gammage and vocalist Parker Dulany, who picked up the bass. The NYC show took place in what must be the oldest venue in NYC - the upstairs of a strip club in a building that dates back to 1804 and was once owned by Alexander Hamilton. The key elements of the CG sound are the almost spaghetti-ish drama of Gammage's lead lines, Dulany's apocalyptic croon, set on a bed of pulsing punk-funk. Here the drums were a bit more rockish, particularly during the early part of the set when the soundman had the kick turned up to 11, with the keys offering a lush cushion. I've picked 3 tunes: 'Nowhere' is a popular favourite from the early days, while both 'Young for the Sun' and 'Susie's Waiting' date from their 'Cabin Fever' release on French label Barclay in 1988.
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