Tav Falco & The Panther Burns "Shadow Dancer" 1995***

I've written about Tav Falco before: much more than a psychobilly singer, he's a writer, dancer, actor, photographer and all-around renaissance man. He came to rock after witnessing the extreme live show of The Cramps, in which he recognized something of Antonin Artaud's theatre of cruelty. Next to the primitive energy of The Cramps and boorish hooliganism of The Meteors, Tav Falco's Panther Burns expressed psychobilly's stylish artistic side, approaching each concert as a theatrical performance. While still spontaneous and lo-fi in true punk spirit, they gradually softened their sound and included various musical styles like jazz, tango, country and blues. With the exception of their their latest, "Conjurations...", their albums are mostly comprised by covers. Their choice of songs here displays impeccable taste and wide musical knowledge. He touches on rockabilly (Wanda Jackson's "Funnel of Love"). jazz/lounge (Dean Martin's "Sway", Tommy Dorsey's "Music Maestro Please"), rhythm n' blues (Jimmy Witherspoon's "Lotus Blossom", Bobby Bland's "I'll Take Care of You") and 60's pop (the Honeycombs' "Have I the Right?" and Dion's "Born to Cry"). He even applies himself to two of his self-confessed all-time favourite Italian retro pop hits: Little Tony Ciacci's upbeat ye-ye "Cuando Vedrai la Mia Raggazza" and dramatic ballad "Guarda Che Luna" (by Fred Buscaglione). He does admirably well on the Italian songs - or maybe I only think so because I'm not familiar with the originals. The band is certainly proficient enough (this album's players include veterans Alex Chilton and Jim Dickinson as well as Jim Sclavunos from The Cramps and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds), but Falco's singing ability is quite limited. Attitude and confidence serve him well in "Funnel of Love", but he comes up short when faced with classics like "Sway" and "I'll Take Care Of You". Generally, while his covers are well chosen and performed, they neither improve on the originals nor add an extra dimension to them. His own compositions are more interesting, flirting as they do with tango ("Born Too Late", "Shadow Dancer") and cinematic Morricone-esque balladry ("Love's Last Warning"). Supposedly they're from a movie called "Shadow Dancer" but I can't tell if it's a real film or a hoax. In any case, a pleasant but inessential album. 

**** for Funnel of Love, Quando Vedrai la Mia Ragazza, Born Too Late

*** for Invocation of the Shadow Dancer, Sway, Love's Last Warning, Born to Cry, Guarda Che Luna     

** for Lotus Blossom, I'll Take Care of You, Have I the Right?, Music Maestro Please!, Shadow Dancer (reprise)

Tav Falco & the Unapproachable Panther Burns "Conjurations: Séance For Deranged Lovers" 2010***

Tav Falco is a curious one. He is a proud son of Memphis Tennessee (Elvis' town) but has been living in Europe for more than 20 years. He formed his band, The Panther Burns, in 1979 together with veterans Alex Chilton and Jim Dickinson and has been leading that band (with an ever-changing line-up) all these years, but he's not content with just being a musician: He's also a cinematographer, performer artist, actor, tango dancer and writer. I used to think of Panther Burns as a psychobilly group (maybe because of their close connection to The Cramps). On the basis of this album, that's an  obvious oversimplification. "Gentleman in Black" is psychobilly but he also plays jazz, tango and psychedelia. "Ballad of the Rue de la Lane" is jangly psych-folk (Is it just me or does it really sound like Dylan's "It's All Over Now Baby Blue"?). "Sympathy for Mata Hari" reminds me of Billy Childish's lo-fi garage blues. Two tango numbers "Tango Fatale" and "Secret Rendezvous" combine beautifully the bandoneon with stinging rockabilly guitar licks. "Chamber of Desire" and "Garden of the Medici" are neo-psychedelic ballads with some nice harpsichord flourishes. The latter kinda reminds me of The Fuzztones while "Conjuration of Masques" sounds more like Calexico. This is an ambitious record by The Panther Burns. They display their competence at various genres, the production is rich, arrangements well thought of, sound is clean and crispy. Not what you'd expect from such an "underground" artist. I wanted to like this record but unfortunately I can't warm up to Falco's voice. He still seems an interesting character though, and I'll be sure to check him out live if I get the chance.

**** for Ballad of the Rue de la Lane, Gentleman in Black

*** for Tango Fatale, Secret Rendezvous, Garden of the Medici, Conjuration of Masques

** for Sympathy for Mata Hari, Chamber of Desire, Administrator Blues, Budapest, Lady from Shanghai, Phantôme Demoiselle