Consumer Guide Album

The Boomtown Rats: The Boomtown Rats [Mercury, 1978]
As the clash of punk guitars battled the swelling Springsteen-cum-Lizzy pseudoclimaxes, I began to suspect a fix, especially since record-bizzers have been heard to murmur fondly about the "musical" skill of these up-and-coming Irish nasties. But throughout a first side that often shifts mood but never quits, this is the real stuff, banging home the survival value of a brain unclogged by useless feelings. Unfortunately, side two bogs down in evocations of misogyny, boredom, and the plight of the young, all surrounding an apparent throwaway called "Close as You'll Ever Be" that ought to be a single. B+