The Jive Five

• Here We Are! [Ambient Sound, 1982] A-

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Here We Are! [Ambient Sound, 1982]
Won over by their yearning cover of Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen," which for once encompasses all the ironies of middle-aged acolytes singing teen music in a world whose teens are beguiled by almost middle-aged pop pros, I developed an addiction to side one, then checked out their Relic/Beltone best-of. A find, that one, not only unpretentious but fun (oh those pop impurities), and the beauty part is that on their mature album they've bettered themselves. Pitt's doowop has absorbed soul usages without getting soggy, and he writes (and rewrites) originals which neither abandon the style's romanticism nor turn it into a silly lie. Also, somebody up there knows how to pace and program an album. And isn't above fishing for hooks. A-