The Lyres "The Early Years 1979-1983" - Live At Cantones And WERS-FM - 1997

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Dig the crazy sounds bustin' out of yo' speakers fillin' the room with the grease and prime raunch of the mighty Lyres! This record blows 90% of what passed for garage rock in the 80's away and threatens to inflict total destruction on lame-o acts like the Hives and Strokes! Mono and his crew can take almost any 60's tune and turn it into pure, souled-out gold! Listen as The Lyres give tunes like "soapy", "love man" and "swing shift" the Mono treatment and come out wailin'! Dig it. - By jason gilmour (Toronto, Ontario)
This recordings are as vital as Jonathan Richman' Precise Modern Lovers Order, with the essential difference that Jeff Connolly and his band are still doing the same music today, in the quest of the Grail of the perfect garage sound. These "Early years" are great because you can verify there that when the Lyres are inspired as they are some evenings, they are the most fantastic rockin' band one can imagine. THIS RECORD IS A PURE NUGGET and its speeds up a 100 miles per hour. You can nearly feel the sweat beads coming of Jeff's hair to your face. A great collection of classic Lyres songs and covers, they are all there, plus some "dialogues" with famous persons in the audience like Franck Rowe of the Classic Ruins, the Lyres are covering "Geraldine" so cleverly it sounds like a product of their own. Jim Topper is introducing the band and exalting his admiration speaking of its "majesticity". Bob Colby, famous for the "boob" - see the Real Kids first album - asks for "let's get a Party" and of course Jeff Monoman is treating the audience as if he was giving the ultimate party of the sixties.
What is very interesting in these recordings is the addition of very early gigs parts. Listening to this makes you feel like you cannot believe it, this transition from DMZ to the Lyres was like some evanescent secret which we can discover here.. Just hear "long gone" and its sequel "gone gone" , its incredibly speeding up tempo , the Lyres were really there the knights of the soda fountains.. I am happy they are still existing and that Jeff has never given up. - By Jacques BALL (PARIS , France)

trax:
01 Never Met A Girl Like You Before 02 Soapy 03 Gonna Find A New Love 04 I Really Want You Right Now 05 Swing Shift 06 Take A Look At Me 07 Buried Alive 08 Tryin' Just To Please You 09 The Way I Feel About You 10 Nobody But Me 11 Busy Body 12 What A Girl Can't Do 13 Let's Have A Party 14 100 CC 15 Little Sally Tease 16 Let's Talk About Girls 17 How Do You Know 18 Ain't That Lovin' You Baby 19 Geraldine 20 Love Man 21 Lily 22 Skinny Minnie 23 Since You_ve Been Gone 24 Long Gone