Detroit '85.Live & Unreleased

Carla Olson and her band the Textones were touring in support of the album Midnight Mission when they played a gig at Traxx, a rock club in Detroit, on July 26, 1985. The show was recorded for broadcast by the Westwood One radio network, and now Collectors' Choice Music has given the concert a belated release on CD. As heard on Detroit 85: Live and Unreleased, the Textones were a tight, polished, and professional live act at this point in their career -- almost a bit too polished and professional, as if they had traded a certain amount of energy and fire in exchange for slickness, and the sax solos from Tom Morgan, Jr. gives this music a cheesy undertow that blunts the edge of the guitar work by Olson and George Callins. (The band sounds tougher and cuts deeper on the songs like "No Love in You," where Morgan plays keyboards instead.) Olson's between-song patter also has the sound of someone who carefully practices what they would tell the crowd each night (name-dropping Judd Nelson sure doesn't help), and overall the show seems to lack a certain spontaneity. However, none of this changes the fact that if you look past Morgan's sub-Rindy Ross saxophone, the Textones were a solid band with plenty to say, and that Olson's passionate, soulful vocals earned her a loyal following for all the right reasons. Maybe the band's polish sapped some of their energy, but they still had plenty to spare, and not only was Olson a gifted songwriter, but she was a good judge of other folks' material, with some excellent lesser-known Bob Dylan and John Fogerty tunes dotting the set list. And after hiring Phil Seymour as drummer, Olson had the good sense to let him sing a few songs, and their version of Dwight Twilley's "Looking for the Magic" is a winner. Detroit 85 captures the Textones' failings as much as their virtues, but ultimately their strengths win out, and this document of Carla Olson and band in their prime is well worth a spin for loyal fans. ~ Mark Deming|