Rock & Roll This. Rock & Roll That: Best Case Scenario. You've Got Mumps

In rock & roll, theres sometimes a price to pay for being too smart, and the Mumps were a band who suffered for imagining their audience was as clever as they were. Like a less pretentious, less Eurocentric, and harder-rocking version of Sparks, the Mumps werent precious about themselves or their music, but they had zero interest in dumbing down their witty observations on various aspects of contemporary culture. And just because you could dance to their music, that didnt mean everyone was going to understand the punch lines. Of course, it didnt help that in their 1975 to 1979 lifespan, their lead singer, Lance Loud, was a reality TV star before anyone had figured out what that meant, or that Loud and keyboard player and primary songwriter Kristian Hoffman were out-and-proud gay men who were certainly aware of how being out of the closet had recently killed Jobriaths career before it could get up on its feet. If stardom or even a record deal eluded the Mumps in their time, that didnt change the fact they wrote wickedly funny pop songs that could actually rock, and 2021s Rock & Roll This, Rock & Roll That: Best Case Scenario, Youve Got Mumps brings together 21 should-have-been-hits drawn from the two singles they issued, studio outtakes, and plentiful demos that confirm how ridiculously good they could be. Lance Loud was an outstanding frontman whose charisma and savvy more than compensated for his (very) occasional failings as a vocalist, and he and his bandmates knew how to make the most of Hoffmans great tunes, such as That Fatal Charm, Crocodile Tears, and the title cut. This marks the third time the Mumps recorded legacy has been released on CD (following 1994s Fatal Charm and 2005s How I Saved the World, both out of print), and the main thing that sets this apart from the previous collections is the presence of two songs from the pre-Mumps group Loud, which are fine but a bit thin compared to what came just a year or two later. That said, this set is well packaged, has wonderful essays from friends, family, and former members of the group, and boasts fine remastering, making it the best presentation of this music to date. If ever there was a band from the 1970s New York new wave scene that deserved wider exposure in the 2020s, its most certainly the Mumps, and Rock & Roll This, Rock & Roll That: Best Case Scenario, Youve Got Mumps is an ideal opportunity to find out what youve (probably) been missing. ~ Mark Deming