Alter Boys

  • Alter Boys
  • Soul Desire (Big Time) 1987 

The Dictators’ Andy Shernoff may have produced the only LP by New York’s Alter Boys, but the group’s roots seem closer to two other great erstwhile Gotham bands — Television and the Velvet Underground. The two guitarists seem promising enough, but they often seem held back by the relatively stiff rhythm section; the band sounds most comfortable on its best (and most Television-like) number, “One Eye Only,” and “Sweet Blossom Mary,” which borrows its chorus from “Anarchy in the UK.” Depressives may enjoy the more VU-oriented gloom-and-doom of numbers like “Mid-Winter Deathtrip” and “Dry-Out Center.”

[Dave Schulps]