Aural Fixations

STIV BATORS
Disconnected
(Bomp!)
The late Stiv Bators blazed across the underground rock galaxy as the amphetaminized singer for punk thugs the Dead Boys and iconoclastic Gothic hard rockers the Lords of the New Church. He's revered by fans of unrepentantly nasty, transgressive rock & roll as much as he's reviled by the arbiters of good taste. What many of the folks on both sides of the fence may not know is that between his stints in the Boys and the Lords, he headed to Los Angeles to cut a solo album. Originally released in 1980 and finally getting the reissue it deserves, Disconnected will probably surprise longtime friends and enemies. Working with a trio of power pop musicians (including former and future members of Blue Ash and Color Me Gone) and TSOL producer Thom Wilson, Bators successfully blends his on-the-edge bad boy persona with tuneful, singalong pop rock. The lead track "Evil Boy" is a perfect example: sneering "I am an evil boy" over an irresistible melody, Bators makes cartoon malevolence even more fun. "Make Up Your Mind" is almost tender as Bators asks the object of his affection to figure out her feelings for him, but there's an undercurrent of tension that suggests the singer is at the end of his patience. "Last Year of My Life" puts its desperate message against the sweetest melody on the record, while "Bad Luck Charm" could easily have an audience singing along with its author's declaration of ill intent. Bators hasn't put aside his trademark intensity, however, as he throws himself into the blazing rocker "A Million Miles Away" and the obligatory cover of the Electric Prunes' "I Had Too Much to Dream." Bators has his detractors, but it's difficult to argue against his work here.

The bonus cuts added to this edition might cause a bit of unrest, however. The "alternate" versions of "Evil Boy" and the silly "Swingin' a Go Go" aren't different enough from the originals to matter, while the live cover of the Syndicate of Sound's "Little Girl" finds Bators' much-maligned misogyny in full flower. The ending snippet of Bators imitating an aged black bluesman ordering take-out is so stupid it's neither funny nor particularly offensive—it's just puzzling. Only the instrumental "Crime in the Streets" is of interest, as it allows Bators' band to show off its mastery of tuneful power pop. Dubious extras aside, however, Disconnected is a great album that shows its infamous creator in a different light while still accenting the qualities that endeared him to a generation of bad attitude junkies in the first place. Michael Toland [buy it]