chris cameron photo
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 18, 1987
By Steve Newton
Like most Aussie rock ‘n’ roll bands, Pseudo Echo shuns the fancy costume/big hairdo approach on which many British and American acts rely. Like their countrymen AC/DC, Angel City, and Midnight Oil, Pseudo Echo lets its own particular brand of music do the talkin’–and leaves the dressing-up to the crowd.
Last Friday (December 11) the band’s jeans ‘n’ t-shirt approach won over a much more fancily attired audience at the 86 Street Music Hall. With vocalist/guitarist Brian Canham taking the lead, the band worked through a well-balanced set of accessible dance tunes, most of them taken from Pseudo Echo’s last North American release, Love and Adventure (which is actually a compilation of the group’s last two Australian LPs).
Although some of the band’s material is a bit too streamlined and safe for these ears, Canham’s gritty guitar and drummer Vince Leigh’s rock-steady percussion made tunes like “A Beat For You” and “Living in a Dream” sound just fine.
Plenty of the 500-or-so fans that turned up for the show packed the dance floor during the night’s obvious fave, the group’s version of “Funkytown”. Another highlight was the band’s rather unusual choice for its encore, Kiss’s “Rock and Roll All Night.”