THE FLASHCUBES: Sportin' Wood

I don't remember writing this review of The Flashcubes' 2012 album Sportin' Wood: The Flashcubes Play The Songs Of Roy Wood, but I stumbled across it this morning and figured it needed an audience. The album went on to win the SAMMY (Syracuse Area Music Award) for Best Rock Album, and The Flashcubes were inducted into the SAMMYS Hall Of Fame in 2014. I just saw them play a live set in Rochester on Record Store Day this year, and I'm looking forward to their big 40th anniversary show at Funk 'N Waffles in Syracuse on September 1st. My all-time favorite Flashcubes song, "No Promise," will appear in a remixed version of the original 4-track on our own forthcoming compilation CD, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4.




The Flashcubes' new album, Sportin' Wood: The Flashcubes Play The Songs Of Roy Wood, is a tribute album in the truest sense. Rather than a self-aggrandizing set of covers that tries to distance itself from its original inspiration, or a slavish stack of pale imitations that make you long to hear the original instead, Sportin' Wood finds the magic, incandescent balance between spark and flame. It makes sense: an underrated but legendary power pop group takes on songs written by an underrated but legendary pop genius, and everyone wins. Roy Wood fans will delight in hearing The Flashcubes salute their hero's work in fine fashion; Flashcubes fans will be thrilled to hear a new 'Cubes album that's as irresistible as they always are. And anyone not yet familiar with either Roy Wood or The Flashcubes will find themselves an eager fan of both. Brilliant move.

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