Fastbacks

Fastbacks' first album was slapped together from three sessions tracked out over 11 months (one in an actual recording studio, two on TEAC four-tracks in rehearsal studios), and as a result it lacks some of the punch and cohesion of their best work. But Kurt Bloch's songs were well worth hearing from the start, and ... And His Orchestra features several winners, including "K Street," "Seven Days," and the horn-enhanced "Wrong, Wrong, Wrong." And the band sounds tight and enthusiastic throughout, even if the audio sometimes lets them down; Fastbacks also come clean on their fondness for '70s hard rock with a ragged-but-right take on Sweet's "Set Me Free." A more than promising start for a band destined for better (if not always bigger) things. The CD reissue tacks on nine songs from the group's first two self-released EPs as a bonus. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide