Suddenly, he’s everywhere. With excellent career retrospective Impossible But True still fresh on the racks and reissues imminent, rock’n’roll’s very own Dorian Gray is more prominent now than at any time since he nurtured the career of The Runaways in 1976. With producer (and Shoeshine label head) Francis Macdonald providing the musical backdrop, Fowley proves the old school pop chops are still intact on the title track and blue-collar rocker “Misery Loves Company”. And though the limitations of Fowley’s gritty voice are apparent, his playfulness (Randy Newman-like “Armageddon After Dark”, Dylanesque “Captured By The Darkness”)?allied to his understanding of the danger and sex inherent in rock’n’roll on “22nd Century Boy”?are a joy.
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