Runaway

Clever street smarts and raw wit elevated Jim Carroll's work with the Jim Carroll Band during the late '70s and early '80s. Ever the nonconformist, Carroll continues to seek out the obscure, with often delightful results. In the year 2000 the Runaway EP reveals that Carroll is still capable of successfully melding his biting wordplay and cultural criticism with rock & roll agitation. Runaway is classic Carroll, personably unpersonable and honestly sour with a rough-hewn demeanor. This five-track release includes three songs recorded by Carroll and band at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe in November 1998. Cathartic as always, he snarls through cuts like "I Want the Angel" and "It's Too Late." With clinking riffs and thrashing percussion, "Falling Down Laughing" from 1998's Pools of Mercury is even drowsier than the original version. Carroll's singing is eerie at times, and his cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway" is quite strange. Jim Carroll's impact is derived from a fully unfurled punk purity, still an inseparable part of his underlying persona. It's not his best, nor is it meant to be a solid introduction to new fans or a cemented mainstay die-hard followers.