Midtown

The Scruffs left their native Memphis to seek fame and fortune in New York City in 1979; they never did find it, and after a few years of struggling on the East Coast club circuit, leader Stephen Burns headed back home, where he tried to hold various lineups of the band together through the end of the 1980s. Midtown is a collection of odds and ends recorded between 1980 and 1988, with Burns the only constant performer among the 15 tracks. But if this album documents the slow collapse of a great band, it also proves Stephen Burns was writing and playing superb songs right up to the end. For the most part, Midtown captures the sound of an older and wiser Scruffs; the tempos are a bit slower, the guitars don't bark as loudly, and the melodies are a little more graceful. But thankfully, Burns still had an unerring ear for a great hook, and his obsession with the dark side of romance was still giving him fodder for his edgy, fascinating lyrics (he was also giving his sense of humor a bit more of a workout on songs like "(My Little) Russian Girl"). In a better world, "Things Are Green" and "When Donna Romances" would have been hit singles, and the live in the studio demo of "Secret Affair" hints at just how strong the Scruffs could be on stage. Midtown is evidence the Scruffs went through a lot after Wanna Meet the Scuffs? made them critics' darlings for a day, but it also proves they came though the experience as a strong, mature band that deserved (then as now) to be heard.