Rage To Live

In 1978, I had the misfortune to see Rage to Live founder Ed Tomney's original band, the Necessaries, open for Johnny Thunders' Gang War (featuring Wayne Kramer) and the Clash at Clark University in Worcester, MA. After their set of mostly forgettable, ponderous pop punk, a waggish friend of mine who had accompanied me to the gig dismissed them as the "Un"-Necessaries and assumed they were out of our lives forever. Now here I am writing about Tomney's post-Necessaries project, Rage to Live, an excellent pop band. Man, life can be weird. Joining forces with singer Glenn Morrow (himself an ex-member of the terrific Individuals), Rage to Live played elegantly rockin' (if that's possible) pop that was part of the "Hoboken Sound" of post-punk New York, which gave the world great bands like the Feelies, the dB's, and the criminally underrated Wygals. Rage to Live fit into this scene like hand-in-glove, and despite recording only two albums (both of which have been issued on one CD), made some wonderful music. Their self-titled debut is a little tentative, but the songwriting and presentation are very strong, making Rage to Live one of the great left-field surprises of the mid-'80s. After the second album (Blame The Victims), RTL were no more. Tomney, indulging in his artier instincts, began working with Jonathan Borofsky, and Morrow has been keeping a low profile.