The 1981 Listening Post - Twitch - Twitch and Shout

 Reviewed by Paul J Zickler

Released: 1981 Twitch Twitch And Shout Genre: Power Pop Rock Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Highlights: Ring True This Boy’s Got It What Do You Say Something I Can Touch Back in 1962, in a season 6 episode of The Flintstones, Rock Roll had a big hit in Bedrock with The Twitch, a dance craze record best known for the line, “Twitch, twitch.” Sixty years later, kids get their Twitch on via the video streaming chat app, best known as a gaming platform, but also handy for watching old movies while interacting with friends. Somewhere in between, Garwood Wallace, Bryan Pratt and Steve Feldman started a rock and roll band and named it Twitch. They released one long player, titled Twitch and Shout, on Bomb Records out of Toronto. Twitch were a Power Pop Power Trio, which is kind of fun to say. They seemed to be going for that New Wave look, based on the album cover and publicity photos. Musically, they were influenced not only by the usual suspects (Buddy Holly, Raspberries, Big Star, etc.), but also by Rockabilly, Boogie, Pub Rock, and even Stadium Rock (minus the distortion). Most of the songs don’t fit the New Wave blueprint, and the ragged performance energy and predominance of bass in the mix makes me think they really didn’t want to be New Wavers at all. Lead singer’s glasses aside, there’s precious little Elvis Costello influence here, a rarity in 1981, apparently. This is a pretty fun listen, even if none of it is earth shaking or life changing. There are a few missteps (not sure what they were going for with Take It Back – John Denver maybe?), but there are also highlights, all of which hint at a band that was probably very entertaining live. Ring True harnesses a Bo Diddley beat to channel some Stray Cats energy. This Boy’s Got It uses a simple but effective fifties rock guitar riff to propel a high speed romp with some stop and go rhythms. What Do You Say, which probably should have been a single, opens with a ZZ Top style boogie before downshifting into a sweet Power Pop chorus, throwing in a brief Loggins & Messina bridge and finally crashing down with a jamming fadeout. The irresistible Something I Can Touch piles up multiple hooks over a driving beat while telling the old sob story: “Staring at the microphone / I know you’re out there, but I feel alone / Give me a sign / Call out my name…” Clearly Mr. Wallace had some songwriting chops, and the band delivers the goods, especially on these tracks. Sadly, they only Twitched for a very short time, and as far as I can tell, they shall Twitch no more, forever.