Garland Jeffreys - vocals, guitar; David Brown - guitar, vocals; Larry Hoppin - guitar, vocals; Lance Hoppin - bass, vocals; Timmy Cappella - keyboards, vocals; Jerry Moratta - drums, vocals
This show is the second of two nights recorded at New York's Bottom Line for the King Biscuit Flower Hour during 1978. That year was a big one for Garland Jeffreys, who had been signed by A&M and touted as "the next Bruce Springsteen."
The 11-plus minute version of "Spanish Town," about his existence in Spanish Harlem, is the highlight of this recording. "Wild In The Streets," and "Cool Down Boy," the two songs that most closely resemble what his contemporary, Bruce Springsteen, was doing at the time, were radio hits when this show was recorded in New York City.
Jeffreys also offers up a funky, urbanized remake of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry," but shines the most when he does his own lyrically compelling songs. On "35 Millimeter Dreams" he sings about a person who longs for the life they see through the camera lens. Unfortunately, two of his best songs, "Screamin' At Night and "Reelin' Deeper In Love," which close the show, are incomplete as they appear here.
Jeffreys never saw the commercial success he should have. He is a good musicians and a brilliant lyricist, but A&M seemed to lose interest in him when his record sales failed to take off. Thankfully, recordings like this one capture the spirit and soul behind the underrated rocker.