SEVENTY SEVENS

PRAY NAKED

EIGHTY EIGHTS

TOM TOM BLUES

"The 77's will take you on a journey through the past, present, and future of rock & roll" - Island Records radio advertisement, 1987.

The 77s have been on this journey for over twenty years. Michael Roe, guitars/vocals, Mark Harmon, bass, and Bruce Spencer, drums, have been at the core of the band for many years. All three are exemplary musicians and composers; on any given night fans are fixated on what one of the band members is pulling off. To take it all in can be fascinating, even exhilarating. For anyone truly in love with rock & roll, who loved passion, hooks, harmony, three (or four) chords and the truth, here was a band that delivered. What the 7's had that the other bands didn't was the history of all rock & roll breathing and pulsating under a brand new sound... Jerry Lee, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, all there right in the room with more contemporary influences like The Smiths or the Comsat Angels.

Live, the shows were increasingly incendiary, Mike Roe channeling everything that had come before him and spitting out a new vision on guitar and vocals long into the night. If your idea of a great time was coming to a place where The Velvet Underground and U2 might meet, this was it.
Want to hear the last great power trio album? Try Tom Tom Blues. Thought progressive pop was dead? Listen to ep. Drowning With Land In Sight took on Led Zep and found the soul of Blind Willie Johnson underneath. A Golden Field Of Radioactive Crows is about as nervously edgy as an album bleeding with gorgeous melodies can get. Through it all, the lyrics are as much a key to the appeal of this band as the music is - these are lyrics you can relate to. For everyone who's been burned in relationships, let down by family, friends, and life - had their faith consistently challenged and wondered how to keep afloat, the songs let you know they've been there, done that - indeed, doing that - and yet provide a sense of hope amidst the loss.

Oh, and they still kick ass live. Go see them, and find out what is still one of America's criminally best-kept secrets. On a good night, you'll go home happy and satisfied. On a great night, and they are still comin', you'll feel you just saw a torch being passed on. And you were there.