Finger
(Second Motion)
It's hard to imagine what early ‘90s underground rock fans thought of Finger. This kind of straightahead, no frills rock ‘n' roll - less informed by the Byrds, the Beatles and Big Star than by the Faces, the New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks - was in short supply back then, especially to an audience for whom anything overtly flashy, unleavened by slacker values, was akin to a sellout. Which was ludicrous on the face of it - the songs may have been tightly crafted and the musicianship ace, but the reckless, bash-it-out performances has more in common with Johnny Thunders than, say, Aerosmith. If the North Carolina combo was to exist now, it would be hailed alongside the other unreconstructed guitar bands shoved under the banner "garage rock" Instead, the very unfashionability (some might say timelessness) that made Finger stand out from the burgeoning alt.rock hordes condemned it to indifference and obscurity during its existence. (The group's fellow Tarheels in the moodier Snatches of Pink suffered the same fate.)
That's a shame, because Finger was more than just a minor curiosity: it was a damn good band. Still in Boxes: 1990-1994 makes that case quite nicely, compiling tracks retrieved from the quartet's lone album, singles, compilations and an unreleased session produced by Mitch Easter. Singer/guitarists Ricky Hicks and Brad Rice (the Accelerators, the Backsliders, Whiskeytown, Son Volt, Tift Merritt's and Keith Urban's bands), drummer/singer John Howie (the Two-Dollar Pistols) and bassist Jon Singletary (aided from time to time by other bashers, including Superchunk's Jon Wurster and Tommy Keene skinsman John Richardson) had the right chemistry, smarts and drive to coalesce into more than just a glorified bar band with future semi-famous members.
The guitars mesh like peanut butter and chocolate, the way great six-string teams should, and the vocals harmonies hit the perfect (extremely) ragged but right notes, like the Jacobites at their best. Fierce rockers like "Alice," "Vessel" and "Another State" and raw ballads (well, almost) like "Ship Full of Holes" and "The Awful Truth" are more than just fine examples of the roots rock-gone-blooey approach - they're well-honed, fully fleshed-out songs, the kind that would be just as well strummed on a couple of acoustics as they are blasted through Oranges and Marshalls. Finger had more to offer than being merely the perpetual regional opening act, and Still in Boxes is full of tunes that hold up as well as or better than the more popular or accepted work of their peers.
Alas, this package isn't complete - surely the band has a small enough catalog that it would be worth compiling everything, especially the complete Easter sessions. And the liner notes, while heartfelt and worth reading, don't identify from what source the songs come. But those are ultimately minor infractions - even with some gaps, Still in Boxes: 1990-1994 tells a rock ‘n' roll story that's as compelling as the work of the masters.
Standout Tracks: "Alice," "Drive By," "Vessel," "No Solution" MICHAEL TOLAND
