Finally a chance to scoop up so many of the cool UV Eye cuts from compilations and singles, along with a couple of choice new tunes. It's hard to explain how prolific a song-writer singer Jeff Charreaux is. He's got Iggy's growl, but the tunes get tripped out like rock 'n' roll Todd Rundgren or sick Syd Barrett. There's plenty of power-mod whomp and wry humor ala the Small Faces, too. Tricked-out studio wizardry makes even a two minute tune sound like an event. Jeff was hip enough to slam Courtney Love (the stinging "Courtney Love Song") before most of you ever heard of her. He sings smart tunes about girls who study Zen in junior college, and makes cover tunes all his own, like re-inventing the FM uber-rock classic dud "Godzilla" -amping it up and melding it with that big Nirvana tune that ripped it off so blatantly. Both complicated and effortlessly careless, Ultraviolet Eye is making some of the most compelling, undiscovered music I've heard in the last 10 years.
(Flipside)