THE UGLY DUCKLINGS S.N.A.F.U. (Other People’s Music) Rating: NN Rating: NN
Back in the groovy 60s, the Ugly Ducklings were Mick Jagger’s favourite Canadian band, garage-rock bad boys who made some noise with the Yorkville boho set. Now Yorkville’s a yupscale enclave of conspicuous consumption, and the sexy daredevils look more like balding insurance salesmen. They’re still churning out raunchy, bluesy old-time rock ‘n’ roll in the vein of the Stones and the Kinks, though, and lyrics like “No brains today/ They’ve all gone away” show they can still write like 20-something stoners. Seeing as everyone’s gushing over the Strokes’ garage-rock-revival shtick, it seems the Ducklings have picked a perfect time to remind us of the real deal. The Ugly Ducklings play the Horseshoe tonight (Thursday, February 21).
