BEAT RODEO’S SKEPTICAL RECEPTION

They breed cowpunks in New York, too, but Beat Rodeo’s sprightly set was greeted with polite skepticism at Club Lingerie on Saturday. One reason: For all their infectiousness, Steve Almaas and his band sound like local boys Rank & File in a cutesier and less compelling mode. The blend of country and pop was relatively unaffected, but they still wear their British influences better than their Nashville ones, and they might be better off as a straight power-pop band--more Beat(les) and less Rodeo.

Ex-Television guitarist Richard Lloyd followed with a set more characteristic of the Big Apple, playing hardball rock ‘n’ roll the way we haven’t heard it in these parts in ages. Lloyd’s manner was all grim determination, but his new music has a fabulous fighting spirit and the crowd swooned at watching a master guitarist bounce back from the brink with more emotional vitality than ever.