POP MUSIC REVIEWS : N.Y.’S DEL-LORDS: FEELING’S GENUINE

In a time when leather jackets and jeans often look like an American rock fashion statement, New York’s Del-Lords wore them Tuesday night at the Palace like a second skin. The same was true of the quartet’s solid brand of straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll.

Though the show included all the standard trappings of the post-Springsteen New Sincerity (paeans to the working person, true love, favorite deejays, etc.), it was the encore of Freddy Cannon’s old “Tallahassee Lassie” that band leader Scott Kempner singled out as politically correct “because it has all the right chords.”

Both in concert and on their new “Johnny Comes Marching Home” album, the Del-Lords bring to mind what John Cougar Mellencamp might sound like if he had been born in a big city rather than a small town. On paper, the lyrics look a bit corny, but the music and obvious passion lift them.

On stage, the record’s crispness was replaced by raw urgency. From the pacifist “Soldier’s Home” (which Kempner dedicated to the 6th Fleet) to versions of Springsteen’s “Johnny 99” (done in near-a cappella, four-part harmony) and Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” the feeling for both music and subject matter came off as completely genuine.

The show was opened by the latest lineup of the Textones, with a batch of fine new songs and with perennial should-be-a-star Carla Olson still looking like she’s gonna be a star.