POP MUSIC REVIEW : AUSSIES FIND IT’S HARD TO BE SAINTS IN THE CITY

In 1977, the Saints burst out of Australia with “I’m Stranded,” a charming little buzz saw of a single that has since been enshrined as a period classic by virtue of its being as definitive as it was archetypal of the whole punk-rock ramalama fa fa fa. . . .

Monday night at the Roxy--on the second date of its long overdue first U. S. tour--the quartet contrarily refused repeated requests for the number, concentrating instead on material from its latest album, “All Fools Day,” which begs the musical question: Is it true all good punk bands grow up to be the Rolling Stones?

Still, if the Saints are more pub-rock than punk-rock these days, there are worse fates. Chris Bailey sings in an agreeably throaty yarrugh , the band isn’t above livening things up with oddball versions of Ike & Tina Turner and Bay City Rollers (!) tunes, and when the affectedly smarmy ‘tween-tune show biz patter gives way to dust-storm balladry (“See You in Paradise”), you might think these working-class yobs have actually been down from the construction site long enough to learn more than one song.

Truthfully, this hour-’n’-20 set would have made for a fabulous evening at a surfer beer bar, but this was Hollywood, the Big Time, and until these rocket scientists either figure out an arrangement for “Know Your Product”--the band’s other great single from days of yore--that replicates the record’s pneumatic horn section, or comes up with some lead guitar riffs that provide an effective counterpoint to the rhythm guitar, the likelihood of this particular bar brand of thunder from Down Under making any real noise in the great American heartland is going to be based more on these Saints’ longevity than anything else.