POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Davis Checks In as Strong Soloist

From the beginning, the Motels’ concerts were always much better than their records. The same still appears to hold true for former Motels leader Martha Davis, who made her solo debut Friday at the Coach House in a show that was also sort of like a holiday party--but much better.

The club was packed, yet the show’s intimacy, informality and spirit suggested a small group of Davis’ friends and family dropping by for a holiday gathering. Instead of carols, though, the music was all of her new “Policy” album and older Motels tunes.

The crowd’s extraordinary affection and support further suggested that the room was filled with family and friends. Coupled with Davis’ own response, it all made for an enormously moving--not to mention pretty successful--evening.

The effect of the audience cheering her on was noticeable from the outset. It gradually helped push Davis from uneasiness--she seemed very nervous on the opening “Lust”--to absolute joy and confidence. By the final encore, “Mission of Mercy,” she was every bit the commanding, charismatic figure of the Motels’ heyday. And everyone--on stage and off--was beaming.

That she pulled a triumph out of her first performance in two years was nice, but what was truly interesting was the path to that triumph--comparable, in some ways, to the psychodramas she used to write, like “Celia.”

Singing the new “Lust” tentatively, she remained planted in front of the mike stand. Visibly cheered by the thunderous applause that greeted that song, she relaxed a bit as her sextet kicked into “Danger” and began her trademark stage stalk.

By mid-set, following the “Celia”/”Total Control” coupling--a staple of early Motels shows--she appeared confident, in total control herself. But it wasn’t like she had to check back in to the Motels for the night’s most powerful moments. In fact, after “Control,” she presented a seven-song block of “Policy” material, and the first of those, “Just Like You,” elicited a more fervent response than any of the tunes that preceded it.

That the new stuff went over so well made sense--and, of course, made Davis plenty happy. Whatever you think about the safer, slicker road Davis traveled with the Motels in recent years and now even on her own album, she has become a more versatile and evocative singer, which came through loud and clear Friday. And her increased sophistication as a vocal stylist really does demand more sophisticated material, even if we might pine for some of the starker, grittier edges of her early work.

Toward the end of the set, she again responded to how well the show was going, and the crowd’s outpouring, by saying: “This is the best Christmas present I ever got.” Just then someone in the audience handed her a bouquet of roses. Where many performers would utter an obligatory “thanks” and cast the flowers aside, Davis absolutely melted--closing her eyes and clutching the roses to her. It was a wonderfully touching moment in a wonderfully triumphant evening.

Opening the show was Marvin Etzioni, the former member of Lone Justice who wrote some of that group’s better songs when it was still one of L.A.’s best bands. Etzioni now fronts a low-profile group--Long Tall Marvin--that is rapidly becoming one of L.A.’s best bands.

On Friday, however, Etzioni was working solo and struggling against a very talky crowd but still turned in a fine (albeit brief) performance. He’s a superior tunesmith and his songs, which typically grapple with spiritual or carnal feelings--and especially the conflict between the two--took on an even more poignant tone in this stripped-down format.