POP MUSIC REVIEW : Wall of Voodoo at Coach House Shows No Sign of the Old Magic

Wall of Voodoo seems to be experiencing a bit of a power shortage these days as it operates without the services of bassist Bruce Moreland, who left and wasn’t replaced.

The Los Angeles-based foursome also appears low on drawing power; its show Wednesday at the Coach House was attended by barely enough folks to fill a grand jury box. And, most crucially, the concert suggested that Wall of Voodoo may be suffering a dwindling supply of creative power as well.

Wednesday’s show was among the band’s first official local dates in two years and was tied to the imminent release of a new album. So you figured that the set would be loaded with new songs and that the guys would be excited to play them for an audience.

Wrong. One of the very few tunes singer Andy Prieboy introduced as being on “the new album” was “The Grass Is Greener”--a choice cut from last year’s “Happy Planet” LP.

Huh?

Unfortunately, solving that mystery opens up a deeper, more disturbing one. Turns out the “new” collection is essentially a live album (that at least sports a characteristically kooky title: “The Ugly Americans in Australia (and in Bullhead City, AZ)”).

True, in concert Wall of Voodoo has always been offbeat, entertaining, even enchanting. But the band doesn’t really stretch out, change or otherwise rearrange its percolating spaghetti-Western sound on stage. There isn’t exactly a huge pop music contingent clamoring for a live LP.

There are three real new songs on “Ugly Americans,” one of which, “Living in the Red,” Prieboy introduced Wednesday as a “cheery song about living with a drug addict.” Though typically thin melodically, it bubbled along nicely with drummer Ned Leukhardt working overtime while Chas T. Gray splashed assorted keyboard colors, creating another sound track in search of a movie.

Otherwise, the evening was pretty much a rockin’ retrospective, from such early-’80s efforts as the delightfully tilted cover of “Ring of Fire” and the bizarro classic “Mexican Radio” to more recent Voodoo children, such as “Country of Man.”

Unfortunately, this format called more attention to the “Stan Gap” than the band probably really wants, “Stan” being Stanard Ridgway, the deadpan singer/resident smart-aleck/yarn spinner extraordinaire who left the group a few years ago.

The Stan-era songs Wall of Voodoo played Wednesday elicited the strongest response and, for the most part, were the strongest songs. The band wasn’t immobilized by Ridgway’s departure--it released two solid studio albums since he left. There are ways to put some definitive distance between the Ridgway reign and the current outfit, to make more progress and forge a new identity.

But putting out a live package that at least partly harks back to the Stan days seems like the last move Wall of Voodoo would want to make, unless the band simply couldn’t summon the creative powers to do anything else.

Opening act Little Caesar certainly qualifies for membership in rock’s Don’t-Judge-a-Book-by-Its-Cover club. When the quintet walked on stage with its shaggy-haired, black biker/head-banger T-shirts and the lead singer’s assorted tattoos, it looked as if we were in for a set of numbing hard rock--or even some noggin-rattling speed metal.

No such bad luck. Little Caesar did exhibit a muscular, hard-edged attack--no fooling around with any pansy pop here--but the group also has a highly developed melodic sense and lots of full, vocal harmonies. The band might not be everyone’s cup of noise, but don’t be surprised to find it popping up in record stores and on the radio one day soon.