POP MUSIC REVIEW : Bruce Hornsby & Range Band Unveil Adventurousness, Energy at Pacific Amphitheatre Show

On their two albums, Bruce Hornsby & the Range have established a sound that is attractive, distinctive, but ultimately thin-blooded. There is no denying the craftsmanship in the playing and the intelligence in the lyrics, but the band is held back by its politesse.

On his 1986 No. 1 hit “The Way It Is” and on his current single “Look Out Any Window,” Hornsby’s graceful pianistics and wistful singing are so pleasant, and the music is so seamless, that they undermine potentially effective lyrics about racism and crimes against the ecology.

Those songs didn’t exactly turn into soul-searing Jeremiads in Hornsby’s concert Thursday night at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa. Still, they--and just about every song in the two-hour show--took on dimensions of adventure, playfulness and rocking energy that don’t emerge on the band’s recordings.

Hornsby didn’t completely staunch the flow of liquidity and crystalline piano lines that smack of New Age music or of tedious light jazz. But he more than compensated for them with extended passages of rhythmically inventive rock ‘n’ roll piano. Instead of sticking to the album versions of his songs, Hornsby repeatedly stretched them to allow himself and his four-man band room to show a more rambunctious side.

At his best, Hornsby was able to set up a rock rhythm of building intensity, let out some slack with a turn toward jazz and classical licks, then return to build up the rock foundation some more. It made sense when Hornsby & the Range broke into a sharp version of “I Know You Rider” by the Grateful Dead, those veteran practitioners of ebb-and-flow rock instrumentals.

For much of the show, Joe Puerta’s bass was annoyingly over-amplified, intruding on Hornsby’s vocals and taking away space that should have belonged to the band’s two strong guitarists, George Marinelli Jr. and Peter Harris.

But Puerta’s oomph came in handy toward the end as Hornsby and the Range turned from mid-tempo material to effective rockers, starting with a version of “Every Little Kiss” that got the crowd on its feet to stay.

Aside from Hornsby, hard-driving drummer John Molo was the Ranger who made the most of the opportunity to stretch out.

Hornsby, in his jeans and blue shirt, will probably never enroll in the Jerry Lee Lewis/Little Richard/Elton John school of flamboyant piano players. But he was a good-natured, smiling bandleader who had his share of fun bounding around the stage on numbers where he played accordion. He finished the show by pulling off a playful, gospel-blues version of “Quinn the Eskimo,” delivered as a mimicking tribute to Leon Russell. Hornsby should save a bit of that raw edge for his next album.

Opening act Pat McLaughlin played 35 minutes of classily rendered R & B and chunky rockers. His style was relaxed and easy without being laid back; a good deal of his set recalled the lighter side of John Hiatt.

There wasn’t time--and the large amphitheater may not have been the right place--for McLaughlin to establish any rapport with the audience. But with his lanky body contorted most of the time into a sideways question mark as he stood at the microphone, McLaughlin looked like an interesting fellow to get to know better. An expert backup band included two British aces, guitarist Billy Bremner and keyboardist Ian McLagan, who lived up to their reputations with good, rootsy soloing.