Pop Reviews : London Quireboys Face the Music

“We’re the London Quireboys and this is rock ‘n’ roll,” announced singer Spike as his band took the stage late Sunday at the Palace. Well, it was rock ‘n’ roll in about ‘73, as played by the Faces and the Stones. In 1990 it’s just old news, another band unable to come up with anything better to do than recycle old sounds.

At least the Quireboys recycled with some aplomb Sunday--there’s no denying the catchiness of many of their songs. But save for Spike’s au courant long-hair-and-bandanna rocker look, the show seemed like a mere tribute to a bygone era, right down to the English pub stage set and numerous now-unfashionable booze references, the two-guitar interplay of Guy Bailey and Guy Griffin (Ron Wood and Keith Richards oughta get royalties) and the pumping piano of Chris Johnstone (ditto for Ian McLagan).

For the clincher there’s Spike’s raspy voice, which as often as not is a dead ringer for Rod Stewart’s, especially on such mid-tempo fare as “Roses & Rings,” which sounded like a throwaway from Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells a Story” heyday. And even this copy is not unique, having already been served up by the Georgia Satellites and the Black Crowes.

The appeal? “I’d like something with its own sound, but it’s hard to find so I’m rehashing the past,” explained fan Anita Rivas, a former booking manager for a San Francisco nightclub. But will she still feel that way in five years when the Quireboys are rehashing “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”?