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Pariah Beat

Pariah Beat Radio | Vital
By BARRY THOMPSON  |  July 29, 2008
3.0 3.0 Stars
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It’s been fun watching Pariah Beat evolve from a pack of ex-Vermont woodland critters searching for a niche into a well-oiled, dark Americana/gospel/klezmer/polka (yeah, polka) machine that kills fascists and doesn’t need no stinking niche. They’re destined to amass a big kooky cult following, and reckless abandon has made their live show all the more phenomenal, but Pariah Beat Radio might have benefitted from some tactful restraint. The new release echoes the band’s former problem: for a while, out of some nine members, four or five made vital contributions while the rest played tambourine, washboard, or something equally superfluous. (No offense Tim, Patty, anybody’s girlfriend, or the three guys named Eli.) ’Twas fun, but impractical. Pariah Beat have since condensed into a steady quintet (though multi-instrumentalist wunderkind Billy Sharff might as well be six musicians in one). Radio is an 18-song, hour-long colossus of which much is amazing: “Come On In,” “City Far Away,” and “Tipperary,” to name a few. Some bits, however, feel disorderly next to their better-behaved neighbors. Pariah Beat put plenty of alt-country/punk-folk-type bands in town to shame, but they’re not up to Munly’s caliber . . . yet.
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