We’ve all been there before: you see a great live band, buy their record, and it’s a notch below your expectations. It happened with me and the Patsys. Instantly loved ‘em live, but the record I had to think about. I liked it but something was missing. I had to wonder if it was me or the beer I drank at the show or perhaps a change in the band’s line up. Both Sides Never washes that all away. This is the Patsys that bowled me over, the punked up R&B band whose sound lies between the Detroit Cobras and the Wiretaps. From the first cut through the last (a well-turned Stevie Wonder cover) there’s plenty of snarl, plenty of sweetness, and best of all, that spark missing from their last disc. Both Sides Never will be in steady rotation this summer. Mike Faloon
–guest (www.thepatsys.com)