Album Review: The Carvels NYC – Live At The Cutting Room

The Carvels NYC released their new album “Live At The Cutting Room” at the end of last month via Die Laughing Records, the band are unashamedly influenced by the original NYC punk bands such as Blondie, Ramones and The Heartbreakers along with a smattering of sixties girl groups and a touch of Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground‘s laconic deadpan cool. “Live At The Cutting Room“ was originally planned to be recorded live in March 2020 in front of an audience at the The Cutting Room in NYC, unfortunately the event was canceled due to closure of music venues in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, unperturbed The Carvels NYC regrouped onstage in may 2020, distanced and masked, at the legendary, and sadly still empty, venue to record “Live At The Cutting Room“.

The Carvels NYC have their roots deep in the New York music scene, so it’s no surprise that the opening track on “Live At The Cutting Room” is a raw take on the Ramones classic ‘I Wanna Be Well‘, a track that was also chosen for the Real Sickies “Quarantined” album, that is fast becoming the perfect anthem for 2020. The album’s other eight cuts are predominantly old school punk rock with added sax flourishes and a powerful female lead vocal courtesy of Lynne Von Pang. Seven of the cuts on “Live At The Cutting Room” are originals from The Carvels NYC that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in CBGB‘s back in the day. To complete the NYC pedigree a version of  the Velvet Underground‘s ‘Candy Says‘ is also included which, at least to my ears, doesn’t quite sit comfortably amongst the downstroke driven punk rock.

Live albums are always a mixed bag, often muffled, far too often overdubbed and frequently just flat and lifelesss or drowned out by an overenthusiastic crowd, something that makes for an amazing atmosphere at a live show but unless you were there not so much on a recording. “Live At The Cutting Room” is a first for me this year, or at least since March, as the loss of the crowd gives this album the feel of a live in the studio recording, I appreciate that this is a minor plus point considering everything we’ve lost this year but right now I’ll take what I can get. The Carvels NYC couldn’t come from any other city on earth, although possibly the sax escaped from New Jersey, but this is a live recording of a band carrying on regardless and “Live At The Cutting Room” makes me glad they did.

“Live At The Cutting Room” can be streamed and purchased here