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Jersey Beat review RUBY
ON THE VINE Twenty
years ago, Myrna Marcarian was parked behind a Farfisa organ, providing
feminist counterpoint to Bob Pfeifer’s dark and smokey urgency
in the Cleveland-turned-Hoboken garage band Human Switchboard. They
were one of the many great bands from America’s post-punk New
Wave beloved by the press but virtually unknown to the public, save
for a small, rabid fan base. Human Switchboard’s sole full-length
release, Who’s Landing In My Hangar, has been out of print
for 20 years, but the band’s name still rolls off the tongue
of long-lived rock critics who can’t forget the band’s
zesty intelligence, volatile sexual chemistry, and great songs.
Unable to find another record deal after the release of Hangar,
frontman Bob Pfeifer went on to a career in the record industry,
both in A&R and as president of Hollywood Records for a time;
he now owns his own management firm. Marcarian hung around Hoboken
but has been unheard since the release of a little-heard 1989 solo
EP, “Human Touch.” Now she’s back, fronting the New
York City-based folk/pop combo Ruby On The Vine. Partnered with
former Switchboard drummer Ron Metz and guitarist/co-songwriter
Geoff Feinberg, The World Of Days is a remarkable comeback, a fresh
and vibrant collection of songs that sounds as if Marcarian hasn’t
missed a beat despite a 14 year layoff. Switchboard’s best
songs were often driven by the combustible on again/off again romantic
relationship between Pfeifer and Marcarian; now, Marcarian’s
the older but wiser woman, still sultry and sexual, but less concerned
over issues of fidelity than she is with just getting it on. Purring
and wailing like the mature Patti Smith, Marcarian’s voice
sounds terrific, from slinky sex-kitten torch songs to passionate
ballads to driving, garagey (and yes, Switchboard-like) tracks like
“Little Demon” and “Why You Wanna Make Me Mad.”
The band’s been keeping a low-profile thus far but here’s
hoping 2004 sees Ruby On The Vine bring some of that old Human Switchboard
magic back to a NYC club scene that’s starved for a band with
this much substance and passion. (www.rubyonthevine.com)
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