Brave Combo – Polka’s Revenge
Here’s a musical manifesto for you: “We live our lives wild and free/Visualize the world we want to see/We never settle for second best/No, no, no/Not at the polka fest.”
Are these people serious? You bet they are, though there’s no harm in also messing with listeners in a good-natured way. More than 25 years on, Brave Combo remains nigh irresistible to a lot of people who previously assumed they wouldn’t be caught dead listening to polkas and the like. Somehow, they’ve also managed in this time to win acceptance from polka’s core constituency. Through all the personnel changes, they’ve continued to gleefully challenge commonly-held notions about what pop music might be.
This is one of their best records, hard-core yet totally accessible, if your ears are big enough to absorb adaptations of the Who’s “I Can See For Miles,” Bach’s “Joy Waltz”, and the Connecticut Twins’ “Holiday In Poland” in one sitting. Brave Combo’s secret is probably that they blend peerless musicians (Jeffrey Barnes on tenor sax, clarinet, harmonica, gong, French horn, didgeridoo and tambourine) with garage-band bashers (leader Carl Finch on accordion, keyboards and guitar). The combination creates some beautiful chaos, as well as infectious tunes and a barrel of laughs.
It may not be for everyone. But as papa Chuck once pointed out, “C’est la vie say the old folks/It goes to show you never can tell.”