Truly Wows the Moroccan Lounge, TrulyThis writer can remember when Seattle trio Truly's sophomore album, Fast Stories... from Kid Coma dropped in 1995. Happening upon it by accident, the opening tracks "Blue Flame Ford" kicked in like a buzzsaw--all fuzzy fury, drone and sludge, but blessed with poetic, incisive lyrics.

The knowledge that bassist Hiro Yamamoto was a founding member of Soundgarden came later, and it proved to be a nice little info-nugget. But Truly was an excellent stand-alone band, and that's still true following Truly's comeback.

That said, it was wonderful to see Yamamoto included when Soundgarden was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year. His contributions to the Ultramega OK and Louder Than Love albums certainly warranted the honor.

Truly's last album, Twilight Curtains, was released in 2000 (26 years ago, incredibly), and the criminally light crowd at the Moroccan Lounge suggests that they have some work to do to remind people of their existence. New material can't come soon enough.

For now, we'll have to enjoy the back catalog, and the band performed the old songs impeccably well in L.A. on a late-Winter Wednesday night. The only complaint was the brevity of the set. They started at 8 p.m. and played for less than an hour. One can only assume that they had to get on the road fast for the next gig.

But the aforementioned "Blue Flame Ford" and other tunes from that second album ("Hot Summer 1991," "Chlorine," "Hurricane Dance") went down beautifully. Frontman Robert Roth can still hold a smooth note, belting out vivid lyrics when required. And both Roth and Yamamoto were visibly thrilled to be briefly joined by keys-man Don Randi (Wrecking Crew, Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made for Walking," much more).

A new song (we didn't catch a title) hinted at good days ahead. But it's just great to have them back. Truly.The post Truly Wows the Moroccan Lounge, Truly first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.