Well, we ain't got many right now. But if you can write better than that last sentence and you've been to a show recently- or even not so recently- we'd like to hear from you. Email your review of a Celtic Elvis performance, or Hard To Be Real , and if we like it, we'll put it in this space (though we may edit it a bit- no it ain't the bad reviews we fear, its more a space issue).

Send email Submit your review to the 'plum

Herald the return of Celtic Elvis!
First saw them as part of the Musicians Coffee House series back around 1986 or so; promptly bought their first tape (which they swapped later for a version they said was better; that first version should be a collector's item by now, huh, guys?). Signor Jim Ocean split the band up and tried to do serious stuff, but, as he said, "nobody came." So, literally by popular demand, we have the reconstituted, improved, spiffed-up, and just generally FUN congregation which is (and always was) Celtic Elvis - the quinessential "high-brow party band".
The full-time violinist is a welcome addition - particularly since the personalities of the new band blend so well together. In fact, it makes their earlier recordings seem somewhat empty (only by comparison, I hasten to add.)
They've always been a "live" band, and they have done us a service by making it possible to buy these "aural snapshots" of their performances. What would otherwise only be a golden moment of memory is, thankfully, available for purchase. Yet one more thing to be thankful for - Celtic Elvis is not dead (check the spelling on the stone!), and you can buy a piece of them!
Life is good.
respectfully, your fan and friend,
Robert English
(p.s. - when you comin' up to Oregon?)

Seeins as how I last saw the band a year ago in Pleasanton, it's hard to remember specifics. All you really need to know is that I will see them again this year. They simply keep you wanting to come back for more. There is only one word that can aptly describe their performance, and that word is "indescribable" Signed, One happy camper

The following was published in the Contra Costa (CA) Times, February 26, 1999.

Hot CoCo

Reconstituted Celtic Elvis as tart as they ever were

FRESH TRACKS

Pop/Rock

* WHAT: "Hard to Be Real"

* WHO: Celtic Elvis

* LABEL: Wildplum Records

* GRADE: B+

* CONCERT: Celtic Elvis performs 8 p.m. Saturday at the Amador Theater, 1155 Santa Rita Road, Pleasanton. $16. Call 925-229-2710. Also on the bill are the Edlos.

Celtic Elvis is what Broadway musicals would sound like if Tom Wolfe were president.

One of a handful of groups in the mid- to late-'80s that married the doo-wop tradition of close vocal harmony with cutting next-door neighbor," the refrain goes. That is, neighbors with dysfunctional marriages who own obnoxious dogs, deal drugs and burglarize your home.

The dissing continues in the title song. Ocean balances a sweet, poppy melody with this shot of vinegar: "Jessica's body is like chiffon;/she smooths it one fold at a time/But the surgical steel and the silicon/have had an effect on her mind./ When she's posing, she's looking so hot./But it's hard to be real when you're not."

The group returns to its a cappella roots for the 1950's-flavored "Help Me! Help Me! (I Think I'm Turning Into My Wife)" and finds a sort of Simon and Garfunkel groove for Westcott's "Celia." Martinez residents can take a weird sort of pride in "Singing in the Acid Rain," which includes a backhanded homage to Ocean's hometown.

So if you didn't buy a tape 10 years ago, if you find yourself thinking, "Gee, the Reagan years weren't half bad," get "Hard to Be Real" and get a reality check.

-- Mary Mazzocco, Times correspondent