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They're Really Rockin' in Boston

Trouser Press - May 1979
By Eric Van;
Reviews by Jim Green

Based on looks alone, you’d expect to find Sal Baglio behind the dishwashing machine at an Italian restaurant. In reality he fronts The Stompers, a four-piece whose ‘50’s roots tend to make them sound like a new wave bar band. Baglio may be the city’s greatest all around rock’n roll talent, singing in a powerful, expressive voice and playing dazzling guitar -- unselfconscious, almost naïve in its lack of “flash” (in the ego-trip guitar-hero sense), with a ‘50’s purist’ sound. As a songwriter, Baglio’s energies seem to be divided; there’s a lot of original ‘50s-based tunes, newly built from old parts, but his best songs are more interesting, with the band’s wall-of-organ-sound giving way to more complex keyboard parts a’la early/middle Springsteen, but in a stricter pop format. Baglio has commanding stage presence, too, exuding that overwhelming love of rock’n roll that revitalizes the corniest stage clichés. The fear here is that Baglio may love the old rock’n roll, and its Springsteen-pioneered updating, too much: The Stompers seem content to do things the classic way, which makes them no more than an impeccably tight and professional sounding bar band. But should Sal ever start hearing different things in that head of his . . . Don’t say I didn’t warn ya’.