Copyright 1993 McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.    
Sacramento Bee
July 20, 1993, METRO FINAL
SECTION: SCENE; Pg. D3
LENGTH: 947 words
HEADLINE: JELLYFISH PLAYS '70S POP WITH '90S BACKBONE
BYLINE: David Barton, Bee Pop Music Critic
BODY:

     "Remember "The Partridge Family'?" Andy Sturmer of Jellyfish
asked the crowd at Sunday night's concert at the Radisson Hotel.
"They'd always finish an episode playing in a hotel. And I always
wondered, "What kind of band plays a hotel?' "
     He paused before answering his own question: "We do!"
     Which is not to say that Bay Area quartet Jellyfish resembles
the Partridge Family, a relic of the bubble-gum '70s that can only
be seen in the '90s on Nick at Nite. But Sturmer's question raised
another: What kind of band is Jellyfish? 
     And another: How can a band seemingly obsessed with such '70s
cultural ephemera as the Partridge Family and Peter Frampton (which
is how Sturmer repeatedly introduced new Jellyfish guitarist Eric
Dover) create music so wonderfully turned out?
     After all, aren't we repeatedly told that the '70s were a loss
until rock got authentic with punk in 1977?
     Jellyfish rejects that critical formula, instead revelling in
the music of the early '70s (and '60s) and filling its album covers
and T-shirts with images of candied fruit, electric blue icing,
multicolored breakfast cereals and evanescent bubbles.
     "There," they seem to be saying, "Just try taking this
seriously."
     But in fact, they do take it seriously, and Sunday night's
80-minute concert was a wonderfully played and beautifully sung
example of what Jellyfish does: post-modern bubble-gum rock that
owes its musical fealty to the Beatles but which shows the lessons
 of the Who, the Ramones, the Beach Boys, Queen and many others.
     Led by Sturmer, who plays drums at a special kit that allows
him to stand up and sing at the front of the stage, the band laid
to rest any suspicions that it might be a sweet concoction without
any musical merit.
     Instead, Sturmer and his songwriting partner Roger Manning,
who plays guitar and keyboards, along with Dover and bassist Tim
Smith, were a musical powerhouse. Possessed of a tremendous sense
of dynamics (it pays to have a songwriting drummer) and having 
honed their four-part vocal harmonies to near-perfection, the band
turned in some jaw-droppingly beautiful performances.
     From the Queen-inspired dynamics of "Joining a Fan Club" and
the guitar interplay on a cover of Badfinger's "No Matter What" to
vocal harmonies on "The Ghost At Number One" that would have
pleased the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, the group was exact in its 
re-creations of what were nearly all of the songs on its two
albums, "Bellybutton" and "Spilt Milk."
     And while reproducing the intricacies of their two albums --
greatly helped by excellent sound -- they also performed with
verve, turning what might have been a technically perfect recital
into an energetic experience.  It climaxed with the thunderous "A
ll I Want Is Everything," with Lyle Workman (formerly of
Sacramento's Bourgeois Tagg) guesting on lead guitar.
     Just as important, Sturmer proved to be a witty master of
ceremonies, describing road food ("Remember when you were a kid and
you'd say, "When I grow up, all I'm gonna eat is pizza'? Be careful
what you wish for. . . ") and deftly handling a noisy Slayer
 fan in front of the stage.
     Alas, the market for Jellyfish's sly '70s retro pop may
already be shrinking. Despite the pleasures of the albums and the
group's skilled live performance, the band drew only a few hundred
people, despite having sold out the 950-seat Crest on its last to
ur.
     To be sure, Jellyfish doesn't create great rock 'n' roll --
the members are wise not to take themselves too seriously because
they're not in the same league as the people from whom they've
gotten their best stuff -- but Sunday they paid homage with passi
on, skill and love, and delivered an evening of hummable fun.