Polkas for a Gloomy World
Polka for a Gloomy Worldbegins with "Hosa Dyna," an old European polka taken at a breakneck tempo. Near the end of the song, accordionist Carl Finch, the Brave Combo major-domo, shouts out, "Rock it, boys!" And the rest of the band does just that, proving once again that the ancient 2/4 Bohemian dance doesn't have to be a sleepy shuffle reserved for elderly aunts at wedding receptions. This album proves the polka can be every bit as invigorating as a Cajun two-step, another dance music rescued from wedding-reception hell.  Because Brave Combo is based in Texas--the nexus where German and Czech immigrants passed the polka and its favorite weapons, the squeezebox and the saxophone, to the local Mexican immigrants--the band draws on both the Old World and New World versions of the music, both Eddie Blazonczyk's "Polka Chips Polka" and Los Cuatros Tejanos de Monterey's "Eloina's Marbles." In addition to the half dozen traditional European polkas, Finch has written "Flying Saucer," an oompah tribute to UFOs, and has added new words to the well-worn polka standard, "In Heaven, There Is No Beer." Over Barnes' revved-up clarinet figure, Finch bellows that not only is there no beer in heaven but there is no sex or drugs either, so we might as well enjoy ourselves here. And Brave Combo plows through the song as if there's no tomorrow.Geoffrey Himes