In 1987, Chicago’s Green dropped what is arguably the band's pièce de résistance, Elaine MacKenzie. You may never have heard of the band, but if you’re a fan of The Kinks, Big Star, or the Small Faces (not my analogy, that’s Ira Robbins writing in Spin magazine from 1988), you may find the band worth your while.
Hell, even if you’re not into those bands, you’ll still find the band worth the time.
Now, even though Greg Kot in the Chicago Tribune referred to Green as a “power pop trio,” I’ll leave that discussion to the experts. I’m not well-versed enough to enter the chatroom. Labels aside, Elaine MacKenzie is smart, and a hooky rock record that hits both the head and the gut.
After a revolving door of musicians, the dust settled as the trio of guitarist and singer Jeff Lescher, bass player Ken Kurson, and drummer Rich Clifton got down to the brass tacks of recording Elaine MacKenzie.
Of the 14 tracks on the album, all were written by Lescher except for "Beaten Into Submission" and "Fingerprints," which were penned by bass player Ken Kurson.
Elaine MacKenzie remains the band's gold standard because of its consistency, urgency, and refusal to waste a second across the 14 tracks.
The album has a relentless energy, and it never stumbles or coasts. It flows with a momentum that keeps the hooks in you. Even some of the lesser songs feel taut rather than indulgent, and never do they feel out of place.
Never a band to shy away from the jangly, the first track, “Up All Night,” gets its hooks into you right out of the gate. Singer Jeff Lescher leads with wiry riffs and a soulful sneer, as the band balances grit and melody to pure pop perfection.
When I first heard “Saturday Afternoon”, I thought it could very well be a lost track by The Kinks. With horns and a sly wink, the song feels like The Kinks reborn in Reagan-era Chicago, derivative and original in equal measure. It’s as much of an earworm as your favorite song by The Kinks.
Even the misses like the Kurson written “Beaten Into Submission” blend in, and thematically it’s a nice pairing to the song that follows, “Heavy Metal Kids”.
Elaine MacKenzie is one of those records that makes you want to punch the air and knock over your beer, because this is what rock and roll is supposed to sound like. Fourteen tracks, no fat, no filler, and no self-indulgence - just jangling guitars, barbed hooks, and vocals that would seem as though they’ve been marinated in equal parts of coffee, nicotine, and yearning.
Elaine MacKenzie doesn’t sag, doesn’t whine, and doesn’t blink: it just barrels forward, a record that refuses to let you be bored.
So, why does Elaine MacKenzie hold up today? Because it never really cared about being cool in the first place. It’s timeless, the way all great rock records are; it’s built on guts, sweat, hooks, and the idea that music still matters. The sound, jangly yet tough, pop-smart yet rock-driven, hasn’t aged into nostalgia; it still feels very much alive, brash, and immediate, and is a reminder that outstanding rock records don’t need flash, just songs that hit from every angle.
Sadly, it’s also a reminder that obscurity and greatness often share the same zip code, and sometimes it’s the records that don’t make history that are actually the ones that deserve to.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
After a few more rotations of musicians, and if we’re to believe the internet, Green is still an active band with current members Jeff Lescher, the mainstay of Green, Clay Tomasek (bass), Jason Mosher (guitar), and Mike Zelenko (drums). However, it’s worth noting that their Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2017.
As for former bass player Ken Kurson, his post-Green career led him far away from music and even netted him a presidential pardon. But that’s a story for another time.
