Tonight: Average White Band in Concert

Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme that cake. Okay, as lyricists, Scotland's '70s funk group Average White Band were not exactly the Lennon and McCartney of love song writers (and while it is about as romantic as being drooled on by a drunk in a bar, "Cut the Cake" is technically a "love" song). Sporting a solid line-up that still features two of the original AWB members (Alan Gorrie on bass/vocals and Onnie McIntyre on guitar), this much-more-than-a-slice offering, recorded in L.A.'s House of Blues on June 17, 2000, finds the band laying down an invigorating groove on their aforementioned signature song, as well as hits and favorites "Pick Up the Pieces," "Person to Person," "If I Ever Lose This Heaven," "School Boy Crush," and "Work to Do." Newcomers Eliot Lewis (shared vocals), Adam Deitch (drums), and Fred Vigdor (saxophone) pick up the missing AWB pieces very nicely, with Vigdor's velvet blowing, especially, a solid replacement for Malcolm Duncan's legendary tenor sax. Unfortunately, the disc includes brief interview clips interwoven throughout the concert that tend to be both interruptive and repetitive. Otherwise, this play-that-funky-music-white-boys reunion, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, is a winner. Recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)