The Scene Is Now

On their third album, Tonight We Ride, originally released in 1988, Lower East Side avant-roots eccentrics the Scene Is Now prove themselves unusually empathetic chroniclers of street life in down-and-out New York neighborhoods. Coney Island cover shots and an opening lullaby that feels like summer on the waterside set the mood. After the undertow and flickering fireflies of "Moonlight Broil," they leap into Bo Diddley-beat bebop, a twisted garage rave-up with lyrics from Shakespeare, off-kilter boogie-woogie, and food talk galore: sorghum, sour pickles, butter-fried apples.