Great Review of The Cucumbers!

The Cucumbers / The Fake Doom Years (1983-1986) / Lifeforce (www.thecucumbers.net)
Part of the 1980s Hoboken scene that also spawned The Feelies, The Bongos, Yo La Tengo, The Fleshtones, The dB’s, and Rage to Live, The Cucumbers were the most adorable of the bunch, The college sweethearts, then husband-and-wife team of vocalist-guitarists Deena Shoskes and Jon Fried penned a catchy, comic catalog first heard on the local indie Fake Doom Records. Before the advent of CD, the Cukes released three critically acclaimed vinyl efforts for Fake Doom that landed them on MTV and in Rolling Stone: the 1983 self-titled EP, the 1985 full-length, “Who Betrays Me … and Other Happier Songs,” and the 1986 single of the Elvis Presley classic “All Shook Up.”
Now available digitally for the first time, the three releases have been collected on the 19-song “The Fake Doom Years (1983-1986).” If you love indie pop, then you’ll dig one of its local pioneers. If The Cucumbers’ biggest hit, “My Boyfriend,” doesn’t make you tap your toe, check your pulse.
The 1985-era band, featuring John Williams on bass and Yuergen Renner on drums, will perform one show only to celebrate the release of the digital retrospective on May 13 at the nonprofit Rent Party in Maplewood. http://rentpartylive.com/.

- Bob Makin