A hunk of attitude, just like dad

May 10, 2005|Globe Correspondent

Of all the performers who've set foot on the Paradise stage over the years, Lisa Marie Presley undoubtedly has the greatest personal fortune. Something like that can be a liability for a singer trying to establish herself as a mold-breaking rebel on par with Pink (who appears on Presley's new ''Now What"). But Sunday's show suggested a performer capable of pulling off the attitude, even if the material didn't quite back her up.

With a slick backing band led by former Aimee Mann guitarist Michael Lockwood, Presley's snarly pop songs were serviceable enough, if nuance-free and a bit monotonous. Nearly all featured insistent midtempo guitars that gave way to roaring choruses as Presley sang in a voice reminiscent of the more powerful Martha Davis of the Motels. A two-song acoustic set midway through should have mixed things up, avoiding the sameness of the songs and the band's slavish duplication of the album versions, but ''The Road Between" and ''Now What" were such archetypal confessionals that they simply traded one formula for another.

Still, 600 Lisa Marie Presley fans can't be wrong -- the near-capacity crowd greeted her with open arms, and Presley repaid them by acknowledging just how much she owes them. After giving birthday wishes and other shoutouts to the Boston members of her website's fan forum, she enlisted everyone in the club to say hello to her mom when she tried calling her to play ''Raven" for Mother's Day (the performance, as it turns out, went into Priscilla's voice mail). Whatever Presley's faults as an artist, connecting with her audience isn't one of them. But if Presley has all the requisite skill and talent to be a viable performer, it's still not clear if that's enough to make her a good one.

Former Wild Colonials singer Angela McCluskey had no such problems as the opening act and was nothing if not comfortable onstage, singing pop songs in her husky but delicate voice. Playing to a house that was already nearly full, she made the most of it with numbers from her 2004 disc, ''The Things We Do," including a tender cover of The The's ''Love Is Stronger Than Death."