POP CULTURE PRESS REVIEW OF 
     RIVERSIDE DRIVE 
                                                      BY LUKE TORN 

       ONE-MAN-BAND AND LONGTIME POP AUTEUR PETE HOLLY'S LATEST FINDS THE FORMER LOOK'S FRONTMAN HEADING OFF INTO A MORE SPACEY EXPERIMENTAL DIRECTION.CULLED FROM SESSIONS RECORDED OVER A THREE-YEAR PERIOD,"RIVERSIDE DRIVE" TRAVERSES EVERYTHING FROM 
BORDERLINE FUNK/HIP HOP TEXTURES TO TRADITIONAL ACOUSTIC SINGER -SONGWRITER FARE.THE DOWN-AND-DIRTY "LET IT RIP" IS THE TRACK THAT REALLY GRABBED ME,A BOOZY SOUNDING PIECE THAT SEEMS TO  CHANNEL A BIT OF ALEX CHILTON'S MADCAP SOUND FROM THE "SISTER LOVERS" PERIOD.CAN'T ARGUE WITH A LOW-KEY VIGNETTE CALLED "JESUS LIVES IN SAN BERNARDINO" EITHER,WHEREIN 'THE MAN' HANGS OUT IN HIS APARTMENT,ENJOYING "CABLE TV AND BUDWEISER BEER".POWER POP/77 PUNK AFICIONADOS WILL DIG THE THREE LIVE LOOK'S TRACKS TACKED ONTO THE END OF THE DISC. 

The following is a clip from The Idaho Press Tribune "In Touch" section...written by Gina Grate 10-30-98

Musician Pete Holly escapes a life of "diminishing returns"

Holly has been in Boise's music scene for two decades, as the leader of a garage band, a solo musician and now the owner of looks music Publishing. He knows wat it's like for musicians playing in Boise, and how prevalent drugs and alcohol are in music - addicitions he barely escaped himself. 

A veteran in Boise's music scene

The band played punk music, Holly said, strongly influenced by the New York Band television and their debut album "Marquee Moon". "Look Out Below", a song by Holly's band, made it onto two garage band compliation albums on the Bomp Records label: "Experiments in Destiny" 1980 and "Battle of the Garages" in 1981. The band also recorded a three song maxi-single for Bomp in Los Angeles. 

PETE HOLLY  

The Wizard of Garage  

(Look's Music) 

Pop Culture Press review issue 45 fall '98 

Pete Holly's been making critically-acclaimed cassettes of his homemade and homeplayed songs for quite some time. The Wizard of Garage is a CD collection of new and old highlights. While a decidely lo-fi affair, the album is overall quite charming and interesting. Holly's not the best singer, tending to waver around the notes a lot, but in a similar manner to Lucinda Williams, that just makes his primarily romantic songs sound that much more touching and vulnerable. 

In places it reminds me of Jonathan Richman, in places of a non-political Billy Bragg, yet all ultimately coming from a Beatles-descended power pop feel, even though many of the songs are just voice and acoustic guitars. Holly certainly has good taste and good influences, and it's easy to imagine many of these songs being successfully covered by other artists, much as happened with Austin's Daniel Johnston. Some of my favorites are "Hard To Love A Man (Who Loves His Guitar)," "Rock'n'Roll Street." and "Wish I Knew You." 

The Wizard of Garage is a quirky, but very likeable introduction to an artist who may very well become well-known, or at least a major cult success. Recommended, but not for everbody. (Kent H. Benjamin) 

The following article is from "Sound Advice" written by J.D. Hunter of the Boise Weekly-

The beat flows along predictably, the songs make simple sense, and, I'm not sure why, but the no surprise tunes of Pete Holly inspire. His seemingly-pointless-yet-poetic stories ramble on, relating subliminal information unbeknownst to ordinary consciousness. Holly describes the original punk movement, circa 1976, as a catalyst for his talent. He heard some songs from KBSU's student DJ's and also listened to some records from his art student, bass-playing friend Leonard, which turned him on to the edgy New Wave period at an early age. This introduction led to a band, inspired largely by seminal groups like Television, The Ramones, early Talking Heads, and Blondie, "who was playing ska, too, at the time" he says. Holly definitely developed his songwriting style from this angular punk aesthetic, along with a few Beatle-esque anomalies. He says his band was one of the few writing and playing original songs in Boise at the time. 
Holly's new CD, The Wizard of Garage, reflects both his past and present. Now recovered from a few hazier years, his talent reflects solid strumming experience and the ability to transform complex moods into catchy jingles. The mixture of this work ranges from acoustic to full band in a true garage production style. 

From: The Rocket #266 
By: Stewart Williams 

Boise Resident and former Look's Leader Pete Holly crafts a wonderfully low-fi pop collection that comes close to Guided by the Voices glory and Beatles infestation. Holly can't quite hit the notes like McCartney or Robert Pollard, but there's something endearing and not necessarily embarrassing about his waverings on songs like "Girl Dreams in Color" and "Hope I Didn't Miss You." Mildly mersey, hopelessly romantic and often poignant, Holly's 20 years of musicianship wear their influences with a gentle, understated quality.