Mink DeVille is the best new-wave New York City-based band I’ve heard since Blondie. Like that group, it has superbly incorporated numerous influences. But whereas Blondie is rooted in mainstream pop-rock, Mink DeVille often proves redolent of urban R&B and Hispanic music; other reference points include fifties rock, Springsteen, early Velvet Underground, and Van Morrison’s Them period. Longtime Phil Spector arranger Jack Nitzsche turns in a masterly, understated production on Cabretta, and lead singer Willy DeVille milks his self-penned romantic vignettes for all they’re worth, which is plenty.

The album is available here.