REVIEW OF TUFF JEFF'S SOLO DEBUT"THE ENDLESS ROAD" (FOUNTAINBLEU 2005) – by Syl Nathans of www.goodtimesmag.com

Go ahead; stick The Endless Road into your CD player. You'll wonder if you're listening to Mott the Hoople…or is it the Tuff Darts? Mick Ronson? Wait, is this a new CD? Yes, it is, and it's coming at just the right time. "Tuff" Jeff Salen, founding member of Tuff Darts, returns with a rocking, unpretentious, upbeat album that is so thoroughly enjoyable that you'll fall in love with rock all over again. Salen is the furthest thing from hip and cool, which, of course, makes him the hippest, coolest guy you'll listen to this year.

Despite his elder statesman status, Salen still sounds like he's in his prime-which he certainly is as a songwriter. The title track is as much homage to his lengthy rock career as it is a testament to the touring life. It's so earnest that despite its late-seventies Brit-rock feel, you'll choke back a tear, wistful for the days of Mott, T.Rex, and, of course, Tuff Darts.

The performances on the disk are Minute Rice perfect, as Salen re-reveals his guitar skills, but guest performances by Tommy Ramone, Jon Paris, bluesman "Big" Ed Sullivan, Marcus Milius, and vocalists Tommy Frenzy, Anastasia Rene, and Amy Krebs add pizzazz to the proceedings.

Real, rootsy, actual rock & roll is a long way from being dead, so don't believe the naysayers. As long as true blue rockers such as Salen keep the flame alive, the torch is in very good hands.

MORE REVIEWS OF TUFF JEFF'S SOLO DEBUT"THE ENDLESS ROAD" (FOUNTAINBLEU 2005)

Click on the links below and hear what the critics are saying about Tuff Jeff's Fountainbleu debut, "The Endless Road". The album is now available online and in stores.

from the webzine Smother,

from the webzine Rock Is Life, and

from the webzine Classic Rock Revisited.

New York Press Readers Poll, Best of 2003

BEST OLD-FART PUNK BAND REUNION – The Tuff Darts

Still getting it up. No one song has nailed a New Yorker’s complicated relationship to his city more accurately than the track “Fun City” off the Tuff Darts’ eponymous 1987 LP. Nobody can touch a chorus like, “I’m sick of the crap I gotta take in this town/If I didn’t love it I swear I’d burn it to the ground.” Not Lou Reed, not Tom Verlaine, not the Ramones and definitely not the cream of the latest crop of New York bands. Their sound is best summed up as a wiseass combination of the New York Dolls and Cheap Trick with some bluesy riffing (you know, back when punk bands were allowed to know how to play).

The Tuff Darts dropped out of musical history, preserved only by obscurities like Amos Poe and Ivan Kral’s shaky b&w documentary Blank Generation and by old-schoolers like John Holmstrom and Hilly Kristal. That is, until they turned up at CBGB for a reunion gig earlier this year, which has since been followed by a string of other club dates.

Have we gone to see them? Dear lord, no, it might actually prove more depressing than seeing the Sex Pistols. Like learning your parents still fuck, it’s just nice to know they’re still able to do it.

New York Times – TowerRecords Top 10 Best Indie Rock Record of the Year, January 12, 2003

7. Tuff Darts – Tuff Darts

Rolling Stone Magazine

There have been times when listening to a new Sparks album was a fate worse than death. Keyboard player/songwriter Ron Mael in his white shirt, narrow tie, slicked-down hair and Hitlerian moustache and his singing brother Russ in fashionable Seventies dress and pretty-boy poses, offered a visual completeness to the group’s sound – speeded-up vocals with plenty of echo in pale imitations of Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics, with rock and vaudeville clashing underneath. Their following in America has been small but fanatical; if nothing else, they were something completely different.

Big Beat, as the title implies, represents a change. The look is the same but the sound certainly isn’t. One notices that Russel Mael Fares rather well without all the studio trickery. More importantly, Sparks can rock. Using musicians with a mid-Sixties beat, Sparks come up with an album that’s not only listenable, but often fun. Ron keeps his music-hall tendencies in the background, leaving most of the performing space for guitarist Jeffrey Salen, who skillfully brings a new edge to the songs. “Fill-Er-Up,” for instance, may be the first Sparks song in which lyrics are subordinate to music, the verses functioning only as spaces between the searing solos. The infectiousness of such tracks as “Big Boy” and “I Like Girls” is undeniable even though Mael’s lyrics are still more cheeky than tongue-in-cheek. Whether Big Beat will bring Sparks the larger audience they’re seeking is questionable – they’re still mighty strange. But it’s certainly a few huge steps in the right direction.

Melody Maker

…some raunchy playing by the band, especially guitarist Jeffrey Salen, whose solos really stand out…

Playboy Magazine

Tuff Darts are the stars of Atlantic Records’ Live at CBGB’s anthology which captured in-person performances at the New York rock hot spot by a number of mostly forgettable bands. Tuff Darts’ tight, uncompromising riff-rock sparked by Jeff Salem’s guitar, is anything but forgettable. Recently, they replaced their drummer and singer and traded in their “Al Capone look” dark suits for more conventional U.K. flask outfits, with results yet to be determined. But All for the Love of Rock ‘n’ Roll could be the New Wave’s call to arms.

Aquarian Magazine

During the entire set, Jeff Salen, comparable to the Micks, Ronson and Ralphs, carried on with poignant guitar playing that did not quit for a minute. Ian Hunter is well aware of Jeff’s excellence. He wanted to put together a tour – Ian and the Twin Darts, using Jeff and Dart bassist, John DeSalvo. And once it is released, Jeff will also be heard on the new Sparks album.

Circus

The cut from the New York sampler album, “Live at C.B.G.B.,” reportedly getting the most airplay in the Northeast is “All for the Love of Rock & Roll” by Tuff Darts. The track was written by Dart Jeff Salen, whose hot session freelancing recently includes lead guitar honors on the Sparks LP.

Great Gigs of Fire by Vanessa Daughter of Satan, N.Y. Waste

OK kiddies, another month and another year have passed, and the only things that have changed are for the worse.

Come April, there will be no more smoking in bars, and there is still NO DANCING ALLOWED in clubs. But with all this shit going on, there actually were a few really great shows this month.

On Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th I went to the Punk Rock Olympics. These shows were just amazing. All the bands just great.

Then I also got to see the Tuff Darts at CBGB’s. These guys are sooooo cool it’s unreal. They played a kick ass set, and Jeff Salen actually dedicated a song to me. It was hysterical. With songs like “(Your love is Like) Nuclear Waste” and “My Guitar Lies Bleeding in My Arms” not only do they totally rock but they do it with a morbid sense of humor that just doesn’t exist today. If you ever get the chance to see them, DO IT!!!!!!!