Bio
The Difficult Second Album
The latest release from Ditch The MuuMuu
The follow up to their 2022 debut "Worth Its Wait", this collection of ten songs reflects the MuuMuu world as it is today.
The album opens with "Hiding History", a phenomenon as true today as it was back in the time of Alexander Hamilton. There are songs about the fragility of life ("Fractured Feelings", "Pretty Poison") and of our planet ("Blown Away"). There are songs that poke fun at consumerism ("Stuff") and our need for instant gratification ("Hurry Up & Wait"). There are acknowledgements of conflicts ("Forty Seven Fears" and "The Bear & The Nightingale"). And, in a cheerful nod to The Monkees of yore, there is the MuuMuu manifesto "Two Ears At A Time".
Whereas the debut release unfolded like a quirky novel, "The Difficult Second Album" presents like a cohesive collection of related short stories.
Look for "The Difficult Second Album" on streaming platforms, CD and limited edition vinyl.
The debut release from Ditch The MuuMuu was unleashed on the world in 2022. The two members of the band met at The University of East Anglia (Norwich, England) in 1975 and contemplated a musical project for years and years and years. But life, and the Atlantic Ocean, got in the way. Tim went on to enjoy a career in the UK as a musician/actor and Blue Badge tourist guide. Eric went into US public television (PBS) as a producer and then distribution executive. While their paths diverged, their friendship endured.
The songs in this collection harken back to those UEA days ("Make Amends") and the challenges one faces in the entertainment industry ("Street Beat Scam"). But fast-forward to today and you find songs about global politics ("Flag", "Rip It Up", "Blood In The Sand"), joyous parties ("Jimmy C And His 3D Knee"), submarines ("Down") and classic cars ("Things That I Have Seen"). There are also songs about travel ("Bumpy Road"), private detectives ("Hills of Worcester") and even the early peoples of Salisbury Plain ("Solstice Day"). And, while we're all about normalcy now, what current release could happen without a reference to the Pandemic ("Strange Things"), which was indeed the catalyst for the Worth Its Wait project.
In theory, Tim and Eric could have partnered in a band years ago. But there is no question that the depth of writing in this collection (and the scope of quirkiness) is the stuff of more "seasoned" humans. We love what we do - and we hope to bring joy and energy to all who encounter DTM.
Musician Bios
Tim Barron
Tim is a London Blue Badge Tourist guide, specializing in rock 'n' Roll and theatrical walks. (https://timbarron.org/)
After graduating from The University of East Anglia in 1979 with a degree in Environmental Sciences, Tim began his professional music career as the lead singer with Thieves Like Us in the 1980s. The band toured relentlessly in the UK and Europe, releasing two singles and an album, before the members went their separate ways.
Musical theater beckoned and Tim took on a variety of roles, ultimately joining the cast of the Olivier award winning rock 'n' roll show Return to the Forbidden Planet in the late 1980s playing Captain Tempest in London's west End and Japan. He features in the original cast album produced by Pink Floyd's Nick Mason, and has also been involved in myriad live musical productions as well as numerous television and radio shows.
Eric Luskin
Eric is recently retired after a 42 year career in Public Television in the USA. He spent the last 25 years as Vice President of syndication at American Public Television in Boston.
After graduating from Trinity College (Hartford, TC) 1977 with a degree in English and Political Science, Luskin jumped into a short lived career as a radio disc jockey before earning his Masters degree in Communications at The University of Pennsylvania in 1982. Stumbling into public media as a part time writer and announcer, one thing lead to another and... he enjoyed a wide ranging career in front of and behind the camera.
Music has always been a passion and a high priority hobby for Eric. Luskin was the long time bass player for The Maple Street Project, who released 3 CDs during their reign as an unknown band out of suburban Boston. He is currently a member of the more visible musical collective Side Street which released their 3rd CD in 2022 (www.sidestreettheband.com). In retirement, Luskin spends time writing music for TV and film (www.ericluskinmusic.com). He is a graduate of Elite Music Coaching's Sync Placement Academy, a member of the 52 Cues composer community, and a member of the Production Music Association.
Press / Reviews
Ditch the MuuMuu – The Difficult Second Album (2026)
Watch this space! As reviews and comments surface, we'll post them here.
Ditch the MuuMuu – Worth Its Wait (2022)
What did you do during the pandemic? While binge watching, home improving, and bread baking may have occupied most, the duo that form Ditch the MuuMuu, Tim Barron and Eric Luskin, set their sights and ambitions a bit higher, rekindling a cross-Atlantic musical partnership that started more than 40 years ago when American Luskin met Brit Barron while a visiting student at The University of East Anglia in Norwich UK.
Whilst across the pond from each other in their respective pandemic bubbles, ideas were proposed, tracks were recorded, files were shared, fellow musicians brought in at safe social distances, and a set of songs were crafted offering sharp political and personal perspectives on the moment. Those musings have been gathered and finally released as a full collection entitled Worth Its Wait, a good turn of phrase that delivers on both ends of its pun.
Given the last several years in the UK and USA, it’s little wonder they lead off the set with two tracks simmering with political frustration. Things start and quickly boil over with Wave the Flag; “We are the flat earth revival/we’re growing fast/so hurry with your money, honey/the offer may not last” quickly summarizes the state of affairs and sets the stage nicely for a mini-epic tour through a well-flagged inventory of flag-waving hypocrisy. “It’s in the bag” they knowingly intone as the song fades and gives way to the Latin-infused, horn-highlighted Blood in the Sand, which interestingly suggests the Covid and immigration crises are easily swapped politically with dire consequences. It might have been more interesting here for them to have stayed with their Latin instincts and better focus the message, but it’s a strong outing nonetheless.
The duo moves to a different kind of emptiness in one of the set’s several highlights, the effectively haunting Down. Clearly informed by time and new experiences offered courtesy of the pandemic, a growing sense of societal loss and isolation is set against an evocative lyrical and sonic metaphor of a submarine. A very fine piano solo sets up and carries through an extended exit that amplifies the atmosphere; with radar pings echoing in the background, you can actively feel the drift and the loneliness at play.
Politics return once more to shatter the emptiness (as it always does) in the straightforward stomper Rip It Up, but the songs take a more interesting turn as they become more personal. With the need to exorcize some political demons cleared away, things open up a bit and give way to more fun and often more telling introspection. That’s certainly the case with Make Amends, an acoustic outing accented by some fine electric flourishes that takes the temperature down a finely-tuned notch or two and serves as a nice pivot point for the set.
Another acoustic offering, a welcome outlier thematically, the timely fall-evocative Solstice Day with its English folk roots would not be out of place on a recent Fairport album. It would be a good focal point for any fall folk festival, contemplating our intertwined fate with the mysteries of the natural world around us – like a good Stonehenge-influenced track should.
From there, things take a brighter turn, allowing the pair and their supporting players to show off their instrumental chops. The light soul/funk of Jimmy C and His 3D Knee, with some fine saxophone and guitar, is a sly commentary on aging. The brief hit of falsetto as the song fades hints that there is something more going on here; it’s a track that could have benefited from some more extended jamming. Perhaps they’re saving that for the ultimate essential extended version of the collection.
Hills of Worcester offers a groove not far from that of the laidback 70s soul of Hall & Oates. Its sense of dislocation and desire for the nostalgic touch of a place only found in the heart immediately reminded me of the direction of the Philly duo’s Fall in Philadelphia, here updated for a radically more complex world some 50 years on. In both cases, happiness seems just out of reach no matter where you think it might be found.
Things move on nicely from there with the sold string arrangement surrounding the somber but knowing Strange Things (“we’re always leaving paper and places, always seeing too many faces”), the near jazz samba of the piano-driven Street Beat Scam, and the country blues boogie of Things That I Have Seen. The latter track and Bumpy Road help bring the set to a close with a wry sense of humor they should consider bringing more to the fore in future efforts. Bumpy Road is a silly, delightful discourse on the pain, agony and frustration of travel. With touches of Python, Python accomplice Neil Innes, Fab Four farce, and clear experiences from too many hours spent at airports and train stations, it’s a romp that should be played in advance of every trip to properly, mentally set expectations before leaving the house.
All in all, Worth Its Wait offers a range of sound and ideas that grow on you with each repeated play. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another pandemic to see more of Ditch the MuuMuu, and more importantly, for our own well-being, let’s hope the politics of the future allow them more to time to spend on other issues. Worth Its Wait is available as a download from all major streaming services, but proceeds from downloads on the band’s website will benefit the Dana Farber Cancer Center while proceeds from CD sales (currently in the UK only) will benefit Cancer Research UK. So, listen all you want on the major streamers, but please download on the band’s website (link below) – a far better use of your dollars to directly support the band and a worthy charity.
www.ditchthemuumuu.com/muumuu-music
Harold Gronenthal
Editor PE4TMI
(Pandemic Enlightenment 4 The Musically Inclined)
Ditch the MuuMuu is a brilliant, ocean-spanning, creative collaboration that features outstanding musicianship combined with a genuine sense of joyful performance.
-- Nick Noble, host of THE FOLK REVIVAL on WICB (Worcester Public Radio)
... You guys have cooked up a veritable smorgasbord of tunes, melodies and words! The shifts in style and mood are staggering in their ambition and carried through to perfection. “Blood In The Sand” and “Solstice Day” feel like they belong in a Tarantino western. “Rip It Up” smashes you over the head with a Thatcherite hammer - greed, style over content, and '80s I'm All Right Jackery, propelled by a pumping beat. “Make Amends” is gentle and laidback but simultaneously thought-provoking. “Jimmy C And His 3D Knee” - genius title! - replete with late-night funky tones and a wonderfully incongruous “I don't know…” payoff! “Hills Of Worcester ”is beguiling and beautiful (yet another track that feels like it belongs in a film). “Strange Things” has a '60s Scott Walker flavour, a pared down philosophical musing that the bizarre Covid hiatus provided a space for us all to contemplate and reassess. I could hear the Rolling Stones in “Street Beat Scam”; any song that references Lauren Bacall is all right in my books! “Bumpy Road” is super-catchy and deploys some wicked wordplay while “Things That I have Seen” is a tasty slice of Americana that explores ageing/the passage of time.
Mario C., London
Ditch The MuuMuu is a project almost 50 years in the making. It’s one of the good things that came out of the pandemic. When college-days friends Eric Luskin and Tim Barron decided to finally put the long talked about album together, the title Worth Its Wait came naturally. And the experiences of all those years in between led to an amazing array of thematic material: think childhood reading, submarines, cars and roads, 3D knees, social/political awareness. There is no pigeonholing this album. Many of the songs have a poppy, happy go lucky sounding melody but there’s a message in there, so listen to those words! From the "sha la las" in FLAG to the thoughtful reflection of MAKE AMENDS, this album lives up to its title.
-- Debbi Calton, Rock & Roll DJ (WYSP Philadephia)
Press photos
