There's an almost palpable pop and sizzle in the air of the Middle East Downstairs on this frigid mid-February Saturday night. And rightly so-some venerable paragons of Boston '80s rock are celebrating the release of their first record in over twenty years with help from a hot young band (Red Chord) and a true legend (Willie "Loco" Alexander). The place is packed-this kind of reunion event always brings out the veteran scenesters as well as the newbies, generating an amiable pedagogy as those who remember Bunratty's and The Channel wax nostalgic about a time when "punk" still rang true and "new wave" really was.

When Robin Lane & The Chartbusters get onstage, the gleeful scores hoot and holler and hang on every word and every note. Cute as hell in Capri jeans and an oversized jacket, wielding her shiny new candy-apple red Fender, Robin looks a little nervous as she leads the guys (all original Chartbusters except for guitarist Pat Wallace, who replaced Leroy Radcliffe) into the first song, "Don't Cry," from '81s second Warner Brother's release, Imitation Life. Wallace, bassist Scott Baerenwald, and lead guitarist Asa Brebner, resplendent in a luminous periwinkle suit, make rock star faces at the crowd and provide strong back-up harmonies. "It is SO great to be playing with my 'buster guys again!" Robin squeals. By the time this band of misfits has rocked through the chunky, stompy "It'll Only Hurt A Little While" and '80 hit single "The Letter" with its catchy, torchy chorus, all vestiges of nervousness are gone; when they sail into the sing-along-able "Somebody Else," it's like time has turned back on itself. This band is slammin'. They play almost everything on the new release, Piece of Mind (Windjam Records), and trot out all the old crowd-pleasers. They play for over an hour, and the crowd wants them back for an encore. For the rest of the night, Robin is followed around and asked to autograph CDs. Though she looks humbly surprised, she good-naturedly puts her John Hancock on what she's calling the record she's always wanted to make. The Chartbusters are equally approached, thanked, and congratulated.

Not a bad comeback for a bunch of survivors of early '80s new wave.

Robin Lane, born and raised in California, was the daughter of a fashion model and a musical director, so performing was the most natural thing in the world. Her teen-aged years spent performing in the LA folk scene led to a very cool gig for a kid with rock star aspirations-singing with Neil Young on "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere." She ended up in Cambridge in the late '70s and hooked up with two kick-ass musicians fresh from a worldwide stint as Modern Lovers-Asa Brebner and Leroy Radcliffe. With Tim Jackson on drums and Scott Baerenwald on bass, the Chartbusters started making some noise. When Jerry Wexler, who produced Aretha Franklin, saw the band at a little club called Jasper's, Warner Brothers signed the band and sent them on tour. How did that go? Well, there's a cartoon inside the Piece of Mind liner notes that illustrates the band's impression of Warner Brothers' marketing approach.

"It was basically two years driving around in a Winnebago, playing things like 'new wave night' in Spokane, Washington," says Asa. "Warner Brothers was basically trying to sign as many bands as they could that were part of the 'new wave.' Bands with skinny ties, like The Knack." Robin and the guys learned the hard way that being signed to a major label is like the kiss of death if you don't sell a lot of records. The 60,000 records they sold in New England would have made any indie label happy, but "The music industry is like any other industry," says Asa. "They want to make money. We had a really great fan base here, we should have just built on that."

Back in the day, Robin's voice defined the Chartbusters sound, and it still does. She sings with a Deborah Harry-like croon, throaty and soft when she needs it to be, emoting with equal parts smugness and coyness, but easily able to break out and wail, like on "Psychotic Disorders," a favorite live because she ends up crawling around the floor like a caged animal while Asa's guitar goes, well, psychotic. Her voice, her ability to craft a genuine pop song, and her stage presence turned a lot of heads, but The Chartbusters ever remained just under the radar of that great elusive vixen Fame.

Though her own daughter Evangeline didn't embrace the musician's life ("I've got enough musicians in my family!" the pretty blonde says), Robin Lane runs a seminar for kids called "Giving Youth A Voice." She's making a difference for trouble kids by teaching personal expression through music. Evangeline's assessment of her mom is just about right: "She kicks ass. I'm in awe of her brilliance."

One listen to Piece of Mind is all it'll take for anyone, whether you remember Bunratty's or not, to be happy that four of the original Chartbusters stayed in touch over the years (Radcliffe is, sadly, the Syd Barrett of the group, troubled by substance abuse and whereabouts unknown). When asked "Why a new record, why now?" Robin sums it up nicely: "Why not? We do it because it's what we do." Rock on.

www.randomrogue.com