Thursday, June 28, 2007
A+E, Music, Reviews
Rooney; Keller Williams
The blueprint seems simple...
Rooney
CREDIT: Courtesy of Geffen Records |
ROONEY
w/Autovaughn, The Rewinds
Sunday, July 1
Variety Playhouse
404-524-7354
www.variety-playhouse.com |
Keller Williams
CREDIT: C. Taylor Crothers |
KELLER WILLIAMS
w/Bob Weir and Ratdog
Saturday, July 7
Chastain Park Amphitheatre
404-249-6400
www.classicchastain.org |
Rooney
“Calling the World”
(Geffen/Cherry Tree)
The blueprint seems simple. Cococt a dozen singalong choruses lyrics about girls, love, sex and girls. Add crunchy chords; reference established influences like the Beach Boys, Cheap Trick and the Raspberries; slickly produce the tracks for maximum radio punch. But if it’s so simple, why can so few bands pull it off? Even more puzzling: for all its adherence to the above formula, how does Rooney sound so effortless and convincing?
Clearly it’s not as easy as they make it seem, but because Rooney’s songs feel so natural, the L.A.-based quintet doesn’t get the credit it deserves. The band’s second disc doesn’t fall prey to the dreaded sophomore slump. Rather, lead singer and songwriter Robert Schwartzmann returns to a seemingly bottomless well of hooks to construct a dozen mini-masterpieces, each of which you’ll be singing along to after the first spin.
The opening single, “Calling the World,” is a sparkling three-minute slab of damn-near perfect power-pop packed with exquisite harmonies, a ringing chorus and a guitar-synth tradeoff straight out of the ’70s. “World” doesn’t get any better than that, but it doesn’t get much worse, either. Strings add depth to tracks such as “Tell Me Soon,” bolstering the already arena-ready bluster. John Fields’ production gets it right, too; big and rich and perfect for the band’s not exactly subtle approach. The closing string-enhanced ballad is overly earnest even for this heart-on-its-sleeve collection, but on the whole, “Calling the World” establishes Rooney as talented and dedicated power-poppers on a mission. 3 STARS—Hal Horowitz
Keller Williams
“Dream”
(Sci Fidelity)
Some acts are better seen than heard, and Keller Williams is one of them. In concert, he effortlessly holds a few thousand fans in the palm of his hand with nothing more than his guitar, voice and engaging personality.
On disc, though, the qualities that make his concerts so engaging often fall flat. Williams’ mundane vocals and oblique lyrics are often too cute by half, and the nearly hour and a quarter of music on this overstuffed CD could have been trimmed by 30 minutes.
As opposed to his solo shows, “Dream” features dozens of guest musicians, most of them well-known in the jam-band circles where Williams thrives. The String Cheese Incident, Charlie Hunter, John Scofield, Martin Sexton and Bob Weir all contribute. Unfortunately, they’re playing Williams’ original songs, which fall somewhere between meandering, bland and just plain silly. Michael Franti adds much-needed spark to the reggae-lite of “Ninja of Love,” and the Indian scales of Sanjay Mishra shift the music into a comfy international mode. But beware the 17-month-old daughter who goo-goo-ga-gas on the ear-cringing final track, one that should have stayed on the nursery room floor.
Conflicting schedules forced some guest parts to be overdubbed by mail, and that lack of interactive energy may account for some of the overall blandness here. That doesn’t make “Dream” a nightmare, but it is an album that might inadvertently substitute for a sleeping pill. 2 STARS—Hal Horowitz