Scroll down for reviews of releases by Chris Isaak, Chantigs, Fools Face and a Jeff Lynne Tribute. Click here for reviews of releases by Cry Baby Cry, Sean Na Na, Sparklejets*UK, Lasse Lindh and Sunshine Fix

Alien Crime Syndicate
XL From Coast To Coast

(The Control Group)

THEACS.com

Joe Reineke's old band, The Meices, was a crack rock and roll unit that managed to traverse the border separating power pop from punk from garage - they had a bit of all those styles, but couldn't be pigeonholed with any of those tags. What resulted was hooky hard rocking tunes, with Reineke's distinctive vocals - a wee bit of whine, but not whiny, his tone works well with passion and cynicism (and is totally ace for doing James Gang covers, if you get my drift).

The Meices were signed around the time of the post-Nirvana sweepstakes, but their sound wasn't big enough (in that artificially pumped up Pearl Jam/Bush way) to dent radio playlists. Well, Reineke and his current crew find a way to ratchet up the rock guitarage a bit more on the early tracks on this album - a little bit too late with all of the nu metal on the charts. Still, even with the extra layers of axeosity, Reineke still pens a punchy hummable tune. Thus, this platter, the Syndicate's third, is a good time.

It's hard not to like an album that starts with a fist raising anthem like "Ozzy", which has more passion than anything Mr. Osbourne has graced us with lately. The song sets a tone and shows off ACS ability to take '70s and '80s hard rock sounds and keep the rocking and catchy elements while avoiding outright stupidity. (This process needs a name, like 'DeFoghatizing"). Sloan may be the only other band as skilled at this, but whereas that Nova Scotian quartet just lays on pure pop melodies, Reineke balances the fat riffs with undeniably wistful and aching lead guitar parts. This creates a unique tension - the big dumb rhythm guitar parts engage the headbanger, while the leads tug your heart.

This approach can be found to varying degrees on tunes like "Softly" (with a chorus that Cheap Trick would have loved to have had in about 1981), "Stronger" and "My Happy Ending", which also shows off the band's superior playing and arranging skills - notice how in the verses, the rhythm guitar parts vary from chunka-chunka notes to big thick slabs of noise from line-to-line. And appreciate the dexterity of the rhythm section - none of these tunes plod.

Alien Crime Syndicate also verges on Weezer-ish pop but are just a bit too tough to adopt the horn rimmed sortapunk vibe, moving them more into Redd Kross territory. "Break the Record" has vocoder (think Peter Frampton's favorite effect) and a deliciously sweet bridge and just bops along to Funland. "Careless" opens with a captivating lead guitar solo that should have been doubled up to give it full Thin Lizzy-ish glory, and the song eventually melds this bit into a Foo Fighters-type rock-pop thing.

While I wouldn't accuse these guys of being sensitive, they can handle the slow stuff too. "Figure it Out" is perhaps the closest to a ballad, detailing a confused guy who just needs time to think. The song is sweetened by a slide guitar part that has a mild George Harrison vibe. And the closer "We Are" is a pensive number that sustains its five minutes plus length.
I must finish by complimenting Reineke's production - the guitar parts are so loud but clean - it's on par with the great sound that Ted Templeman gave Van Halen - smooth, but totally rocking. If, like me, you cherished The Meices and were unaware that their frontman was still fighting the good fight, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

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Chris Isaak
Always Got Tonight

(Reprise)

chrisisaak.com

A reassurance for those who watch Chris Isaak's television show - Anson the keyboardist is a fictional character played by an actor and is not really a member of the band. For those who don't watch the show, Anson is an annoying attempt at comic relief who the producers of the show have foisted on the public, under the apparent impression that the phrase 'comic relief' means a relief from comedy. Anyway, the dude who plays him isn't on the album.

Another reassurance - the grind of doing the show hasn't affected Isaak's muse. This album, Chris's eighth, is one of his better efforts. Isaak has released two certifiably great albums (his debut Silvertone and that roadmap to heartbreak, the aching Forever Blue), one clunker (The Baja Sessions - wouldn't Boohoo Sessions have been more appropriate) and the rest slalom from good to near great. This album features one of Isaak's best blends of his patented Roy Orbison-meets-Ricky Nelson retro crooner tunes, which are required when blessed with such an instrument, and some stylistic wrinkles.
This is also Isaak's first album in memory to not have any tracks produced by Erik Jacobsen (who also twirled knobs for The Lovin' Spoonful!), but John Shanks does an excellent job of balancing Isaak's retro charm with a modern sound. Isaak made Shanks's job easier by penning a winning bunch of tunes.

Some songs are in Isaak's patented mold - lead off track "One Day" has a dramatic lead guitar figure intro and yearning verses that rise in temperature until the chorus. This song exemplifies one of Isaak's most compelling techniques - letting the heat build without exploding, so on the rare occasions where he really lets his voice rip, the power increases exponentially. Likewise, "Courthouse" seethes with passion and "I See You Everywhere" does a very slow burn, in the tradition of Isaak classics like "Funeral in the Rain" and "Blue Hotel".

This disc may also be the most impressive showcase yet for Isaak's ability to adapt other sounds into his style. He shows that he's nearly as adept as Dwight Yoakam in composing a Buck Owens/Bakersfield type honky tonk number ("American Boy"), though the melody in the bridge is distinctly his own. The title cut is kinda funky, with a clavinet in the intro and some wah-wah guitar. Greasy, yet clean. And "Worked it out Wrong" is simply one of the best numbers Isaak has ever penned - it is a flat out soul ballad that will send shivers up your spine. This is the type of tune a shouter like Teddy Pendergrass or Wilson Pickett would send to the rafters (and maybe they'll both take a crack at this in the future). This lament shines as Isaak sends this tune to an emotional crescendo, finding the top of his incredible range.

Kudos must also go out to Isaak's great band, Silvertone. In particular, lead guitarist Hershel Yatovitz has developed into as impressive a stylist as original Silvertone lead man James Wilsey. With Isaak's increased profile as a result of his TV show, this is the right album at the right time.

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Chantigs
Four Hats

(Rodent)

rodentrecords.com

Endearing oblong pop-rock from the Bay Area. Early XTC (though not as caffienated) and Adrian Belew come to mind as Chantigs charmingly integrate some discordant sounds and wobbly rhythms with a surefooted melodic base. This veteran band is having some fun here, and have the skills to make that come across to the listeners.

One element that stands out is a distinct R & B gloss over the quirk pop insanity. The falsetto chorus on "Kinkle The Kid" ain't exactly funky, but it is catchy as hell and manages to compliment, rather than confound, the melody that will remind some listeners of The Sugarplastic. The falsettos come out again on the fine "Cables and Wire", but the effect is more on par with the magic that occurred with The Small Faces when that band straddled the precipice between soul and psychedelia. Again, there ain't no Steve Marriott in this band, but they do it well enough to be quite enjoyable. The band scores highest on the soul scale on "Twinkling Eye", where the high vocals descend melodically during the chorus, with an energy that is not evident from the pretty opening of the track - of course, the passionate chorus is that much more effective because of the contrast. Who says you can't be clever and have a big heart?

The production is another part of the story - this is not lo-fi by any means, but the sound is dense, with the vocals in the middle competing for space with guitars (and what sometimes sounds like banjos and other instruments), backing vocals, keyboards and the rhythm section. This might sound like a muddle, but the recording never undermines the solidly structured tunes, so the abundance of things going on works very well.

On a couple songs, there are some ultra trebly bits that remind me of Todd Rundgren's work on the first Sparks album - on "Frazzled in Funtime" these bits are contrasted by a nice thick insistent guitar riff. This style is used to even great success on "Mt. Trashmore", which begins with a disembodied guitar part, adds some busy bass playing, then throws in some high end guitar noise, leading to a crazy and gleeful chorus (which fires neurons once touched by The Ophelias).

I don't want to make this sound like it's inaccessible - it's different, but there are hooks and palatable melodies in abundance. "Me, Me, Me" is the song that comes closest to Belew's work with The Bears, though a bit more frantic. And "Moviestars" has two great parts - the intro movement, which has reverbed guitar and a haunting melody augmented by a keyboard part (shades of Del Shannon's "Runaway") and pleasant harmony vocals. The song kicks in and becomes a melodic pop number in the tradition of 10CC with a pinch of early Split Enz.

I would love to see if these guys can keep this up live. You can appreciate the intelligence at work here, but mostly, you'll just have a lot of fun.

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Fools Face
Fools Face

(self-released)

foolsface.com

These days, it's easy to get a record out - you can digitally record on an inexpensive home studio and press up 500 CDs fairly cheaply. Getting attention amongst the plethora of similarly released discs - that's really damn tough. Still, back in the early '80s, getting together the scratch for studio time, then finding a way to get the record out was extremely difficult. Getting national attention - just as hard as today, if not harder, due to the paucity of media outlets.

That's why the Fools Face story is so compelling. Coming from Springfield, Missouri, they put out an obscure debut, Here To Observe, which displayed a talented multi-songwriter quintet who played power pop with some new wave leanings. Most bands would have crawled back to nowheresville after releasing an album - not Fools Face. They put out a sophomore effort that was so outstanding (Tell America) it couldn't be ignored. The late, great Trouser Press took notice, and suddenly, Fools Face had a small measure of national importance. And why not? They were masters of a variety of styles, from basic bar band rock to edgy pop, with a lyrical depth that very few power pop bands have ever achieved. They followed with another gem, Public Places, moved to L.A., put out a cassette-only release, The Red Tape, and unable to secure the major label deal their superior talents so richly deserved, they folded.

During the latter part of the '90s, the band (Jim Wirt - bass, Tommy Dwyer - drums, Jimmy Frink - guitar, Brian Coffman - guitar, Dale McCoy - keyboards) would reconvene and play a gig or two in Springfield or Kansas City. Heck, they even played Brad Pitt's high school reunion! These gigs led to new songs, which led to this disc.

And this eponymous release further states the case for Fools Face being one of the most criminally overlooked bands in rock history. If not quite up to Tell America standards (which would make it a masterpiece), it is at least the equal of Public Places. The only real concession to time is in the beefier guitar sound on some tracks - otherwise, this showcases the Fools Face virtues: inventive melodies, outstanding vocals (four top notch lead vocalists and splendid harmonies), creative arrangements and rock solid playing. I don't know if they ever auditioned these tunes on stage, but it sure sounds like it.

And after a few plays, the disc plays like the greatest hits of a band from a parallel universe where power pop ruled and bands like Journey and Foreigner never existed and AM Top 40 radio was aural paradise. My track-by-track notes are a procession of repetitious comments like "outstanding melody" and "incredible hook". Like "Fortunate Flowers", which comes in on a guitar jangle, has an angelic (Jim Wirt? - the disc does not include individual songwriting credits) vocal, with a melody that ascends and descends, but never quite where you expect it, and has two mega-hooks - one in the chorus and one in bridge. Meanwhile, "What You Hide" has a slight psychedelic vibe (sitars are such a giveaway) and keeps it up, as it sounds like John Lennon crossed "Tomorrow Never Knows" with Deep Purple's "Hush".

Most of disc is upbeat, but the prettier tunes will steal your heart. "All in This Alone" is melancholy, heartwrenching and melts into your ears. "All the Right Reasons" smacks of The Beatles, has a swell horn part, but is played with a gutsiness that modernizes the whole affair. The best of the slower stuff is "Nothing Like It", a moody piece which has a rousing chorus and haunting coda with whispering backing vocals that sound like doubts showering into your brain. And straight ahead power pop is not given the short shrift - fans of Cheap Trick and Off Broadway will go ga-ga for "They Don't Apply to You" and the Anglophile "Last Chance".

The opening cut, "Inside Out", will bring back fond memories for fans of past Fools Face classics like "Here to Observe" and "L5" - it has a chunky tick-tock guitar riff and a bit of a new wave era feel - the song starts out compressed, seeming to constantly unfold, with each chorus providing a cathartic release. The closest thing to a misstep is "Two Hands", which is punchy Knack-style rock, but with an untypical cutesy lyric. Even so, it rocks pretty well.

It was hard enough to fathom that Fools Face would put out a new record after all these years, let alone that it would be so enjoyable. Not only can I not believe I'm reviewing this album, I can scarcely believe that I can now type these words: the new Fools Face disc may very well be the best power pop album of 2002.

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Various Artists
Lynne Me Your Ears (A Tribute To The Music Of Jeff Lynne)

(Not Lame)

notlame.com

Jeff Lynne outdoes Rodney Dangerfield in the no respect department. It started back in the early days of Electric Light Orchestra, with ignorant critics chastising the band's use of strings, lumping them in with the excesses of prog-rock and not recognizing how the Orchestra was a logical follow up to the psychedelic sounds of the latter day Move. When E.L.O. became a hitmaking factory in the second half of the '70s, the brickbats began to fly - Lynne had the audacity to write unabashed lightweight pop, when rock had become a (too) serious matter to all the journos. Lynne's production was lambasted (O.K. - maybe the Dave Edmunds albums were a mistake) too. When the formation of The Traveling Wilburys was announced, you could hear the hoots from folks who didn't think Lynne was worthy to keep company with the other four.

What stinks about this repetitious demonizing of Lynne is that, as sometimes is the case, many rock fans have come to accept this derision as dogma. People seem to forget Lynne's role in great albums from George Harrison and Tom Petty. More importantly, they probably haven't bothered to listen to the tons of great tunes he wrote for E.L.O.

Of course, a lot of musicians know better. And not just Dylan, Orbision and others. From Cheap Trick (whose "Takin' Me Back" pretty much slobbers on Lynne's shoes, it sounds so much like one of his tunes) to an array of modern artists including indie darlings Versus, Sweden's Melony, Maple Mars and others, you can find a litany of artists who have obviously worshiped the works of the man with the perpetual White Man Afro haircut. So it's about goddamn time somebody waxed a Lynne tribute.
Even better that Not Lame put it out, with Doug Powell pretty much taking the reins of gathering the talent. Look at some of the names on here - Todd Rundgren, Peter Holsapple, Tony Visconti, Bill Lloyd - even Carl Wayne, the original singer of The Move. This is a splendid collection.

Let's roll the highlight reel - Roger Klug totally rocks out on "Turn to Stone". I don't know how he manages it, but Aussie star Ben Lee gives "Sweet is the Night" a twist that nearly transforms it into a Mott the Hoople ballad. Sparkle * Jets U.K.'s masterful take on "Above the Clouds" is familiar to those who already have their debut disc, but for those who don't, enjoy. There are four great covers of Jeff Lynne at his psychedelic best - The Balls of France master "Message from the Country", Ferenzik is equally swell on "The Minister", Peter Holsapple's take on "No Time" is haunting and the combo of Bobby Sutliff and Mitch Easter on "10538 Overture" is great - their vocal styles are very complimentary.

Some folks may blanch at the idea of giving Lynne tunes electronic treatment, but the artists who do so here are quite inspired. Legendary producer Tony Visconti concocts a sample heavy version of "Mr. Blue Sky", with Richard Barone practically narrating the verses, while the chorus is done pretty much straight up - this pays off quite well. Neilson Hubbard teams with Venus Hum (and vocalist Annette Stean) on "Xanadu", with the electrobeats paying appropriate tribute not just to the tune, but to the rollerboogieariffic movie. And Ross Rice pumps up "Evil Woman" (which already had an R & B vibe) into dance floor fodder.

Jason Falkner, a great cover tune artist, does "Do Ya" (the Lynne trib equivalent to getting to bat clean up for the New York Yankees) quite well, former David Bowie sideman Earl Slick (also leader of Silver Condor, who did the song that became my high school prom theme) shows off his guitar skills on a fiery "Ma Ma Ma Belle", The Shazam melds "Twilight" with their style seamlessly, Swag's "Don't Bring Me Down" is a gas, even if Tom Petersson's vocal turn is flatter than an Illinois interstate, Pat Buchanan dixie fries "Rockaria!", and Doug Powell's one man band manages "Can't Get it Out of My Head" quite nicely.

As with Not Lame's Gene Clark tribute, the liners list the source of each tune - this should be done on all tributes. The liner notes, by superfan Rob Caiger, give a nice career overview, but it would have been nice to have also included a more critical perspective. Nevertheless, this is a terrific tribute - if you have prejudices against Lynne, maybe this is an end around to finally appreciating one of the all time great songwriters.

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