Don’t know if I will do this regularly - we’ll have to see what kind of response this thread gets. But I am thinking that every now and then, when a new or reasonably obscure artist comes to my attention, maybe I just start a post, offer my fews, and provide a forum for others to comment, so folks can decide whether to get that track/CD for themselves. Let me know…
This first post is for Rooney (follow link for listing in Amazon). They are a bunch of (seemingly) rich kids from Malibu, where there is currently some buzz about a bunch of bands including Rooney who are exploring 70’s rock/pop. Rooney features vocalist/guitarist Robert Carmine, who played the love interest in the movie The Princess Diaries and whose brother is Jason Schwartzmann (don’t know why they have different last names) who starred in Rushmore and is the drummer for another of the Malibu bands, Phantom Planet. Got all that?
Anyway, Rooney has a single getting some play, Blueside, which has an Abbey Road Beatles/Mr. Blue Sky ELO type of feel, except with a little more rawness to the guitar sound. I am here to report that the rest of the album is consistent with that sound. Enough of the other songs are just as catchy and tuneful to make the whole CD worth listening to. The lyrics are very basic lovey things - clearly the area they need to work on the most.
Buy It or Don’t Buy It? I say buy it - it plays well over repeated listenings and is a nice chunk of solid pop-rock.
Your thoughts?