Hi there
A couple
of posts ago, dear reader, I did make mention that this blog had gone all music
of late and, look you see, that some more music – something specific – was
coming along. The coming along is here. I’ve been given the single As You Do by James
Rooney to review.
How did
I come to be in this position? A mutual friend connected me to the artist.
James was looking for music lovers who ran blogs and could be trusted to give
an honest opinion on what he’s doing. Our mutual friend, within moments, thrust
my name into the mix. Thank you G-Man.
But you
are here, or are still here, to read of this single, not of my social
activities (or, yeah, lack thereof, I suppose). Short version? It’s good. Very good. Has all
the hallmarks of a catchy, pop tune of note, and reveals a potential for the
artist to reach a very wide audience.
There
should be a link to it around here, I would suggest you give it a click and
give the song a listen before you go on.
Every new
artist that comes along – singer, painter, actor, writer – gets compared to
those that have come before. It does feel unfair, sometimes, but it’s just the
easy way to get a point of reference. Apologies, then, for taking the easy way.
First
reaction? It reminded me somewhat of that formulative era of The Who, A Quick One through to Sell Out. The lyrics have the same
whimsical, playful way, and the music is certainly what used to get called
“radio friendly” when radio stations played actual
music. It somewhat lacks, though, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, that
aggressive, “we might just stop doing this and kick your or each other’s heads
in” just now generally associated with The Who. Imagine, if you will, that The
Who stopped fighting each other and instead decided to style their sound as
direct competition to, say, The Kinks or maybe even Pink Floyd, although in
regards of the latter there’s no overt psychedelic spin on the go here.
Problems
with the song? Just a section in the middle and the end where the vocals, the
guitar and what I thought was piano
but actually turns out to be a guitar too were fighting with each other. And it
was not just me fooled on the sound – when I told my (considerably) better half
that it was a guitar, not a piano, that we were hearing, the reaction was “no
way”. We both agree that either pushing up the vocal, or making the one guitar
that sounds like a guitar a touch less “tinny”, would give it a boost.
picture by JGB Photography |
Vocals?
The first name that came to mind was Sting. I appreciate that this will, for a
great many people of the planet, have immediate negative connotations. Set
aside, dear reader, thoughts and ideas of the somewhat peculiar person Sting
is; concentrate on those vocals he once upon a time gave that made him famous
in the first instance. Not that James is a “Sting tribute” – there’s a
similarity, but on the go hear is a deeper range. One that I, for what it’s
worth, really like.
I love
Kasabian. I will never love them, however, like I do a Frankie, a Stone Roses,
a Smiths or even, yes, a U2 purely because the vocals don’t sit quite right on
the awesome songs. I don’t have that issue here at all.
Single
reviews in NME never went on this long, did they? Certainly not in Smash Hits.
To round
this off then, kind of, would this fit or if you like slot onto any album by
anyone I consider to have a similar sound? The answer is yes, and it would be
“killer” rather than “filler” on it. For a glimpse of a broader audience of
this song, my (considerably) better half was bobbing her head along, our eldest
son was doing air guitar to it and our youngest son was going “do do doodoo doo
do do do” to it. I guess our house, it is fair to say, are looking forward to
following and supporting James Rooney, and certainly look forward to hearing
more.
Well,
all that’s left for me to do here is to once again encourage you to give the
single a try. It does not, as far as I know, cost you anything beyond the
calories lost by clicking on the link to hear it, or the three or so very splendid
minutes listening.
Thanks
to James for the preview copy, thanks to G Man for connecting me, and most of
all thank you very much for taking the time to read and giving this a listen.
Be
excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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