| Pop, as I have said before, falls under a
large umbrella. You can call a lot of what you hear on TRL (MTV) pop. But power-pop is a
world unto itself, and in this world you have some great bands. Many of the best power-pop
bands were in the 70s, band's like Milk N Cookies, The Heaters, 20 20,The Pop, The Beat,
and my all time fav - The Quick. In more recent times, we have had bands such as Jiffipop,
June and the Exit Wounds, The Lolas, Swirl 360, Jellyfish, Jupiter Affect, and the Sun
Sawed in ½. The list, past and present, goes on and on, and it seems that everyday there
is a new power-pop band coming out. This is fine with me, I want to hear them all. But the
review that I am doing is for The Rosenbergs.
The Rosenbergs don't stray too far from their CD
live and this, for me, is a blessing. I always tend to approach a show with a certain a
mount of trepidation and after listing to their new CD Mission: You, and loving it, I was
more nervous than usual. I wondered if they would be able to pull off the vocals, and be
as tight as they are on the CD. Well luckily for me, and all those who were in attendance
on the night of the 19th, the boys were musically and vocally perfect, as well as funny
and entertaining. This is opposed to the alternative of being generic, geriatric, and
boring.
The Rosenbergs write power-pop songs of the
first order. That is to say that their songs possess that wonderful combination of melody
and swelling harmonies, with the power of rock. They don't have a big light show, although
on one song they used a mirror ball, and they don't dress like KISS, but bass player Evan
Silverman does wear some kind of weird glasses on stage. Evan looks like he's going to the
YMCA for a swim after the show. What The Rosenbergs do on stage is have fun, and a lot of
it. But the thing is, it doesn't matter what they do on stage because the songs are so
great. Hearing the Rosenbergs play these songs live, well, it's a treat. If I was
disappointed in anything, it was that they didn't play "Overboard", the closing
song on their CD. They did play "Secret" though, and if the world were a fair
place, this song would be a hit.
Hey I love The Rosenbergs, both on CD and live.
They do power-pop right, and next to the Wondermints, I don't know who can touch them.
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