| Wes Hollywood is something fairly unique
in Chicago. He is a singer/songwriter that sounds nothing like the Lillith Fair, Indigo
Girls, or 90 percent of the acts in town based around songwriters. His thing isn’t
limp acoustic puffery; it’s sarcastic, snotty new wave a la Elvis Costello and the
Attractions. On his debut release "Playing Favourites" (Net Wt. Records) takes
his listeners on a trip back to 1979, to a land of short, snappy pop songs, skinny ties
and hipster/geek coolness. As a songwriter, Hollywood has a few decent tricks up his
sleeve, and he puts them to good use. This is not one of those "every- song- sounds-
the- same" albums, even though the instrumentation doesn’t vary much. Hollywood
crafts his songs so that each one stands apart, even in his stripped-down rock band
context.
The CD kicks off with what seems to be the bands’
theme song "Solid Action", which starts on a tart minor chord before launching
into a super-hummable major key chorus. You just gotta love a writer who comes up with
lines like "She was easy on the rods and cones/ If I didn’t love this girl, I
wouldn’t be alone". "Somebody New", the second tune, is one of those
classic sad lyrics set to up, danceable music and features some beautiful acoustic piano
playing by Matt Walters. The tune on here that I think people will talk about the most,
however, is "Queen of Wicker Park". Someone in that neighborhood has gotten Mr.
Hollywood’s dander up and he lets it fly on this one. "She’s never
overlooked in a crowd, how could she be?/She’s much too loud and thinks she’s on
TV." Hmmmm…Sound like anyone you know?
Besides Hollywood on guitar and vocals, the band consists of Jason Styx on drums and
Patrick Thornbury on bass. This rhythm section hugs the groove for all it is worth and
provides nimble backup for Hollywood’s compositions. The only criticism I could make
of this record is that it is definitely ‘in a bag’, so to speak. If you like a
late 70’s/early 80’s new wave sound, you will really like this record. If you
don’t, you won’t. Hollywood serves up a particular flavor of rock and roll, love
it or leave it. That said, I, for one, dig the edgy pop sound The Wes Hollywood Show puts
down. There are so many singer/songwriters working the same territory these days that
someone like Wes Hollywood and his old school new wave comes off like a giant blast of
fresh air. Well done.
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