Music Reviews

Reggie and the Full Effect

Promotional Copy

Heroes & Villains/Vagrant

The story continues. Have you been following? From last year’s release of Greatest Hits ‘84 – ‘87 to this current collection titled Promotional Copy. Is it a conspiracy? I haven’t a clue… I just listen to the music. It hip hops, yet the pop don’t stop. Rockit…. broken record, too many turntables and hell with the microphone, we’re screaming. Then you blink, and you get upbeat in-your-face keyboard-swinging ’80s, spitting rock and roll. Not talking classic rock, talking the kind o’ sounds that get the kids movin’. Like the Anniversary, like Braid, like… I dunno… the Get Up Kids… Get up and smell the coffee, ‘cause without it, this music will be miles ahead of you before you get done with the first song. Should be and could be classics like the unforgettable “Ode to Manheim Steamroller” careening at you through starstruck piano riffs, or the 50-second long breakbeat jive of “Doot Doot Pause Doot Doot” that slips without taking a breath into the next upbeat pop melody. Brilliant.

Vagrant, PMB 361, 2118 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403; http://www.vagrant.com


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