Willie Wisely
Go
Franklin Castle
Minneapolis native Willie Wisely offers a couple of perfect pastiches of power pop on Go, which assembles twelve songs from his now out of print albums. Included are the jaunty piano-led title track and “Bygones,” a sort of DIY amalgamation of ELO and Queen as filtered through Will Kimbrough or Brad Jones. “Loander My Guitar” goes so far as to borrow the groove and fuzz guitar from The Beatles’ “Revolution.”
Unfortunately, Wisely may be too talented at aping vintage sounds. He often doesn’t know when to quit. “She Said Yeah” has too much going on and provides nothing to connect with. “Home By Friday” is just too wacky. And the shifting sonic textures of “Working Girl” detract from an otherwise pretty song.
Wisely is better off keeping it simple, as on the acoustic-based, singer-songwriter fare of “Vagabond” or the more straightforward pop of “Please Don’t Talk About Me (When I’m Gone).” They impress with a personal honesty rather than a mastery of pop touchstones.
Willie Wisely: http://www.wiselylive.com/ • Franklin Castle: http://www.franklincastle.net/
