CD of the Day, 2/2/07: Josh Fields-Josh Fields

OK, folks, time to break out the siren for this one:

LA's Josh Fields (about whom little I could find online other than the fact he was a former guitarist for a band called I-94) has come out of nowhere with a pure power pop delight of a mini-album (7 tracks, a bit too big to be called an EP). On the CD Baby page for the disc, he describes it as "melody driven powerpop that lives somewhere between Jellyfish and Cheap Trick with smart lyrics and addictive hooks." It is somewhere in between - not as baroque as the 'fish, but not quite as crunchy as Cheap Trick. In fact, it reminds me of Fastball, specifically the Miles Zuniga songs ("Fire Escape", "Airstream"), as well as Semisonic and the other bands that spearheaded a late 90s pop/rock renaissance on contemporary hit radio before the boy bands and the divas took over for good.

Anyway, the seven tracks here are better than most discs with 12 or more. "Clock Keeps Ticking" is the lid-lifter, and what a song it is, buoyed by a great chorus that won't leave your head and sounding like a lost Rembrandts classic. "Steal The Air" may be even better, with another killer chorus and a piano hook that surfaces from time to time not unlike Semisonic's "Closing Time". "Goodnight LA" is an exceptional power ballad that compares favorably to any that Cheap Trick have released; and "Photograph" is a midtempo marvel.

Can't find a myspace, the artist site linked to at the CD Baby page says "coming soon", so you'll have to do your one-stop shopping at the Baby, where it's a bargain at $8. There isn't much question this'll be on a Best of 2007 list at year's end; the only question is whether it'll go on the main list or the EP list.