Friday, June 08, 2018

A Wanderlust reunion (of sorts)

Wanderlust was one of my favorite power pop bands from the 90s and they did in fact reunite in 2012 but who knows if they will ever again. So instead we have the next best thing - brand new solo albums from their primary singer/songwriters Scot Sax and Rob Bonfiglio, released within weeks of each other.

Scot Sax-Drawing from Memory. Sax has been the consummate music professional over the years, from fronting Wanderlust and Feel to a wide-ranging body of solo work that's included everything from pop to rock to funk to country as well as being a songwriter-for-hire who's penned hits for the likes of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Drawing from Memory is his return to the pop/rock idiom with the emphasis on the "pop". It kicks off with "Where Do You Go to Cry?", a midtempo number that sounds like a pop standard, and continues with "I Never Loved You", a Bacarachian ballad sung with Judy Blank, followed by "Am I Still Living?", a Lennon-esque number that's classic Sax. Highlights elsewhere are the string-laden "Parade of No's" which sounds co-written by Neil Finn, the ukulele-strummed "Addicted to the Needle" (which is about his love for vinyl, not drugs) and the wistful "Used to the Idea". It's the kind of album that Harry Nilsson used to make, a type not seen much these days.

iTunes




Rob Bonfiglio-Trouble Again. If it's straight-ahead power pop that you prefer to singer-songwriter stuff, then Sax's former bandmate Bonfiglio delivers for you with his latest solo album. I once wrote that Bonfiglio has a power pop sound that's big - big choruses, big hooks, big melodies. It's kind of a cross between indie power poppers like The Meadows and Velvet Crush and big name artists like Matthew Sweet, Collective Soul and Oasis, and the one-two punch to open the album of "Passenger Seat" and the title track makes that clear, as does "Spread This Feeling". But Bonfiglio can take things down a notch as well, with the wonderful "Gone" incorporating some Philly soul into the mix while "There Goes My Heart" sound like a top ten hit that charted sometime between 1975-1985. In fact, the whole album almost plays as a greatest hits from an alternate universe where Bonfiglio ruled the charts during that era and might be his best, most consistent album yet as well as one of 2018's.

iTunes




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

feel free to go get my cd of cover tunes i did last year plus a couple originals to review or play pass around etc..do what ya want with em........it's all free....
i only do it for the love of rock n roll...........i actually did these songs while at work between customers........did it all myself
some aren't too bad...

anyone and everyone..bloggers,podcasters,radio dudes and babes.....magazine people,or anyone else that turns people on to music...........or anyone at all............can go get my cover tunes from last year with a couple originals as well..............at this link totally free.............feel totally free to pass them around,play them in any way you want use them in your video commercial,movie,youtube videos,play them for your cat,i only do them cuz i dig it.............hope you can too............

covers include the equals,20/20,shadows of knight,ramones,magazine,electric prunes,liverpool five,yardbirds,red lorry yellow lorry,them,sonny and cher,turtles/chesterfield kings,kracker,comsat angels,the act......

an example for ya............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXe8nxXjz8k&ytbChannel=null



thanks guys getting some airplay in sweden and england..............and been on a few comps.....ice cream man power pop stuff and others....

thanks.........

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/davidaburdick3

joemill00077711 said...
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