Rooney: Calling The World
Lead singer Robert Schwartzman is the son of Rocky actress Talia Shire
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Monday, 10, Sep 2007 05:08
Geffen, out September 10th, 2007.
In a nutshell.
Cracking pop from OC faves
What's it all about?
Though not a classic album-opener, the addition of Dhani Harrison on backing vocals gives Calling The World
's title track's chorus harmonies a welcome sense of All Things Must Pass-era George, while the band's honed pop sensibilities shine through with an archetypal key change and some 'ooh-woos' stolen blatantly from the Beach Boys.
If you didn't already know it, you'd have no trouble guessing that these boys are Californian. But with When Did Your Heart Go Missing?, Rooney could have a huge hit on their hands, with its outstandingly infectious tune a welcome taste of summer as the days grow shorter. How a song about a love going cold can sound this warm is a mystery, but Schwartzman's a dab hand with a memorable melody.
The five-piece momentarily decide they want to be Queen rather than Weezer as I Should've Been After You kicks into life, but it all reverts to enjoyably familiar type soon enough. Some nearly-misogynistic lyrics disturb the balance somewhat, but these instances are always offset by genre-standard paeans to lost love and heartbreak.
While John Field's production is consistently superb - especially on the Steve Miller-esque Are You Afraid of Me? and the sub-ELO strings of Help Me Find My Way - the bonus tracks from the Tony Hoffer-produced 2004 sessions are unimaginative and wholly forgettable; it's probably best that they jettisoned the majority of those original efforts.
Who's it by?
While OC-devotees will need no introduction, the emergence of a certain Shrek-faced England striker in the time elapsed since their breakthrough might confuse some. Not that it's easy to feel much sympathy for Rooney - not only did they hit the big time thanks to massive promotion through the Californian teen show, but they've also got a step on the ladder that other bands just don't.
Lead singer Robert Schwartzman is the son of Rocky actress Talia Shire, the brother of Rushmore actor Jason (also linked to The OC through once playing the drums in Phantom Planet) and the nephew of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola. Let's just say they've has it a little easier than most. Nevertheless, they've come through the potential career-killer of TV show stardom (as well as Schwartzman's acting in The Princess Diaries) to sell nearly a million albums in the US and create some superbly catchy, entirely exuberant pop-rock.
Plans for a second album stumbled, hence the three-year delay, but after hours in the recording studio and record company wrangles, the band - all still in their mid-20s have returned with a classic slice of Californian pop.
As an example.
"I'm waiting, waiting for nothing/You're leaving, leaving me hanging/When did your heart go missing?/When did your heart go missing?" - the irresistible catchy chorus of the lead single, unsurprisingly called When Did Your Heart Go Missing?
"I'm a bad man when it comes to girls like you/Yeah, I'm a bad man/and there's nothin' you can do" - Schwartzmann turns on the charm on Don't Come Around Again.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
It's far too lightweight for any real critical recognition, but it's certain to reignite the fandom their OC appearance once created, and When Did Your Heart Go Missing? could quite conceivably feature on some Best Single rosters.
What the others say
"It's as if they've adopted Supertramp as their spirit animal, soaking Calling the World in mondo synths and double-tracking. Is it cheesy? Kind of. But sometimes your musical diet can use a little extra dairy." - Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
"Rooney have taken some of the best of the last forty years of music as influences and melded it together into their own artistic yield that is enticing and accessible but doesn't sound overwrought. Calling the World is my guilty pleasure of 2007 without the morning-after walk of shame." - Tony Pascarella, AbsolutePunk.Net
So is it any good?
It's not often that a band who cut their teeth on the LA teen scene could conceivably appeal to the over-50s, but by meshing the So-Cal Weezer punk sound with remnants of Queen, Supertramp and ELO, Rooney have knocked together an irrepressibly grin-inducing album.
It's pop - make no bones about that, but there's nothing wrong with a good singalong, especially when it's delivered so energetically. They've fashioned something memorable, catchy and insistent through little more than good old fashioned "whoa-whoa"s, it's a laudable talent. This is unashamedly, ecstatically enjoyable pop - except most top-notch pop doesn't feature the word "coccyx".
8/10
Lewis Bazley
