The Suns – Hey Carla
I’m a kid raised by a sound system and colour TV. I talk about movies, music, and sports. I’m not playing smart. It’s all I know.
Hey Carla by the Suns, all shimmering and sugar-sweet, sounds like the soundtrack to a pre-teen-movie. This is the number that the titular character of the movie, let’s call him Ben, plays to woe his love interest. Naturally, Carla cannot resist the sentiment, Ben’s poetry, or the fact that he owns a car, and they walk off into the sunset.
It would all be a tad too saccharine for us, were it not for the fact that the song in question is really good. Just like the brilliant Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), rest his soul, The Suns are able to exchange beautifully crafted melodies for attention, a nifty trick that few can pull off well.
They sound like a garage band who has obsessed over the Beach Boys for too long. But, just like most modern bands, they too have grown a bit cynical and, I’m afraid Carla, that Ben’s over you.
Stop the Presses – Wasted Youth
I will admit my bias straight out of the gate. Of any other music genre utilizing guitars, I am most suspicious of reggae music not made over in Jamaica. Sure, the Police and the early punk groups dabbled in reggae, but it was so far removed from the kind of tunes that make suburban kids want to grow dreads, that it might as well have been opera.
Now, with that being said, Stop the Presses are charming. Even my coal heart melts over a charming ska number. I like Rancid punching in some up-stroke guitar chords. Sunshine Reggae by Laid Back? Sweet German reggae to my ears.
Wasted Youth is one such enjoyable song. Stop the Presses clearly know what they are doing, and even though the lyrics may sound a tad juvenile, the Specials didn’t exactly write about existentialist philosophy either, and they turned out just fine.
Pleasant number, good vibes only.
