What if your favourite singer, somehow, never got around to recording the type of music that they should have? What if some great God of pop-rock would simply take the most talented musicians in the world and rearrange them into styles based on some equation that we cannot see?
In some ways, this is what happens on Nick Andrea’s entertaining Saturday night with a tux on, a collection of songs “Ve*hic*u*lar.” To this writer, Andrea’s tracks bring to mind a more vocally versatile, but equally charismatic David Lee Roth, creating a glitzy retro pop spectacle.
But this isn’t strictly Las Vegas material, nor is this one-dimensional. As a matter of fact, it’s the attention to detail that might just make this for you an EP worth repeated listens. Yes, you get smooth classic soul-pop complete with convincing vocal bravado on “Vehicle.” Still, on “Guilty of the Worst,” Andrea spits one clever line after another over a pleasant pop-rock backing.
Fans of self-assured rock singers delivering stories of their past with a smile and wink will likely get a kick out of the bluesy “(Ballad of the) Unrepentant Child” and the jazzy “Little Hottie’s Revenge.” This is a dying breed of performer, surely, which makes it all the more alluring.
And, further proof that David Lee Roth will be jealously rubbing his temples while hearing the EP is provided on blues, rock, and soul hybrid, the list-filled “Little Hottie.”
Frankly, this is charming stuff! But where does it leave us? Time wounds all heels, as the great Marx (no, not that one!) used to say, and on the final track, Andrea delivers his blues-shuffle plea for redemption a la “Just a Gigolo,” with “The Bill is Coming Due.”
Nick Andrea wants to blend musical styles and have fun doing it. But, nearly as importantly, on “Ve*hic*u*lar,” he’s preoccupied with having the audience just as entertained. Taking fun seriously remains, if you ask me, of great importance!
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