Trollheart

Anteater's pick for this round. Do I really have to tell you what you need to do at this point?

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Neapolitan

Andy Platts is from CA, and Shawn Lee if from London. So the album title reflects the connection where the duo comes from.
West End + West Coast = West End Coast

You Can Feel It The guitar on the first track reminded me of Ian Bairnson playing leads on a 12 string. And the electric piano gave it a real 70s sound.

Emilia The second song reminds me more of modern band like Inner Wave than an amalgamation of a bunch of 70s groups.

Better There is a slight "eeewww" that reminds if 10cc, but that only last a few brief seconds. There is a lot of other stuff going on in this song. The main vibe I get from this song is that they are trying to rework ABBA's I Saw It In The Mirror.

Distance Between Us the intro literally forces one to think of Baby Come Back by Player. The vibe quickly switches to Bens Fold Five when he sings "I know when things get heavy ..." but no sooner after that line they bust into their rendition of the Manhattans.

See Me Slumber The introduction to this song it provided to you by Fastball.

In My Pocket The introduction is reminiscent of China Girl because of the Far East motif. You can almost hear the note sing "Papa Don't Preach."

... tbc

So far I like most of it. I don't hate it, so I definitely do not think this album is a meh at all. You gotta be crazy if you vote dislike or hate - IHMO. However I will have to give the album more consideration to figure out where I stand, whether I like or love the album.

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Anteater

It's fairly eclectic for a yacht rock album, and seeing that we have a lot of Curtis Mayfield fans I thought some aspects of the production might appeal to some folks here. There's some cool moments where it seemingly hops back and forth between blue-eyed soul and Motown influences without batting an eye, so that's why I picked it.

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MicShazam

There's just no way I can take a positive spin on this one. I did give it a try but I couldn't. I tend to skip this sort of music pretty fast when browsing around for new tracks. It just doesn't grab me.

I can hear that this band has put some effort into creating a certain sound, but I'm just not feeling it. I've heard so much that sounds just like this and I find the vocals especially hard to care about. The delivery and vocal melodies are so predictable. This guy can sing, but my mind wouldn't stop screaming "Discount Prince! Poor man's Simply Red! And I don't even really like Simply Red!". Whenever I managed to silence that voice for a moment, I was feeling frustrated that the music seemed dead set on avoiding ever feeling involving for more than 5 seconds at a time.

And I felt like basically every single song went on for longer than it should have. The last minute of each song was pretty tedious for me.

There was a pretty cool sounding instrumental moment in one song, but I can't remember which one.

Of course it doesn't sound bad, but I'm honestly feeling an overwhelming desire to skip ahead early in every song, already on the second time through the album.

Gonna have to disagree with a certain sentiment expressed by Nea and vote "disliked it". I'm legit bored here.

Anteater

Judie Tzuke's early to mid 80's period (as well as Joni Mitchell's) is very similar to what these guys do in regards to overall production and progression. Same general well of ideas. It takes a certain amount of laidbackness to enjoy the whole Californian / L.A. vibe but the craftsmanship and interplay is where the value is at. They're like one of Tarantino's imaginary dream-team bands come to life.

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OccultHawk

Ant - you do a great job of finding enjoyable overlooked gems

First listen winner but definitely has that feeling that time and familiarity will serve the record well

Easily gets a “loved it” vote

Don’t want to go overboard with hyperbole on a single listen but I’m excited about building a relationship with this record

Love the production - subtle variety - comforting soft rock vibe

KOOL

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OccultHawk

lulzzz did I really post that or are you taking the p iss ?

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Anteater

I coulda sworn I saw it somewhere.

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Neapolitan

I feel like they are re-gifting the 70s, so I am pretty apprehensive whether I could build a relationship with this record. I mean they are not referencing bands like ABBA and Player, they are down right stealing from them. "Building a relationship with this record?" It would be more like dating a kleptomaniac.

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MicShazam

I can see a bit of similarity to the two first Tzuke albums, Welcome to the Cruise and Sportscar, but let's not pretend they're sound all that similar in the end. Tzuke's early albums personally remind me a bit more of Kate Bush's first couple albums in some ways.

Judie Tzuke's early albums feel very pop rock to me. Emphasis on pop.

It did feel a bit like some sort of Frankenstein's monster, sewn together from various familiar acts and songs. I'm not sure if I think that's a sin, but it was a bit hard to feel like the album had all that much personality.

Just in the very sort of clean, measured delivery, the album even reminded me of Steely Dan. Not sure if anyone else can see what I mean.