writhaus

3.5 stars

The solo debut of The Strokes‘ rhythm guitarist, Albert Hammond, Jr., is a success. Yours To Keep is kind of like a throwback pop record in that the lyrical content mostly consists of love and sex, it has sunshiny melodies, and it’s simple rock music. Of course, it’s not considered pop music by today’s standards largely because the artist plays an instrument and writes the songs.

The intro to the first song, “Cartoon Music for Superheroes,” makes it hard to believe you’re not listening to a Beach Boys record. The majority of songs, however, including the second track, “In Transit,” are soaked with a Strokes vibe. Hammond’s voice reminds me of John Lennon‘s voice, especially on “Blue Skies.” That’s about where the comparison ends, though. Lennon’s son Sean actually sings backup on two songs. The Strokes’ singer, Julian Casablancas, sings backup with Sean Lennon on “Scared.” Like Sean Lennon, Hammond’s father was a musician. Hammond, Sr. was popular in the 1970s. His most famous song is probably “It Never Rains in Southern California.”

Yours To Keep is a fun album and easy to listen to. As one-fifth of The Strokes, the band whose 2001 debut, Is This It, is arguably the most important and influential release of the century so far, Hammond proves he can stand on his own. He does not break any ground or experiment much, although the horns at the end of “Hard To Live in the City” were a cool surprise, but he put together a memorable group of ditties here. Yours To Keep comes out March 6. It was released in the UK late last year, and I got my hands on that. The U.S. release will feature two bonus tracks and the video for “101.”

Scale:
0. Shoot yourself
1. Poor
2. So-So
3. Good
4. Excellent
5. Instant classic

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Reviews - Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.