trageser.com
Music Review

Home
Computers
Book Reviews and Reading Diary
CD Buying Guide and Music Links
Best-of lists
CD Reviews
CDs, sorted by Style
CDs, sorted by year issued
CDs, sorted by publication review ran in
CDs by San Diego bands
All CDs, sorted by band name
All CDs, sorted by album title
Interviews
Favorite quotations
Contact Me



A solid second effort

With Friends Like These
With Friends Like These
By The Modlins

Self-released: 2007

Buy it now


This review first appeared in Turbula in December 2007.

Less than a year after their debut, San Diego's The Modlins return with a another '60s mod-flavored slice of power pop goodness. The best news? The new album doesn't disappoint; it's clear the four men of the band had a ready storehouse of great songs left in the bin after their first release.

With three- and four-part vocal harmonies, clever word play, clean guitar-based arrangements and some of the most intoxicating little melodies you'll hear, this is every bit the equal of "Here's to Being Happy."

"She Won't Miss Me" is a near-perfect pop song: A melody that nestles into your ear like your hand into a pair of well-designed gloves; vocal harmonies to make you think John and Paul; noodling electric guitar that darts in and out of the melody line, riding atop the bubbling rhythm. It's got the kind of narcotic hold that a classic Herman's Hermits song would have – while still having the kind of contemporary power pop sensibility you'd hear in Fountains of Wayne or Wheezer.