Rating: 6/10
Label: ProgRock/TheRecordLabel 2011
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
Thunder from down under? More like a rainy Adelaide as The Colourphonics have been strolling around the oz scene since 2007 where they've angrily sliced through various musical genres, thrown them into a cliff-bound clown car (huh?) and greased the steering wheel. Ehhh, the latter according to their imagitive press-release and not the work of this particular bozo. What to expect from their debut release at ProgRock Records??? The unexpected really as this is a mish-mash of influences and styles. It's jazzy rock (Steely Dan), seventies funk, soul, fusion, the whole she-bang with a horn section and everything, and perhaps even the occasional prog-rock tune (but I wouldn't really expect too much of the latter here even though they're signed to progrock records' sister label).
The excellent female vocalist Miranda Maz has clearly been influenced by the sixties heroins (hello Dusty, Joplin, and Jefferson Starship) and it's more in the vein of "Duffy" than "Doro" if you catch my drift? It's the sixties groove all over again and have a listen to "My Daydream" for a perfect display of retro rock. Miranda is top notch while it's not quite as fun listening to their male singer, Tony Minniecon. Don't get me wrong, he's no schmuck and his set of pipes are way above average, it's still no match to the lovely Maz though and I'd rather have her singing all their boppy tunes in the future.
With the band's overly sixties, early seventies influences and barrier-breaking music, The Colourphonics are pretty much out on a limb within rock circles and it's difficult to catagorize the songs. I know for a fact that I would not have enjoyed this as a kid, but now it feels now natural and fitting to have playing in the background while working at the PC or whatever. Not bad, not too shabby at all.
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