Memory Girls : Warren Zanes : Review : Rolling Stone

Despite being one of the heralded bands of Eighties American indie rock, Boston's Del Fuegos didn't end up with the same historical cachet as the Replacements or R.E.M. Singer-songwriter Dan Zanes evolved into an acclaimed children's musician, while guitarist (and younger bro) Warren seemingly disappeared. Memory Girls finally clues us into what the harder-edged Peter Noone lookalike has been up to, musically, for the last twelve years. It's an excellent debut album, with tunes that incorporate everything from New Orleans instrumentation to folky ballads but mostly concentrate on an inspired, keyboard-heavy pop that falls somewhere between mid-Wilco and 1970s radio pop a la Todd Rundgren or early Elton John. "Everybody Loves You" opens things up with melodic talking pop (as opposed to talking blues); "If You Could Stay" samples from the Beatles' "It's Getting Better," building a new song around it; and "Where We Began" -- with its Spector/Wilson-esque glockenspiel chorus -- is as glorious a pop song about lost love as anyone's likely to record this year.

BILL HOLDSHIP
(March 4, 2003)

(Posted: Mar 4, 2003)

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