Cross the stadium power of AC/DC with the radio appeal of Fountains Of Wayne and that'll give you a hint to the Casanova's sound. This is the first album in I don't know how long that grabbed my full attention from the start. It's really great rock in that unpretentious entertaining tradition of hair bands that were talented enough to last through the decades. There's a raw potential that's immediately noticeable in The Casanovas.This self-titled album is packed full of solid guitar tones and surprisingly good sweet solo's too. I say surprising because it's unusual to find such solid melodic chord progressions and then such sweet solo's as well. Usually a solid melodic "team" player is less than stellar on the solo, and an innovative creative solo-ist struggles a bit to keep himself reigned in when all that's required is a steady dependable groove, Tommy Boyce is schooled and creative at the same time with an energy level that's barely suppressed.
Just reigning it in enough to get it down on tape must have been quite a challenge. The collaborative groove fashioned by drummer Jordan "Jaws" Stanley and bassist Damian Campbell creates a damn near perfect marriage. Anthems like "10 out of 10" are worthy of every frat-house party and stadium sing a long, but take your pick there's not a song on here that doesn't qualify for radio.
At last a band emerges that deserves the title of rock band. If I have anything to nit about it's that a bit more effort could be put in lyrically. Now that you have the groove down lads why not focus a bit more attention on that. Beyond that this album is palms rat-tat-tatting on the steering wheel magic.The bonus track Aloha Steve and Dano did crack me up lyrically (I thought I was the only one who remembered Hawaii Five-O) but it also left me thinking, The Casanova's are right: bring back Steve and Dano and let's use this wonderful guitar version for the theme song, I'd tune in just for that.
