Phamous phaces biography of rory anderson

N ew Pop City is populated with highly competent, melodic jangle-pop and is easily the best effort yet from this Eugene, Oregon quartet, so why do I feel I want more? Sure, there are Rickenbackers and harmonies enough, catchy retro beats and ambitious basslines, occasional handclaps and fine musicianship all around. This is a good CD, rife with well-constructed powerpop, middle bridges and all, the kind of stuff you used to hear on radio in decades past.

Many of the songs here, though catchy, seem just one or two hooks shy of being better. After a few years playing the local circuit along with various personnel changes , the group broke up in so that each member could go his own way.

Rory Anderson the only difference between you and the ice man from a hundred years ago is that kids don't follow you around hoping a piece of duct work.

In , the group reformed with a determination to do original music, playing shows throughout the Northwest and gaining a good reputation en route to recording a debut album in late Even then, their talent was evident. Now, on New Pop City , we get ever tighter playing and the merits of a band maturing and establishing its own musical identity.

This band has opened for Rick Derringer, Foghat, Quiet Riot, Starship, and more recently The Knack and has toured extensively, including a successful jaunt to Denmark which also is the title of the opening track. All told, a very talented and industrious foursome: Jesse Ruggles and Roger McConnell handle guitars and vocals, while Mike Trathen offers additional vocals and plays bass these three also share songwriting duties , while Ron Petty holds it all together with the drums.

Ruggles and Trathen share keyboard duties, and Ruggles helped with graphics, while Trathen engineered and helped mix the tracks. New Pop City has clean, guitar-driven songs with a versatility of sound that recalls a certain Liverpudlian quartet at times, or maybe The Hollies, The Byrds, Badfinger and Cheap Trick at others, and occasionally even more obscure power pop groups like Spongetones and Ice Cream Hands.

The music is new, but the overall sounds are derivative, even though well produced and expertly performed. It features some great bass work by Trathen who penned the composition , and guitars and harmonies that seem directly transported from the s. The majority of the songs on the new collection are written by Ruggles, who is well versed in his pop history.