Monday, December 14, 2009

Tally Hall: Whimsical, Campy, Cute, Youthfully Romantic

Originally posted on April 30, 2008

“And now for all you youngsters out there. . . ,” as Ed Sullivan used to announce, we have something different in the pop-rock vein. The group is Tally Hall and the CD is entitled Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Atlantic). It has a whiff of early Queen without the overblown vocalizations, and it also hearkens back at times to the whimsical Beatles of Sgt. Pepper’s era and other tongue-in-cheek camp doings such as a few cuts from Moby Grape’s Wow.

There’s a wide-open approach to the album concept and you will find pseudo-old time ukulele tunes, straight ahead rockers, and everything in between. It has that youthful romanticism that doesn’t always find its way to disk these days. I found it interesting. There’s a cuteness (think of the Monkees, with all due respect) that doesn’t completely resonate with my grumpy age bracket. Nevertheless, it has a solid musical bent refreshing to hear.

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