REVIEW: Boy Wonder, Wonder-Wear (Cherry Disc/Roadrunner)
- Daniel Aloi
Boston band Boy Wonder plays power pop with killer harmonies, sharp lyrics and tight musicianship, and their arrangements are so well thought-out you'd think they had Eric Carmen and Phil Spector tied up in the basement. Singer-guitarist Paula Kelley's (ex-Drop Nineteens, Hot Rod) lyrics seem to rail at the superficial idealism suggested by the cover's '50s advertising graphics, depicting perfection and happiness. Her issues are real and personal, her comments pointed.
After three tracks of Kelley's relationship diatribe ("Mission to destroy/you're a boy/and I'll do anything/it takes to make your black heart sting"), the band's other singer-guitarist, Jake Zavracky, gets a turn with "I Would," a nice ballad that could have been a hit for the Raspberries in 1974.
Zavracky came to the band along with bassist-singer Paul Natale from Dancer 13; together they add layered harmonies and skilled playing. Drummer Bruce Caporal is equally proficient, keeping both the mood and the beat with ease. Zavracky's "Liar Baby" employs the punchy, color-coded New Wave chords of The Cars, and the album-closing Wham!-meets-Wonder Stuff dance track, "Gone," could make them huge in France.
Sure, there are other references aplenty -- Zavracky throws in Rolling Stones guitar riffs as well as the aforementioned Cars chords, there's some of Nick Lowe's sardonic pure-pop glory, and Kelley's teen-queen vocals will remind you of Juliana Hatfield -- but mostly that's just their Boston (the city, stupid) and '70s rock influences showing. The band has so much going for it, they could channel the Partridge Family and still do no wrong. Recommended, if you like Eve's Plum, The Muffs, or any good girl-power pop for that matter.
