REVIEW: Tsar, Tsar (Hollywood)
- Scott Hudson
If you've been waiting for that quintessential pop/rock record to inhabit your lives, guess what? Your wait is over! With the release of their self-titled debut release, Tsar is set to take their brand of brash, free-spirited power pop from the streets of L.A. to the world. Does this sound like overblown propaganda? Perhaps. But one listen to this record and you may just agree that these guys are something special and their music splendid.
We're not talking about a second coming of The Beatles. If anything, Tsar could be considered the Cheap Trick of the new millenium. And what about the legacy of Cheap Trick? Consider this: these guys owned the late 70's and early 80's producing several multi-platinum records and strings of sold-out shows all over the world. Albums like Live At Budokan and Dream Police gave us classic rock anthems like "Surrender," "I Want You To Want Me" and "Dream Police" that are to that era what "Born To Be Wild" was to the late 60's. This is exactly where the comparisons to are drawn.
Like Cheap Trick, Tsar possesses that unique ability to create energetic, lighter-waving anthems combining powerful rock rhythms with strong pop hooks and an uncompromising melodic sensibility within the framework of their rock/brit-pop/punk underpinnings. The band makes no bones about it, this record has its crosshairs firmly fixed on the teenybopper demographic. As vocalist Jeff Whalen explains, "hopefully this album awakens the secret revolution in every child's heart, a sort of screaming freedom that demands anything is possible."
No doubt listeners will be hooked immediately as the album's opening track, the anthemic "Calling All Destroyers" smokes across the speakers with Whalen's urgent Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) / Liam Gallagher (Oasis) vocals leading the charge. Also scoring big are high-energy rockers like "I Don't Wanna Break Up," "Teen Wizards" and the overly infectious "Kathy Fong Is The Bomb."
The real gems however, are the brilliant acoustic numbers such as "Ordinary Gurl" and a real hidden treasure in "The Girl Who Wouldn't Die," which features perfectly subdued strings and Whalen's graceful vocals.
Hats off to Jeff Whalen, Daniel Kern, Jeff Soloman and Steve Coulter for an exciting debut record that exudes songwriting maturity without sacrificing that energetic live performance feel. If you're interested in catching Tsar live, you'll certainly have many opportunities to do so as the band embarks on a U.S. tour as the opening act for Duran Duran in late July.
