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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pop heavyweight brawl; plenty of knockdowns, September 21, 1999
Rocket to the Moon is like a best of pop music on one CD; from one band. These guys cover the gamut of catchy tunes, hooks and clever lyrics without sounding a bit cliche. In other words, The Webstirs are probably the freshest sounding pop band since Cheap Trick; only with more sonic tricks up their sleeves. In the words of "Men On Film," I give this one "Two snaps up and a swirl!"
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic pop, even better live, July 7, 2005
I don't know if they're still around and playing shows in the Chicago area, but I when I lived in that city, I went to dozens of their shows. Everything on this album, and their debut "Smirk," was played live, and Mark even played accordion and tuba sometimes just like in the recordings. They put on a great show, and this recording captures their energy and songwriting chops.
So should you buy this? Absolutely! Why? That's harder to explain. I can't tell you who they sound like in modern pop, b/c I don't listen to that [junk]. This is intelligent (sometimes too intelligent for the audience's sake), catchy pop with a rock sensibility, as Rik Emmett would say. I can't help but fall back on comparisons to the Beatles, though more modern, with some California-style surf-rock styling. I don't have anything else like these guys in my collection, and I wish they'd done more recordings so I'd have more music like this. If you read my other reviews, you'll note I don't normally listen to this genre, which is why it's hard for me to compare the Webstirs to other musicians. Then again, I'm not sure there *are* musicians like this out there recording albums this good. Weezer? Oasis? Not good enough compared to these guys. This is great, great pop.
Standout tracks: The title track, "Grenadine" was a terrific live song, "Plastic Heart", "Breathe" is phenomenal, "Baby Marmalade" sizzles, "Jesse Garon's Ghost" is upbeat music with depressing lyrics and the juxtaposition works wonders, and "UPtown8-0894" is a great surfer-style instrumental that actually gets quoted at the beginning of the CD, encouraging you to loop this CD over and over. The production is clean, the songs are catchy as anything, and it's just plain fun music. And when's the last time you listened to anything that was fun without being silly? Check out this CD and you'll always have something you can enjoy without feeling goofy.
Great stuff. Worth a listen, especially if you live around Chicago -- or like your music to have more heart than attitude.
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