The Poppin’ Wheelies are: (a) a new boy band sponsored by the
\nAmerican Motocross Association; (b) a high-concept musical cartoon
\nwith a “Star Wars meets Josie and the Pussycats by way of
\nScooby-Doo” feel; (c) a slang term for skate punks who do a lot of
\nuppers. Now that you’ve had a chance to think about it, hold that
\nthought.<\/p>\n
Of all the good things that have happened musically in the year
\n2002 — a category which in my mind includes a new Springsteen
\nalbum, the ascendance of Jimmy Eat World, a terrific album from
\nSheryl Crow, and the replacement on the charts of the likes of
\nBritney Spears with the likes of Michelle Branch – my favorite may
\nstill be a development which has yet to produce any new music at
\nall. The Gin Blossoms are back.<\/p>\n
For those who slept through the first half of the ’90s, the Gin
\nBlossoms were a five-man powerhouse pop-rock band out of Tempe,
\nArizona whose propulsive single “Hey Jealousy” conducted a gradual
\ntakeover of the charts in fall 1993. With just two major-label
\nalbums to their name (1992’s
\nNew Miserable Experience<\/i> and 1996’s
\nCongratulations I’m Sorry<\/i>), they broke up all too soon in
\n1997. Five years later, they’re back, having toured all this spring
\nand summer, generating buzz and working on a 10th anniversary
\nreissue of NME, a DVD retrospective, and, potentially, new music
\nfor ’03.<\/p>\n
During their four-plus year hiatus, Blossoms members worked on a
\nnumber of other projects, including the ill-fated Gas Giants, a
\npromising band featuring Gin Blossoms singer Robin Wilson and
\ndrummer Phillip Rhodes that was among the victims of the great
\nA&M Records implosion of 1998. Somewhere late in the GG era,
\nRobin Wilson got an idea that he just couldn’t let go of, combining
\nhis love of Saturday morning cartoons with his affection for the
\nsimple joys of under-appreciated power-popsters like Marshall
\nCrenshaw.<\/p>\n
Thus were born the Poppin’ Wheelies, a space-age rock band who
\ntravel the universe in their GalactaVan (a vehicle that bears a
\ndistinct resemblance to the van pictured on the cover of
\nNew Miserable Experience<\/i>), playing gigs on planets like Las
\nVega while being stalked by the Black Widow Comandress and her
\nrobot henchmen the Techno-Pops, who covet the Wheelies’ enchanted
\nguitar.<\/p>\n
\nThe Poppin’ Wheelies<\/i> is a truly odd disc, a soundtrack for a
\nTV series that hasn’t made it past the storyboard stage to date,
\nwhose booklet features vibrant full-color renderings of characters
\nwho thus far exist in Wilson’s mind alone. Still, there’s no
\ndenying the energy of the music or the joy Wilson – aided and
\nabetted by Rhodes and Gas Giants guitarist (and fellow former Gin
\nBlossom) Dan Henzerling – pours into it.<\/p>\n
The tracks are a buoyant mix of Wilson originals and
\nwell-executed covers. Coming in for special attention are three
\ntracks from undergound\/semi-legendary ’80s power-pop genius Tommy
\nKeene. The fact that the Wheelies’ lead singer\/rhythm guitarist’s
\nname is “Tommy “appears to be less than coincidental, as most of
\nthe album comes off as an admiring Keene homage. That means
\nthree-minute songs with simple, catchy guitar riffs, upbeat yet
\nsearching lyrics, and unrelenting energy.<\/p>\n
Wilson manages to work in a host of space-age references in
\nsongs like “Little Stars” that make you wish you had the whole
\ncartoon in front of you instead of just six pages of artwork.
\nStill, the flavor is there, as are the roots of the Blossoms’
\nguitar-heavy sound. Foreshadowing this year’s reunion, Blossoms
\nguitarist Scott Johnson drops in to put the finishing touches on
\nWilson’s fairly brilliant take on Keene’s best-known cut, the
\nringing yet melancholy “Places That Are Gone.” The fact that Wilson
\nand Blossoms guitarist\/harmony vocalist Jesse Valenzuela also
\nguested on Keene’s 2002 album
\nThe Merry-Go-Round Broke Down<\/i> just cements the impression
\nthat Blossoms fans have a lot to thank Tommy Keene for.<\/p>\n
Bottom line: while it’s a brief (36-minute) little confection
\nthat lacks the emotional heft of a Gin Blossoms album, this is a
\ntruly fun album that any Blossoms fan will want to have in their
\ncollection. Hopefully someday we’ll get to see Tommy, Danny,
\nTennessee, Otis and Cracky do their thing for real on the small
\nscreen\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6784],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37468","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-poppin-wheelies","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37468"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37468"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}