 Leona Naess I Tried To Rock You But You Only Roll
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On her follow-up to 2000's Comatised, this Norwegian-born, London-raised, New York University-educated singer-songwriter moves into the pop fast lane that belonged to Deborah Harry in the Eighties. Working with superefficient Swedish producer Martin Terefe - who re-voices with vintage synths the punch of a guitar band like, say, the Pretenders - Naess emerges as a breathy singer who vows (in the skittish "Mayor of Your Town") that she'll be "that song on your radio." On I Tried to Rock You but You Only Roll, she demonstrates the different colors of what that might sound like. "Blue Eyed Baby," with its off-kilter harmonies and velvet drive, is her most bravura selection; retro-disco Read More songs as fully fleshed as "Boys Like You" and "All the Stars" are her most fun and brightly colored; "Mexico," a midtempo ballad, is her most poignant. Intrigued by the Eighties, done with the Nineties, they're the pop songs of a smart Radiohead romantic. JAMES HUNTER (RS 880 - October 25, 2001)
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