First impressions are so important and, in the world of recorded music, the sleeve is the thing to get your interest (or at least it used to anyway…). So, Italian rock band The Lovely Savalas – even if they do sound more west coast of America than you would expect – are on to a fine start with the eye catching cover art by Cristiano Carotti.
So, does the album live up to the promise of the cover? Yes, indeed it does and there are slices of power pop perfection to be found in this album. However, it is no lightweight either as The Lovely Savalas illustrate by swiftly moving between the Maypops style of “All The President’s Girls to a much harder guitar driven groove with the greatest of ease. Of special note is Michele Pica’s solid guitar work that shines throughout and adds much more then you might expect to the songs. The best was saved to last when a stylistic zigzag into something akin to European prog rock meets the Stone Temple Pilots takes us right through “Armadillo” and off into the night. The walls of Jericho would fall to this song. Or maybe you could even dance to it? Anything is possible.
All in all, a very respectable album by which The Lovely Savalas that easily establishes their musical credibility and that also features guest spots from the redoubtable Nick Oliveri, Martyn Lenoble and Scott MacCloud.