CoCoComa Honors Its Roots
But a lack of identity hampers its efforts.
CoCoComa
Things Are Not All Right
Released on Oct 20, 2009
My father used to say marriage is a 60-50 proposition which of course meant my mom always got 60%. The same can be said for the act of listening to CoCoComa’s second release, “Things Are Not All Right,” which coincidentally features the husband and wife team of Bill and Lisa Roe. While the album certainly pays homage to fathers of punk music like the Clash and the Ramones, it forgets to plow any distinctive new territory; a classic 60-50 proposition.
The 10 songs on the album are mostly very catchy and almost any of them can leave you with a hook embedded deep in your psyche. Unfortunately, none of the songs are particularly distinctive. What starts as a fun, head-bobbing good time, becomes an exercise in repetition and monotony.
The best moments are the tracks that include an organ and walk up to the border of the surf music genre. Track two, “Enemies,” marks the first organ appearance and track eight “Water into Wine” delves further into this arena. It’s these tracks where the band exhibits some of its own personality. Hopefully in the future Mr. and Mrs. Roe will be comfortable enough as songwriters to explore this potential signature sound further.
Another thing that would help the Roe’s next record would be disciplined editing. Many tracks, including the Ramones influenced “Lie to Me,” go on too long. If Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee could make great songs in two minute or less so can CoCoCoMa. They aren’t missing by much, but in many cases, those extra 15 or 20 seconds take songs past catchy to repetitive.
High Point
Great hooks and catchy beats.
Low Point
Not enough originality.
Posted by Mike Stern on Nov 03, 2009 @ 6:00 am
