Album Review: Kurt Baker - "After Party"

 

Former frontman with the Leftovers, Kurt Baker is an American ex-pat currently living in Spain and After Party is his first solo record since signing to Little Steven's Wicked Cool records (although he's already put out four records on there with his band the Kurt Baker Combo).

The obvious touchstone here is Cheap Trick - Baker definitely specialises in sunshiny power pop as evidenced on songs like I Like Her A Lot and Over You. In fact After Party would've been a perfect album for sitting round in the garden with your mates on a hot summer's day with a paddling pool full of beer cooling. None of which obviously happened this year so the fact that he's put it out just as autumn's turning to winter feels like a bit less of a blow than it otherwise might've.

It's a solid album rather than a spectacular one - I kind of feel like the relentless cheeriness starts to wear a bit as side one of the album turns into side two and it might've been good to have a few more spiky numbers on here to balance things out. That said, Baker's canny enough to vary things up a bit here and there- the almost cocktail jazz style A Song And A Drink does represent a nice break in the momentum to vary things up a bit while Should've Been The One goes into almost doo-wop territory - brave move but they pull it off. Nevertheless, it's still an enjoyably upbeat album for anyone who needs it - certainly I think any Ryan Hamilton fans reading might find a lot to enjoy in the likes of She Don't Really Love You Dude and Outta Sight.

If you're the sort of person who can't stand power pop then I very much doubt that this will be the album to change your mind but for fans of the genre, certainly this ain't too bad at all. Should you so wish, you can investigate further at the Kurt Baker Bandcamp site.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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