Review: Radio Days "C'est La Vie"

One of my favorite rock bands from Italy is back with a full-length release called "C'est La Vie". I'm talking about Radio Days, and you can read my raving review of their last EP, "Midnight Cemetery Rendezvous", right here. Led by Dario Persi, Radio Days has been getting well-deserved attention in pop rock circles all over the globe.

One of the main things I love above Radio Days is their ability to build contemporary sounding pop rock songs using the trademark chord progressions popularized way back during the Golden Era of Rock and Roll. Radio Days also impresses with their simplicity - their songs have such good melodies that they don't need a lot of bells and whistles to make listening to them an enjoyable and memorable experience. Considering this, Radio Days has promise to be the next Weezer, and they take great strides towards this goal with "C'est La Vie".

"C'est La Vie" contains ten new gems that respectfully show the band's love of The Knack, Cheap Trick, and The Raspberries. The extensive touring over the past few years has paid big dividends in terms of how tight they sound. The new CD begins and ends very strong, with top notch powerpop rockers such as "Spinning Round The Wheel", "So Far So Close", "Sleep It Off", and "Sweetest Lullaby". The tunes in the middle seem to sag a bit - this is not because they are bad, but it is just that the flanking tunes are so great. One disadvantage of having no bells and whistles to create a more dynamic sound is that some songs will sound too much alike. The advantage is that "C'est La Vie" sounds very cohesive and consistent, resulting in a CD that plays well from start to finish.

I'd recommend Radio Days for fans of Fountains of Wayne, Eugene Edwards, and All-Star United. Watch for the record on October 15, 2010. The tour (with Kurt Baker of the Leftovers) will start with 18 shows in Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany.

iPOD-worthy: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10

Radio Days on MySpace. Official site.