Putting the World on Notice, 4 out of 5 StarsThere's a lot of derivative fun to be taken from the second album from California popsters Rooney. They channel Weezer by way of Jellyfish with a weird dose of prog-rockers likeQueen or Electric Light Orchestra. Add the teeny-bopper good looks of Robert Schwartzman (Jason's younger bro and cousin to Nicholas Cage) and the sixties style cover pose, and you get a band that craves both the sugar and the success. "Calling The World" makes good on that intent.
Starting with the crafty title track, "Calling The World" delivers hooks so thick that this almost sounds like a greatest hits collection. "Are You Afraid" plays the processed vocals like "Mr Blue Sky," yet the guitar lines that open "What For" are pure George Harrison. Both "I Should Have Been After You" and the lead single "When Did Your Heart Go Missing" sound like they should have been in an 80's John Hughes movie. There's even a hint of Genesis or The Cars in "Love Me Or Leave Me," that is if either of those bands were fronted by George Michael.
There's so much sugar to be had on "Calling The World" that it eventually gets to be too much. The sense that Rooney needs an identity of its own starts to creep into the guilty pleasure of it all. Keane's Perfect Symmetry explored this territory a bit more effectively early in 2009, but if power-prog-pop is your candy of choice, "Calling The World" will give you a sugar-buzz like few others since Jellyfish or the long lamented Rubinoos.
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