AMERICAN HI-FI - "Hearts On Parade"  (3/2006)

     Put another notch in the belt of power pop songwriting genius Butch Walker. His resume is extensive, with entries from Bowling For Soup, Marvelous 3, and Avril Lavigne, but this may be his most impressive collaboration yet. Providing songwriting help as well as razor sharp production quality, Walker has created a pop classic for all times here. This is a rare multi-dimensional effort with songs that are all firmly planted in the pop genre. Songs that have Beatlesque simplicity with hooks that would bag a whale. This is an album that will have you singing and tapping your feet long after you leave your CD player. We hear the band start the record with a sly bass driven melody that has an INXS-type vibe, with a chorus that skips and bops like some of the best Jellyfish songs. As the next track jumps out of the speakers we get a masterpiece of pure pop brilliance. Sounding something like an 80's-era Genesis tune with a catchy as hell chorus, "Hell Yeah!" is one of the best pop songs of the past decade at least. The band heads into a Bowling For Soup quirky feel with "The Geeks Get The Girls," and then they place another gem at our feet with "We Can't Be Friends." With its Blondie "Rapture"-type rap style through the verses, it ultimately heads into a hook-laden pop wonderland once again for the chorus. Then they do it again on the ballad "Something Real," except this time they incorporate some great background vocal effects that give the song an Oasis-type feel.