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The Makes Nice

Candy Wrapper and Twelve Other Songs

(Frenetic; US: 7 Feb 2007; UK: 12 Feb 2007)

The Makes Nice sound as if they’ve been listening to early British records by the Kinks and decided to mash them up with some Keith Moon drum rolls. The short, crisp, and delectable “California Sun” should have your head bobbling along, while “As Long as I Can” is a great old-school rave up that would have the Hives and the Mooney Suzuki doing double and triple takes. These tidy tracks rarely disappoint, especially the pretty, Petty-esque picture painted during “Enough Is Enough” and the finely tuned “Candy Wrapper”, which resembles a cross between Matthew Sweet and the High Speed Scene. The precision is priceless among the trio here, with lead singer Aaron Burnham, bassist Josh Smith, and Jack Matthew nailing the cavity-inducing “Nothing Left to Say”. Rarely clocking in at three minutes, the ditties seem to blend into one giant good tune, with “November Girls” and “She Don’t Ever Let Go” making one boogie. The lone song where things sound just a tad forced is “The Day Is Done”. Tis a small price to pay though for such a clever little piece of rock.

Rating:

Originally from Cape Breton, MacNeil is currently writing for the Toronto Sun as well as other publications, including All Music Guide, Billboard.com, NME.com, Country Standard Time, Skope Magazine, Chart Magazine, Glide, Ft. Myers Magazine and Celtic Heritage. A graduate of the University of King's College, MacNeil currently resides in Toronto. He has interviewed hundreds of acts ranging from Metallica and AC/DC to Daniel Lanois and Smokey Robinson. MacNeil (modestly referred to as King J to friends), a diehard Philadelphia Flyers fan, has seen the Rolling Stones in a club setting, thereby knowing he will rest in peace at some point down the road. Oh, and he writes for PopMatters.com.


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