Search - Click Five :: Modern Minds & Pastimes

Power Pop, Truly at Its Best

popomatik | Portland, OR USA | 08/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So when Rooney, The Click Five and Phantom Planet all had their major label debuts relatively within the same time period, I of course, supported and purchased all of their efforts. Even Phantom Planet's two follow-ups. And now, in 2007, both Rooney's new one and The Click Five's new one. I'll admit here, the back-catalogues for these three bands have sat amongst my other CD's gathering dust. But now comes "Modern Minds & Pastimes" and it simply is a fun, fun, fun record. Pop with a heavy dose of The Cars and hints of Matthew Sweet. Lots of synthesizers, harmonies, melodies. And songs about girls, girls and more girls. But between the oohs and ahhs and handclaps and echoes, damn if it's not catchy. Great to work out to at the gym. P.S. In case someone wants to hunt this one down: Jason Schwartzman left Phantom Planet to pursue his acting career more aggressively. Ironically, Schwartzman's brother, Robert, decided to pursue his music career more aggressively than his acting one - he's the lead singer/songwriter for Rooney. Well, Jason's still making films and he's not drumming for Phantom Planet. But in late 2006, he did sneak out an interesting pop record under the name Coconut Records. "Nighttiming" doesn't always work, but on many levels it is far more a pop-affair than Phantom Planet and any direction they've attempted to take. Nighttiming"