Retro-chic...mostly, I'm not a fan of the idea/movement. Like Eddie Vedder sang in the Mike Watt song, "The kids today should defend themselves against the '70s/It's not reality/Just someone else's sentimentality," I don't see the need to immerse one's self in the surface and aesthetic trappings of a culture two generations removed of one's own, especially when one doesn't consider the failings of that previous era. However, every now and then, someone time travels and gets it right.
Six years ago, singer-songwriter released an album he titled 1972, with the hope that the music therein would reflect the music of the '70s. Well, he achieved his aspirations, as every track on that album--and it's a fine one--sounds like it's a re-mastered track from some here-to-fore unknown and unreleased album originally recorded thirty-five years ago. The best of those tracks, "Comeback (Light Therapy)," moves with one of the most fluid bass lines of the past ten years. Rouse adds a tight R&B drummer, strings, vibraphones, horns, and flutes, his own laid-back, light-soul vocals, and a melody not far removed from John Sebastian's "Welcome Back." With music as fine as this (and with a groove this inescapable), Rouse is excused for revelling in the AM sounds of the '70s. This one here would have been a top ten hit back then, arriving somewhere among Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue," Bill Wither's "Lean on Me," Looking Glass's "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)," and Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now"--all #1 pop hits in 1972.
And speaking of 1972, I've a buddy who also took a liking to this song, and decided to make a trip back in time as well. His 1972 Project is here, and you should check it out, man. It's righteous.
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