In a season littered with new releases, Zed for Zulu, the new album from Those Pretty Wrongs out on Burger Records, is a major surprise. The band, Jody Stephens from Big Star and Luther Russell from a dozen other groups, makes music that's richly melodic and expertly constructed. If some of this sounds a tiny bit like Big Star, that's another plus.
"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", the opener, is aching and tender, while "Ain't Nobody But Me" is chiming pop of the best sort. Some of this, like "Time to Fly", owes a huge debt to Third, the classic Big Star record, but Stephens wisely allows the tunes to breathe. The result is something that's as close to early solo McCartney and Harrison releases as it is to the more claustrophobic Chilton stuff of that famous release I mentioned. "Hurricane of Love" is epic chamber rock, the sound of a member of Big Star revealing a real love for "Because" among other Beatles numbers, while "A Day in the Park" is warm folk rock. These slower, more introspective tunes allow Russell and Stephens to charm listeners completely. Still, on the numbers here that are brighter, like "You and Me" and "It's About Love", there's a lot here that points in the direction of a whole generation of bands who took inspiration from Big Star. What we're hearing echoes The Posies, Gin Blossoms, and Matthew Sweet, yes, but all of those fellas were creating music that owed so much to Chilton, Bell, and Stephens, so I guess the circle is complete here on Zed for Zulu. This really is the sort of record that would have found a huge audience in the heyday of college rock, but which, in 2019, needs people spreading the word about how excellent this is.
Zed for Zulu is out now via Burger Records.
More details on Those Pretty Wrongs via the official Facebook page, or the the official website.
[Photo: Jim Newberry]