A few record review clichés to be avoided at all costs: chanteuse (Oh man, does that one make my skin crawl!), sui generis, eponymous, Beatle-esque. The problem is, what if the cliché you want to side-step actually makes perfect sense? Do you construct some sort of elaborate ruse and write your way around your instincts? Wouldn't keeping it simple make a lot more sense?
Well, clearly Tom Fuller has a big chunk of Beatles in his record collection and he's listened to those discs more than a few times. Slapping the "B-word" on his music would be unfair though, as there's so much more going on.
So let's get obvious Fab Four (Ick! Another cliché!) references out of the way. Yes, Fuller has a certain way with vocal harmonies that might take us back to those days. The stacatto, mellotron-ish notes employed on the off beats during "Lollipop Guild" seem very familiar (to say nothing of the "Strawberry Fields" name check in the chorus). The piano opening to "Sunglass Wardrobe" has Liverpool written all over it — especially when the clarinet makes an appearance. Wait, there's that mellotron again!
But... what's with the scorching guitar solo? It popped up right in the middle of the aforementioned tune. A great surprise that required a slight uptick of the volume control. And how about the giant chords that drive "Midnight Pass"?
The truth is that the music of the Tom Fuller Band draws more from good, sturdy late 1970's power pop and arena rock than it does from the Beatles. One point of reference might be Tom Petty, but my ears only hear that in Fuller's reedy voice, put to great use during a cover of The Hollies' "Air That I Breathe." It might even be argued that songs like "Dragon Fight" still get back to Abbey Road by way of Cheap Trick, but that's just a weak attempt to afix that label.
I'm exhausted by all of this cliché avoidance. Time to bust out my copy of Revolver.
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