Plastic Yellow Band is a new band from South Carolina, and they have just released their album Above Gravity. If the name is any clue, the band is actually modeled after John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band; in that it is centered around one songwriter/musician, and around him is a cast of revolving studio musicians. In this instance, that central figure is Gerry Jennings, and although very few people could ever reach heights akin to Lennon, the ambitious Jennings certainly seems up to the challenge.
The music also happens to be clearly influenced by the sounds of Lennon, and the rest of the Beatles as well, from the bouncy vaudevillian nature of “America (Mother of Exiles)” to the harmony-laden, piano-driven “Two Virgins.” There are also distinct strains of 60’s psychedelica on “You Lied To Me,” and classic rock blues guitars on “Heaven Can Wait.” The album plays like a fantastic, and loving tribute to the history of rock and roll. Yet there’s still more than enough of Jennings’ own personality to prevent it from sounding like a didactic lesson from a textbook. Above Gravity is out now on ISI Music.
