Album Notes

Hoover and Lloyd come together as one on Paparazzi, the duo's first album together after a long history of co-writes. The boys play the two-sides-of-a-coin approach so well that it is sometimes hard to tell who is singing lead, or how much input either had into any given song. It's that seamless. Any music fan would do well to add this album to his collection. You pop neophytes without a CD collection to call your own: start here and build from there.
In partnership with the great Smithereens drummer Dennis Diken (a more knowledgeable music guy cannot possibly exist), Hoover and Lloyd pull off the unimaginable: a perfect pop album that's going to be hard to surpass in this or any year. The classy love letter to sixties pop, "Show & Tell the World," is a hit single if ever I heard one; the vibes and tympani accents alone allow this song to soar to previously unreached heights.

The softer side of Hoover and Lloyd can be heard on the gorgeous ballad "As You Were." Lloyd's vocal, somewhat understated, is one for the ages. There is no mistaking the Partridge Family (or is that Jellyfish channeling the Partridge Family?) influence in the spirited "Still Not Over You." The could've-been-should've-been sentiment of the jangly "It Could Have Been You" is similarly infectious.

So there you are: two great performers, performing at the peak of their powers together and on their own (and don't forget Diken's drumming on Paparazzi, which only takes the enterprise to another, higher level).

Hopefully, the three albums under discussion here will see wide distribution and win the artists untold new fans. Genre distribution being what it is, the limitations forced on even the greatest records unfairly keep them from having what are often referred to as legs. That's where you, the music fan, comes in: Don't hesitate to spread the word on these great albums to everyone you know, from the classic rock fan to the classical enthusiast; from folk aficionados to just plain folk who love simply great music. Encourage your local record stores, no matter how large or small, to stock them and other great albums that suffer the curse of many a great record: little or no radio play or print coverage. Photocopy this review and stick it under the doors of every apartment in every apartment building in your neighborhood. Cut the grass of people you don't know if they'll just listen to these records. Call people blindly by picking their names out of the phone book; in this election year, they'll be happy to be getting a call from someone other than a politician or a pollster. I can just hear it now..."You want to recommend the latest albums by Jamie Hoover and Bill Llloyd...?"

Alan Haber