Didn't Planet: We're Going Nowhere (2012)

I'm a cynic, writing for a jaded audience, which sometimes necessitates front-loading an album's minuses in a review. Take Boston's Didn't Planet; sure their name is a weak gag, their album cover less then eye-catching and their sound sort of a nineties pop precis of Green Day, Weezer, Fountains of Wayne, The President of the United States of America, et al but that's just the surface stuff. Under it's jokey, retro exterior, We're Going Nowhere is sterling power-pop concept album about the life of a cover band  casting a wary eye on its own obsolescence. "No one wants the songs from 1990 anymore" sings Rob Allan on the magnificent "Bitter" as if admitting defeat is in and of itself a sort of victory. And perhaps it is. Now that rock n' roll's been consigned to the margins of the 21st century, maybe even us jaded cynics can find common cause with a band who, in their cover band guise, do everything from Billy Joel to The Gin Blossoms to Tommy Tutone!


 


P.S. I'm grieved to report that currently this album is download-only (what's a f------ nineties revival without a jewel case and a slice of polycarbonate plastic?)


HOMEPAGE