Artist: Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
Title: Hopium (Omnivore Recordings)
You might like if you enjoy: Beck, Jason Falkner, The Beatles, Jellyfish
Tell me more: Acclaimed singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Jellyfish, Imperial Drag, Beck's touring band) is back with Hopium, a wonderful 10-track disc that features five new songs recorded in the studio and an additional five live cuts captured at Molly Malone's in Los Angeles in 2018. The jubilant opener "Modern Dance (The After School Specials)" somehow blends driving power pop, tuneful new wave and a touch of prog rock together into a euphoric sonic explosion that runs just over three minutes. "Just Lust" — written towards the final days of Jellyfish's run in the early 1990s — is a luxurious rocker that showcases Manning's terrific vocals and virtuoso talents as a keyboardist with emotive songcraft crafted with lush vocal harmonies and an ambitious arrangement.
Other standouts on this run of studio tracks includes the Beatlesque "My Magic Bicycle," soaring "Wish Away" and inspired rapid-fire rocker "The Lords of Altamont" (the latter featuring the guitar work of Jim Wilson and Jason Falkner).
The handful of perfectly-delivered live tracks includes two Jellyfish singles from that band's masterful 1990 debut Bellybutton ("That Is Why" and "The King Is Half-Undressed"), the infectious "The Loser," affecting "Pray For The Many," and crunchy ear candy sortie "Funhouse."
Robert Kinsler
