NESS - UP LATE WITH PEOPLE (CD)

Like fellow Fig Dish spin-off Caviar, Ness contrasts big, heavy guitars with drastically different pop textures. But where Caviar utilized loops and samples, Ness employs strings, mellotron, theramin and piano to forge lush pop soundscapes in the grandest rock traditions. The opener Where the People Kick It, piles on the hooks, nicking a Billy Squier guitar lick and layering in distorted vocals before delivering a rockin falsetto chorus. A mellotron feeds Let s Vaporize, while strings and piano lace Cosmoa, a straight pop production that s almost Burt Bacharach baroque. The loping Lightning Lights Up closes with a harmony arrangement that is vintage Brian Wilson. By the time you get to the 12-minute-plus title track, you begin to wonder if singer-songwriter Rick Ness hears these arrangements in his head or if the band labors over them. The tempo and stylistic changes are stunning. Up Late With People, which is really two or three songs in one, evolves into virtually a late-era Guns n Roses epic with drastic tempo changes, dramatic piano breaks and raging guitar leads. This is brilliant traditional pop with rock bits. Big, gorgeous, sharp, fussed over, yet somehow raw. And utterly unique. --Phil Rockrohr, TimeOut Chicago