The Rosenbergs
MISSION: YOU
(Discipline Global Mobile)

The dish on this Long Island foursome is that they turned down an offer from Farmclub.com that would have entailed a Web and TV broadcast of the band, after which they would have been locked into a six-album deal, whether they liked it or not. That was probably a smart move because the Rosenbergs’ brand of sugary goodness is apt to taste better if it’s not being rammed down people’s throats. Mission: You is the work of a band committed to safekeeping the kind of power pop that brings on all kinds of good feelings — homework, taxes, and girlfriend problems all dissipate under the spell of the disc’s sing-along melodies. The sweet-and-sour jazz chords and sand-in-the-mouth vocal harmonies in " Secret " say it all. " Fast Asleep " and " After All " are record-collector pop — nothing special, perhaps, but Posies fans will get a kick out of the harmonies, and Cars fans can feel nostalgia over those classic " Just What I Needed " keyboards. And the disc’s final track, " Overboard, " is a seven-minute walk on the clouds sustained by strummy tenderness and violin-like slide guitars that ease right in to Mazzy Star atmospheres.

Issue Date: March 22 - 29, 2001