Breaking out of the Canadian scene since seems a challenging occupation, especially since all Canadian artists have the rock-pop "Bryan Adams noose" around their necks. Still, the great continent has also supplied us with plenty of other influential artists including Cowboy Junkies, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and of course Neil Young along the way, so it can be done.
On DAN POLITANO's album "Back Where I Started", Adams is one influence that counts and is thanked in the album notes. "How uncool" you cry, but wait just a minute: anyone who hasn't danced to the sound of the "Summer of 69" is a big fat liar. Come on - own up! You know you have!
Dan Politano was born into a musical family, for those who don't know (and who does?). His father was in west coast band Roxxlyde, and his twin brother Mike takes up sticks in Dan's own band.
So it's a family affair. Indeed, "Back where I Started" is a self produced debut album consisting of a ten-song collection of autobiographical pop-rock about love and loss. So far, so OK.
And, predicably, Dan blasts out pop-rock of energy similar to middle American bands such as Goo Goo Dolls and Soul Asylum, his high energy sound is doused in catchy songwriting, and the first two tracks "Smile" and "Ready To Go Home" are the highlights of this album.
"Innocence Arose" and "Anna" proffer the rasping stadium-lite of Bryan Adams' earlier, emotional rock and roll but already Dan's struggling and his material sounds dated.
The question is can Dan Politano continue to mature, attain consistencyand rise above above the'new artist blessed with medicrity' tag to grab attention? This seems unlikely because "Back Where I Started" lacks any real standout tracks.
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It all runs out of steam at track 6, where Dan fails spectacularly in the sickly "New Zealand": a painfully lame pap effort featuring lyrical gems such as "my baby you left for New Zealand, someday we'll be together again"(whoa!) while "Solo" doesn't fair much
better as dreaded soft rock melodies takes over and W&H runs for cover in distress.
Narrative tunes like "Givin' It All" try hard and tackle urban problems like the life of a HIV-infected street girl, but can only claw back a few brownie points and final (anti) climax track "Make It Or Fake it" is frankly dull, limping to the end so lame that you wish you HAD bought a Bryan Adams album instead.
There are dangers in getting too hung up on comparisons, but Politano adheres strongly to the mid-90's college rock template, while missing the edge, heart or intelligence associated with bands like Buffalo Tom.
There's an inevitable falling off after such an unexpectedly decent start and on this evidence, Dan Politano is going to struggle to make an impression outside his home town. Lucky he's got his family to fall back on.
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