The Big Parade

Henry Boy, aka Henry Boy Jenkins, had long been a staple of Seattle's poppier rock scene (notable work included writing one of the Squirrels' standards, "Happy Guy") by the time his full solo debut, The Big Parade, emerged in late 2004. Backed by a fine rhythm section and helped by various friends throughout, it's a charming slice of rock & roll with unashamedly older roots in power pop present and past. Henry Boy's strongest asset is his winningly warm voice, both melancholic and energetic all at once without resorting to weepy histrionics or pasted-on smiles. There's strutting boogie on display in "My Big Hello," Cheap Trick-worthy guitar mania introducing "Buddha Home," and ghosts of the Who on "Babylon." The killer track is easily "Every Single Time," as lovely a statement on how love can make one happy, confused, tongue-tied and more, with a great chorus and that rarest of things these days, a guitar solo that's actually good and serves the song. Conrad Uno's engineering and mixing is unsurprisingly just what the doctor ordered; as with his past work with bands like the Posies and the Presidents of the United States of America; he helps create sharp, unexpected arrangements. It can be heard on the dreamy vocal start and sudden, jagged stop-starts on "Just One Kiss," the polite psychedelic ending of "Aeroplanes," and the way that the warm acoustic bed of "Last Man on the Moon" suddenly turns on a dime to silence and a feedback squeal on the final verse. Perhaps the saddest note comes with the concluding title track, a collaboration from some years back with fellow Seattle guy on the scene Eric Erickson, who died young in the '90s. But the song itself is no sorrow, more a warm anthem for life's joys.