Once We Get Started

Rochester, NY's the Hi-Risers certainly nod to the past on Once We Get Started, but there's also a timeless sort of freewheeling abandon and good, clean fun here that have cross-generational appeal. The group seems to hover in an early-'60s twilight, tossing together a pre-Cultural Revolution stew of fun roots & roll. You can sense traces of the Bobby Fuller Four, Hank Ballard, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Frankie Ford, circa 1963 Beatles, and even some Buck Owens in their synthesis of good-time rock & roll. The group does seems to have backed away from some of the more straight-ahead surf and Bakersfield influences that cropped up on their masterful Lost Weekend album (2004), and have sanded their sound down to a polished, sugar-coated pop veneer, with tinges of rockabilly and frat rock. This is about more than simple revivalism, though, as the musicianship and songwriting are top-notch, with more melodic hooks than you can shake a stick at. Highlights include the shimmying, Cavern Club riot of "Foundation Rock"; the sunny, ramping rock of the title track; the shimmering, harmony-laced bounce of "Katydid" and "Where the Lonely Go," and the hilarious Chuck Berry-styled romp of "One Note Joe." It's amazing how the Hi-Risers can get so much purchase out of what would seem to be a limited idiom — but they do, and that's a tribute to the high-caliber songwriting and musicianship.