antiMusic.com: Plastic Yellow Band

Plastic Yellow Band - Above Gravity

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During "Starlight," the opening song on Plastic Yellow Band's Above Gravity album, band leader Gerald Jennings posits: "Above gravity, you can turn into starlight." With these words, Jennings expresses hope that those who pass from life on earth, to death and (hopefully) a life in the 'great beyond,' live on somehow among the stars in the night sky. Plastic Yellow Band, which is a group somewhat patterned after John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, calls what it does 'new classic rock.' The sound of the nine songs on this album will likely appeal to those that live by the motto, 'Music was so much better back in the day.' Jennings was obviously influenced by artists like Lennon (he even quotes a Lennon lyric during "Two Virgins," in fact) and Pink Floyd, but one can also hear more modern inspirations, like Coldplay. The latter inspiration particularly shines through on the more keyboard-rooted sections of this project.

Jennings can be a bit melancholy when expressing grief through music. He let's it all out, however, with the funky, bluesy guitar-driven "Heaven Can Wait." Then with "When I Rock," Jennings reaches back to the formative sounds of early rock & roll for a song of happy, rocking celebration.

Above Gravity may include fewer light moments than darker ones, but it's nevertheless a skilled effort, from start to finish.