Lannie formed his first band, The Pengwins, while at high school in 1976, and they continued through until the Nineties. Alan Petsche, a former bandmate, approached him about releasing a solo album on his own label, and the result is ‘Circles’, which came out in 2010. It is impossible not to smile all the way through the fifteen songs on offer, as power pop rarely gets much better. If you enjoy this style of music, or lightweight melodic rock with more than a hint of psychedelia then look no further, as this is a joy from beginning to end. He does manage to have one song, “Just Like You”, last a tad longer than four and a half minutes, but for the most part this is perfect radio fodder with all the rest fitting between two and a half and three and a half minutes in length.
Harmony vocals, sweet melodies and licks, loads of poptastic hooks, good drum breaks just in the right place, with little guitar solos that aren’t really solos, this doesn’t pretend to be anything that it isn’t. if that isn’t enough, it’s even in stereo! (it says so proudly on the front cover). This is not music to sit and study, it isn’t music that is trying to do anything else than entertain, and sometimes that’s all I need. To go from the intensity of metal, the complexity of prog, or the raw aggression of hardcore, into something like this is like letting the brain and ears have a relaxing massage. This may never set the world on fire, but perhaps it should? Sometimes all that is required from music is a simplicity and directness, and anything that makes the listener smile from sheer unadulterated delight is something that should be savoured. This is a joy to listen to.
