Hailing from the prestigious Berklee School of Music, the quintet from Boston known as The Click Five takes its musical cues from uber-cool ’70s and ’80s bands. On sophomore release Modern Minds and Pastimes, The Click Five sing swirling and swooning harmonies like The Raspberries, play lippy keyboards like The Cars, rock hard when they have to Cheap Trick-style and deliver catchy hooks Marshall Crenshaw would envy.
In other words, The Click Five are like Fountains of Wayne’s little brothers.
“Flipside” and “Jenny” show off the band’s fondness for choruses that stick in your head for days. Keyboardist Ben Romans is the second coming of Greg Hawkes. The simple synth intro to “Addicted to Me” sounds just like “Heartbeat City” until the dark, almost sinister bass-and-drum rhythm snakes inside the melody, and you realize the song really sounds like something off The Cars’ less commercial Panorama album.
The Click Five’s power pop has it all: a hint of new wave, a dose of classic rock, some dance-floor workout (“Headlight Disco”) and a dash of emo angst. All they have to do now is hire Todd Rundgren to produce their third album. If that happens, Runt can add a bit of twisted, blue-eyed soul to the band’s eclectic bliss, and these guys could be recording the kind of hip records XTC used to make.