Veteran L.A. power-pop bassist steps back into the spotlight
Bassist Derrick Anderson may not be a household name, but those he’s played with – Dave Davies and the Bangles, among others – certainly are. His eponymous L.A.band featured power pop luminary Robbie Rist, and released a pair of albums to considerable fan enthusiasm. The band’s conceit – that the three core members were half-brothers by a shared father – put Anderson’s name on the cover, but shared musical credit. On this solo debut he’s backed by a who’s who of famous fans, including the Smithereens, Bangles, Cowsills, Andersons!, Matthew Sweet, Kim Shattuck, Tommy Keene and Steve Barton.
Anderson plays bass with a McCartney-like buoyancy and sings in a voice that remains, as it did with the Andersons!, decades younger than his chronological age. Interestingly, the essential questions of youth still resound in his songs, but with the adolescent angst of typical power-pop replaced by midlife perspective. Anderson’s empathy and solace are more superego than id, his quests more philosophy than impulse, and the life in “my whole life†is richer in his fifties than it could have ever been in his twenties. It’s an interesting twist on classic themes, one that others have explored as they aged, but few realized on their first solo outing.
The songs range from the Revolver-esque “Happiness†to the soul-infused rocker “Stop Messin’ About,†and there’s even a heavy, Lenny Kravitz-style cover of “Norwegian Wood.†The distinctive harmonies of the Bangles are heard on “Something New†and “Spring,†and the Cowsills on “A Mother’s Love,†but it’s Anderson’s layered vocals on the rave-up “Phyllis & Sharon†and the optimistic “My Prediction†that make his personal mark. The results are, as Vicki Peterson labeled them, “timeless,†with Anderson’s talent, craft and experience making for an unusually mature “debut.†[©2017 Hyperbolium] 