The Roomates - Dawning (2012)

Tracklist
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01. Dawning
02. Ala-Men-Sy
03. In My Room
04. Music To Watch Girls By
05. Crazy Girl
06. Where Or When
07. Little Miss America
08. Oh I Wonder Why
09. She Cried
10. Please Believe Me
11. Baby Stay Away From Me
12. I Promised
13. Tiny Cloud
14. Please Listen To Me
15. Dry Your Eyes
16. Lonely World
17. A Fool Like Me
18. Paradise For Two
19. Let's Call It A Day
20. The Answer Is No
21. No One Knows
22. Just For You
23. Smile Through The Tears
24. That's Not The Way Love's Meant To Be
25. Don't Be A Fool In Love
26. Where Are You Now
27. Guardian Angel
28. Don't Let Her Call Me

British doo wop revivalists the Roomates come into 25 years of harmony and nostalgia with Dawning, their 11th album since forming in the mid-'80s. Like most of their other efforts, the album is a fully loaded trove of selections from the late-'50s and early-'60s vocal pop era, focusing on the squeaky-clean white doo wop sounds of acts like Jay & the Americans or the band's idols Dion & the Belmonts. Over the album's extensive 28 cuts, the band pays homage to such acts as well as peppering the playlist with nine original compositions. Faithful covers of classic oldies radio fodder like the Beach Boys' "In My Room" and the often covered "She Cried" find the Mates getting into some pretty complex harmonies without derailing the songs' familiar arrangements with too many extras. The occasional inclusion of a more obscure track like Andy Williams' unexpectedly heavy-hearted and spooky "Music to Watch Girls By" keeps the disc from veering too far into county-fair territory. Even still, the fairly formulaic songwriting turns render even the lesser-known tracks and Roomates originals pretty repetitive before the record even hits the halfway point. Updated production values also detract somewhat from the overall picture on Dawning. The group's sound - so mired in dreamy nostalgia and times gone by - is drained of some of its impact with MIDI-derived bell sounds and crystal-clear vocal compression. Even the vintage-sounding reverby guitars and sock-hop drumbeats come off a little hollow, trying hard to re-create a music that owed much of its magic to the muddy recording techniques of its time. While the songs themselves are blemish-free and clearly the product of a lovingly honed craft, Dawning is best appreciated track by track. When taken on as a whole album, even the most enthusiastic doo wop fan might have a hard time staying engaged for the entire duration.

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