(Atlantic/Warner Music)

A major line-up change not so major after all

It’s hard enough for a band to come up with a second album that meets the expectations generated by a first album when it’s still trying to work its way through the pack of wannabes. But what if you change your lead singer along the way? That’s what happened to Boston’s Click Five. Of course, newcomer Kyle Patrick has divided their still limited fanbase, but for the rest of us it’s not such a big deal - Patrick, a pleasantly competent but not especially distinctive singer, fits the template with no sign of discomfort whatsoever. And with only one co-write to his name here, he is yet to impose on the songs in any real way. So, if they were easily dismissible as prettyboy powerpop the first time around, those conceptions still arise here. There is a move to a more mature take on their copyist ‘80s-style guitar-keyboards pop-rock gloss, but it’s still more surface than substance. In effect, from a catchy but uninspired singalong in Flipside and the flashy but derivative Headlight Disco to the plonky piano ballad The Reason Why and the plodding pop of Jenny, there’s nothing here we haven’t heard heaps of times before.

**

BILL HOLDSWORTH

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