Daniel Romano—How Ill Thy World Is Ordered

Daniel Romano hits all the pop rock sweet spots on new album.

Daniel Romano
How Ill Thy World Is Ordered
You’ve Changed

Link: Official Site

It’s easy to fall into the trappings of rock and roll nomenclature, especially within Romano’s 1970s pop rock field of vision. You can feel How Ill Thy World Is Ordered‘s transformation as the album progresses from early 1970s power pop to late 1970s denim serenades. The dream pop opener of “A Rat Without A Tale” formulates a cross-culture environment of Bowie meets Osmonds. . . or, T. Rex. . . or, Mott the Hoople. . . or. . . you get the gist here.

They amp things up with a Southern soul Muscle Shoals horn jam of “Green Eye-Shade” to follow into further exploratory horn fanfare on “First Yoke.” This is when the music drops, and becomes refreshingly uplifting.

On a side note, it’s worth running through the line-up who made this album what it is and show the depth it took to make an album of this magnitude: Julianna Riolino (vocals), David Nardi (guitar and vocals), Roddy Rossetti (bass), Ian Romano (drums), Mark Lalama (organ and piano), Briana Salmena (vocals), Victor Belcastro (saxophone), and Aaron Hutchinsong (trumpet).

There was a three-take-or-bust policy in the studio with no overdubs. If bruises were there in the song, we all felt it. Yet, the blemishes help give this music character. And if there are flaws in the recording, we would never know. By the time they locked in on the universal sunset cruise/AOR cool night of “Amaretto and Coke” you realize the band knows how to hit all of the sweet spots and suck you in hook, line, and sinker. By the time the album was officially a wrap, an instant classic in timeless modern pop rock emerged.