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Rating: I'm sorry, but there's a need to be ruthless. The Rooneys must be torn down with a certain vehemence. I feel it falls to me to do it because they are the ones I like the most. In fact, the songs on "Calling The World" are all cute, beautiful, and very beautiful, but they're not Rooney's: they belong to genres that have been my favorites for years, and they are by artists I've even reviewed and praised.
We could start by playing together to identify the sixteen thousand other songs they draw from for the big single "When Did Your Heart Go Missing", starting with the initial guitar riff, or trying to guess who owns the keyboard riff of the simple and highly successful "Believe": in the end, if the album were all like this, with criticism for criticism's sake, it would be fun to listen to.
Instead, the remaining "recalls" (euphemism) to past artists (even recent ones) are much more elemental and easy to discover. The Rooneys don't realize they are a blasphemy in Californian slang, and they confidently forge ahead along their improvised path; and so, one finds oneself in a continuous descent into the inferno of world music... In the title track, they remain a little more faithful to the cover and dabble in Brit-pop where even the singer's voice is similar (not the accent, a true Californian) to Robbie Williams. In "Tell Me Soon" they marry the pompousness of E.L.O. with Queen's "Let Me Live"; adapting surf rock to new sounds in "Don't Come Around Again" and beach soft rock in "What For". "Paralized" is minimal punk rock, in Ric Ocasek's "Troublizing" style: it is a track, structurally, similar to the 'famous' "Celebrity Skin" by Hole (that album was produced by Ocasek).
But all this is just the beginning. In a couple of tracks, we helplessly witness two satanic and unnatural pairings between incompatible sounds and styles. "Love Me Or Leave Me" is an ABBA-punk, and it makes me think of a Swedish supermodel choosing a large black mangy stray dog as her concubine... In "All In Your Head" it is impossible not to notice the incestuous emo-sexual relationship between Billy Idol's 80s pop granddad verses and the Californian emo-core grandson in the choruses.
But the most unspeakable thing, and therefore the one that must be reported with courage, is the recklessness (and skill!) with which the Rooneys tackle rock opera. It's worth being detailed and "scientific" in examining such tracks: in "I Should Have Been After You" it begins with Brian May's guitar from the intro of "Queen II". When the keyboard-organ rises, I recognize it as the "my" Utopia songsters, but the better ones, those from "Swing To The Right". In "Are You Afraid?" it starts with a piano and a tired voice, rising with a keyboard that nobody has played like this since 1983, on which violent guitars are hurled: it sounds like the pomp rock and post-prog of those we know well. When the singing begins, early U2's epic dominates. It returns to Utopian pop song structures in the chorus, and the earlier keyboards start again...
A group without any precise style, capable of copying or worse, mixing everything to their liking; a band that, however, has listened to quite a lot of music, or at least a lot compared to other clone-bands. But it's not worth harboring any sympathies for a group just because it revives, amid the confusion, a couple of styles that, although this is a decade of revivals and imitations, remained absent. Instead, one inevitably must emphasize the fact that in a total of twelve tracks, Rooney presented at least ten different pop-rock music styles; adding posh poses and Maroon 5 style polished video clips, and an album cover reminiscent of 1960s English mods, you get a total of at least twelve different identities, and it doesn't matter how many of the songs you-I like.
If you are twenty years old or younger, ignore, don't respond to Rooney's call. And have a nice compilation made by the oldest friend you have or your older sister's boyfriend-for-the-moment: there you will find the originals of which Rooney is a copy. Or worse, a collage.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Calling the World (03:02)
I remember when you told me:
Do what you want,
do what you want, baby.
I can't get you out of my head,
you're everywhere and everyone.
I'm calling the world,
calling everyone.
I'm calling the world,
calling everyone for you,
for you.
Then you ran off in a hurry,
where did you go?
Haven't seen you since Friday.
I've been wasting all of my time
worrying about you every day.
I'm calling the world,
calling everyone.
I'm calling the world,
calling everyone for you,
for you.
I called your best friend
and your little brother,
but they didn't want to talk
they said you changed your locks. (Changed your locks.)
I called every number in the phone book,
but everybody lied.
They said you wanna,
you wanna hide.
Calling the world,
Calling everyone.
I'm calling the world,
Calling everyone.
Calling the world,
Calling everyone.
I'm calling the world,
Calling everyone for you,
for you.
I'm calling the world.
I'm calling the world.
I'm calling the world for you,
for you.
02 When Did Your Heart Go Missing? (03:31)
Love don't come so easily
This doesn't have to end in tragedy
I have you and you have me
We're one and a million
Why can't you see?
I'm waitin', waitin' for nothin'
You're leavin', leavin' me hangin'
When did your heart go missin'? (x2)
I treat you like a princess
But your life is just one big mess
When did your heart go missin'? (x2)
Yeah
I meant every word I said
I never was lyin' when we talked in bed
I'm retracin' every step in my head
What did I miss back then?
I was so, so misled
I'm waitin', waitin' for nothin'
You're leavin', leaving me hangin'
When did your heart go missin'? (x2)
I treat you like a princess
But your life is just one big mess
When did you heart go missin'? (x2)
I don't understand
How could you forget what we had?
It's so wrong
I'm waitin', waitin' for nothin'
You're leavin', leavin' me hangin'
When did your heart go missin'? (x2)
I treat you like a princess
But your life is just one big mess
When did your heart go missin'? (x2)
Things were so good
We had a little dream
A little dream together
Buy a house, settle down, do our thing
But you disappeared on me
And your heart, your heart went missin'
I don't know how to find it
I don't know where it is
I don't know where your heart went
It was here just the other day
Now it's gone
I'm gonna call the police
Call the investigator, the heart investigtor
06 Are You Afraid? (04:11)
Are you afraid of me?
Well are you afraid of me?
What are you trying to do to me, to do to me?
What are you trying to prove to me, to prove to me?
There's something you're not saying
but your actions say enough
And I don't know what's really going on
I leave a message every night
but you don't call me
The only times we ever talk you're in a hurry
I know my reputation
doesn't help you sleep at night
But lately baby I feel I don't know you
I thought we were the same
But now you play this game
You're young no fun
And you're making me crazy
10 All in Your Head (03:43)
I told you before
I'm not looking for someone to hold me
Take your hand off my back
the weight is making me heavy
I don't like public affection
it belongs in the bedroom
Well I don't want to run around
I got plans in the afternoon
What did you expect?
Well I told you from the start
That I'm not your boyfriend
All the hope
All the pain
All the tears you cried
Every laugh
Every kiss
Every time I lied
Well I'm not what you think or dreamed of
It's all in your head
You need somebody nice
someone with patience
And a big fat wallet
to pay for all your expenses whoa
No compliment will ever
make a dent in your eyes
You're impossible to please even with surprises
I could never say all the things you need to hear
Well there aren't enough words that fit
Wake up you have to see
You can't go on this way
It's you who makes it hard
It's not real it's all in your head
11 Believe in Me (04:02)
I can never win with you
I try, but you don't let me through
Well, what's the point in fighting when we're done?
I know I've been acting strange
But wait, don't leave
I know I'll change
We're wasting all our time together now
Well, I don't know what to say
Every word just makes you turn away
And I don't know what to do
Every day I wanna be with you
Well, I've lost the battle and I'm losing the war
And I keep on asking myself what for
If you believe in fate and destiny
Well, then open your eyes and believe in me
Believe in me
Believe in me
I call up and apologize
But you just think it's one big lie
Well, don't know you're pushing me away?
We've been through so much together
You can't tell me the past will never mean a thing
It's more than a memory
I don't know what to say
Every word just makes you turn away
And I don't know what to do
Every day I wanna be with you
Well, I've lost the battle and I'm losing the war
And I keep on asking myself what for
If you believe in fate and destiny
Well, then open your eyes and believe in me
Cause every one I see around
Tells me that I'm such a fool
For making you my punching bag
Were these ? words that bad?
I've lost you now
I've lost you now
And I don't know how to get you back
I'm not myself
I'm not myself
I gotta get us back on track
Well, I don't know what to say
Every word just makes you turn away
And I don't know what to do
Every day I wanna be with you
Well, I've lost the battle and I'm losing the war
And I keep on asking myself what for
If you believe in fate and destiny
Well, then open your eyes and believe in me
Believe in me
Believe in me
Believe in me
Believe in me
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