Now Hear This

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Two years after the Listen Up release, Teresa Starr and Mark Alexander return with 15 more selections that continue the charming journey they set out on — picture Half Japanese with more structure and a better attempt at going commercial. The six-minute-plus "I Couldn't Stand" is truly modern-day underground rock while Starr's cute '60s voice on "Ourselves" would have fit into the film Hairspray without skipping a beat. The problem faced by this new millennium group on their sophomore disc, though, is that it is as consistent with their debut as the sound generated by the Ramones was on each and every disc that venerable group ever decided to put out. The Echoes have a formula and they don't waver. For a modern era garage band the trap is that the duo is missing a slam dunk pop hit to go along with their fun and irreverent music. The approach is denser and some of the songs here play out longer than tracks on the debut, Mark Alexander's "Take Me as I Am" could be Sonny Bono solo in a bar trading vocals with a very drunk Gerry Goffin. The layers of keyboard and guitar create an underwater web for Starr's pretty voice as she brings an ethereal quality to the Dylanesque melody. A 12-page booklet accompanies the disc containing lyrics, tracking, and credits. Now Hear This is as ambitious as the previous outing, but it sure would be nice to hear these ideas under the guidance of a name producer, and the creative elements this duo come up with so effortlessly finding their way inside a song or two earmarked for the Top 40.