There are certain people doing so much in their lives that you pause
to wonder why you’ve accomplished so little. Adam Goldberg is one such
mega-achiever. Goldberg is an actor (TV’s Entourage and The
Unusuals, Saving Private Ryan), director (Running with
the Bulls, Scotch and Milk), and a singer, songwriter, and
multi-instrumentalist. LANDy is his vehicle for the latter, and Eros
and Omissions is a collection of assorted recordings from 2002 to
2008. It’s not “another” vanity project from an actor dabbling in
music. This lad has talent, he does. Vocally, Goldberg has a delicate,
breathy-wispy, sweet-subtly sarcastic voice similar to Game Theory/Loud
Family main-guy Scott Miller and Apples in Stereo’s Robert
Schneider.
Musically, he sounds as if he’s enamored of the very produced,
made-in-the-studio pop of the Beatles, Todd Rundgren, XTC (think
Oranges & Lemons, Dukes of the Stratosphear), and Doug
Powell, leaning toward the aforementioned in their dreamy/psychedelic
modes. “I Believe in Jack,” with its Phil Spector-ian chorus and
dramatic orchestral-style swells, could be an outtake from the Beatles’
Let It Be sessions. The lush, majestic (dig that Royal-sounding
brass and clanging bell) “BFF!” is the last great hit by Electric Light
Orchestra that never was.
But it’s not slavish recreations Goldberg is after — the
loping, surreally creepy “Home” and the bitterly dissonant,
sarcasm-laden “Your Words Not Mine” reveals he’s channeling those
influences into something of his own. His lyrics are witty, too. Don’t
hate him because he’s talented, not with such an enjoyable album as
this. (Apology Music)
