In the Spotlight:
 
Kelly Jones
SheBANG!
Good Morning Monkey (GMMR-004)
www.kellyjones.com
 

Masterminded by pop guru Mike Viola (Candybutchers), Kelly Jones’ SheBANG! is a short, sweet, joyous romp through a variety of pop archetypes, held together by Jones’ beautifully expressive voice and effective songwriting chops. (She either wrote or co-wrote 8 of the 10 tracks.)

“There Goes My Baby” might be the best girl-group styled song of the decade thus far, with Jones’ voice out in front of an insistent drumbeat, handclaps and tinkling piano, along with one of those unforgettably delicious melodies that is the stock in trade of the genre. 

The chiming, wistful “Same Songs” is also quite lovely, while the locomotive “Subway Song,” the sassy “Crazy Talk” (co-written by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger) and the cheeky “Rooftop” (about a party on top of a high rise) are all swell, too. By the time things wrap up with the insistent, go-go sounds of “Girl With The Silver Lining,” any listener with a penchant for well-constructed, beautifully sung pop and roll should be hopelessly enraptured.