Published on Jun 2, 1998
It’s not often I find myself speechless when trying to describe
a band to a person who’s never heard of a group. But in the case of
Vaganza, while some comparisons are easy to make, it is very hard
to say what I think the group is about.
The duo of David Longworth Wallingford and Quigley, both of whom
are multi-instrumentalists, make up Vaganza, whose debut album
merges all the bombasticness of Queen with the vocal style of
Frankie Valli, occasionally throwing in a Latin beat to make sure
you’re paying attention. Their self-titled debut has some
incredibly good moments on it, though they aren’t able to sustain
the momentum through the entire album.
When you hear the guitar work on songs like “She’s Crazy,” you’d
swear that Freddie Mercury and Queen were playing on this disc.
However, Wallingford and Quigley manage to take such a classic
sound and make it their own, albeit much more campy than Queen in,
say, 1975 would have done things. Other songs like “Wedding Day”
are painfully beautiful, diving into a human emotion that many have
felt and put it to words of sad acceptance. It’s a slice of pop
culture that must be heard, and is a logical pick for a single.
There’s even a touch of David Bowie-style bombast on the album’s
closer, “Rock n’ Roll Apocalypse,” a song which doesn’t seem like
it runs for over nine minutes. And just when you think you’ve heard
it all, there’s a bit of spice thrown into the mix on songs like
“Margherita,” a twist which seems to hit at just the right
time.
For all this so far, one would think that
Vaganza is a debut album that is near perfection. However,
the formula of the songs gets a little threadbare as the disc runs
on, as evidenced by tracks like “Too Darn Good”. And maybe it’s
just me, but I think I could live without song lyrics such as this
one from “Start Liking Yourself”: “When you see all the love we
share / Can’t you see it’s going straight into my derierre?” Oh,
please.
But where Vaganza’s strengths lie are in the performance of this
music. Both Wallingford and Quigley are more than competent
musicians, and both are strong enough vocalists that either could
handle lead vocal chores comfortably. It is nice to hear the
tradeoff among them, as each song seems more suited to a particular
voice. And the instrumentation is so strong, it’s sometimes hard to
believe that, with rare exception, this music is coming from only
two people. (Quite possibly the rich orchestration helps the image
– I don’t want to say illusion, because Vaganza gives fair credit
to all their backing musicians.)
In fact, the music on
Vaganza is so strong that it might seem overpowering at
first. There is definitely a camp attitude towards the music,
something I would think that Wallingford and Quigley would happily
admit to. I would dare to say that it is this “to hell with it all,
let’s be gaudy” attitude that helps to make
Vaganza an interesting, enjoyable listen, and I’m willing to
play along with Las Vegas.
Once you get over the initial shock,
Vaganza proves itself to be a pleasant surprise of this
year’s new releases. And with a little stronger songwriting (though
they’re not far off the mark), this band will definitely be one
ready to invade your radio in the very near future.