HAL

For many would-be-achievers the so-called perfect pop record is an unattainable career-long aspiration. Dublin quartet Hal would doubtless view this maxim as defeatist clap-trap. The band's wonderfully realised debut album--called simply Hal to avoid any confusion- skips all that apprenticeship drudgery and plunges head first into the deep-end of Brian Wilson's symphonic pop swimming pool. Beach Boys' influences may seem omnipresent these days but rarely have the harmonies and arrangements from "Wild Honey" through to "15 Big Ones" (hear Hal do an Al Jardine-in-Cincinatti on "Don't Come Running") been so cheekily and yet expertly commandeered. Otherwise, Hal's fulsome tunes--today we would call them "guilty pleasures" -seem to have been unearthed from a mid-to-late Seventies soft-pop time capsule; an era when Eric Carmen, 10cc, Pilot, the solo Roy Wood's genius Spector-ite approximations and Supertramp's sweet-toothed pop monster "Breakfast In America" were popular music's daily bread and butter. Hal keep good company. "Keep Love As Your Golden Rule" sounds like a 24 carat Everly Brothers and the epithetic "Play The Hits" (Motown in a sun hat) sounds like they really can't be bothered with writing anything as drab as a b-side. So they haven't. --Kevin Maidment

Hal's much anticipated eponymous debut album is the sound of four young Irish men by-passing the computerised production line of 21st century music to create a perfect piece of pop joy. Hal features the singles "Play the Hits", "What a Lovely Dance" and "Worry About the Wind". They cite Harry Nilsson, Brian Wilson and Van Morrison as direct influences on their classic yet quirky 70s west-coast FM-pop-influenced sound.

HAL Hal (Factory Sealed 2005 UK 11-track CD featuring the eponymous debut album from the Irish band and one which has spawned some fantastic singles; What A Lovely Dance Play The Hits and Worry About The Wind. Factory sealed therefore unplayed RTRADCD160)