Colony

Who I Wanted to Be (Beyond Music/Universal)
by Scott Hefflon

The single, “Happy,” is just that. Dippy, hooky radio rock with a chorus that states “If you’re happy, cool.” It, uh, doesn’t get much deeper than that. It’s product-placed in Rat Race (a Zucker flick – Airplane, Naked Gun, etc. – which I haven’t gotten around to seeing yet). The second half of the CD remembers that funky rock the Spin Doctors did that most of us have worked so hard to forget, but the first few songs aren’t half bad radio rock.

Colony have the rock hardness, but a keen sense of pop melody (instead of being teenybopper sissies told “the market” wants them a bit heavier), and while the title track is cheese (sweet and harmony-laden and heartfelt), it’s a little more human than their larger-than-life contemporaries. And “Natalie” is a Goo Goo Dolls song fit for any teen romantic comedy, though the repetitions of the name’ll drive ya nuts after a while. Colony had a release, Siren, on MCA in ’97, and is now on Beyond, who works with Mötley Crüe, Anthrax, Heart, Sammy Hagar, and Veruca Salt (distributed by Universal, as is MCA and 1/5 of the records in the country).
(www.colonyband.com)