Jamie Hoover and Bill Lloyd

With more than 20 years in the music industry each, Jamie Hoover and Bill Lloyd know their way around a recording studio and there’s no denying that there aren’t any problems with how their first collaboration Paparazzi sounds. Yet it just isn’t the resounding success that it should have been in theory. Hoover, who has released half a dozen records as the leader of the Spongetones, and as one of the Van Delecki’s, has devoted his entire career to perfecting the pop song; Lloyd has split his time between country music (as part of Foster & Lloyd and playing guitar for the likes of Buck Owens and Steve Earle) and power pop. Add to the mix Smithereens drummer Dennis Diken, and there should be little to complain about. Except, at times, Paparazzi sounds like it was more fun to make than it is to listen to, and that’s a problem because the audience is much less likely to forgive the weaker songs that might have felt like a good idea at the time. Sometimes the lyrics seem trite and the guitars are a little over the top, dominating where the vocals should be hogging the spotlight instead. The good songs are very good, but considering how long it took this pair of talented musicians to get together, Paparazzi should be better than this.