Missouri born
songwriter and vocalist Romeo Dance Cheetah is a singular performer in a day
and age when carbon copies rule the roost The comedic sensibility he puts
forward on many of Magnificent Man’s tunes is quite different from anything
you’ll hear in modern performers and has an individualistic streak that runs a
mile wide. Cheetah brings a visual sense to his lyrics and music alike that’s
also manifested in his busy YouTube channel that’s used as a platform for his
short music and sketch comedy films. There’s nothing going on in modern music
today that blends the same tendencies in comedy with occasional dashes of
seriousness and a heart that shines through under every context. Magnificent
Man features a lot of rock music, circa 1988-1994, but there’s more here and
the sensibility that goes into making these songs what they are has a
surprising, perhaps, amount of nuance.
Magnificent
Man’s title song provides the song’s opening curtain number and it gets things
off to a heavy start. It’s a song that couldn’t possibly sound bigger and
Cheetah’s ambition, cloaked in a clown’s mask, is quite clear. It’s a mistake
to not take him a little seriously because he is doing more than just
entertaining audiences; songs like this are making the case that a musical form
thought shallow and dated can be made to live again in a modern context.
There’s no doubt, however, that the lyrics for this opener are unexpectedly
careening, weird fun. “35 Year Olds Dancin’” is a little more conventional so
far as songs spoofing a subject go and it has some hard pushing guitars that
give the words and vocal a lot of extra impetus. “Party Poopin” might have a
sophomoric title, but it’s actually another intelligently constructed tribute
of sorts to eighties AOR and arena rock with its echoing drums pounding out a
simple tempo that the vocal and accompanying instruments fill out with a rough
edge. “The Air Guitar Song” is cut from similar cloth and has an even sharper
sense of humor that really captures the silliness sometimes present in its
subject matter.
“Gone with
the Wind” could have been a heavy handed failure in the hands of a lesser band,
but Cheetah makes this heavily plotted out performance work despite its obvious
turns. The sheer force of his personality really aids in this. “Laser Beam
Makeup” has some pretty goofy lyrics that his delivery also redeems – the
straight tone of voice he takes seems to normalize it some and allows listeners
the distance to laugh. The final song “Live the Dream” has a much stronger pop
sound than any of the aforementioned tracks and the decision to abandon the
rock posturing defining much of the album gives it a different slant at its
ending. Romeo Dance Cheetah’s Magnificent Man shows the promise of a performer
who’s graced national television programs, entertaining scores via YouTube, and
his promise seems boundless at this point.
Montey Zike
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