Ronnie D'Addario
spent years as a professional musician, playing guitar with
Tommy Makem
for decades among other gigs writing jingles and working in various other bands. Along with all of his other accomplishments,
D'Addario
consistently wrote and recorded solo material, beginning with a string of three exceptionally good but under-distributed solo albums in the late '70s and early '80s which showcased his rich sense of arrangement and gift for
Beatles
-inspired, motivational power pop. Somewhere along the way,
's sons
Brian
and
Michael
also went down a musical path with their band
the Lemon Twigs
, and with
Written By
, they've curated a selection of their father's songs to rework, bringing in guest artists to help both pay tribute to
's powerful songwriting and shine a light on his abundant but often overlooked back catalog. These 12 tracks (and a brief instrumental prelude) showcase the versatility of
's songwriting. The reflective and bittersweet "A Very Short Dream" is a lush and slow-moving number cut from the same cloth as
Brian Wilson
's harmony-heavy style while the peppy "Be Like Him" (featuring contributions from
Darian Sahanaja
Probyn Gregory
) is upbeat orchestral pop complete with blasts of
Bacharach
-like trumpet and rubbery electric bass. Power pop/rockers like "5th of July" or album standout "Not Today" are handled entirely by
and illustrate just how strongly the group's music was informed by their dad's songwriting style. Other special guests on
include
Mac DeMarco
, who stops by for the atmospheric, '80s soundtrack-styled ballad "Love's Won Me Over,"
Todd Rundgren
who sings on "I See the Patterns,"
Sean Lennon
on the playfully romping "So That's How It Is," and
Matt Jardine
on the slick
Beach Boys
-y pop of "Don't Wait for Yesterday."
is a delightful introduction to
's eras-spanning songbook. Listeners already enamored with
will recognize some familial similarities passed down from
to his sons, and fans of power pop who weren't already aware of his output can use this lovingly assembled tribute as a starting point for discovering the rest. ~ Fred Thomas