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With all apologies to New York trio Rogue Forty, I tried really hard. Really, really hard.  But with a piano-fronted sound heavy on bombastic power chords and as their press release notes “exuberant pieces of pop that explode into joyful choruses” I could not escape the inevitable comparison to that Ben Folds guy. With that out of the way, I can get on with the rest of the review. 

Although, yes, their sound is akin to the Ben Folds progressive piano rock thing, Rogue Forty is by no means a piano-pounding tribute band to the Five or Folds or whoever he is nowadays.  In their debut album Underdogs, Rogue Forty has the happy piano vibe going, but add an extra dose of trippiness that would make Fiona Apple proud.  Avoiding a conventional sound, the band throws in large doses of musical oddities to keep things slightly on the weird side.  Further adding to the fun is band leader Andrew Wood’s immense talent for humorously dire lyrics. 

Underdogs is largely a production of Wood who is chief vocalist, pianist, and producer. His enthusiastic, rough-and-tumble vocals mesh nicely with the songs.  The other two band members Christopher Hall and Robert Caruso are a great supporting cast in a show that clearly belongs to Wood. 

Underdogs is a good album made above average by a couple of songs. The hopelessly addictive “Cyanide” is ironic songwriting at its best and “Half a Head’ hearkens to the music of a late '70s Billy Joel. Another interesting tune to check out is “Rubber Bat.” 

With Underdogs, Rogue Forty has the makings of a great future.  They have a unique approach to music making that will serve them well down the road.  Evidently, they are adding a fourth member for their next project, so it will be interesting to see how their sound evolves.  In the meantime, it will be well worth your while to check out Underdogs.  Just don’t think of Ben Folds when you listen to it. 

Noel Lloyd 5/8/2004