ARTIST: Soft Gong
TITLE: Pretend You Need Me
LABEL: CD Baby
GENRE: Rock
TIME: 41:33 min
SIZE:  58,0 MB
RIP DATE: Dec-31-2007
RELEASE DATE: Nov-27-2007
WEBSITE: n/a

Track List:

01. Cover Band                                 03:20
02. Pretend You Need Me                        03:33
03. The Mirror Is Lonely                       03:40
04. Alejandra's Waiting                        03:12
05. Ninety-Nine Percent                        03:12
06. I Hope It's Not Enough                     04:04
07. What Now, Julia                            03:48
08. Break Me (I'm About To Come Alive)         03:14
09. My Sweet Embraceable Defeat                03:43
10. Coat of Paint                              02:38
11. Night School Sweetheart                    03:14
12. Worn-Out Clutch                            03:55

Release Notes:

The Gimmick

It’s not often that “boosting morale” is part of a
band’s mission statement. For that matter, it’s not
often that a band has a mission statement—or at
least not one it fesses up to.



But Soft Gong’s not your average band. First
conceived as a house band for Wirestone, a marketing
solutions company, the Gong quickly eclipsed the
gimmick of “company band” to become the “Cadillac of
cover bands,” and has now—with its debut album,
Pretend You Need Me--evolved into a songwriting
force to be reckoned with.



The Goods

Irreverent? Tongue-in-cheek? Post ironic? Call the
lyrics what you will, but the Soft Gong sound is a
heart-felt salute to the power-pop groups these boys
grew up with—Big Star, Badfinger, Cheap Trick,
Marshall Crenshaw—with a 21st-century twist.



Whether it’s the hyper-groovability of “What Now,
Julia,” the frat-boy sentiment informing
“Night-School Sweetheart,” or the breezy reggae
thump of “Coat of Paint”—one of the disc’s tracks is
bound to sink its hooks in you.

Much of Pretend You Need Me was recorded with Soft
Gong playing together live in the studio. The band’s
loose, the sound’s tight, and you, dear listener,
are in for a mystic power-pop 12-track meal served
straight from the company store (watch your soul,
now).