The Newbees

If you are a fan of hypermelodic Pop/Rock and you haven’t heard or seen local group The Newbees (pictured), what are you waiting for? The perfect chance to check the band out comes this weekend with the release of a gorgeous CD package, Live @ The Southgate House. The two-disc set includes a “Look” DVD with video footage and a “Listen” audio CD recorded at a show at the Newport concert venue in November 2008.

The Live package is stunning on many levels. The packaging is top-notch, and the video/audio recording is amazingly pro. Put together with help from area production company Mind Ignition, the product itself stands as an equal to anything put out by a rich major label record company.

Then there’s the music — a diverse, dynamic Pop sound (influence from everything from Tin Pan Alley to vintage Americana to the Fab Four can be detected) that's delivered flawlessly. With their impeccable musicianship and vocal abilities, The Newbees sound better in concert than most bands do on their carefully constructed recordings. The strings that augment the songs are so spot on you’ll be convinced they had to have been added in post production.

As songwriters, Newbees members long ago proved to be among the elite in the region, and on Live the songs breathe and shine effervescently. The band fittingly works in some covers of classics in the Pop/ Rock realm, like their powerful, dazzling version of “I Am the Walrus” and a solid take on Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles hit “Maybe I’m Amazed,” sung brilliantly by vocalist/guitarist Misty Perholtz.