beyond a shadow of a doubt masked intruder

Sweat can be romantic (the swaying 'Good Love'), reconciliatory (the apologetic ballad 'Missing You Like Crazy,' which features guest harmonies from Dru Hill) and confidently direct in his pursuit of providing physical pleasure. On 'Tonight,' the second track of his 12th studio album, Keith Sweat passionately sings, 'Tonight is the night, girl, for love.' But don't let yourself think that there is something exclusive about this particular evening.Īs Sweat oozes passion across the disc's old-school R&B grooves, it is clear that in his world any night or day is a good time for love. Good Charlotte performs at the Vans Warped Tour Tuesday. Along the way, Good Charlotte discovers that often the best way to come back is to go back to what you know best.

Guitars thrash and drums rattle on the wistful opening 'Life Changes.' 'Reason to Stay' swells with angst and 'The Outfield' reverberates with shared insecurity that brings two lost souls together. The group seems well aware of that on 'Youth Authority,' peering outside its own sphere in its poppy lead single to discover 'it's not 2003.'īut instead of trying to match any kind of new trends, the band mates turn to the sound that made them godfathers of the Warped generation. Returning from a five-year hiatus can be tough for any act, but when your sound helped define the pop-punk landscape of the early 2000s like Good Charlotte, the return could be even more harrowing. Masked Intruder performs at the Milwaukee stop of the Vans Warped Tour Tuesday at Maier Festival Park, 200 N.

The Masked Intruder gimmick cannot conceal how well the music works. That violation is for true love, though, and the other five tracks, including the slightly foursquare 'Still Always on My Mind' and the ridiculously wistful 'First Star Tonight,' are as connected to 1950s romanticism as to the nerdy lunges of the Descendents. Underneath the candy-striped pop-punk guitar chords and the super-sweet vocals from 'Blue' (that's his mask color, see), a song like 'Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt' is actually about violating a restraining order. 'Love and Other Crimes,' the latest from that last band, is entertainment too. Whenever Elvis shook his hips after 1956, whenever Pete Townshend windmilled his arm before striking a power chord and whenever, now, the Madison men of Masked Intruder's identify themselves solely by their ski-mask colors. No matter what anyone else tells you, believe this: Gimmickry is the sleeve on which rock 'n' roll rests its heart.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt masked intruder