Herb Eimerman was the other half of the power pop duo, the Nerk Twins. His collaboration with former Shoes bandmate Jeff Murphy created an excellent album in the late 90s. On his own he has shown his skills on several solo albums, the latest being “Just Barely Famous.” Like Dwight Twilley, Herb has a fine easy going vocal – perfect for romantic pop rock. The expansive clean production, similar to Frank Royster’s “Thru The Years” with a slight echo across all tracks. Some tracks here are true hidden gems – like the George Harrison cover “Stuck Inside a Cloud” and the Byrdsian “Unbreakable.” In the opener “Inside Joke” lyric and melody recalls The Shoes tight pop arrangements. “The Attraction” is another cool song with great hooks. However the album is missing a hard edge – the closest we get is the haunting “Our Fate Was Signed” but most of the tunes here are light. Herb does it all here, writing every song, multi-tracking his voice and playing all instruments. Other classic hook-filled influences come up all over the album. “Make a Wish” has a Beach Boys vibe and “Vanished Shadows” has the Beatlesque vocal touches that make it memorable. Lots of Gene Clark-like guitar mid-tempo ballads like “Be Home Tonight” do an very good job. Others like “I leave it all up to you” didn’t really work for me, but there is enough in the 16 tracks to enjoy for most power pop fans.
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