The McClymonts - Wrapped Up Good

The McClymonts - Wrapped Up Good
2011, BSM Music

Brooke, Samantha and Mollie McClymont are three of the hottest names in country music, but don't worry if they're not on your radar just yet.  The McClymonts are the #1 country group in their native Australia.  The McClymonts celebrated 2010 with the release of Wrapped Up Good at home.  The album debuted at #1 on the Australian Country Music charts and #2 on the pop charts (behind Susan Boyle); producing four consecutive #1 singles.  The resulting tour sold out all over Australia, and the McClymonts became the first group to ever host the Australian Country Music Awards.  Turn the page to 2011, and The McClymonts have set their sights on America.  With their single "Wrapped Up Good" already storming the US Country charts, The McClymonts will celebrate the US release of the album Wrapped Up Good on August 23, 2011.

If you take three sisters with angelic voices, back them up with a first-class country music band, and provide rock and roll songs dressed up in country instrumentation and you have a sure-fire hit.  That's the formula that's fueled The McClymonts thus far.  Wrapped Up Good opens with "Kick It Up", a rambunctious rockin' country party tune.  The harmonies are fantastic, and the song is as catchy as anything you've heard on country radio in a long time.  "Wrapped Up Good" is radio-ready pop/country that celebrates one particular love.  The Wilson Phillips-style harmonies blends with a Dixie Chicks-on-steroids spunk to create a band persona and sound that's larger than life.

"He Used To Love Me" is either a determinedly optimistic love song or a stalker's anthem.  The tune feels fun rather than creepy, and the melody will stick in your mind.  "Boy Who Cried Love" is a generic pop tune with country instrumentation.  It won't stand out on its own, but Brooke McClymont's voice certainly does.  "Take It Back" is a brilliantly counterintuitive response to a relationship that's ending.  The song heavily borrows themes from Sting's "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying", but is well written and entertaining.    "Rock The Boat" is an entertaining tune of incipient rebellion, a catchy non-conformist rock anthem dressed in a barely-country arrangement to make it convincing.  It's a great number, and the vocals are over the top. 

"I'm Not Done With You Just Yet" finds The McClymonts heading to the honky-tonk with a number that's certain to have pulling on your dancing shoes.  As usual, the vocals are primo, but the backing band will make a believer out of you here as well.  The McClymonts run into a slow patch as they head for the close on Wrapped Up Good, but recover nicely with the honky-tonk closer "Cannonball".  This might as well be the three sisters' theme song; a tale about a gal who's just too much to hold on to or hold down.

Wrapped Up Good is the sort of pop/rock album that would have been a huge hit in the 1980's.  The fact that it's presented essentially as a country album is ingenious marketing of a talented trio who perform at a very high level, mixing high polish with a down-home flavor that connects with country music fans.  The McClymonts are destined to have their stars shine as bright in the US as they have Down Under.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about The McClymonts at www.themcclymonts.net or www.facebook.com/themcclymontsau.  Wrapped Up Good gets its US release on August 23, 2011.  You can pre-order the album from Amazon.com as a CD or Download.