Tonic - Lemon Parade

For the intro to "Open Up Your Eyes," Tonic's lead guitarist, Jeff Russo, pulls off a wicked little flirtation with the riff from "Badge," and when his guitar gently weeps on "If You Could Only See," Tonic sound enough like Cream-era Clapton to take you back 20 years. The point is, Tonic know how to rock. Russo and singer-rhythm guitarist Emerson Hart make a profoundly talented songwriting team whose material could be put up against anything from R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People. Highlighted by the massively seductive "Casual Affair" and the thunderous epic ballad "Mountain," the songs on Lemon Parade will make you nostalgic for music that doesn't sound like it came from a can. --Gail Worley