Album: Jesse Dee, Bittersweet Batch, (Munich)

White-boy retro-soul, long on attitude and stomp, short on subtlety.

And the question almost asks itself: are we talking Dexy's Midnight Runners or Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes? The answer, contrary to what you might expect (given that Dee is from Boston, not Wolverhampton), is Dexy's: the energy is antsy, the voice shrill, the horns choral. The writing, however, is workmanlike and although young Jesse is obviously meaning every word of it, man, the result is still an exercise in fevered mannerism. Nice try.