FIVE O’CLOCK HEROES

Different Times

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It’s no wonder these New Yorkers hit first in England and are just now, three albums into their career, making their stateside debut. The Brits surely hear in the Heroes echoes of late-’70s U.K. greats Graham Parker, Joe Jackson and XTC, if not latter-day equivalents like the Fratellis and Kaiser Chiefs. Most of these songs find singer Anthony Ellis doing his best Andy Partridge impression, warbling infectious melodies over punky power-pop backings. The Heroes also try reggae and soul, just as they’d have been required to do in 1979, skanking lightly on “Boys Not Girls” and invoking the English Beat’s “Save It for Later” on “I Need You Around.”

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