The Red Hot Valentines – Summer Fling / 2003 / Polyvinyl Records / 10 Songs / http://www.theredhotvalentines.com / [email protected]

As I have worked with this band for a number of years (actually, since 1999), I feel that I am one of the very few that has actually noted the studio evolution of them. Needless to say, I am at a loss for hearing the Valentines live, but about three albums of work is good past experience. As a listener, the thing that immediately strikes me is the continued refinement of the synthesizer lines with the traditional elements of independent/punk rock. The vocals are more emotive, almost verging on the line of falsetto at places, the bass more chunky, and the vision I receive is of a band that is playing a bright hall with legions of fans tapping their toes to instant classics as “Pocket Full of Secrets”, “Christine”, and “One Last Kiss”. The style of music that the Valentines play has not changed in a stylistic manner – still the same synth driven pop that has endeared them to large crowds in an ever-increasing radius of Urbana-Champaign, but it is like the toe-headed toddler growing up to the love-stricken teenage who has worlds in his eyes. Songs about the most simplistic of things, such as getting to know a girl (Fair Warning) are transformed from something ordinary to a synchronization of a listener’s heart with the rich vocals and lyrics. One sees the endless string of lost lovers flash through their eyes as the disc spins on, and after a most too scant period of time, are left wrung-out upon their bed. Play on, Valentines!