Richard Turgeon is Rough Around the Edges

Browse through the Power Pop News Best of lists and you’ll see the name Richard Turgeon often – perhaps as often as any other artist. There’s 2019’s Go Deep (#14), 2018’s Los Angeles (#16) and 2017’s In Between the Spaces (#11). While all feature top-notch guitar pop, each is distinctly different.

In the past few years, Turgeon seems to have focused on releasing singles. As a result, he’d kinda dropped from our radar. That’s hard to believe considering the high quality of his songwriting. Thanks to the good people at Kool Kat Musik, Richard is front and center again with a new album – and it’s very possibly his best yet.

Big Guitars & New Twists

As with past releases, Rough Around the Edges is chock full o’ guitar driven tunes. Richard’s ability to write a killer hook is the common denominator. Such is the case with the opening track, the irresistible “Better Than You”, the memorable chorus of “7 Stories” and the sneeky-good “Keepin’ It Real”.

While consistency is a real strength, each successive album brings a surprise or two with it. That’s what makes his work special. This time, RT seems to have channeled something of the great Northwest. “Please Take Me Back” sounds almost as if it were written for power pop legends Super Deluxe. Big guitars and a monster hook make it memorable. And “Fire Drill” has a definite Nirvana vibe to it.

It seems that no matter which hat he chooses to ear, each fits perfectly.

Top Pop from Richard Turgeon & Kool Kat

While Turgeon plays damn near everything on Rough Around the Edges, he gets help from some other very talented players musicians including Ron Guensche (bass), Erik Salk (solo on track 5) and Tommy Carmine (keys on track 10).

Rough Around the Edges is yet another top shelf guitar pop album from Richard Turgeon. GET THE CD AT KOOL KAT MUSIK.