Aurora [Super Deluxe 2 LP Set] [Lemonade Colored Vinl] [Barnes & Noble Exclusive] in Bloomington, MN

Set in the 1970s and loosely inspired by
Fleetwood Mac
, Taylor Jenkins Reid's best-selling novel Daisy Jones & the Six is the fictional account of the rise and fall of a prominent blues-rock band as revealed through interviews. An Amazon Studios miniseries adaptation was already underway by the time the book was published in 2019, with producers enlisting
Blake Mills
to construct the band's sound. To write the songs (25 in all appear in the series),
Mills
enlisted help from none other than
Jackson Browne
as well as figures like
Phoebe Bridgers
,
Marcus Mumford
Madison Cunningham
, and
Roger Manning
, among many others. The emerging 11-song soundtrack album doubles as the group's imagined debut,
Aurora
. It was performed by the show's band-camp-trained cast, led by
Riley Keough
as Daisy and
Sam Claflin
as Billy Dunne. (
Suki Waterhouse
Josh Whitehouse
Will Harrison
Sebastian Chacon
round out the group's TV lineup, which diverges slightly from the book in number and by instrument.) Together with
' production, the star-studded writing team manage to settle into a dual-vocal-heavy MOR sound that's credible as the output of a single band at the same time that it touches on Laurel Canyon, Nashville, and, if fleetingly,
itself, as on the chorus of soft rock standout "Let Me Down Easy," a descendent of "Dreams." Another highlight is the rousing "Regret Me," which almost evokes
the Heartbreakers
with its efficient hooks, gritty guitar tones, organ, live energy, and slight affectation by
Claflin
. They let loose again with the bluesy garage rock of the
Keough
-led "More Fun to Miss," while quasi-acoustic ballads like "Two Against Three" and "No Words" can seem more like sentimental, narrative-serving fare -- not that that's necessarily a bad thing, considering their purposes. In the end, while
plays out more like a cast album than unearthed period vinyl, it does hover on the spectrum, and the actor/musicians come to play. ~ Marcy Donelson