POP MUSIC REVIEW : Spence’s Rock Is for Parents Too

Judson Spence capped his show Tuesday night at the Roxy with some choice oldies, including Elvis’ “Teddy Bear” and Sly & the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”

The 22-year-old Mississippi native didn’t perform Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music”--as fellow blue-eyed soul star George Michael does on his current tour--though that ‘70s hit perfectly sums up his appeal. Like Michael, Spence specializes in a sassy blend of pop, rock and black music that owes as much to Sly and Otis Redding as to Elvis and the Beatles.

But Spence isn’t just a Michael clone. The singer/songwriter, whose parents are both pastors, has a clear moral point of view in his work. “Hot & Sweaty” has the throbbing rhythm of Michael’s “I Want Your Sex,” but the lyric challenges the notion of rushing into intimacy: “I know this may sound crazy / But there’s more to love than sex.”

In the high-spirited “If You Don’t Like It,” Spence says that he has no need for drugs and alcohol, and that if people think he’s a square, that’s their problem. Finally, rock that a parent can love.

The primary message in Spence’s work, however, is the sheer joy of music. He and his five-man band performed Tuesday with an almost evangelical zeal.

Two of Spence’s songs have the exuberant charm of Robbie Nevil’s most enticing work: “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” which is climbing the Top 40, and the vibrant, carnival-shaded “Down in the Village.”