Pop Reviews : Innocuous Ear Candy by the Toto of the ‘90s

A better moniker for the L.A. septet known as Venice might have been borrowed from a cleaner, more generically pleasant adjoining town, but as a band name Marina Del Rey doesn’t really have the same rock ‘n’ roll ring.

In any case, Venice the band came to Hollywood the town for a showcase on Wednesday at the Roxy, a performance polished enough that it may not be too soon to posit this well-scrubbed, long-haired, highly professional outfit as the Toto of the ‘90s. Like that “faceless” but very successful predecessor, this is a band anchored by siblings who put on a strong, united vocal front in an aggressive, hit-ready setting that’s easy on the ears but almost never hits you in the gut.

Earnest, friendly, slick and a little hokey, Venice hit on some big topics, but even numbers about racism, drug addiction and bay pollution came off sounding like the same sort of innocuous ear candy as the love songs. An exception: “People Laugh,” an AIDS-themed ballad that takes a knock at comedians who wrench guffaws out of terminal disease. Anyone who pulls off an anti-Sam Kinison song is at least rowing down the right canal.