'Underage,' but Noticeably Mature
A two-time failure on television, he was meant for pop radio.

I first saw and heard Teddy Geiger on the now-failed CBS series Love Monkey, after he had already been bumped from the reality series In Search Of The Partridge Family. Geiger's Wayne was the oasis of genuine singer-songwriter pop rock that Tom Cavanagh's character discovered and planned to ride to the top of the music biz. I was impressed with "Wayne's" music, but remember thinking that Geiger was just a pretty boy actor lip syncing his way to teen idolatry. Now that the show has been canceled and Geiger's debut album Underage Thinking released, I'm less convinced that Love Monkey was an actual attempt at a television show and am thinking it was more of a three-episode publicity for Geiger. And, even though I was addicted to the show, I'm not sure he would have needed it.

Geiger could easily be compared to John Mayer, as both are young, attractive, talented singer-songwriters who lean towards pop rock. But Geiger is more flavored by the rock; there are fewer "Your Body is a Wonderland"s in his album and more "No Such Thing"s instead. The album opens with seemingly benign piano chords before Geiger busts down the door with electric guitar to introduce "These Walls." The track speaks of wearing your heart on your sleeve and not fearing the bumps and bruises that are sure to come of it. The sentiment is a brash, youthful one, but sets up the rest of the album perfectly.

Underage Thinking progresses almost like a story. From "These Walls," Geiger sings about what it takes to get what you can't have in "For You I Will (Confidence)" and his desire to be treated like a thinking adult in the title track (well, reverse the words). He years for lost love but knows he can move past it in "Air Dry," but suffers the lamentations of a breakup in the somewhat under-developed "Seven Days Without You." As the album progresses, Geiger shows the lessons that come out of a loss. Maybe the best track of the album is its closer, "Love is a Marathon," where Geiger teaches us that the things worth having are worth working for.

Geiger has what it takes to become the poster boy for many a teenaged girl's bedroom wall, but he's also a skilled singer and musician; he wrote the majority of the tunes on Underage Thinking and plays piano, drums, bass, and guitar on the album. He shows promise for the future, too, because this is one heck of a debut album for a teenager. If this is the stuff of a seventeen-year-old, maybe I need to go back and pay more attention to junior year of high school.

Rating: * * * 1/2 of 5