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"The Gate," from Sam Roberts' "Chemical City"

Every musician is at least partly a product of his or her record collection. I don’t know the Canadian-born Sam Roberts, but I do know what his stacks of CDs and albums look like. Roberts shows his taste for with modern rock flavors of Brit acts like the Charlatans, the La’s and Embrace as well as Sweden’s beloved the Soundtrack of Our Lives. Take the lot with a twist of Roberts’ personal magic and you have Chemical City, Roberts’ followup to the 2003 Juno award-winning breakthrough, We Were Born in a Flame. Roberts recorded this new album in Australia and its best track is something of an ode to that continent. Titled “Uprising Down Under,” it is an acoustic gem that is outrageously addictive. It’s one of those songs that could have a packed crowd at Wembley Stadium (or pick your favorite 50,000+ European soccer venue) holding up lighters and singing along that sounds like a vastly improved version of “Look What You’ve Done” by Australia’s own Jet. Roberts and his band are hardly trying to be something they are not, but it appears they have dreamed up a fairly brilliant formula for this record: Take your own song, pick a great band and imagine them doing your song. From the radio-friendly “An American Draft Dodger in Thunder Bay” and the unfolding psychedelic sprawl of “The Gate” to the expanding rock of “Mind Flood,” Chemical City hammers hard with some good and proper sounds. Chemical City has a feel that few records these days can boast: A sound that you know could fill the air in a sold-out arena. I first saw Roberts when he opened up for Oasis back in 2002. Oasis’ massive sound could move a small planet. Roberts was solid but not quite at that level yet. With Chemical City, it just might be a different story in 2006.

Sam Roberts plays Town Ballroom with LaRocca Thursday, May 11 at 7pm.