Check out the “feel good” Christmas song/Christmas video of the year. Its “(There’s No War on Christmas) When Christmas Is In Your Heart” by The Mockers, a peaceful call to arms against the Grinches and the Scrooges who would tear us apart by religion, race, ethnicity, etc. etc. etc. during the “holiday” season.
After taking a quick jab against “Bill and Ann and Rush and Glen, and all their coterie,” the band delivers a “three-minute powerpop sermon on the true meaning of Christmas” whether you use an “X or a C” and whether you say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” Yes, indeed, as per The Mockers, “you’re only saying Peace On Earth, in many different ways.”
So, sit back and enjoy three minutes and change of traditional Powerpop — bass, guitar and drums, aided by an occasional keyboard and glockenspiel — amid a video montage of happy holiday memories shown in cool vintage photos submitted by friends:
Peace on Christmas has broken out, indeed!
You can purchase The Mockers’ double-sided Christmas single right here.
That venerable quote perfectly describes the “joint” EP just released by An American Underdog (basically, Andy Reed) and Brandon Schott. The four-song teaser, titled simply The A/B EP, originated online through the artists’ shared admiration of ELO, Elliott Smith and Harry Nilsson.
A virtual collaboration ensued as Reed and Schott contributed to each others’ songs from more than 2,000 miles away. Despite the technology baked into the four tracks, each song nevertheless displays all of the handmade, artisanal qualities of the analog age evident on Reed’s and Schott’s prior efforts, such as this one and this one. The A/B EP delivers four tasty morsels of pure pop goodness to savor until Reed and Schott release their next full-length products.
The digital version of the collection kicks off with Schott’s “Henry,” a joyous romp through three-and-a-half minutes of swirling keyboards, ukeleles, kazoo, glockenspiel and lots of well-placed “la la’s.” What’s not to love?:
Reed’s more wistful “The Show Goes On” follows. Its the perfect vehicle for his gorgeous vocals:
Reed’s “Good Girl” comes next. It’s the emotional center of the collection, as the tension builds steadily throughout the track to a rocking, almost operatic conclusion:
A darker, contemplative mood also marks Schott’s “Verdugo Park (Part 2),” which closes the digital collection. A lot will be written about the many influences at play on this EP, and on the full-length records both artists subsequently release. This one caused me instantly to think of The Zombies’Odessey & Oracle, particularly (and most fittingly), “Beechwood Park”:
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The A/B EP is a stunning preview of what’s to come soon enough from Reed and Schott. You can download it for $4 or get it on vinyl for $7, right here. You certainly will want more — much, much more.
A couple of nights ago, a link came across the virtual wire to an upload of a track recorded by The Britannicas for the new Del Shannon tribute record released the next day. The Britannicas are a virtual band comprised of “multi-instrumentalists recording from their respective home studios, they are not from the UK or even one particular country.” They also say they are “21st century men and pioneers of trans-continental recording; using modern technology to deliver old school, classic pop music.” In particular, The Britannicas are comprised of Herb Eimerman, Magnus Karlsson and Joe Algeri. The description “old school, classic pop music” describes almost all of the music discussed on this blog.
The tribute tune in question is a cover of “I Got You,” which appears on Shannon’s final release, 1991’s Rock On. “I Got You” is a great song, and Shannon could still hit the high notes shortly before his death. The original version, however, is marred by a clinical, antiseptic early-90’s production style that does not quite withstand the test of time:
The Britannicas cover version erases all that. The production is warm, inviting and, well, quite “old school.” Eimerman’s lead vocals are faithful to Shannon’s original, but add their own distinct personality. They are then punctuated by Algeri’s spot-on backing vocals, most particularly about half-way through the song. Karlsson’s beautiful jangly guitar carries the track from start to finish. The Britannicas version of “I Got You” is the rare cover that actually improves on the original:
The Del Shannon tribute album, also featuring contributions from Marshall Crenshaw, Frank Black and The Rubinoos (and others) can be sampled and purchased here.
As a bonus, check out the band’s excellent take on my all-time favorite Smiths’ song. “This Charming Man.” Its a guitar extravaganza. Karlsson plays ten guitars on the track, and Eimerman adds a couple to the mix. Its also great “old school, classic pop music,” and its a free download to boot:
The band notes on its Facebook page: “Stefan has sent a drum track to Joe in Australia. Joe has just mixed it and sent it back to Magnus in Sweden to add guitar and vocals. Herb is tuning up his bass in the US. The Britannicas are recording their second album!” Good for us.
I wrote previously on Green Is Good, The Sharp Things’ release from earlier this year. It remains one of the best albums of the 2013, due to the band’s ability to stitch together such a dazzling array of different pop styles in a way that is entirely natural and seemingly effortless. The sunshiny and soulful “Flowers For My Girl” is also one of my favorite songs of the year.
You can stillgetGreen Is Good as a “name your price” download on Bandcamp. You certainly should do so, and at least put a couple of dollars in the tip jar.
The band has another album, The Truth Is Like The Sun, slated for release this year. The first single, “Can’t Get Started,” was uploaded to Souncloud recently. It’s a brilliant follow-up, and follow-on, to the chamber pop stylings of Green Is Good.
“Can’t Get Started” is piano-driven throughout, with multi-layered vocals, an occasional strike of the guitar, a handful a string flourishes and a slight crescendo of percussion and wall of sound at its conclusion. Its simply gorgeous.
If “Can’t Get Started” is any indication of what’s to come, The Truth Is Like The Sun could cause The Sharp Things to have released two of my favorite records in a single year. Here it is:
If I were to compile a list of my all-time favorite songs, The Flamin’ Groovies‘ “Shake Some Action” would easily land in the Top 20. Released in 1976, the track was inspired by The British Invasion while incorporating strands of nascent punk rock and new wave. It is “beat music” in the best sense, with chiming jangling guitars, loud riffs, pounding drums and a chorus that will stick in your mind for days on end.
“Shake Some Action” was simultaneously ten years behind the times and ten years ahead of the times. While that kind of positioning is hardly a prescription for chart success, the song’s influence on the guitar-driven “alternative rock” of the 80s, 90s and beyond is unmistakable:
My eleven-year even old loves “Shake Some Action,” more than thirty-seven years after its release. Talk about your timeless music.
Portions of the band have reunited, and they are playing a number of shows in November in the Midwest and on the East Coast. They are also working on an EP. The first song, “End Of The World,” can be streamed through a wonderful profile of the band posted this morning on Rolling Stone’s website.
Take a listen. “End Of The World” picks up where tracks like “Shake Some Action” left off long ago. Its chiming guitars are instantly recognizable, and its pounding rhythms flow smoothly seamlessly into what could prove to be an equally memorable chorus. Rolling Stone describes “End Of The World” quite nicely:
[It] blends proto-punk energy with power-pop melody. A certain rawness permeates the band’s dedication to pop rhythm, making it sound like it could have been recorded today or in 1972.
Or, for that matter, 1982, 1992 etc.
There’s something for everyone in “End Of The World,” whether you are in your 60s, your 50s, or your 20s. Or, if you are an eleven-year old sitting in the back seat of my car.
I’ve come into possession lately of a lot of old-school Power Pop from the late-70s and early-80s. Most of it would have been called “new wave” or “punk rock” at the time, although some of it pre-dates the invention or popular use of those two terms. All of it, though, featured bright guitars, driving beats, close harmonies and a rejection of the slurry mass of goo that most commercial “rock and roll” had become in the 1970s. “New Wave” was a misnomer. This stuff was retro. It sounded like 1965, but often on speed.
One such frenetic retro rocking Power Pop outfit was The Fans. The were formed in Bristol, England in 1978, and released a couple of singles on the wonderfully titled “Fried Egg” label before disbanding after a couple of years.
Try not to move, bop your head, tap your feet, etc. while listening to “You Don’t Live Here Anymore.” Its as simple as it gets — “I don’t want you ’round here anymore/I don’t want you knocking on my door/I don’t want you ’round here in the morning/’round here in the evening/around here any time at all” — and propelled by a pounding beat, crystal clear vocals and no adornment whatsoever.
All of that, of course, makes it brilliant, and far better sounding thirty-five years later than its much more popular “album oriented rock” contemporaries:
Unlike a lot of old school Power Pop, the Fans’ short-lived output is not lost forever to history. A 17-track of odds and ends, including “You Don’t Live Here Anymore,” is available from CD Baby for $16.97. It’s worth checking out.
The Effection released its sole long-player, Soundtrack To A Moment, in 2003. Although they hailed from the region in which I live, I can’t say that I paid any attention to them. Neither did too many people, apparently, and Soundtrack To A Moment went out-of-print.
In the digital age, however, what’s old can become new again, and that great resuscitator of given-up-for-dead Power Pop, Futureman Records, recently made Soundtrack To A Moment available for digital download for the ridiculously low price of $7. Go get this one right now, and bask in the glow of its punk rock/new wave Power Pop ripped from the glory days of 1979.
This is apparent from the first line of the opening track, “The Sound Effection,” where the words “this is the sound effection” announces the driving guitar rock that follows, just like The Jam opened its second long-player with the call to arms of “this is the modern world”:
The title track covers similar sonic ground in the mold of The Jam, but spins it with a decidedly American take on the proceedings in a song about “nothing to do around here”:
But Soundtrack To A Moment is not all loud and thrashing punk rock. Its best track, “Somewhere Souvenir,” takes the mid-tempo approach and adds breezy guitars and gorgeous 60s-styled vocal harmonies:
The band even slows it down completely on “Agony,” while throwing in some slightly jangling guitars to go with those great harmonies that fill the entire album:
To say that Soundtrack To A Moment is a “find” out of nowhere is an understatement. Like the best bands of the early days of punk rock and new wave, The Effection move seamlessly from full-fledged high energy rockers to more “sophisticated” and contemplative stuff. It takes you back in time, moves to 2003 and yet sounds entirely fresh a decade later. My only regret is not getting hip to this sooner.
Today I am starting a new regular feature called “Five Track Draw.” It will focus on five melodic rock tracks that made it to my attention recently by “happenstance,” either through an internet radio service, algorithm or social media, or practically anywhere else as long as I did not purposefully cue them on a listening device.
The focus of this feature will be primarily on lesser known artists, or lesser known tracks by better known artists. The tracks may be new or old (or somewhere in between) because even old music is “new” if you haven’t heard it.
This first installment comes via internet radio. Each has a lighter feel, with The Beach Boys looming as the primary influence as summer fades increasingly further into the rear-view mirror.
Sunrise Highway, “Endless Summer”: This could easily be a Beach Boys sound-a-like, but grafting its seamless, endless harmonies onto jangly twelve-string guitars lifts this song far from the realm of the mere copycats:
Bryan Estepa, “Western Tale”: Its six-minute length is usually a red flag for me since songs should remain the three-minute range. But this is actually a couple of songs rolled into one, and moves along at a brisk pace with its soaring harmonies and production and background vocals supplied by Michael Carpenter, about whom I have written previously. The first line of the chorus — “And if the tide is high, baby move over, and over and over” — can stick in your head for days:
Adrian Whitehead, “Cailtlin’s 60’s Pop Song”: The title does not lie. This is indeed a 60s pop song anchored by piano, harmony and analog-styled production from days gone by. That makes this song about a girl “so beautiful . . . from above” very pretty without sounding like a museum piece:
Linus Of Hollywood, “Heavenly”: This one amps up the 60s sunshine pop vibe (as much as sunshine pop can be amped up) by adding a driving beat to the mix by the time the chorus kicks in. Otherwise, you get big doses of swirling multi-voiced harmonies, strings, keyboards and upper register lead vocals:
Frank Bango, “Summerdress”: Who needs autumn sweaters and winter coats when you can sing giddily for a few minutes about pretty girls in summer dresses? Bango’s circa-1978 Elvis Costello-esque vocals work nicely over the organs and strings on the most relentlessly upbeat song of this post:
You can’t go wrong with either of these sweet sounds of summer as we head through autumn.
“Groove” is one on the most used apps on my music device. The best thing it does is scan your music collection to create playlists based on your listening habits and tags in the Last.fm database. A “groovy mix” can be based on a genre of music. or a particular artist.
The other day, I created a quick “groovy mix” based on Chris Richards & The Subtractions, particularly the track “Sleep All Day” from the wonderful 2012 release Get Yer La La’s Out. I then trimmed the list to 15 songs, spanning 44 minutes — the approximate amount of time that could be comfortably squeezed onto vinyl — eliminating duplication of artists and less worthy songs, but maintaining a couple of the less well-known tracks from compilation CDs in my collection.
After revising the sequencing — but keeping “Sleep All Day” as the lead track — I uploaded the playlist to the 8 Tracks site. It is embedded below, and can be heard in full by clicking on arrow in the embedded image.
What will you hear other than “Sleep All Day”?
For one, there are a number of tracks by artists discussed in prior posts on this site, particularly in this one and this one.
But also included are: (i) “Portland” — one of the best tracks on Always On The Run, the 2011 release by An American Underdog; (ii) the tight and rocking “Above The Blue,” by Vegas With Randolph; and (iii) “Goodbye,” by the should-be-far-better-known Brad Jones.
Three covers are included: (i) Doug Powell’s slightly over-the-top version of “I Woke Up In Love This Morning,” a Top 15 hit by ThePartridge Family,” (ii) Stephen Lawrenson’s take on The Beatles‘ “Yes It is,” and (iii) Lannie Flowers’ very cool re-imagining of Orleans’ Top 10 hit, “Dance With Me,” which closes out the set.
Complete track list:
1. “Sleep All Day” — Chris Richards & The Subtractions
2. “Above The Blue” — Vegas With Randolph
3. “My Favorite Revolution” — Eugene Edwards
4. “Last Thing On My Mind — The Finkers
5. “I Woke Up In Love This Morning” — Doug Powell
6. “Goodbye” — Brad Jones
7. “Hourglass” — Starbelly
8. “Portland” — An American Underdog
9. “A Girl That I Once Knew” — Three Hour Tour
10. “Yes It Is” — Stephen Lawrenson
11.”Waiting For A Sign” — Kelly’s Heels
12. “If You’ll Be My Adam” — Skeleton Staff
13. “Don’t Look At The Sun” — Chewy Marble
14. “I’m In Love” — Myracle Brah
15. “Dance With Me” — Lannie Flowers
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I hope you enjoyed this playlist. Perhaps you just heard your next favorite song.
“If you’re a power pop fan, you’ve got the book, and quite a labor of love it was. But if you could tweak John Borack’s 200, what albums would be #1-#10?” So went a question posed in an on-line discussion group.
The book in question is Shake Some Action, a photograph of which appears to the left. It’s out-of print, but a list of the Top 200 can be found (with an occasional Spotify link) here
Lists of “the best” of anything can be difficult to compile. A fine line distinction between, say, Number 4 and Number 5 can be agonizing and, ultimately, quite arbitrary.
But this assignment was different. It used someone else’s list as a jumping off point. There were also “rules,” most particularly that there could only be one entry per artist on the list, and that “two-fers” could be included.
So I was game. Have I listened to every album in the Top 200? Of course not. That limited the playing field even more.
So here’s my quick, down and dirty tweaking of “John Borack’s 200.” No agonizing over fine line distinctions went into creating this list:
1. Big Star, #1 Record/Radio City: All roads lead to and from this “two-fer.” If I created a list of my Top 100 songs of all-time, it would include “September Gurls,” “Thirteen,” “The Ballad of El Goodo,” “When My Baby’s Beside Me,” etc., etc., etc.
2. Myracle Brah, Life On Planet Eartsnop: 20 songs meant for blasting out of an AM car radio in 1972 while driving around town with windows open and without a care in the world. The lead track, “Whisper Softly,” sets the tone for everything that comes after:
3. Cotton Mather, Kontiki: The yin and yang of melodic rock. Slow, dreamy stuff (“Spin My Wheels”) slides effortlessly into full-throttled Power Pop (“My Before and After”). And it does it over-and-over again.
4.Jellyfish, Spilt Milk: Some bands fly under your radar and are never noticed. Some are simply overlooked. Some are purposefully avoided. Jellyfish fits into the last category for me. No way, no how was I going to listen to this “hippie” stuff in the early-90s. That was just so wrong. Spilt Milk is simply the most brilliant collection of self-indulgent, over-the-top, bombastic circus pop ever released.
5. Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend: This grafts some of the greatest guitar playing in the entire Power Pop universe onto fifteen almost perfect songs. More than twenty years after-the-fact, it sounds like it could have been released last month.
6. Wondermints, Wondermints: Beautifully encapsulates almost the entire history of rock and roll as it existed in 1995. The finesse with which the band handles such a wide variety of styles is all the more remarkable because it seems so effortless:
7. Chris von Sniedern, Big White Lies: One meticulously crafted pure pop gem after another by one of the true craftsmen around. A slightly softer version of the recreated AM rock experience of the early-70s than Life On Planet Eartsnop.
8. Eugene Edwards, My Favorite Revolution: It grabs you immediately and refuses to let go. And it shouldn’t. Its un-fancy, bass-guitars-and-drum rock and roll, smartly written from start to finish:
9.The Plimsouls, The Plimsouls . . . Plus: Some of this supplied one of the soundtracks to my high school years. Its Power Pop, but with some R&B and garage rock sprinkled into the mix. “Zero Hour,” “Now,” “Everyday Things,” “Great Big World,” “How Long Will It Take” and “Great Big World” remain perennials for me more than thirty years later.
10. The Merrymakers, Bubblegun: This is pretty sounding Power Pop. Not only is “April’s Fool” one of the best songs of the past two decades, it is easily the most exuberant song about being “dumped” that I have ever heard. For good measure, Andy Sturmer of Jellyfish (see No. 4) assisted with production and percussion — and is listed as co-writer of “April’s Fool” — so my circle is entirely complete.
And that’s my current tweaking of the Top 200. These things change over time. Who knows, maybe there is a to-be-discovered gem in the 200 that I have not yet heard.
“If you’re a power pop fan, you’ve got the book, and quite a labor of love it was. But if you could tweak John Borack’s 200, what albums would be #1-#10?” So went a question posed in an on-line discussion group.
Pop That Goes Crunch! 