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Glen Tilbrook, Let Yourself Be Happy, Linus of Hollywood, Something Good, Squeeze, Triangle, Your Favorite Record
Linus of Hollywood, stage name for Los Angeles musical polymath Kevin Dotson, has distilled a unique blend of 1960s/1970s influenced poprock on his four albums and various singles since 1999. And he has a voice that is often a dead ringer for Squeeze frontman Glen Tilbrook. The album catalogue might look a bit thin, but that’s just because he’s in such constant demand to do music for television and movies and produce and write songs for other people’s records to pay the bills. But what he has managed to put out is quality stuff, fully deserving of stratospheric success.
1999’s Your Favorite Record evidences his mastery of different musical styles, from the clever soft poprock stylings of “Say Hello to Another Goodbye,” or the acoustic swing of “The Man Who Tells the Crazy People What to Say”, or the musical hall-ish “Everybody’s Looking Down.”
By 2001 the hooks are even sharper on Let Yourself Be Happy with songs like “A Whole New Country” (what’s not to love about a flute solo?) and “I Need You Around,” while there is a touch of vaudeville in “The Girl I’ll Never Have” and novelty in “Thank You for Making Me Feel … Better.”
2006’s Triangle carries on this mix, with great poprock tunes like “Do You Know What I’m Thinking” and the banjo swingish “Starting Monday,” while the acoustic fingerpicking of “I’ll Get Through It” changes tempo but remains just as catchy.
In 2008 Linus of Hollywood released two albums that summed up his career to date. Attractive Singles is a kind of sampling of the three previous releases, with the 30 second title track the only new material. Meanwhile Reheat and Serve features various unreleased material, like the great “Do You Want to Get Married,” as well as his many covers of different 1970s artists like the Bee Gees, Paul McCartney and Nick Gilder. Here the cover of Gilder’s 1979 hit “Hot Child in the City” is both original and inspired. And the 30 second “Bonus Tracks” opener is pretty funny. Bonus Tracks Hot Child in the City
All that went before was enjoyable but 2014’s Something Good takes Linus of Hollywood’s performance to a new level. As Powerpopaholic put it in a glowing review: “It is more than something good, it is something great!” Right out of the gate, the listener is hit with some pretty impressive production and songwriting with “Caught Up in a Feeling,” a tune that exudes just hint of ELO, and the exquisite “A Girl that I Like,” a masterful, truly perfect single. Other highlights include the more sedate but catchy ‘”Biography,” with its great line ‘I’m the best part of your story,’ the 1970s pop-sounding “Whoever’s Around,” and the acoustic swing duet with Kelly Jones, “If You Don’t Love Me, You’ve Gotta Let Me Go.” And the cover of Kiss’ “Beth” is entertaining.
Beyond these albums tracks, two of my favourite Linus of Hollywood songs are the singles “Summer Fling,” another great acoustic swing duet, this time with Brett Anderson, and 2015’s “Icy Tracks,” with both featuring his trademark acoustic guitar floor and slathered on background vocals. Linus of Hollywood has announced on his Facebook page that he is presently working on material for a new album, due out later this year. Summer Fling
Linus of Hollywood would benefit from a devoted legion of followers – join the cause on his website or Facebook page.
You’ll never see the rock critics expounding on the seminal influence of Simon and Garfunkel to contemporary music – but it is there. Not because S&G broke new ground like the Beatles or the Kinks or the Who. Nor did they exude a counter culture rock persona like the Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix. But they did contribute to the unique 1960s synthesis of musical styles, songwriting, and performance that would define the popular song in the decades to come. Paul Simon’s genius was in melding the authenticity of folk music with the more relentless hooks from pop music, cast against a dazzling array of musical backdrops (something more fully exploited in his solo career). But in S&G, his talents produced a unmistakable sound, regardless of the style of the material. That sound can be found all over the contemporary music-sphere.
We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog postings to bring you these breaking recent releases that run the gamut of indie/alt rock, alt country, powerpop and nouveau folk.
“David Newberry sings folk music with rock sensibilities. Or is it the other way around?”
Casting back through Newberry’s catalogue there are so many great songs, ones that touch on both the personal and political. I am partial to “4th Fret” and “The End” from When We Learn the Things We Need to Learn and “Easter” and “English Bay” from No One Will Remember You. But his 2014 EP Desire Lines definitely represents a shift in approach – now the record seems more than just a collection of songs and Newberry is clearly experimenting with his sound and image. Listen to these two starkly different treatments of his song “Slow”: one draws from his folkie electric esthetic while the other is a full blown poprock song. Personally, I think the latter has got hit single written all over it.
If Desire Lines and the radio edit of “Slow” represented a boundary-testing bit of experimentation, then 2015’s Replacement Things comes on like a new, more comfortable synthesis of his many influences. This is a solid record with great songs and a coherent, unique sound. Littered with references to his sometime Vancouver home, I’d have to call out “Coyote,” “Shiny Pretty Things,” and the haunting “Freddy Mercury” as my stand-out tracks.
Sure, when you first hear Edward O’Connell you get the Costello vibe, you get it bad (by which I mean you get something good). You might even think “Hey, this guy is putting out the albums I wish Elvis Costello would …” But the seemingly familiar Costello ring to the songs, to the vocals, to the turns of phrase is so much more than simply reminiscent. O’Connell has taken the inspiration and made it his own. And there is so much more influence afoot in his two albums of material: a bit of Matthew Sweet, a dash of Peter Case, even some Marshall Crenshaw and, of course, Nick Lowe and Tom Petty.
His debut record from 2010, Our Little Secret, is a solid start: a host of great tunes and a cover riffing off of Nick Lowe’s Jesus of Cool album and the unknown comic. “I Heard It Go” has a great turnaround in the chorus, “Cold Dark World” has wonderfully shimmery vocals, “We Will Bury You” is trademark Costello country, while “All My Dreams” sounds like a lost track from Imperial Bedroom. But the standout song on this album for me is the majestic “Pretty Wasted.” A real gem that exudes equal parts Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, with a lovely Nick Lowe lyrical sleight of hand with the line ‘She’s pretty wasted … pretty wasted on you.’ Pretty Wasted
Four long years passed before O’Connell’s sophomore effort, Vanishing Act, emerged in 2014, but it was worth the wait. The album kicks off with strong material in “My Dumb Luck” and “Lonely Crowd” but the third tune, “Every Precious Day,” is a master class in poprock songwriting: killer guitar riff opener, great Tom Pettyish vocals, with just a hint of Crowded House in the swirling organ and guitar work at the 2/3 mark. Other highlights include “Severance Kiss” (with another great guitar opener), “Odds Against Tomorrow,” “Yesterday’s World,” and “Last to Leave” with its exquisite low tempo atmosphere. “The End of the Line” deserves to be featured if only for its surprisingly aggressive guitar opener that then melds seamlessly into a super midtempo poprock number. But my favourite song on the record is the witty Nick Lowe-ish “I’m the Man,” a sad tale of a man who ‘should have seen it coming’ with his death-obsessed partner.