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Monthly Archives: October 2021

Hits for All Hallow’s Eve

29 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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Allah-Las, Amplifier Heads, Drew Beskin, Freedom Fry, Gerard Way, Greg Pope, Ken Sharp, Kickstand Band, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, The Easy Button, The Embrooks, The Lag Mags, U.S. Highball, Vista Blue

Welcome to Poprock Record’s first-ever hook-filled Halloween special post! I mean, why should some 2000+ year old’s birthday get all the holiday music attention? To rectify that unhappy state of affairs we’ve assembled a guitar-wielding crew of scary monsters and super freaks to haunt your All Hallow’s Eve with some seasonally appropriate tune-age. Get ready to mash!

Normally I’d say Detroit’s Kickstand Band offer up heavenly vocal harmonies but this time they’re drawing from their darker angels for a Halloween Special double-sided single. “Under a Bad Sign” sets the tone for our horror-accented musical proceedings with its eerie, otherworldly ambience. It’s a song that wouldn’t be out of place in a Russ Meyer film circa Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Then we get right into substance of fright night with Freedom Fry’s wonderfully eccentric “Monster,” complete with distant church bells and a xylophone right out of B-movie sound-effects central-casting. Did you know things get scary in Edmonton? They do, if The Lad Mags’ “Dig My Grave” is anything to go by. It’s a 45 where festive moaning and groaning gives way to a groovy go go dance beat that will have you snapping your fingers and shaking your groove thing. Nashville’s fave pop punkers Vista Blue go all out for this holiday with a new EP New Nightmares that celebrates all that slasher movie mayhem. The four contributions are maximum fun but just a bit more maximum-er for me is “Where Do You Want to Sleep?” with its Beach Boys-meets-The Ramones vibe. Ok, these next two numbers come completely out of left field. Drew Beskin’s double-barreled contribution to the season is the swinging poppy “Lisa Simpson Fangs” backed with the more mellow “Horror Movie Plot.” The two sides blow hot and cold, one boppy and catchy, the other languid and serene. Former My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way strips things back to their hooky essentials on “Baby You’re a Haunted House.” Besides providing our ever-so-appropriate mast graphic, his ‘skeleton’ crew really deliver the goods with a great noisy – yet still melodic – wonder.

Now that we’re in the mood, it’s time to turn to the creatures of the night, the real stars of this holiday. They’re probably coming to your door right now, eager for candy, itching to unleash some tricks. Ken Sharp welcomes a “Hellcat” to the usual menagerie of Halloween’s ghoulish guest stars. Ok, maybe his use is more metaphoric than literal but I couldn’t help adding it to the playlist with its captivating bubblegum-glam shuffle sound and Sharp’s beguiling vocals. The Embrooks welcome one of the evening’s usual suspects, a 1960s garage-psych “Human Living Vampire.” Think Christopher Lee as the mod, mod prince of darkness put in charge of the Hi-Fi. Boston’s Amplifier Heads have got a thing about ghosts, with three different songs titled for those otherworldly apparitions. “Ghost Song” from Music for Abandoned Amusement Parks invokes October’s chill and a night so still over a hooky “Needles and Pins” ish set of chords. LA’s Allah-Las have got that spooky desert vibe going strong with their killer instrumental “No Werewolf” from 2014’s Worship the Sun. This is definitely music to not ‘open that door’ or ‘go down into the basement’ to. Glaswegians U.S. Highball do a jangle makeover on a classic holiday monster with “My Frankenstein” and you won’t recognize the results. Can you say well-adjusted much? This time the brutish creation is a happy go lucky tune that will have you humming with contented delight. Pop iconoclasts Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin round out the cast of scary characters with “All Hail Dracula.” It’s a pro-vampire kind of take on demon/non-demon relationships, delivered with a slew of cool indie hooks.

And now for something not quite completely different, one of our fave poprockers has expanded into filmmaking. If you’re looking for something seasonally appropriate in terms of scary things to watch, check out the original popmonster Greg Pope’s new movie, There’s Something in the Lake. He did the music (duh!) but also wrote and directed it. It’s scary how talented that guy is. You can watch the short film it was based on and rent the full feature here.

Hey, thanks for making this Hallo-scene, our inaugural celebration of the candy-laden dark holiday. Now it wouldn’t be complete without a closing anthem of sorts and Tampa’s The Easy Button have conveniently supplied one, a ringing chordy number appropriately titled “Happy Halloscene.”  Click on the band hyperlinks to complete your Halloween hits collection or just check out these bands’ many other musical treats on offer.

Welcome back: David Brookings, Mo Troper, Lolas, and Nick Frater

25 Monday Oct 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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David Brookings, Lolas, Mo Troper, Nick Frater

Today’s featured artists have done the rounds on this blog many times. At some point I stumbled across them and I’ve kept stumbling over each new release since then. They’re just that reliable. So get ready to take a fall with me, all over again.

David Brookings is a nice guy’s nice guy. And he makes smoking good records, with or without his Average Lookings band. On Mania at the Talent Show Brookings strikes a minor key on many of the songs, exploring a more 1970s melodic soft rock vibe than previous, more rocking releases. The album kicks off with the acoustic guitar up front in the mix on the first three tracks, interposed between an eerie synth and timely pandemic-reflecting lyrics on “Hard Times,” buoying up the beat during “Keep It Real,” and casting a bright counterpoint to the otherwise somber feel of “Driving to Ojai.” The end of the 1970s witnessed the singer/songwriter folk thing shapeshift into a more hooky soft rock direction – think Al Stewart or Gerry Rafferty – and tracks like “One of Us Is Crazy (the Other One is Me)” and “Mystery of Time” take me there. Brookings throws a few surprises into the mix as well. There’s a great neo-1950s influence vamped up on “Women of L.A.” or more subtly felt in “Words Come Back to Haunt You.” Or there’s the more Hall and Oates feel lurking in the background to “Killshot.” He certainly nails the cover of Tom Petty’s “Magnolia” and does so without giving in to just doing a Petty impersonation (which is hard to avoid – the song is sooo Petty). But the undeniable show stopper for me here is the manic bubblegum fun that is “Mania at the Talent Show.” Perhaps a bit of Brookings autobiography? As the story unfolds it is hard not to see a miniature DB as the star of song’s show. And check out those blistering rock and roll solos!

Mania at the Talent Show

If Mo Troper’s 2020 Natural Beauty was a perfectionist’s carefully-crafted poprock record then his new long-player Dilettante is a return to a rougher DIY/punky sensibility. But with Troper’s instincts for melody and hooks still intact. And at 28 tracks the record is a sprawling double album of White Album breadth, depth and eccentricity. First, the could-be hits. As the production style here is akin to a rehearsal-level Nick Lowe ‘basher’ approach (i.e. turn on tape, make beautiful noise) the finished product is not really AM radio friendly. But there are songs here that could top any playlist if 1977 punk had only triumphed over disco. “The Expendables Ride Again” is classic hooky Mo Troper. “Better Than Nothing” is all driving guitars floating under a divine Matthew Sweet melody. Another slow burn hooky winner is “My Master’s Voice,” aided by some lovely jangly guitar. Or there’s “Armpit” exuding a FOW sense of desperation and euphoria over a supremely catchy tune. Some of the tracks here seem little more than idea sketches but they still manage to flash serious brilliance, from the psych Beatles instrumental album opener “Total Eurphoria” to a Rubber Soul rehearsal session-like feel on “New King” and “Blake and Lanny.” Clocking in at less than a minute, both “Skyscraper Sized Bong” and “A Girl Like Andy” sound incomplete but I still love’em. Beyond the obvious hooks, Dilettante also features songs brimming with complexity.  Give “American Dad,” “Velvet Scholars Line” and “Winged Commander” more than a cursory spin to uncover some rather unusual twists of melody. Personally, I think “Tears on my Dockers” is the star of this album, with a sound and structure of any bona fide classic of the 1960s-derived power pop genre. There’s also examples of Troper’s penchant for a McCartney-esque sweet simplicity on “Caleb” and “I Would Dance With You.” The album also includes Troper’s previously-released, aptly-named “The Perfect Song.” One listen to Dilettante and you’ll know the LP was misnamed – Virtuoso would have been closer to the mark.

Another Lolas album, another slice of poprock perfection. On All Rise, bandleader and songwriter Tim Boykin delivers the goods with 13 glorious gems that run both hot and cold, sometimes amping up the power pop, sometimes soothing us with delicate acoustic guitar flourishes. Album opener “Never To Be Mine” is a perfect distillation of the classic Lolas vibe with its out-of-the-gate rhythm guitar attack and seductively sweet vocal melody. Then “Storm the Heavens” tweaks the formula by adding a way cool instrumental break that features some distinctive sounding lead guitar and keyboards. I love the guitar hook opening “My Thoughts Have Been Replaced” and how it melds perfectly with Boykin’s Lennon in psychedelia mode vocals. The album shifts gears on “I Can Hear Your Beard Through the Phone” and “You and Me Will Always Be” by putting an acoustic guitar at the front of the mix and slowing the tempo. Clearly, Boykin’s not just a chord basher. Another shift can be found with the jaunty “Louise Michel” and easygoing pop of “General Assembly,” the latter feeling very Wings circa Venus and Mars. But I’ll save my poprock hero worship for “Pain in My Heart.” Everything about this should-be hit single works, from the catchy guitar work to the eminently hummable melody. It reminds me a bit of Screen Test’s superior single “Notes From Trevor” and a lot of great work from The Smithereens. Do yourself a favour, Lolas All Rise is a full album treat you really owe yourself. Now.

One can imagine Croydon’s Nick Frater rolling his trolly down the aisles of an imaginary 1970s rock supermarket looking for ideas after just one listen to his fabulous new record, Earworms. The ten tracks here are like a love letter to that oft-maligned decade of music. Because beyond the flash of disco, the fug of prog rock, and the full-on aural assault of punk, the 1970s were really much more about pop music. Think of the superstar chart dominance and stratospheric sales of the acts like the Carpenters or ABBA. Yet, at the same time, hooky melodies were also central to the success of more rock and roll outfits like ELO, 10cc and Queen. Opening cut “It’s All Rumours” gives the game away with its distorted glam guitar and Leo Sayer falsetto vocals in the chorus. Frater’s thrown down the gauntlet, he’s going seventies and doesn’t care who knows it. “Buggin’ Out” initially sounds kinda Abbey Road, particularly the guitar work, but then shifts into that 1970s neo-fifties aura that everybody was doing then, with a flash of Buddy Holly’s “Raining in my Heart” buried deep in the song. “What’s With Your Heavy Heart” is one of my faves on this LP with its gently rollicking Wings-ian feel. From there the album goes very English, vibing 1970s UK pop acts like 10cc on “Not Born Again,” Gilbert O’ Sullivan on “Lucky Strike” and even Queen on “How to Survive Somebody.”  Things veer near yacht rock with a dab of Carpenters on “Star Crossed” while I could hear ABBA easily covering “The Unbroken.” Aside from the faithful rendering of the 1970s sonic palette, Frater also manages to capture the histrionic over-the-top lyrics of the time, for instance, on “Who Says I Need a Plan At All.” If you’ve been longing for simpler musical times sans the sticky polyester, get Earworms. Your ears will thank you.

Nothing says welcome like a wad of cash. Slip on over to the web locations of these artists and get friendly with their latest releases.

Banner photo: Fred Herzog

The fine art of Jesse Malin

21 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Artist Spotlight

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Glitter in the Gutter, Jesse Malin, Love It To Life, New York Before the War, Sad and Beautiful World, Sunset Kids, The Fine Art of Self Destruction, The Heat

Sometimes my life feels like one long exercise in reconnaissance. Like discovering Jesse Malin this last week. The guy’s been at it since the 1980s in various bands and as a respected solo artist since 2002 but he’s a brand new artist to me. And I’m finding him a pretty exciting find. So let’s get introduced to the fine art of Jesse Malin with a song from each of his eight albums of original material.

With titles like “Queen of the Underworld,” “Wendy,” and “Almost Grown” it’s not hard to nail the influences all over Malin’s 2002 debut album, The Fine Art of Self Destruction. It’s Springsteen for sure, but there’s all those other great Americana songwriters too, people like Warren Zevon and Tom Petty, maybe a bit of The Replacements’ Paul Westerberg. The record is chock full of should-be hits to my ears but I think “Riding on the Subway” has a special chemistry going on in the chorus. 2004’s The Heat opens dramatically with some strikingly sibilant guitar work on “Mona Lisa,” a slow-burn ear-worm that showcases Malin’s talent for clever turns of phrase. From 2007’s Glitter in the Gutter it was toss up between the obvious single and album opener “Don’t Let Them Take You Down” and deep cut “NY Nights.” But I went with the latter with its more subtle, almost pensive feeling of urgency in the chorus. By 2010 Malin had a band of sorts cobbled together for Love It To Life, dubbed The St. Mark’s Social, and it makes a difference to the sound. “St. Mark’s Sunset” rocks on with a gleeful abandon that sounds both a little bit Pogues and a little bit Titus Andronicus.

St. Mark’s Sunset

Five years later Malin was back doing the solo thing, releasing two albums of new material in one year. New York Before the War sure sounds like a hit record, with Tom Petty-ish should-be chart climbers like “Addicted” and more earthy Springsteen-esque numbers like “Oh Sheena.” Outsiders has a bit more of a rave up quality and here I’m loving “San Francisco” with its languid pace and breathtaking juxtaposition of instrumental sounds. Lucinda Williams produced 2019’s Sunset Kids and it’s another winner. My personal fave is “Chemical Heart” with its killer organ backing. Malin’s latest is lovely double album, 2021’s Sad and Beautiful World, featuring an exquisite cover of Tom Petty’s “Crawling Back to You” amid a wide range of styles on his own material. Actually, there’s a lot of Petty influence on tracks like “Dance on my Grave” and “Lost Forever.” But my fave on the record is the sprightly, Graham Parker-ish “State of the Art.”

Malin seems to be just getting bigger and bigger, with positive reviews in Rolling Stone and all the usual music industry press. But there’s still time to say you knew him when. Get in on the ground floor of his fan base with a visit to his website and Bandcamp pages.

Breaking news II: The Friends of Cesar Romero, Robert Ellis Orrall, theCatherines, and BPM Collective

17 Sunday Oct 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Breaking News

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BPM Collective, Robert Ellis Orrall, The Friends of Cesar Romero, theCatherines

News keep breaking on the brand new poprock music front. In our second news episode in as many days we kick out the rock and roll jams, shine up our jangle, and court some seriously superior songwriting. Grab these headlines and have a party!

I only recently discovered The Friends of Cesar Romero with their sparkling single “Summer Boyfriend.” Now I’ve discovered they reach a whole new level of visceral rocking greatness via their just released album War Party Favors. This is a band that comes on strong, often with a wall of rock and roll guitars and a strong vocal assault. The record’s opening title cut “War Party Favors” exemplifies  this ‘tude with its punky, you’re-on-a-thrill-ride abandon. But you never have to look far on any FCR effort to find some laconic melodies and irresistible hooks. Like those alluring guitar riffs all over “The Lonely Popular Girl” that keep drawing you in, waiting for more. Or “Neon Teens” which comes on like some kind of Joan Jett deep cut, alternating demure verses with anthemic choruses. Then there’s “Beauty and the Broken Heart,” essentially a Phil Spector girl group song cast in more rock and roll register. Personally I’m loving “Thinkin’ About Leaving’” with its hooky lead guitar work and very Phil Seymour vocal, as well as the stunning Buddy Holly-doing-new-wave masterpiece, “Baby How Long.” I could describe them all but hearing them will make you a believer. And with 16 tracks for the price of a single album War Party Favors is definitely value for poprock money.

Robert Ellis Orrall is the man behind the hits and hit-makers as a songwriter, producer and record label impresario. He himself had a few major label deals, he did make the charts a few times back in the day, but over his long career he’s mostly avoided the spotlight for himself. Until recently. With a global pandemic unfolding Orrall decided it was time to make a musical statement of his own. And readers we are the lucky beneficiaries because REO not only writes great songs, he’s great at performing them too. Sometimes funny, often smartly political, always engaging musically, previous releases have included clever tunes like “Trust Me, I Work for the Government,” “Clear Channel,” and “Al Gore, the Musical.” But this review is about his latest release, 467 Surf and Gun Club, named for his Memphis record label flop house. There’s a low-key rock opera feel to the musical proceedings, with a number of songs offering up exposition on Orrall’s record label locale and what took place there. Our hero emerges from “In Dreams” to a musical landscape defined by dreamy Beach Boys harmonies. On “Morning Song” our protagonist gets ready to take on another rock and roll day. Then “Here in our Backyard,”  “467 Surf and Gun Club” and “Welcome to Paradise” are like musical montage sequences that fill in all the details. Stylistically, the Beach Boys influence is up front and all over this record, occasionally tempered by a flash of Hall and Oates in the hooks department. Other influences abound, like the obvious love for the Beatles on “Iceberg” or Todd Rundgren on “Miserable.” In terms of a clear hit single, there’s no contest: “Sunshine” is a joyous 2 and half minutes, full stop. It’s what truly great 45s are all about. With 467 Surf and Gun Club Robert Ellis Orrall may be closing up shop on one musical era but the door is clearly opening up on another.

Morning Song
Here in our Backyard
Sunshine

This is a somewhat new sounding theCatherines long-player. Sure, the curio poprock songwriting is still going on. And there’s plenty of that jangly guitar we’ve come to expect from this combo. But Sink Into Oblivion is a departure of sorts. First, it has cleaner, less DIY sound. You can really hear the vocals, now more up-front in the mix than ever before. Second, the songwriting ambition here casts a wider net. There’s a Style Council urbane sophistication to tunes like opening cut “You Never Have Any Self-Doubts, Do You?” or a Pet Shot Boys panache all over “Let’s Write the Book of Love.” Of course, there’s some good old fashioned theCatherines here too, apparent on “Love is Just Far Away Today” and “Where Have I Gone Wrong.” But check out the café jazz pop stylings on “You’ve Got It All Wrong,” “Kid P.” and “Terrible Loser.”  Or the classy piano opening to that cool slice of 1979 melodic pop, “Sappy Together.” The band also conjure up some Bacharach and David for “Like a Song by Nichols and Williams” and give an Attractions-like backing to “At Least Your Bird Can Sing.” But my fave contribution here “Lift Me Up To Your Level” with its terrific guitar/keyboard interplay really adding something special to an already solid tune. On Sink Into Oblivion succumbing to stupor never sounded so good.

Maybe it’s just my faulty memory but alongside the rock and MOR bombast of the 1980s were a host of super 1960s-inspired, melody-focused rock and roll outfits. To my ears, Seattle’s BPM Collective nail that sound. Their debut EP Catastrophe Girl is a stunning showcase of poprock styles from that decade, and they’ve got it sounding fresher than ever. Just give the title track “Catastrophe Girl” a spin to get swept up in a soaring melody and driving mix of distinctive organ and guitars. The vibe is so familiar, like an early Bangles or mid-period Don Dixon tune. And while the “Adelaide” sung about here is probably in Washington state, the song does have a haunting Down Under music scene kind of feel. What I find so impressive about this EP is the remarkable range of songwriting across just five songs. Note the touch of Merseyside on “Mr Congeniality” or the hint of Roxy Music in the chorus of the otherwise Americana poprocking “Something to Dream About.” And then there’s the Orbison-esque vocal turns of phrase colouring in the sombre “The Valley.” Wow. This baby is heading for the ‘best of the year’ lists for sure.

Don’t wait for any film at eleven. Go right now to the hyperlinked names above to get more on these breaking stories. It pays to stay informed.

Breaking news I: The Tubs, The Toms, Roller Disco Combo and The Brothers Steve

13 Wednesday Oct 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Breaking News

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Roller Disco Combo, The Brothers Steve, The Toms, The Tubs

So much news is breaking that we have to divide this installment into two parts. There’s more to love this fall and we’re here to help you love it with plenty of bands whose names start with ‘the’ or clearly own a pair of roller skates (or simply a brand new key).

What leaps out at you from The Tubs debut EP Names is the addictive jangle and vocalist Owen Williams freakish similarity to Richard Thompson. I mean, wow, I’d swear Thompson had thrown over his folk roots for a new sound, if the song titles didn’t tell me different. It’s there strongly on the opening cut, “Illusion,” with its super guitar-slashing peppiness, as well as “The Name Song” with its Futureheads kind of guitar intensity. The EP’s single “Two Person Love” also counterposes a solid rhythm guitar against some discordant lead work in an original and ear-catching way. The band also put out a debut single last year that doesn’t appear on this release, “I Don’t How It Works,” and that’s a shame because it’s a winner. But hey, you can just buy both and create your own special maxi-EP release.

Producer/engineer/songwriter/musical sideman to the stars Tommy Marolda is certainly a bit of an over-achiever. But power pop fans probably don’t know much about his professional work, they know him for his legendary 1979 one-man-band DIY album The Toms. The record is widely seen as a masterpiece of form and substance. But Marolda didn’t stop there – he’s continued to put out the occasional single or album. Like now – The Toms are back with another long-playing installment of Beatles-infused, indie poprock on Tomplicated. The album is 16 cuts long and you might as well relax and let it wash over you. The overall effect is a delightful distillation of 1960s melodic rock and roll, with a touch of psychedelic pop on “Pinball Replay,” some folk rock on “Too Many Yesterdays,” even a Beatles-ish jangle on “Hang On.” Last year’s advance single is the obvious radio should-be hit, “One Girl Parade,” but I’d vote “The World is Flat” and “Sunday Clothes” as close follow ups. Then there’s the very Lennon-ish “Daylight Wasting Time” circa 1967 or the lovely sunshine pop single “It Doesn’t Matter to Me.” Tomplicated is a love letter our musical past – you can definitely hear the influences – but it speaks with a timeless accent.

Four years after their debut album Things Under Control, Roller Disco Combo are back with a new EP, The Sun After the Rain. The Barcelona band offer up something familiar but also some new themes. “Indonesian Breakfast” is a discordant Teenage Fanclub workout but “Holes in the Grass” immediately shifts our gaze to a more folk rock feel. Then “Dear Mean” kicks off with fattened up jangle guitar and a melodic heft worthy of XTC. “City Lights” also rings the jangle bell but eases into an almost country vibe. Meanwhile “Happy Song” has an Americana feel going on. Altogether The Sun After the Rain showcases a band still exploring just how far they can take their influences and the results are very pleasing indeed.

Dose must be the one of the most anticipated ‘second’ albums to come out this year. The Brothers Steve blew up 2019, coming out of nowhere with their debut album (appropriately entitled #1) to make power pop ‘best of’ lists across the blogosphere. Now they’re back with another installment of their unique brand of melody-infused rock and roll and it is no disappointment. This time the album’s sonic structure is built around the acoustic guitar, which forms the base sound of most of the tracks. It’s there underneath the party vibe kicking off the album with “Get On Up” with its Stonesy ‘who hoo’ background vocals. Then comes the obvious single, “Next Aquarius” with its propulsive acoustic guitar driving the song forward like so many classic Kinks songs. The acoustic base anchors “She Will Wait,” a track with some clever melodic surprises, and the ear-wormy “Sugarfoot.” But another clear influence here is 1970s glam, with “Wizard of Love” a perfect evocation of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, and 1970s boogie rock on “Better Get Ready.” The 1960s influence should not be discounted. It’s there on “Griffith Observatory” with its Beach Boys meets 1950s song stylings alternating with a more new wave sensibility, and “Love of Kings” which vibes a more California 1960s Mamas and Papas sound. And then there’s “Electro Love” which sees sixties influence funneled through a New Pornographers filter. In the end, Dose is much more than its many influences, it’s a blast of timeless melodic poprock joy. Get ready to soundtrack your next party with this must-have release.

The news is out, all over town. But you don’t need to be running round. Just click on the hyerlinks to go right to the source and get your musical updates.

Top photo: Larry Gordon

We’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Bond

10 Sunday Oct 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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James Bond, John Barry, Monty Norman, No Time To Die, Starbelly, The Outta Sites, The Shambles, The Surf Trio, The Tearaways, The Weisstronauts

With No Time to Die finally in theatres it seems timely to revisit the exquisite pleasures of 1960s-derivative spy music. The genre and its distinctive vibe was arguably invented when British session guitar player Vic Flick was invited to add some ‘punch’ to Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme” before the release of the first Bond film, 1962’s Dr. No. With the addition of John Barry’s horn arrangement and Flick’s instantly recognizable rumbly guitar hooks, the track is as much a brand for the franchise as Moneypenny and the Walther PPK. Since then the song has appeared in all 25 official Bond films and, according to the website SecondHandSongs, been covered more than 153 times. Lanny Flowers produced a killer version for the superb Curry Cuts powerpop collection of Bond covers, Songs, Bond Songs, reviewed in detail here. But we won’t limit ourselves to just the double-O ranks in taking up our spy music theme. Flick’s guitar sound became synonymous with spy music more generally in the 1960s, which means it’s all pretty groovy.

Of course, we have to begin with the Bond theme, this time from Boston’s premier twang band The Weisstronauts. The take is pretty traditional, except when it’s not. Check out the intriguing guitar counterpoint that surfaces early in the tune or the brief Hawaiian guitar flourishes. It’s from the fab wiaiwya Bond songs covers album, A Girl and a Gun. Next up, the inspiration for this spy-themed post, The Outta Sites stunning spy song EP, Shaken Not Stirred: The Secret Agent Sessions. The band offer up covers of classics like “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “You Only Live Twice” as well as more off-the-beaten-track – but still great – material like the “Theme from Our Man Flint,” James Coburn’s satiric take on Bond from 1966. But the price of admission is paid entirely with their “Secret Agent Medley” combining elements of Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man,” “The James Bond Theme,” “Goldfinger,” and “Live and Let Die.” “Double Agent” is also a treat with its relentless organ-driven sense of panic and excitement. Sticking to the instrumental side of spy music, San Diego’s The Shambles serve up a rare non-vocal track with “A Girl to Kill For,” the b-side to their 1995 single “(We’ve Got a) Groovy Thing” and deep cut on their 1996 album Clouds All Day. The song packs the requisite degree of guitar-driven ominous dread in a concise 2 minute workout.

The Shambles – A Girl to Kill For

Sometimes people like to sing about spies and spying. Like when Starbelly admit to some on-the-side employment in “I Am a Spy,” one of a load of bonus cuts that appear on the 2012 reboot of their 1998 album Lemon Fresh. The song has the cool melodic bite of any of The Odds 1990s material, with the spy guitar shots just an added benefit. Santa Barbara’s The Tearaways tell Bond’s story in musical form on their “James Bond.” The track is a supremely pleasant poprock tune with maximum Bond film-title name-dropping exposition. Now if you want to dig back into more historical spy song treatments, check out Ace Records fantastic collection of 1960s tunes, Come Spy With Us: The Secret Agent Songbook, featuring John Barry, Dusty Springfield, the Supremes, Nancy Sinatra, and many more. As you leave this post and the credits roll, taking us out are The Surf Trio’s “Cocktails with Bond,” basically a languid cocktail interpretation of the Bond theme, from the Exotic Guitars compilation.

Starbelly – I Am a Spy
The Tearaways – James Bond
The Surf Trio – Cocktails with Bond

The Cold War may be over but our nostalgia for the combination of international people of mystery and rumbly guitar lives on. Bond will return, undoubtedly inspiring another wave of cool tunes and covers.

Songs about Tom Petty

05 Tuesday Oct 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Artist Spotlight

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Dolour, Leatherbag, The Hanging Stars, The Satin Cowboy and the Seven Deadly Sins, Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Weedhawks

I remember my first Tom Petty song so clearly. I was working the dish-pit in a spaghetti restaurant when “Don’t Do Me Like That” came on the local FM radio station. What a song! Those distinctive guitar/piano shots were the musical equivalent of crack cocaine. I was never gonna get free of that. Then I heard “Refugee,” “Even the Losers,” and “Here Comes My Girl” and knew Petty and I were going to spend a lot of time together. Over the years I didn’t react to each Petty record quite as strongly but every release had something to love. That made his sudden unexpected passing in 2017 hard to take as the guy clearly had more to give. Four years later Petty’s impact on multiple generations of musicians and fans has only become more apparent. I mean, people write songs about the guy! And some of them are pretty good.

Austin Texas’ Leatherbag add just a dollop of Petty song-style to their “Tom Petty Summer” from 2009’s Tomorrow/Everything I Once Knew album. Ok, it’s there vocally and the guitar lead lines too. You can also enjoy a nice acoustic treatment of the song too from the band’s 2012 Rarities collection. Morgantown Virginia’s Weedhawks dial down their political commentary just a bit to honour TP on “I Miss Tom Petty” from their 2019 release Build a Wall Around Washington. On this tribute, it’s the message that is all about Petty rather than the treatment, which owes more to a country-fied Lou Reed and the Velvets. That the Hanging Stars would ace the Petty sound is really no surprise. The band ooze a Brydsian folk rock meets jangle confidence on all their recordings. So their “Tom Petty” from 2020’s New Kind of Sky is a treat, mixing 12 string electric guitar with some pretty pedal steel work over a solid piece of songwriting. The Satin Cowboy and the Seven Deadly Sins conjure up a bit of Wildflowers with their “Song for Tom Petty,” a lovely tune that hurts bad for Tom and all that we are missing with his death. A more upbeat take on the same sentiment can be found on Dolour’s dynamic 2021 release, Televangelist. His “The Day Tom Petty Died” honours Petty’s sonic legacy in a more rip-roaring melodic sort of way.

He may be gone but today’s songs demonstrate that Tom Petty is very much alive in the music we love. In line with today’s troubadours, I say, long live TP and his influence.

Spotlight single: Overlord “I Don’t Want to Sing This Song Again”

01 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Spotlight Single

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I Don't Want to Sing This Song Again, Overlord

A new single from Overlord is cause for much excitement over here a PRR headquarters. We’ve loved their past work with a monastic intensity. But let’s face it, it’s been a tough few centuries for overlords. Notwithstanding John Lennon’s claim that we’re all still effing peasants, demand for a ‘lord of all lords’ who can rule the shire, extract a bit of surplus from the serfs, and go all bro with his nobles on regular trips to the holy land to kick some infidel ass has declined precipitously since that whole ‘free labour’ thing came in with capitalism. That must be a contributing factor to Overlord’s declining musical productivity of late. Since the release of the band’s last long-player The Well Tempered Overlord in 2016 there’s been just one single, 2017’s “Up For Anything.” Oh for the good old days of feudal leisure!

Well chin up loyal subjects, your continuing fealty is about to be rewarded. Overlord is back with a song as good as any of their past curio poprock classics. I mean, who opens with fabulous accordion? Ok, They Might Be Giants. But who else? Overlord gateway-drug your way into “I Don’t Want to Sing This Song Again” with some alluring accordion work before breaking out a masterful melodic performance, perhaps vibing a bit of Teenage Fanclub but mostly just giving us that good old hooky, verbally-clever stuff we love them for. My only concern is the possible subtext here. Does not wanting to sing this particular song mean Overlord is really saying ‘so long’? Banish the thought. Even in the darkest ages I’m a bit of a musical optimist so I’m going with ‘early single from a fab new soon-to-be released album’ as my judgement of this one-off release.

For a medieval holdover, Overlord are working the social media with a modernist élan. Check them out on their internet manor, Facebook and Bandcamp pages to get all latest ‘hear ye, hear ye’s.

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