Monthly Archives: October 2021

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

13 Wednesday Oct 2021

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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 in Poprock Themepark

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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

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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

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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.