I wonder sometimes if the mail person has mistaken my address for Quality Street because the submissions arriving in the Poprock Record mailbag have been pretty spectacular. This week’s selections run the gamut of cabaret pop, textured top 40, straight up party rock and roll, and punky riffsters.
The tuneful Adam Merrin (we featured him here) sent a note about Fire Chief Charlie, a band whose latest record, Chances Are, he produced and played on. This submission is definitely a border case, a bit more art rock than poprock. And yet I find their latest single “Let’s Be Happy” so intriguing. The male vocals remind me of Roxy Music era Bryan Ferry, the guitar lines are languid and suggestive, while the pacing is almost plodding until it suddenly changes up. Repeated listening creates a hypnotic effect, bringing out the song’s subtle hooks. The single’s B-side, “There Goes My Ol’ Unbearable Heart,” is also a nice number, strummy with just a slight hint of country twang and a dreamy (but short) guitar solo.
The new record from Tiny Animals comes a long six years after their last long player. To make up for lost time, they have crafted a full blown concept album, Such Stuff That Dreams Are Made On, that takes us through a night of dreaming and the bleary, sometimes nonsensical imagery that accompanies sleep (or the lack thereof). As with previous Tiny Animals albums, the sound is crisp and finely textured, often built up layer by sonic layer. The songs are sequenced seamlessly without break but some contributions are more single-ready (some more experimental) than others. I would send radio “She’s Gonna Find Out” with its quirky and catchy opener, the hooky “Stalker” which features some great vocal effects, the strolling-on-a-sunny-day “Wait, Wait, Wait,” and the band’s own choice for first release and video, “Up, Up, and Away.” And in something totally unrelated to this release, check out the band’s hilarious medley of 1980s sitcom theme songs!She’s Gonna Find OutUp, Up, and Away
The Popravinas have a easygoing, melodic rock n’ roll sound – they perform like they’ve been playing together forever. Their sound combines both acoustic and electric guitars, punchy lead lines, AM transistored vocals, a bit of California country rock at times, and a general party vibe. The whole album is enjoyable but “Santa Monica Moon,” “Wow,” and “Top of the Heartache” are stand out tracks for me. Still, if I had pick something for a single I think I’d go with “Alone Ain’t So Bad” with its slightly stronger edge of rock and roll insurgency, nice vocal arrangement, and just a bit of banjo. Hit play and let the beer flow.
We torque up the rock quotient with selections from Picnic Tool’s tart and saucy EP Einstein. The title track is a talky, rumbly rock workout full of hilarious asides, while “Chinese Heart” has a more spare sound, held together by a strong, hooky lead guitar line. By comparison “I Love the Truth” sounds more conventional if only because it features actual singing along with some nice harmonica breaks, built on a great neo-1950s music bed. Things wrap up with the fun “… About Gurls,” a crisp new wavey number full of super riffs. And then, it’s over. Even for an EP Einstein ends all too soon.
Dramatic, almost Queen-like in its changes and intensity, V Sparks grabs you and doesn’t let go on its New Sensation EP. While the record has a number of strong songs, I remain most captivated by “Death of a Star.” From the opening keyboards, the song twists and turns so often you may feel it has lost its way. But when it hits the chorus you’re in a melodic sweet spot that you just don’t want to end. A remarkable effort that makes you wonder where this band will go next.
Fire Chief Charlie, Tiny Animals, The Popravinas, Picnic Tool and V Sparks are sending me mail but really they’d like to hear from you. Make at least one of them your favourite new band today.
My friend at 
“When I Learned Your Name” is the second teaser single from Romano’s soon-to-be released new album, Modern Pressure, and it represents a serious change-up from his previous solo releases – sort of. 2016’s Mosey certainly laid the groundwork for this new direction, steering away from country to a more decidedly poprock sound with tracks like “Valerie Leon” and “Maybe Remember Me.” But taking his musical output as a whole, Romano is a musical chameleon, channeling 1960s traditional country on most of his solo records while covering edgier material on a number of side projects. In terms of his broader artistic vision, he reminds me of the super talented Gregory Pepper, who also combines great songwriting and performance, witty but incisive social commentary, and pretty stunning visual arts chops.
You’re watching some show on Netflix or Crave and you think ‘hey, what is that music in the background, setting the scene, plucking at my emotional heartstrings’? It could easily be the sound of Wiretree. This is a band that has mastered the strummy melodic atmospheric background sound so omnipresent in our binge-watched entertainment. Albums from 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 mined this field with utter confidence. 
Yet there is something qualitatively different about Wiretree’s latest release, Towards the Sky. The album opens innocuously enough with “Let Me In,” a great song in keeping with band’s traditional sound. But then things get crazy, in a good way. “J.F. Sebastian” is a total departure for the band but it works, sounding a bit like The Zolas, particularly on the vocals. Then “Between the Lines” has a nice folk country vibe with a great harmonica solo. “Dive” and “Didn’t Know Your Name” work the indie poprock sound to good effect. “Don’t Let it Go” has a nice retro early 1960s disaster pop sound. This is the sound of a band arriving, in command of its artistic destiny.
I just discovered Richard X. Heyman and initial my reaction was – how have I not managed to hear about this guy before now? His formula is simple: take strong songwriting, apply jangle-filled poprock production, and slather everything with killer Byrdsian harmony vocals. What’s not to love? The readily available albums – Cornerstone, Basic Glee, X – all are worthy additions to your collection. But we are here today to pass some judgment. Heyman asked for it, really. By releasing two versions of his song “Hoosier” how could fans not be expected to take a side on which version they prefer? But the choice is anything but easy.
“Hoosier” is a song of longing for a girl from the hoosier state, Indiana. Written in 1999, it appeared on Heyman’s 2000 album, Heyman, Hoosier and Herman under the title “Hoosier (Girl),” with guest vocals provided by Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits fame. Then Heyman released a version with his own vocal on his 2007 release, Actual Sighs. Have a listen to them below to see just where they differ. It’s Heyman’s song so, not surprisingly, he does a great version. The song kicks off with a nice sparkly guitar and organ interplay, with Heyman’s trademark layered background vocals lifting the song to new heights in various places. But, for me, as good as the 2007 version is, it just can’t compete with Noone’s transcendent vocal on the original 2001 release. Though 53 at the time of this recording, Noone had lost none of the magic that made Herman’s Hermits such stars with fans, if not music critics. The music bed is more subdued with Noone – here I prefer the other take – but still, on the whole, the Noone iteration of “Hoosier” just clicks more as a potential hit single.Hoosier (Girl)
Aimee Mann snuck up on me. I had one record and then another and before I knew it I had them all on some kind of regular rotation. My Columbia House subscription at the time probably bears some responsibility. Why do I like Aimee Mann so much? I don’t know. There’s something comfortable and sutured about the space she creates, like a self-contained sonic mini-universe. And despite the often sad stories and the sad sacks responsible for them, Mann’s work is never obviously melancholic. Instead, she gives musical voice to the emotional ambivalence of our times. Shit’s happening and people are trying to find love and there seem to be no obvious heroic scripts to draw from. When you can’t work that kind of stuff out sometimes you just want to wallow with someone who isn’t forcing you to smile or cry. Mann gets it. Easy answers are not that satisfying. Her albums are filled with characters struggling to cope with not knowing which way to turn. They’re idealistic enough to want to do something, but wise enough to know each choice has a cost.
It has been fascinating to watch the trajectory of Mann’s career. Three albums with her band ‘Til Tuesday channeled a lot of 1980s bombast, with a few gems along the way like “Will She Just Fall Down” (which sounds the most like the post-‘Til Tuesday Mann sound). But with 1993’s Whatever Mann declared her creative independence, establishing the rudiments of the style she would continue to develop the rest of her career. You can tell a little about her from the people she has chosen to work with, co-writing songs with Elvis Costello, Jules Shear, and Jon Brion, and inviting the likes of Squeeze’s Glen Tilbrook and the Shin’s James Mercer to add vocals to various tracks. But ultimately comparisons fail because Mann is a category of her own. In terms of stylistic confidence and delivery, she reminds me most of Joni Mitchell. She is post-genre.
Trying to single out a few songs to feature from Mann’s many albums is painful, there are just so many good tracks. Whatever kicks off with everything Mann has become celebrated for in “I Should Have Known”: a wall of guitar, a solid melodic hook that comes out of left field, great background vocals. But “I Know There’s a Word” showcases the more tender, acoustic side that is never absent from any Mann release. Two years later I’m with Stupid appears to repeat the formula but with a few twists. Opening track “Long Shot” is a bit punchier while the obvious single “That’s Just What You Are” is pulled in a different direction by the distinctive vocal contributions of Squeeze’s lead singer. Though again, the quiet acoustic “You’re with Stupid Now” is a slow burner of a killer tune. Mann came out with Bachelor No. 2 in 2000, which featured songs that had appeared in the film Magnolia. Rightly praised for its strong material, I’m particularly partial to “Red Vines,” “Driving Sideways,” and “Susan.”
I lost track of Aimee Mann for a few years. You know, I got busy, she got busy. 2002’s Lost in Space passed me by, though now I love “This is How it Goes” and “Invisible Ink.” I did catch the brilliant Forgotten Arm when it came out in 2005. It makes sense that a story-telling songwriter like Mann would want a bigger canvas, a whole album that develops an over-arching story. You can’t pick and choose your 99 cent choices here, you have to buy the whole thing to really get it, but I do tend to hit repeat on “Video,” “Little Bombs,” and the achingly beautiful “That’s How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart.” I missed both 2008’s @#%&*! Smilers and 2012’s Charmer when they came out. Ok, there are more attentive Aimee Mann fans than me. But I’ve made up for lost time – both these records are fabulous. @#%&*! Smilers adds a wonderful array of keyboard sounds on the uptempo “Freeway,” and the more swinging “Borrowing Time,” while “Little Tornado” is breathtaking with its starkly simple arrangement of guitar, echo-y piano, and whistling. Charmer takes the keyboard exploration to new heights on so many strong tracks, but I really like the title track, “Crazytown,” and “Red Flag Diver.”
Which brings us to the present and Mann’s stunning new album, Mental Illness. With Whatever I thought Mann had put the bar pretty high but looking back over her career I think she has gotten better and better with every release. Mental Illness has the hooks, the careful attention to arrangement that characterizes all of Mann’s output, and an impressive range of instrumental quirks. The two singles, “Goose Snow Cone” and “Patient Zero” showcase this beautifully, particularly the spooky ‘oohs’ that introduce us to the latter song. Is the record a departure from Mann’s past work? In one sense, not really. Acoustic guitar anchors most of her work and every album usually features more than a few solely acoustic numbers. What is different here is the balance, with “Simple Fix” the only track that employs a more full band sound. Aside from the singles, right now I’m also really enjoying “Rollercoasters” and the more piano-based ballad “Poor Judge.”
Nova Scotia’s David Myles is so nice it hurts. The sweetness of his songs will melt the heart of the toughest cynic. He has an amazing knack for composing songs that sound like standards, even when he casts them in a variety of contemporary styles. But boiled down, his songs are great singer/songwriter material. Yet Myles is nothing if not contemporary, taking advantage of multiple possible audiences by combining great songcraft with acoustica, dance beats, and even rap. For singer/songwriter, check out his early material, like “Turn Time Off” or the achingly beautiful “I Will Love You.” For a more contemporary sound, listen to “One in a Million” or “So Blind” featuring rapper Classified. More recently, Myles has added dance beats to “It Don’t Matter” but really his songs can all be reduced to more rudimentary arrangements, like 2017’s “I Wouldn’t Dance.”
So many would-be hits have ended up in the equivalent of a rock and roll wasteland: the cut-out bargain bin, unheard and/or underappreciated. What if those great tracks could be resurrected in a different time to more appreciative ears? Today’s time capsule top five gathers up a number of strong singles that deserve another crack at the hit parade.
The Dogs were a French punky new wave band, particularly active recording-wise from the late 1970s to late 1980s. Like Elvis Costello, they evolved from pub rock into something harder, taking punk’s influence to sharpen their basic rough-edged rock and roll sound on albums one and two before attempting a more commercial breakthrough on a record number three, Too Much Class for the Neighbourhood. By contrast, their fourth album, 1983’s Legendary Lovers, represented a return to some of their earlier rough edges, ably demonstrated on the fantastic single, “Never Come Back.” This is an uber cool sound – check out the ringing guitars and the heavily French-accented English pronunciation. By all accounts The Dogs were a legendary live band, something that really seems obvious from the evident and palpable excitement oozing from this recording.Never Come Back
The number of bands whose albums got lost in the various record label merger and acquisitions that took place throughout the 1990s would include The Sighs. Originally signed to Charisma/Virgin, their 1992 debut What Goes On failed to excite EMI, the new owners, who let it stall with lacklustre promotion. The band’s second album four years later also failed to take off. And that is shame. Just listen to “Make You Cry” with its jangly opening and incredibly catchy chorus, the latter featuring a stunning harmony vocal. When I first heard the band hit the “he’ll make you cry” line it literally stopped me in my tracks. This should have been a break out hit single.Make You Cry
Even’s “Seconds” is an amazing 1960s-inspired single from their 2001 album A Different High. Well, actually, it wasn’t the official single, but this scribe thinks it should have been. The hypnotic hooky lead line, the super Beatles’ Rubber Soul-era vocals, the overall chimey-ness of the sound – surely this says hit material. Perhaps things could have turned out different for Even, an Australian outfit perennially at the top of the critics’ lists but not the charts, if this had been the official 45 shipped to radio? I know, probably not. But it remains at the top of the Poprock Record charts. Actually, a great deal of Even’s catalogue is in high rotation around here. This tune is just the tip of a great songcraft iceberg. You really can’t go wrong with any of their six albums and three EPs.Seconds
The sibling two-thirds of Greenberry Woods split off to form Splitsville in the late 1990s, eventually releasing five albums between 1997 and 2003. For a band with that much material, they leave a surprisingly light imprint on the ole internet. Influences abound on their music – Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet, as well as all the usual 1960s suspects (e.g. Beatles, Beach Boys, etc.). “I Wish I’d Never Met You” is from their last album, Incorporated, and it is definitely channeling a bittersweet Teenage Fanclub feel both musically and lyrically.I Wish I’d Never Met You
A quick listen of “Waterfall” from San Francisco’s The Fresh and Onlys might have you scratching your head at descriptions of their sound as garage rock. Garage pop maybe. Sure the vocals hover with that distinctly sixties garage rock ambience but the guitars are wonderfully melodic, both the rumbly one that anchors the versus and the more buoyant one that anticipates and rides through the chorus. Aptly named, “Waterfall” it’s a song that rushes over you in a most pleasant way.
Gregory Pepper is a poprock songwriter and performer extraordinaire. He specializes in writing short, punchy, hook-filled masterpieces on bizarre and/or hilarious topics.
While known largely for just two tunes – “The Breakup Song” and “Jeopardy” – Greg Kihn actually has an amazing catalogue of material. Pick out any of his albums from the 1970s or 1980s and you’ll find more than a few gems. Well twenty years after his chart heyday Kihn is back with a new album, Rekihndled, and the good news is that the magic is still there, particularly on the lead single, “The Life I Got.” Things open with that familiar Kihn crunchy guitar and a ‘whoo’ from somewhere, giving way to vocals with perhaps a bit more gravel than back in the day. But when the chorus kicks in with its catchy drone-like lead guitar line it might just be 1982 all over again. Nice to see a veteran pop rocker jump back in and show he’s still got it.The Life I Got
This new EP from Denmark’s Tommy and Rockets is a special treat with its fabulous artwork and blast of perfectly modulated 1970s poprock. Comparisons with early Ramones and Rockpile abound but the sound that really comes to mind is Dave Edmunds’ retro-1950s movie soundtrack work on Stardust and Porky’s Revenge. Edmunds had a talent for producing a very tight, almost squished sound, like the music was made to be heard through a transistor radio at the drive in, and Tommy and Rockets similarly feels very AM radio, in a good way. My featured cut from Rock ’n’ Roll Wrecking Machine is “Hey Daisy,” a wonderfully structured tune, from its early alluring guitar lines to its compressed vocals.
I discovered the Shins after wandering into a book store/coffee house in some remote college town and instantly fell in love. Oh, Inverted World, Chutes Too Narrow, and Wincing the Night Away were so chock full of inventive, quirky songs brimming with hooks that I just couldn’t get enough of them. Then came the Broken Bells experiment and the more subdued Shins release, Port of Morrow, neither of which grabbed me like the first three releases. Hey, artists have got to follow their muse – far be it from me to hold them to just what I prefer. But I will say that the new Shins album, Heartworms, is a bit of a return to form for those who really dig the early records. “Midenhall” harkens back to the Shins’ strengths in really bringing out hooky melodies from acoustic arrangements, title track “Heartworms” layers up the poprock sonic landscape, while “Dead Alive” has a nice loping Halloween aura.Heartworms
Chris Collingwood from Fountains of Wayne was reviewing the most recent Shins album with much more insight than I could ever hope to muster when he mentioned a few bands he was listening to. One was Brooklyn’s Miniature Tigers. I immediately flew to iTunes to check out their latest record, I Dreamt I was a Cowboy. I was not disappointed! They have a wonderfully textured sound that reminds me of Foster the People, particularly the keyboards and vocals on “Crying in the Sunshine.” Another great track is “Pictures of You” with its impressive range of character instruments (e.g. a Hawaiian-style guitar solo) popping in here and there. The music here is deceptively simple-sounding but in reality pretty sophisticated poprock.
Bob of the Pops is a labour of love from Robyn Gibson, leader singer of The Junipers and, in this case, a one-man band performing all parts on this particular project. Sneaking in recording sessions after his main band was done work for the day, Gibson took five years putting together this amazing collection of covers. The range is spectacular, from rare to well known choices covering 1960s up to the 1990s. Gibson’s formula is simple: take catchy tunes and apply his unerring talent for recreating a jangly 1960s British poprock sound. The fit is obvious with his covers of sixties bands like the Hollies, the Springfields, the Who, the Beatles and the more obscure Honeybus, but it works just as well for later material from the Dentists, Kirsty MacColl, Teenage Fanclub, and the Laverne and Shirley TV theme.
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