Topping The Spindles sixties hook-filled homage of a debut album was never going to be easy, so perfectly did Past and Present meld Merseybeat with new wave. But the band’s new LP Wavelength is an equally stunning dose of rejuvenated nostalgia. Though this time the references extend beyond British beat groups to a load of familiar 1970s sounds too. “Getaway” kicks things off with a carefully modulated and shifting poprock energy that is nothing short of thrilling. Then the cover of The Hollies “Bus Stop” is light and breezy and oh-so enjoyable. But from there Wavelength regularly alters its frequency. Some cuts like “Anna James” are 1960s familiar, basically updated beat group good. Or you can find the band’s trademark jangle all over “Ruthy Ann,” with just a bit of a “Drive My Car” groove here and there. Others advance into the 1970s with what could be nods to Badfinger on “Rock For It” or Big Star on “I Found a Girl.” Stylistically I hear a bit of glam on “Rock Boy” or that classic 1970s rock strut propelling “Ride My Bike.” “Henry and Leslie” even rocks up the traditional story ballad. Are there should-be hit singles here? I think so. Both “How To Love” and “Hanging On” turn the band’s signature vocals and guitar blend into highly hummable radio tune-age circa 1983. And listen for the delightful vocal interplay in the chorus of “Two Sides to Every Story.”
You can spin your own copy of The Spindles Wavelength via their bandcamp or band webpage.
Time for another unsolicited made-up album in the tradition of Decca Records’ late 1960s/early 1970s The World of [fill in band/artist name here] series. Acts given a The World of … treatment include Mantovani, Cat Stevens, and The Zombies, to name just a few. Now get ready to add another name to the ledger with The World of Kenny Michaels.
I first heard of Michaels last summer when he posted his single “Must Be This New Love of Mine” on Bandcamp. As I wrote about it at the time, the song is a sunny soft rock delight with shades of the Turtles on the ‘ba ba ba ba’ background vocals. Since then he’s added nine more songs to his roster, enough to be collected into an album proper, for sure. What is striking in this collection of tunes is the range, both in terms of songwriting and performance. Michaels can work up a beat group combo, Beatlesque orchestrations, blue-eyed soul, and heavier rock and roll numbers, with vocals that seamlessly adapt to the genre. Taking the tracks in order of release, “She’s a Charm” has a Bacharachian atmosphere with a vocal reminiscent of Freedy Johnson. “Don’t Look Down” launches with a “Hard Day’s Night” guitar glimmer before shifting to a bracing Jam-like pop punk intensity. It’s hard not to hear The Who-like keyboard work opening “Your House” but don’t neglect to spot those killer Who-like background vocals peppered throughout the tune. “Nowhere to Run” is 10cc-worthy in my view given its layered atmospheric effects, from the keyboard hook kicking things off to the rich harmony vocals. “Love of My Life” rocks along on the keyboard with a toe-tapping intensity and a blue-eyed soul vocal delivery. Then “Brand New Day” shifts the mood somewhat, with an orchestration giving off a “She’s Leaving Home” undercurrent of seriousness and class. “Be Here Soon” has a looser, late 1960s Cream vibe. I’d describe “All For You” as neo-Merseybeat, updated from the 1960s with an extra punch in the chorus. Lastly “Man Upstairs” has a “Lady Madonna” in your-face-piano style, while the vocal reminds me of Glenn Tilbrook in its elasticity.
Is The World of Kenny Michaels ready for the shops? Absolutely. Michaels has got more than enough quality material here for a long-player. But for now you can just collect all these individual songs and make them into an album all your own.
Visit Kenny Michaels on Bandcamp or catch up on some of his past releases at his spiffy website.
Coventry’s fave jangle band is back. Sort of. Spanish power pop label Elefant has spread the news that they are readying a new collection of The Primitives’ singles and rarities entitled Let’s Go Round Again: Second Wave Singles & Rarities 2011-2025. The package promises to be a double album, available on vinyl and other formats. A preview of what will be included is available for pre-ordering online but precisely what is new or culled from one-off specialty albums or b-sides will require a Primitives-ologist to decipher. Suffice to say it will be full to brimming with jangle goodness. On the unreleased material front so far all we know is that it will include two versions of a mysterious track entitled “Sweet Sister Sorrow.”
As soon as this 45 got going I knew it was there, that Primitives magic. The instrumentation is retro sparkling, Thorn’s vocal is dolly bird pristine, and tune is jangle catchy. The alternate take “Sweet Sister Sorrow (Symphonic Dream Pop Version)” is lighter, more acoustic, with a vocal that is simultaneously more expansive and airy. It so reminds me of Sandie Shaw in her late 1960s Pye Records heyday. But I’m still left with questions. Is this a new song from the band? Or something shelved from way back in the day? Looks like we’ll have to wait for the full package to arrive March 7 and perhaps comb the liner notes for details. Another whole month you say? No matter. When I’ve got a new Primitives song to play (again and again) the world is just a little bit brighter.
You can find this new song (both versions), preview the soon-to-be released collection, and revisit a whole lot of the band’s great new millennium revival stuff at the their bandcamp lair and website.
Ever since they popped up on my radar with their wickedly cutting “Hotline Psychic” I’ve been loving just about everything coming from New York City’s Strange Neighbors. Their songwriting manages to work up a double whammy of sardonic lyrical wordplay combined with perfectly executed melodic hooks. Every. Damn. Time. Their latest single is no exception. “Influencer” relentlessly mocks the empty commercial influencer culture that offers ‘help’ at every turn for just a tiny bite of your attention economy. It might sound preachy if it weren’t so damn hummable. Really Strange Neighbors are masters at the hit-you-in-the-face hooky chorus. You thought you were enjoying the set up and the verses but the chorus takes things to a whole new level. There’s something about Aiden’s lead vocal (alternating with Zach in parts here) here that adds a ‘unreliable narrator jolt to the proceedings. The zing isn’t obvious and, for some listeners, may take time to sting. But it’s there.
If you like what you hear here (and heard on past releases) there’s good news in the shape of a whole new Strange Neighbors album due out soon. I can’t wait to fall under its influence.
Jeremy Messersmith is a delightful fellow, I’m sure. His albums are full of whimsy, wordplay and good feeling, even in the face of disappointment. In 2017 he released an album of 11 Obscenely Optimistic Songs For Ukulele, solidifying his reputation as a more highly produced Jonathan Richman. The guy even wrote a song about Tatooine, called “Tatooine” of course. To get a deep dish of just what he can dish out order up 2018’s Late Stage Capitalism. It’s a hookfest with songs defending Mondays, fast times in Minnesota, and the fact there are no superheroes in Cleveland. But I digress. We are here to spotlight a recent-ish 45 where he expresses his desire to end up a clue in one of the world’s most famous puzzles. And he managed to make it hummable. In “The New York Times Crossword Puzzle” Messersmith spills it, how there is no low he won’t sink to, no level of selling out he won’t consider to get of one those clue spots next to the grid.
We are sooo long overdue for a new Jeremy Messersmith album. Why not encourage the guy by giving this song a listen, a like, whatever your social media uses to acknowledge someone’s existence. Or catch up on Messersmith’s back catalogue. You won’t go wrong there, it’s a storehouse of smiles usable for any occasion.
Damn I miss Fountains of Wayne. A friend sent me their 1996 debut knowing I was snowed under with a new career path and from there they joined a small coterie of my very favourite bands. They didn’t put out a lot of records but I cherish each one. The group’s main songwriters also produced some great solo stuff, Adam Schleshinger with Ivy and host of other projects and Chris Collingwood with Look Park. Schleshinger sadly passed away in 2020 but lately I’ve been wondering if there isn’t something I’ve missed from Collingwood. It’s been eight years or so since his Look Park project debuted. Surely he’s worked up a tune or two since then? A search on the ole interweb didn’t turn up much, though I did come across mention of his short-lived Gay Potatoes indie supergroup and a live performance from 2000. From what I can tell, group members included Collingwood, Gentle Hen’s Henning Ohlenbusch and Phillip B. Price of The Maggies and Winterpills. So if I can’t have a new Collingwood or Look Park record at least I can get a few degrees closer by exploring these projects and collaborators.
Let’s start with the Gay Potatoes show. It’s a fun, ramshackle affair, apparently the band’s first live appearance. The song line-up reflects that fact there are three songwriters and singers in the group. Show opener “Another Right Time” definitely captures the band’s power poppy energy. Price’s “Ballad of Frank Strange” and Collingwood’s future FOW tune “Hung Up On You” are also highlights.
From there exploring Price and Ohlenbusch’s work is a research project all on its own. Price has 12 solo albums, as well as 8 with The Maggies and 7 with his Winterpills project. Ohlenbusch has an equally daunting musical resume. This is going to a very random sampling of their accomplishments. Though you don’t have wade very far into The Maggies second and third albums to see the kinship with Collingwood. Tracks like “Be My Guest” and “Long Dark See You” from 2000’s Cryptic Valentine have a very Bangles meets FOW vibe while “Covering Me Up” and “Everybody’s Golden Age” from 2001’s Breakfast at Belreck’s are akin to Collingwood’s more pop country stylings. Price’s solo work and Winterpills catalogue lean more into his textured folk sound and away from power pop, though the 2002 solo track “Please Don’t Change” is certainly FOW-adjacent.
Meanwhile Ohlenbusch has put out some great eclectic and electric Simon and Garfunkel worthy tracks as Gentle Hen. His solo work steers in both folky and poppy directions at times too. You can get a taste of this on “V66” from his now unavailable Henning’s School for the Dead album or “A Machine to Break Your Heart” from 2006’s Looks Like I’m Tall or “Amélie” from 2011’s Henning Goes to the Movies. But check out his Gentle Hen track “She’s Got It Bad” from 2018’s Be Nice to Everyone, you’d swear it was a FOW deep cut you’d overlooked.
Do fabulously creative people just give up being creative? In my dreams Collingwood is still crafting his trademark tune-age, just waiting to spring them on us as a delightful surprise. But if we can’t have more FOW or Collingwood solo material we can’t go wrong digging deep into work from melodic compatriots like Price and Ohlenbusch.
… and you should too. I mean, what choice have we got? There’s darkness on the doorstep while all that national and international chaos from last year looks like it’s getting renewed for another season. We are going to have to look for the light a little closer to home, person to person, on the streets where we live. There’s a lot in The Rifles most recent long player Love Your Neighbour that speaks to our present moment that bears reflecting on.
Ok, so with lyrics like “don’t cry your heart out cause nobody cares” perhaps opening cut “The Kids Won’t Stop” doesn’t sound like the motivational music I’m supposed to be offering to kick off the new year. But stick with me for a moment – there is some a real-world optimism going on here. The point of the song as I read it is that whatever you may be thinking about what is going on in the world the adults in the room are just going to have get up and get on it with it because our kids are going to need us regardless. All delivered with a whimsical, driving, sometimes dance-able emphasis. Moving on, “Days of Our Lives” has the jaunty feel of a 1982 era Madness tune and who doesn’t need a bit of that? Then “Mr. Sunflower” is where the album title appears in the lyrics, with a message that says ‘share a little love with the world’ and you might just get some back. It’s the leap of faith that makes humanity possible.
I hope it’s coming through just how great this new Rifles album is. I only discovered them in 2016 with their Big Life album. From there I travelled backwards through their solid back catalogue, impressed by their social commentary and relentless hookiness. It seemed to me like they took up where The Jam left off, with flashes of Billy Bragg here and there. So waiting for this new album to arrive seemed like an eternity. But Love Your Neighbour is as good as anything they’ve put out. I love how tracks like “There is My Heart” seem propelled by a deft use of mellotron sounding keyboards. Or how songs like “Out for the Weekend” clearly are meant to devolve into a raucous singalong at the band’s shows or your Friday night party. “Money Go Round” is pretty timely, turning everyone’s economic crisis into a dance vamp, complete with ringing cash register. And you don’t get a much more ‘new years’ sentiment than “Starting Monday” where the singer promises to start ‘turning my life around’ after just ‘one more for the road.’ It’s an idler of a tune that becomes a rollicking pop banger in the chorus.
Maybe we can’t change the world in quite the way we would like but we can change the station, put out a different message, and in that small way contribute something positive. The Rifles sound like they’ve started down that path already and I’m all for following.
It’s easy to break down songs in terms of their lyrics and melodic hooks but sometimes there’s something else going on that evades simple description. I’m going to call that heart. It’s the stuff in the song that gives you shivers and allows you to listen again and again, often finding new shades of colour hidden behind your first impressions. Today’s featured acts have definitely got heart and then some.
Eclectic Music Lover covers a broader range of music than yours truly but our Venn diagram has plenty of crowding in the overlap. Like Wons Phreely’s new single “The Faithful Heart.” EML put me on to the song and I can’t stop listening to it. The track opens with a classic bit of Springsteen piano melancholy before shifting to something more reminiscent of Feist’s winsome “!,2,3,4.” There’s something insistent about the delivery, almost march-like in a meditative way. Overall, the sonic wash of the performance reminds me of Family of Year. The accompanying video is worth taking in too, featuring the band’s singer/songwriter Justin Wonsley being guided through dance-moves like a human marionette against a backdrop of a spartan laundromat.
Vienna, Austria’s Good Wilson ease us in with “Bats From the Buffet” seemingly marking-time tune-wise before blowing things out on the feels-like-a-rush chorus. It’s a subtle transition but notable. Another remarkable feature of the tune is the use of pedal steel guitar. For the most part the song is carried by a delicious lead guitar hook but three-quarters in that distinctive country music instrument surfaces but in no way acts as a lazy signifier of genre. Mixed with the seventies McCartney-esque guitar trills and background vocals you’ve got a track that roots you in place and practically demands a replay or two. The song is one among many pre-release singles from the band’s soon-to-be released new album It Is Done (Album).
Heart is the undefinable something a great artist adds to what they’re doing. You won’t find it noted down on the sheet music, you can only feel it, connect with it, and make it a bit of yourself.
You’ve got to give the guy top marks for trying. After bolstering his reputation for quality jangle earlier this year with his fabulous summer release Retro Metro now Super 8 appears to want to be big in Japan. And why not? It worked pretty well for Cheap Trick. Super 8 Goes J-Pop is a tidy EP package of five songs, featuring covers of influential Japanese bands as well as a recent Super 8 single sung in Japanese.
Things kick off with the Super 8 original “Keep Doing It” from Metro Retro which sounds just as chipper and sunshine-y in Japanese as in English. But the bulk of the EP is focused on covers. The choice of Japanese band material dips into the 1970s and then skips ahead to new millennium. Happy End famously abandoned rock and roll’s then lingua franca English to sing in their native Japanese in the late 1960s, influencing a nation of bands to do the same. Their “Kaze Wo Atsumette” is a classic of the era, a deceptively simple-sounding (but in reality tightly-arranged) folk rock masterpiece in miniature. The exquisite organ work alone is worth the price of the single. When you compare their version to Super 8’s you can hear how he puts a bit more of an electric stamp on things while loosening the structure. Super 8 also includes an acoustic version of the song that is a spare folk treatment with a campfire intimacy. Then we shift to 2010 for a cover of the Tenniscoats single “Baibaba Bimba,” a song that stands a testament to extreme folk minimalism. Super 8 inserts an alluring sonic backdrop to the tune without altering its minimalist clarity and beauty. And then, just for fun, we get a Japanese-language version of The Beatles “I Need You.” This would have gone down a treat at the Budokan in July 1966 for sure.
Perhaps Super 8 Goes J-Pop will lead to a frenzied fan-base from the far east demanding tours and merch from our fave jangler. Whether that comes to pass or no, all I can say is that you don’t need to understand Japanese to dig what Super 8 is laying down here.
J.D. McPherson has the pulse of rock and roll, old school. But he’s not just working the oldies circuit. Where other people try to lift sounds from the past in derivative ways, McPherson breathes new life into classic, recognizable rock motifs. His new album Nite Owls, his first of new (non-holiday) material since 2017, is one part primordial rock and roll dance record, one part spooky scene setter. Tracks like “Sunshine Getaway” and “Baby Blues” throw out a groove that won’t let you sit still. By the time “Rock and Roll Girls” ends you’ll be covered in sweat and ready to hit the bar but “I Can’t Get Anywhere With You” will keep you swaying as you wait in line. Other songs stoke the excitement in a more meditative fashion. Take “Just Like Summer,” a track that bristles with rogue rockabilly guitar. “Don’t Travel Through the Night Alone” is made for strolling in the late night streetlight along wet pavement. “Shining Like Gold” is the midtempo should-be radio hit, matching rumble guitar with a disarmingly seductive vocal. As an album Nite Owls refuses to settle down, switching things up on tempo amidst a flurry of striking guitar tones. Just check out McPherson’s spot-on revival of Al Caiola’s distinctive Magnificent Seven guitar attack that appears on the record’s lone instrumental “The Phantom Lover of New Rochelle.” And then there’s the magnificent sign-off “That’s What a Love Song Does to You,” a lush, lilting effort that falls somewhere between the Ink Spots and the Beach Boys. People, I have seen the future of rock and roll’s past and it is in safe hands with J.D. McPherson.
Find out what J.D. McPherson can do to you at his website.
Poprock Record 