Category Archives: Artist Spotlight

Back to my Crowded House

06 Thursday Jun 2024

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It’s been 40 years since Neil Finn closed shop on his older brother’s band Split Enz, ending their run with an underwhelming swan song LP See Ya ‘Round. Yet just two years later Finn would return helming a new band – Crowded House – that would far exceed what Split Enz had accomplished chart-wise. The self-titled debut Crowded House topped the charts around the world and produced a slew of hit singles, including “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong.” The band’s commercial fortunes may have ebbed and waned since then but their creative continuity has remained strong throughout three different periods that the group has been active. 1986 to 1996 is often seen as the band’s golden age, producing four albums and more than two dozen memorable songs. But their first reunion period from 2007 to 2018 produced two more albums of classic Crowded House poprock material. Now into their third phase the band have a brand new album entitled Gravity Stairs and it’s like returning to a favourite childhood home, familiar but pleasantly different at the same time.

Reviewers and Finn himself have described the new album as ‘dreamy’ and opening cut “Magic Piano” certainly evokes that. Then again dreamy is practically the DNA of this band, firmly established in the Temple of the Low Men era and threaded through every other release somewhere. So if you’re looking for that vintage Crowded House sound you can definitely find it on this release. Just turn on tracks like “The Howl,” “All I Can Ever Own,” “Black Water, White Circle,” and “Thirsty.” But there are some striking departures as well. Early release single “Oh Hi” shifts the band’s signature pop sound into new territory with some inventive instrumental choices and vocal arrangements. Most recent single “Teenage Summer” has echoes of a Bleachers sensibility while “Blurry Grass” throws up contemporary guitar tones that remind me of Vancouver’s The Zolas. “I Can’t Keep Up With You” honours the album art work’s riffing on Revolver by riding a Beatles ’66 blast of guitar hooks. And then there’s the obligatory Tim Finn duet on the touching  “Some Greater Plan (For Claire).”

There’s always room at my place for more Crowded House. Gravity Stairs is another winning addition to the band’s musical family.

Cover me! Marshall Crenshaw “Whenever You’re On My Mind”

15 Wednesday May 2024

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With just five songs featured on this post it may appear to be an abbreviated episode of Cover Me! but I still think it’s worth your while stopping by. “Whenever You’re On My Mind” is one of my all-time favourite songs. For me, there’s just no way anyone is going to touch the transcendent beauty of Crenshaw’s original. Initially recorded during sessions for his debut album, the song didn’t quite fit and ended up the lead single on his fabulous second LP Field Day. Talk about making a good first impression, the track opens the album with one of the most seductive guitar hooks of all time, the vocals are a master class in power pop elocution, and the production is so brilliantly, sibilantly Steve Lillywhite good. Frankly, running the search engines on YouTube, Bandcamp and iTunes, it doesn’t appear that a lot of people have been up for the challenge of covering such a formidable composition and performance. But there have been a few worthy attempts.

We start with Marshall, of course. For a different take from the single and album cut you can find a live version of “Whenever You’re On My Mind” on his 2021 collection The Wild Exciting Sounds of Marshall Crenshaw. The 1983 video for the song is worth a viewing too, if only for its time capsule feel for an early 1980s look and ambience.

In terms of covers, we begin with the most inventive. Working with REM producer Don Dixon, Marti Jones put out a number of albums in the 1980s that saw her put her stamp on a host of songs from the likes of Elvis Costello, Dwight Twilley, David Bowie, and John Hiatt. Her cover of “Whenever You’re On My Mind” appeared on her 1986 album Match Game, which Marshall Crenshaw played some 12 string guitar on, though not on his song. What is striking on her cover is how she changes the vocal emphasis on the lines in the chorus. Girl group legend Ronnie Spector did a whole EP of Marshall songs on 2003’s Something’s On My Mind. She too added a few surprising twists and turns to the song’s melodic arc here and there that really work. I only know Zach Jones from his spot-on Monkees reincarnation track from 2020 “Must Be On My Way.” His 2016 acoustic approach to covering “Whenever You’re On My Mind” lightens the power pop intensity, gentling the vocals and guitar attack. The effect is reassuring rather than bracing. I really like the guitar tone and ramshackle vocal on Michael Fiore’s cover from the same year. There’s a rehearsal space Replacements vibe to this rendition. The Kavanaghs hail from Rosario, Argentina and put Marshall’s song on the b-side of their 2021 single “Going To The Beach.” The latter is more of a vamp-ish rocker so their cover shows they can’t handle the more melodic side of the street too. Why more people don’t cover MC is a mystery to me, given the results on display here with just these five submissions.

Marti Jones
Ronnie Spector

Need more Marshall? Who doesn’t. Get on over to marshallcrenshaw.com to find your Marshall merch, show tix, latest news and records.

The (almost) hit career of Bas Muys

21 Sunday Apr 2024

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You’ve probably never heard of him but you have heard him countless times if you had an AM radio in the early 1980s. He comes in at the 1:30 mark of the “Stars on 45” hit single as the voice of John Lennon, a song that topped charts around the world when it was released in 1981. He’s Bas Muys – Dutch singer, songwriter, guitarist and famously unknown guy. Though that’s not for lack of trying.

His first break came when his 1970s band Smyle climbed the Dutch charts with the Beatlesque single “It’s Gonna Be Alright” in 1972. Listeners heard echoes of the mid-1960s Nederbeat (Dutch Merseybeat) sound on the track so the record company deliberately obscured the band’s identity in a pre-Klattu bit of Fab Four misdirection. Smyle sputtered after just a few singles and Muys spend the rest of the seventies doing studio work. Of course that paid off big time when the Stars on 45 project took off. Hoping to cash in on that success he got to release a single under his own name in 1981 called “Oh Terry.” The song is so eerily spot-on Lennon vocally, nailing his falsetto and the more tender side of his delivery while the tune has a melodic bass line reminiscent of “Help.” With better promotion it might have caught on, given the strong appetite for Lennon-esque material in the wake of his death. Muys recorded a whole album to go with the song but his record company failed to release it at the time. Still, he did manage to put out a different LP a year later entitled Lennon and McCartney (Never Issued), later retitled Lennon and McCartney: Secret Songs. The album features Muys doing very Beatles versions of a host of songs Lennon and McCartney had written for other acts in the early 1960s. Sometimes the results hardly differ from the originals, like the cover of “Bad To Me” (a hit for Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas). But others like “From a Window” and “I’m In Love” really polish up nicely.

Smyle – It’s Gonna Be Alright
Bas Muys – Oh Terry
Bas Muys – From a Window

Muys’ long lost 1981 album Hold On finally got a release date in 2022, complete with live concert and some media attention in his native Holland. But it really deserves a wider audience. The record alternates between Lennon’s 1970s soft rock vibe and a strong Beatles 65 flavour. The ‘guitar’ version of “Lovely Single Angel” really captures the latter.

Bas Muys – Lovely Single Angel (Guitar Version)

Bas Muys is the anonymous guy with an immediately recognizable voice. He could stand to get more attention for his work on its own terms. You can visit basmuys.com to help get that started.

Overlord therapy session

12 Friday Apr 2024

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Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’ve been missing something until it suddenly re-appears. Like a good bit of musical relationship therapy from Overlord. Brooklyn’s fave curio popsters finally return after a two and half year absence with a pair of songs that anticipate a whole new album to come (tentatively entitled Tragedy Gold). Get ready for some seriously clever lyrical sophistication and hooky tunes! In the meantime we’ve got two songs to hold us over and they certainly bode well for what is to come.

Repeated listens so far fail to reveal an A side/B side divide to me. Both tunes sound like the main event. And while they seem like they might be related to each other with the ‘ex-girlfriends’ and ‘crying boyfriend’ themes a closer inspection reveals quite different lyrical foci. “The Boy Who Cried Goodbye” ponders whether the boy in question is really suffering or just a drama queen, played out over a music bed that vibes Magnetic Fields or They Might Be Giants. But “The City of Ex-Girlfriends” shifts focus, lifting its lyrical narrative directly from the pages of DC Superman comics and the flying hero’s adventures with his sometime girlfriend, the aquatically-constrained Lori Lamaris. Musically there’s a subtle bit of what sounds like a The The keyboard progression added to the generally Stephen Merritt-ish mix. These two songs signal Overlord is back poppier than ever, just when we need them most.

Isn’t it time you had a session with Overlord? That was a rhetorical question. Hit the hyperlinks to perform your proper fealty now.

Marc my words: Marc Jonson and Marc Valentine

26 Tuesday Mar 2024

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I grew up with a lot of Marks. Generally speaking, if your name was Mark you were second string on the basketball team and a get-along-with-everybody kind of guy. But if your name was spelled ‘Marc’ a whole new level of cool was involved. Today’s two Marcs show you why that is so.

We’ve reviewed two great albums Marc Jonson recorded recently with Ramirez Exposure but left his solo work untouched. Partly that results from the challenge of coming to grips with his unwieldy career. Things kicked off in 1972 with a baroque folk album for Vanguard (Years) but from there it’s hit and miss with rare album outings in 1992 (12 in a Room), 2000 (Last Night on the Rollercoaster), and 2017 (Marc Jonson and the Wild Alligators). But now we have an album that attempts to fill in the blanks – Groova Tismo. The record pulls together a dynamic collection of demos recorded in his NYC Cordelia Street apartment between 1979 and 2012. No surprise the tunes effortlessly evoke a Phil Spector early 1960s pop atmosphere. Things kick off so Roy Orbison-fine on the endearing “Honey Boy.” The Beach Boys also haunt these proceedings on tracks like “The Man Who Walks On Air” and “I’d Cry.” Other 1960s artists reflected here might include The Four Seasons (“Turn It On), Buck Owens (“I Don’t Have You”), and The Searchers (“The Moon”). But the 1970s get a look in too with shades of Eric Carmen (“Never Gonna Fall in Love Again”) and Gordon Lightfoot (“Lonesome”). Personal fave: love the lurching hooks colouring “November Paintbrush.” More than a collection of leftovers, Groova Tismo sounds like the coherent artistic statement of a should-be star.

On his new album Basement Sparks Marc Valentine continues a delightful reinvention of 1990s power pop that falls somewhere between Fountains of Wayne and Bowling for Soup. There’s a slight punk snarl on tracks like “Tyrannical Wrecks” and a groove that says the dance floor will see some body contact. But for the most part the songs here mine a sweet poppy guitar grind familiar to fans of Farrah and FOW. Exhibit A could be “Eve of Distraction” or “I Wanna Be Alone.” Album opener “Complicated Sometimes” sets the tone with a sophisticated rocky pop tune that says should-be hit, though early release single “Skeleton Key” is another strong ‘hit’ contender. “Strange Weather” is more a pop stomper, relentlessly driving home its hooks. Then “You Are One of Us Now” shifts things into more 1980 Cars territory. I’m also partial to “Repeat Offender” with guitars-to-the-front melodic presence. This is a record with a strong sense of fun, as apparent on “Opening Chase Theme,” though tender moments slip in too, as can be heard on the Farrah-ish “Ballad of Watt.”

Looking to get cool? You can purchase it from these guys in popular song form from various poprock music purveyors. Just tell them ‘Marc’ sent you.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

An invite to The Parties

05 Tuesday Mar 2024

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I know San Francisco’s The Parties from two LPs and two EPs released between 2007 and 2010. There might be more releases out there but the band’s Bandcamp page is limited to this quartet. But what a formidable foursome they represent. There is a jocular rock and roll confidence to their performative stance, ably sustained by a generous load of jangle and a delightfully youthful demeanor. For this post I invite you to enjoy The Parties, featuring one signature tune from each release. Just enough to whet your appetite and get you primed for more.

It seems fitting to kick things off with the title track “The Parties” from 2007’s The Parties EP. There’s a strong late-1980s jangle-drone here I associate with The Primitives or The Church. While the rest of the album has a rough, almost punky elan, this single is a smooth sensorium of this kind of sound. On 2008’s Can’t Come Down “Cold Life” has a sunshine jangle feel that reminds me of the Cyrkle in their Neon period. Then the title track “Cryin’ Shame” from 2009’s Cryin’ Shame EP expands the sonic palate again, this time adding a Rank and File/Grapes of Wrath rocking folky feel, with jangle of course. By the time we get to 2010’s Coast Garde things have gotten much grander. “Suite: Feet Back On the Ground / I’m Sorry / Going Away Girl” is a seven-minute epic that breezes by, enveloping you in its magisterial Byrdsian charms only to segue to something more jangle pop in the end.

You wanna party? Check out all the other cuts populating their EPs and LPs at their Bandcamp site here. It won’t be an early night if you do.

Photo courtesy James Vaughn Flikr page.

Spotlight single: Steve Rosenbaum “Girl from Seventeen”

06 Tuesday Feb 2024

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I seldom circle back to cover something I’ve already written about once but when I wrote about Steve Rosenbaum’s amazing lost album collection of rough recordings from the 1980s Have A Cool Summer! Summer​-​Pop Demos And 4​-​Track Gems 1979​-​1989 it was only available on 8-track for fifty bucks. Now it’s out for much less on Big Stir Records, ready for digital download, and oh so worthy of your attention. You can read my original review here but I’m returning to the collection after seeing a young Rosembaum doing a live version of “Girl From Seventeen” and it reminded me what a superior track it is. I can’t really explain its effect on me. In 1983 I was finishing Grade 12 and starting broadcasting school and really didn’t have a clue what I was doing. But anchoring me was the rock and roll that hit me in the solar plexus: melodic and jangly, drawing from the 1960s but still marching into the future. It was then that I really connected with the music of Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, the Jam, Squeeze and probably most of all, Marshall Crenshaw. To my ears “Girl From Seventeen” is just so Marshall. The guitar sound, the chord changes, the echo on the vocals, the vocal line that stretches into the instrumental break. The  Beach Boys organ trill kicking things off is just the frosting here.

A lot of the 1980s frankly sucked for me but the bright spots were definitely the music. So thank you Steve Rosenbaum for giving me a little bit more of the best of 1983 with this track.

You can hang with Steve here. And why not buy his whole album from Bandcamp? If you dig this track you won’t regret it.

Covers story: Juliana Hatfield and Mo Troper

23 Tuesday Jan 2024

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Looking for some unabashed carefree fun? These two albums are your tickets to a guaranteed good time. Bursting with great tunes, lovingly covered, the songs on these records are sometimes reimagined or just juiced up in new places. And the quality is what you’d expect from two accomplished masters of the poprock form. Yet these two LPs are also a study in contrasts, one drawing from a canon of recognizable radio hits, the other pulling from a trove of unreleased demos. But I hear hit songs on both.

Juliana Hatfield is no rookie on the covers scene. She’s released full album tributes to Olivia Newton John and The Police. Both defy conventions and expectations, releasing that signature Hatfield creativity to add something to songs that are so classic it’s hard to imagine them differently. But listen to her bring out a new twist in the melody on “Every Breath You Take” or rock up “Make a Move On Me” to see what she can do. And she seldom just sticks to the hits either. On Hatfield Sings ELO we get a great mix of hits and deep cuts, old and new material. Lacking an orchestra, Hatfield had to transpose the strings onto other instruments, which also allowed some breathing room for everything else. I mean, listen to the bass jump out of “Showdown.” Other tracks sound much like the originals but as if they’ve been mixed to bring out different elements. “Don’t Bring Me Down” takes out some of the bombast, leaving its essential ear-worm still irresistibly ready to strike. Hatfield really nails the later material too, bringing out the pop genius potential of tracks like “Secret Messages” and “Ordinary Dream.” Hatfield Sings ELO is a winning ride from beginning to end, absolute listening pleasure.

On Troper Sings Brion erratic pop genius meets exotic melody master. On a variety of recordings Mo Troper has offered up either beautifully crafted poprock gems or rough indie explorations full of hooks. Jon Brion is the man behind so many distinctive movie soundtracks he almost single-handedly elevated the genre. On this LP Troper mostly covers songs from an unofficially released 2-CD set of Brion demos. The results are mixture of highly polished AM radio ready singles and some with a more relaxed indie feel. Let’s get right to the obvious should-be hit single, “Citgo Sign.” I love the hooky lead guitar line that threads its way throughout the tune, a masterpiece of song arrangement. By contrast “Into the Atlantic” practically bleeds Brion’s more laconic style, run through a Troper amplifier. Then there’s the absolutely captivating rush of pop polish driving “Love of My Life (So Far).” Tapping up the tape speed gives Troper a somewhat adolescent vocal vibe but it works for this song. Yet on so many other tracks (like “I’ll Take You Anyday”) it’s hard to know where Brion ends and Troper begins, so sympatico are their melodic gut instincts. Troper Sings Brion is a creeper of a killer record, sneaking into your consciousness to demand regular replays.

Sometimes you just need the confidence of money in the bank. These recordings are like interest bearing bonds. You’re definitely getting a pay off.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Celebrating Richard Turgeon 2.0

20 Wednesday Dec 2023

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Richard Turgeon’s latest long player Life of the Party kicks off with the barn-burning “All Alone.” The surging rhythm guitar propels us along, eventually resolving into a classic Turgeon fist-pumping, melody-drenched chorus. Lyrically though the song perhaps inadvertently captures the whole project that is Turgeon 2.0, a mostly one-man song-writing, performing and design phenomenon. Sure, if you dig hard enough you might find a younger iteration of Richard Turgeon, band member, doing the live music scene across the USA. But with his solo relaunch in 2017 via the acclaimed LP In Between Spaces what emerges is a mature artist in control of his muse. The space between that first album and his most recent shows up some interesting consistencies and departures. Let’s stroll through the Richard Turgeon catalogue 2.0 to explore just how he pulls that off.

Reaching back to the first installment of what would be become his California Trilogy of albums In Between Spaces features bankable singles like “Bigfoot’s an Alien” and “Bad Seed.” But returning now I’m struck by how “30” both announces his new direction and finds the sweet spot between dissonance and melody that would become Turgeon’s musical calling card. From 2018’s Lost Angeles I was taken with “Big Break” and “Look Away” but overlooked the alluring, hypnotic “Creeper.” This one keeps shifting between idling and revving before accelerating into the chorus. By album number three of the series, 2019’s Go Deep, Turgeon was breaking out all over stylistically, with grunge, ska, and country inflections added to his usual Matthew Sweet-meets-Weezer brand of power pop. The songs this go round were so impressive – killers like “Loneliness” and “Next to Me” – they had me overlooking a gem like “If You Leave Me.” This is like some sixties classic given a grunge wash. 2020’s Sea Change was a legit new direction, adding menace and more up-front social commentary to the mix. So many contenders for top single here but going back now I’m gobsmacked by the melodic punch buried in “Jolene.” I called Turgeon a hook machine on this album for good reason.

In addition to albums proper Turgeon has turned out a number of EPs and cover albums. 10 Covers Volume I took on mostly indie material and demonstrated his talent for sonic reinvention. His take on The Lemonheads “Into Your Arms” added muscle without losing the song’s tenderness. 10 Covers Volume II took on classics of the poprock canon from the Monkees to The Cure without blinking. His cover of Hole’s “Malibu” elevated it to a should-be FM rock radio staple. From his two EPs – 2021’s Campfire Songs and 2022’s Rough Around the Edges – I now find myself drawn to the outliers, like the countryish “Promised Land” from the former or understated “Fire Drill” on the latter. Though it has to be noted that “Better With You” from Rough Around the Edges may just be Turgeon’s greatest single. And that’s saying something.

All of this brings us back to the present and Turgeon’s latest release, Life of the Party. The album opens with three solid guitar pop grinders showcasing that perfect Turgeon balance of sweet melody and sonic dissonance. The aforementioned “All Alone” is should-be hit single material for sure. “You’ve Moved On” eases in, building over time to a glorious guitar crashing chorus. “I’ve Got You Now” puts some blistering lead guitar up front, prefacing a really hypnotic, driving tune. Then the album takes the first of a number of stylistic turns with “Friend Zone.” Here the opening riff has an unmistakeable seventies Lindsay Buckingham tone while Turgeon’s vocals pull between dissonance and rich harmony. “Our Fair City” starts so Smiths before casting its social commentary over a bed of jangle. With “Parasite” I hear bits of both the Smiths and Swervedriver. The album has lighter moments too. I love the understated low key vocals guiding “Forgiveness” before they up the impact in the chorus. Both “Sweet as Pie” and “What Could’ve Been” have a sunny pop disposition, despite their ringing electric guitars. And then there’s “Without You,” a classic slice of Turgeon’s ‘new vintage rock’ surely worthy of regular FM radio rotation. Album closer “Don’t Forget Me When You’re Gone” is a bit of surprise, leaning on the piano with a decidedly Procol Harum-meets-The Beatles feel. Talk about ending on a high note.

Spread over six years Turgeon 2.0 represents quite an accomplishment: 5 albums, 2 EPs, and 2 covers albums, all chock full of solid material, offered up with Turgeon’s striking artwork and design. The quality has been so consistent we’ve featured his work in 15 separate posts and he’s made both our should-be hit singles and must-have albums lists every year since 2017. Certainly vote-able as the life of our party.

Visit Richard Turgeon online to get an even fuller picture of this renaissance man – music maker, screenwriter, designer – and fill in the blanks in your record collection at his Bandcamp site.

Going Velvet Underground

05 Tuesday Dec 2023

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Back in the mid-1980s Polydor started re-issuing the Velvet Underground’s back catalogue on a budget line series. I stumbled across a promo copy of the famous banana cover debut while doing time at my early morning show on the University of British Columbia’s CITR student radio in Vancouver. The cover initially grabbed my attention but it was the tunes that sent me to A&B Sound after the show to buy up the band’s first two albums. I was both intrigued and confused. Songs like “There She Goes Again” and “Sunday Morning” were totally in my melodic rock wheelhouse but others like “I’m Waiting for the Man” and “All Tomorrow’s Parties” were a bit out there for me. I was certain of one thing though. This band was cool personified. Four decades later The Velvets remain a touchstone for indie bands who continue to cover their tunes as a rite of hip passage. This post draws from a wide range one-off song covers and VU tribute albums to recreate their 1967 debut with Nico.

Things kick off with Austrian band Die Buben im Pelz’s version of “Sunday Morning,” sung in German (rendered as “Sonntag Morgn”). Their take is more muted than the original but still just as sunny and wistful. The band actually give the whole album a German twist, even replacing the iconic banana with a bratwurst sausage. New Jersey’s The Feelies cover a wide range of the Velvet’s material on their live Some Kinda Love LP, including a propulsive take on “I’m Waiting for the Man.” By contrast, the Chrysanthemums lead guitar man Alan Jenkins has put together a great collection of instrumental covers of VU songs, including a trebly take on “Femme Fatale” that leans heavily on the whammy bar. Jason Alarm takes a different approach to covering the band, keeping their lyrics but abandoning their tune on “Venus in Furs” for his own more rollicking composition. Another departure from form comes The California Honeydrops whose version of “Run Run Run” slows things down and gospels things up. Side one closes rather quietly with crazytrain and a whisper folk treatment of “All Tomorrow’s Parties” that really highlights just how pretty this tune is.

Side two should start with a cover of “Heroin.” But try as I might I couldn’t find any version that did not emulate the original a bit too closely. So instead we go back to the source – Lou himself – and a 1965 demo that Reed and Cale recorded and mailed to themselves as kind of ‘poor man’s copyright’ protection. 50 years later the unopened envelope was discovered and had to be released so here is Lou Reed pre-covering himself. Next up a Spanish language rip through “There She Goes Again” from picondemulo, complete with Bond-esque intro guitar work and fun sing-along background vocals. TM Collective are cover song superstars so when they turned their attention to the Velvet Underground I had to give every track some serious scrutiny. Here I love Keith Klingensmith’s jaunty run over “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” with its sunshine pop vocals, guitars and keyboards. For something a bit different there’s Joe Ladyboy’s synth-driven interpretation of “The Black Angel’s Death Song.” Wrapping things up on side two, another selection from the TM Collective VU covers collection, this time Isaac King doing “European Son.” But wait, there’s more. A tribute wouldn’t be complete without something a bit kooky. How about barbershop Velvets? Got it right here with Nick Luna’s “Velvet Underground Barbershop Medley.”  Take that hipsters.

In our ever changing world some things remain constant. I mean, as long as young people search for authenticity in popular music there’s always going to be someone covering the Velvet Underground. See, there is hope.