Category Archives: Poprock Themepark

Poprock record revival: Steve Rosenbaum, Sorrows, Bruce Moody, and Doublepluspop

10 Friday Sep 2021

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From the 1960s through to the 1980s a lot of young people tried their hand at forming a rock and roll band. Not every act made it. Sometimes they just didn’t have what it takes but more often than not they just couldn’t dedicate their lives to the mission in the obsessed, manic way that is often required to succeed. Here’s how the story typically fizzled out: life intervened, marriage and/or kids happened, and suddenly the landlord/mortgage company demanded a more regular paycheque than rock and roll could provide. Well lately we’ve seen a lot of those deferred rockers making up for lost time, digging out their old recordings, polishing them up and turning them loose in the new, anything-goes internet form of music distribution. And the results are sometimes pretty special. Here we salute just a few of the more notable recent poprock record revivals.

Steve Rosenbaum’s monumental collection Have a Cool Summer! is like a message in a bottle that’s suddenly washed ashore. The album contains 23 songs recorded on his home 4-track between 1979-89 that never saw the light of day at the time. After spinning these tunes a few times all I can say is, what a shame. Get ready for a ‘great lost album’ experience because Rosenbaum’s songs are tight hooky little masterpieces, combining bits of the Raspberries, the Beach Boys and Marshall Crenshaw. Honestly, there are just too many highlights on this record to really sum the total effect. You can drop the needle anywhere and find something delightful. There’s a touch of the Plimsouls on “Tearing Up the Town,” some of that 1965 Beach Boys wistful ennui with “Me Alone,” a slight XTC feel to “72 Days,” and a whole lot of Costello circa Get Happy! in “Candyland” and “Confidential Love.” Then there’s the Marshal Crenshaw vibe on “Turn Out the Light” and “Girl from Seventeen,” neither of which would go amiss on MC’s debut album. I’d also nominate “These Girls Fly By” and “Come On Over” as the obvious should-be hit singles with their rollicking bouncy guitar and strong melodic hooks. Right now Have a Cool Summer! is only available on 8-track, with a digital download included, but come the new year it busts out into new formats. Trust me, it’s worth digging out your old tech for.

The legend of the Sorrows failed second album is right out rock and roll cinema’s central casting. The band’s debut Teenage Heartbreak had wowed fans and critics alike with its muscular power pop sound and sweet sweet melodic hooks. It was like The Plimsouls had joined the revived Searchers. Then early The Who producer Shel Talmy joined up to oversee the band’s second record. What could go wrong? Apparently, everything. When Love Too Late came out in 1981 it was like the original band had been mugged by some AM corporate rock ringers. Talmy had ignored the band’s production ideas and style of playing, indeed replacing most of them with session players on various tracks. End result? The band badmouthed the final product and then broke up. Fast forward forty years and the group has finally managed to reclaim legal control over their songs and performances. But instead of just remixing and tweaking the existing album they’ve produced an almost entirely new recording. Love Too Late, the real album is a shocker. You’d swear it’s the band in their early 1980s heyday, they sound that good. The songs were always great but now they lean into their early 1980s style, with “Love Too Late” matching the manic sound and energy of their then-contemporary rivals The Plimsouls, “Crying” offering a bit of Madness ska, and “Rita” conjuring up memories of the Paul Collins Beat. The Beatles influence is definitely present on “Breaking My Heart” and “It’s Not Love Anymore while the band’s own distinctive dreamy pop instincts define the lovely opening cut “Christabelle” and “So Much Love.” The cover of the Kinks’ “Tired of Waiting For You” is pretty special too. My own choice for single would the exquisitely hooky “What I Used to Know.” Love Too Late, the real album is a revelation, both a time capsule resurrection and contemporary renewal of a truly great band. You’re definitely gonna want this.

Another historic missed opportunity is the collected recorded works from Bruce Moody. Forever Fresh! features 23 cuts from tracks recorded between 1979 and 1986 that either fall into the Nick Lowe bubblegum style he perfected in mid-to-late 1970s or a Phil Seymour power pop register. A few of the songs here did see a contemporary release (on the 1982 EP Fresh Out!) while others were drip released on EPs much later in 2016 (Still Fresh!) and 2018 (Get Fresh!). Forever Fresh! doubles that past output and brings these mostly studio-quality AM radio-friendly poprock tunes all together in one attractively designed and modestly priced package. And the songs! Moody knows how to throw a solid hook into any kind of tune. “This Is It” opens the collection perfectly, a song seemingly caught between a 1970s bubblegum pop and early 1980s new wave vibe. Then “At the Rock Club” is so Nick Lowe circa Jesus of Cool. “Above Suspicion” moves more decidedly into 1980s territory, with shades of Squeeze’s kitchen sink narrative style. And so on – so many great tunes here. Personally, I love the Searchers-ish melodic simplicity on tracks like “Simple Love,” “Right to Know,” “The Closer I Get to You” and “You Do.” Then there’s the occasional departure from Moody’s relentlessly upbeat tone, like the  somewhat ominous melodic turns that appear in the verses to “Find Ourselves” (though the chorus quickly auto-corrects back to punchy positivity). Or check out how Moody builds the jangle-delicious “Gotta Move Away,” with its creative juxtaposition of attack and subtle Beach Boys influences (both in terms of song structure and low-key humour). Both charts and listeners lost out when these songs didn’t get released back in early 1980s. And yet Moody is on to something with his collection title – there really is something ‘forever fresh’ about these concise blasts of innocent poppy goodness.

Here’s another Hollywood happy ending sort of musical story. A band records some tunes but before anything can come of them they break up. Twenty years later a recording engineer at the studio stumbles across the recordings and voila! here is Doublepluspop’s should-have-been 2002 debut album Too Loud, Too Fast, Too Much magically resurrected. Definitely better late than never. The record is equal parts Matthew Sweet/Fountains of Wayne in terms of influences, with tasty guitar hooks and sophisticated melodies galore. Opening cut “Stumbling Back” really sets the tone with a buzzing wall of guitars and a classic FOW guitar solo. “The Dark Inside” has a very Matthew Sweet vocal and some guitar hooks reminiscent of Jackie DeShannon’s “When You Walk in the Room.” Things continue in this vein with more ear wormy tracks like “My Verona,” “Here’s to the Losers” and particularly “Everyone” with its cool vocal harmonies. There are few deviations from the basic script, like “If I Wasn’t In Love,” with its faint echoes of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” popping up here and there, and the rollicking good time feel of “What a Wonderful Time.” The juiced up cover of Todd Rundgren’s “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” also really works. I’m just gonna say it, Doublepluspop are definitely doubleplusgood.

Stumbling Back
The Dark Inside
If I Wasn’t In Love

In today’s virtual world there is no yesterday, no past, no gone-for-good. It seems everything can be revived if there’s an audience to give it life. Today’s acts definitely deserve a turn on the poprock record revival circuit. Click on the links above to help make their misspent youth pay in the here and now.

Photo credit: Dale Stewart. Physical copies of the new releases from Bruce Moody and Doublepluspop can be ordered from Kool Kat Musik, Big Stir Records for Sorrows, and Dead Media Tapes for an 8-track version of Steve Rosenbaum‘s album.

Life at 45 rpm II

21 Saturday Aug 2021

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For The Smiths guitar slinger Johnny Marr the 45 is a “short burst [that] is going to explain where we’re at, right here and right now” from “artists who are taking that three, four minute moment really seriously.” Forget the album as artist statement – for Marr, the single is where an artist can really say something. He also makes an interesting observation about the class dimensions of the form, arguing that in the sixties and seventies (when 45s were at their peak popularity in the UK) their brightly coloured sleeves and concise musical content served as a kind of working class art for the “young women who were working in Woolworths, and young men who were working in shops and warehouses and bus stations.” It’s in that spirit of love for the 45 that we continue with our second post of fab new late-summer singles.

Franco-American duo Freedom Fry just can’t help themselves. They’d barely gotten their French-language album L’Invitation out the door last April when two EPs of covers followed just one month later and now this summer three more original songs have hit their Bandcamp page. Productive much? Not that I’m complaining. There is always something so fresh and positive about a new Freedom Fry record. Like “Colors,” with its saucy keyboard lick opening and buoyant melody. Let this light and breezy single colour your listening time with a hit of audio sunshine. Another bit of fun pressed into 3 minutes or so comes from the Barenaked Ladies new album, Detour de Force. “Bylaw” is a goofy yet still melodious mediation on a topic I’m fairly certain has largely evaded musical attention up to now. But leave it to BNL to make it sing! The rest of the album is pretty catchy too, particularly the topical “New Disaster.” Indie power pop supergroup The Legal Matters are back with their third album, entitled Chapter Three. On the whole, its another reliably hooky installment in their ongoing musical saga but the song that leaps out at me is “Please Make a Sound.” I love the low-key jangle and the lighter-than-air harmony vocals. Stylistically it really stands out from the rest of the album, underlining how these guys can pull off just about anything. Have you been missing that tight, almost chrome-coated seventies rock and roll sound perfected by Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds across a series of great albums, both solo and with Rockpile? Well relax, you can get your fix with Geoff Palmer’s new record, Charts and Graphs. Hey, this shouldn’t be news. Palmer’s been acing the Lowe/Edmunds sound for years with his band The Connection. I’m just letting you know he’s done it again. I’m singling out two tracks as my preferred double A-sided 45, “Tomorrow” and “The Apartment Song.” The former comes off like new wave as if the Beach Boys had gone that route in 1979 (instead of doing that disco album) while the latter is a rollicking, hooky stomper (and, as Ralph points out in the comments, a Tom Petty cover). I’ve been on a bit of Los Lobos bender for the past month, really getting to know their Spanish language recordings (e.g. Del Este de Los Angeles and La Pistola y el Corazon). You don’t need to speak Spanish to understand these records are telling you to kick up your heels! For 2021 the party continues on Native Sons with the band covering a host of their favourite radio hits, songs like Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and the Beach Boys “Sail On, Sailor.” But I’m keen on the album’s only original cut, the title track. It’s a lovely Americana slow dance supported with a beautiful horn section that is all about the band themselves and their relationship to their home town.

The Barenaked Ladies – Bylaw

Is it wrong to like a band’s cast-offs album more than the main release? I mean, don’t misunderstand me, I think Scottish band The Eisenhowers’ third album Judge a Man by the Company He Keeps is a bonny collection of sophisticated tunes. But somehow I’m more drawn to the tracks that didn’t quite make the official album but did get released a few months later on the aptly named Too Much Music. For instance, “Suffer” is lovely lilting poppy tune, a little bit Crowded House, a smattering of Barenaked Ladies. And that’s just the first of many winners that got cut from the main LP but manage to appear here. Dave Strong tries to hide his classic sixties melodic instincts behind a punky veneer but “Little Girl” can’t be denied. This single is a blasting two and half minutes of gloriously amped up poppy fun. B-side “I Would” is pretty cool too. Detroit’s basement pop exemplars The Kickstand Band have been holding out on us. Just one single since 2017 and nary an LP or EP since 2016! Well the wait is over because a double A-sided single is out, “Cube” and “Hey Julianne.” The former is a neat if somewhat ominous low-key number that breaks out melodically briefly – but spectacularly – in the chorus. The latter is a killer should-be hit, in the mould of the band’s amazing synthesis of early 1960s and late 1970s AM radio hits. Those harmonies! Let’s have a new TKB album please. From the northern US to the deep south, The Blips hail from Birmingham Alabama and they deliver that wonderfully messy country rock sound we might associate with Titus Andronicus or the Band. “Inside Out” is the featured single from their self-titled debut LP and I’m loving it. If this style is your thing, I think you will too. Tampa Florida’s The Easy Button have an astonishing collection of 22 tunes out right now for the price for a regular album. The record is Lost On Purpose and it runs the gamut of clever poprock: a bit of Beach Boys, a lot of Fountains of Wayne, and plenty of fun. There are just so many great tunes here but I’ll draw your attention to the playful, generationally-focused “ReRun.” Though I’m more a seventies television guy I know a lot of the name-checked references here.

I came upon Kimon Kirk via a link to a duet he did with Aimee Mann in 2017. So I thought, ok, I’ll bite, let’s check out this guy. There’s wasn’t a lot to find, just a handful of releases since 2009. But what an interesting range of material! Like Mann, there’s a great American songbook feel to some of his stuff, like the cabaret feel to “The Road to No Regret” from 2011’s Songs for Society. Other releases are crazy good guitar poprock like stand alone 2017 single “Powerstroke.” His new record is Altitude and the song I’d single out is “The Girl I Used to Know” which cooks along like a Lindsay Buckingham track with just a tad more enthusiasm in the chorus. Richard Turgeon is back with a seasonally appropriate new EP of cool tunes, Campfire Songs. Once again he mixes a slightly discordant element into otherwise reliably poppy rock tunes. The timely “Goodbye to Summer” has the feel of an uber cool summer single, its cinematic potential fueled by classic sounding guitar embellishments and Turgeon’s own minor key vocal. But I also really like the easygoing rock and roll songbook feel to “Never Good Enough” and “Promised Land.” Chicago’s Kerosene Stars often sound like some 1980s English guitar band (and I like that!) but their new batch of singles seems to mark a new direction for the outfit. Ok, maybe there’s still an English feel to “Where Have You Been?” with its wordy but eloquent lyric delivery, but I like it, and it clips along with a somehow both reserved but still manic tempo. Recently I wrote about Pearl Charles’ eerie 1970s throwback material and that moved someone dropped me a line about Toronto-based Stacey. Wow. Also very 1970s. Like a Tardis time-travel good recreation. Check out “Strange (But I Like It)” from her latest LP Saturn Return. It’s got a minor key feel in places that reminds me of Sniff ‘n’ the Tears “Driver’s Seat” or any mid-period Little River Band. At this point it’s hard to believe that anyone could do anything new with Bob Dylan material, it’s all been covered by so many people and in so many ways. But Australian Emma Swift manages to add a new twist to the Dylan’s classic “Queen Jane Approximately.” With its light jangle and Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac rhythm section feel, the song sounds more like a radio hit than ever. It can be found with a host of other Dylan songs on her just released Blonde on the Tracks album.

Continuing in Dylanesque vein, Brisbane Australia’s Full Power Happy Hour give us a fresh dose of melodious folky-country guitar noodling on “Old Mind of Mind.” The song is the opening cut on their self-titled debut long-player and it combines keen guitar work with an inspired vocal. Heading back to the UK 65MPH anchor their sound with a striking mix of acoustic and electric guitars and tunes that mine a new neo-folk rock sound that I associate with acts like The Fronteers. “Cruel World” is just one of a host of peppy, winning singles the band has put out over the past few months. Rounding things out on this singles extravaganza, a deep cut from the latest album by Toronto band Harkness. The songs on The Occasion run a gamut of styles, featuring unusual instrumental choices and some complicated vocal arrangements. Personally I’m taken with “Tornado” and its solid mid-1980s Brit band mix of moody guitars and vocals.

Well, there it is, another colossal mix of singles, all mini musical manifestos from a wide array of acts. Think of them as ever so brief introductions to people with much more to say. Click the hyperlinks to continue the conversation.

Life at 45 rpm I

18 Wednesday Aug 2021

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If there is someone who understands the power of the 45 rpm single, it’s Smiths’ guitar man Johnny Marr. In an interview with Clash magazine in 2019 he was quoted saying “the seven inch single for me has always held a mystical position because it’s such a brilliant format.” Why? In a word: impact.  For Marr, the single format forces artists to “pack the message, the hooks and everything into a shorter space.” Citing examples like The Beatles “Paperback Writer” or even his own “Panic” Marr argues that with a single “you get pulled into a world for three and a half minutes, exploring art or philosophy …” But, he adds, “it also has to be wildly entertaining.” Here at Poprock Record we couldn’t agree more. In the first of two posts, we explore the magic and concision of some recent glorious 45s.

We get things started with a solid ‘hitting the road’ tune, Dan Israel’s latest single “The Hang of It.” The song has a 1970s FM radio feel with his reliably Dylanesque vocals, Harrisonian pedal steel and party jam band vibe. The lyrics are so of our time: “I’m getting out of the house, I been crazy as a loon, I’ve been quiet as a mouse …” Here here brother. Next we step on the pop punk pedal with Edmonton’s Real Sickies. These guys are graduates of the Ramones school of rock, blasting power chords but always with an accessible melody line threaded in somewhere. “Communications Breakdown” is from their latest long-player, Love is for Lovers, and it’s a breakneck party tune, a surefire get-them-dancing number. The Skullers front man Jack Skuller has returned with a new solo EP, the more somber My Disappearing Act. It has the carefully curated guitar sounds we might associate with his past work but, on the whole, the project is more introspective than his full band work. All five songs here are winners but I’m drawn to “Antibodies (Buy You Time),” with its timely sentiments and a subtle hookiness that reminds me of early Josh Rouse. Slipping down-under for a moment, Adelaide Australia’s Teenage Joans describe their sunny guitar-heavy tunes as juice-box pop punk, a fresh take on the punk-meets-pop genre. Their new EP is Taste of Me and it is definitely a strong sampler of what this duo of teen gals can do. The first single “Something About Being Sixteen” has been getting plenty of attention but personally I think opening cut “Ice Cream” really showcases the breadth of their talent. The punk feel takes a back seat to seductively layered background vocals, droning hooky guitars, and melody accentuated by a lead vocal that reminds me just a bit of The Sundays at times. Another band exuding a strong punky vibe is Friends of Cesar Romero. But punky more in sentiment than sound. The ‘band’ is really just one guy, North Cheyenne/Lakota garage rocker J. Waylon Miller, but you’d never know it from his voluminous bandcamp collection of singles, EPs and albums. Some tracks are driving, noisy sixties garage rock verging on punk. Others draw from the melodic side of the 1960s, more like carefully crafted musical sketches. “Summer Boyfriend” is the Miller’s latest single and it’s a real treat, combining an urgent propulsive energy with melodic hooks worthy of any Mighty Lemon Drops song. B-side “I Just Wanted to See You So Bad” is pretty special too, with a hypnotic drone and catchy guitar line in the chorus. I can’t wait to dig into FCR’s back catalogue.

Oslo Norway’s Beachheads brought out a killer self-titled debut album in 2017. Mixing elements of Weezer with Oasis and Husker Du the album is explosion of guitars and earwormy tunes. But somehow I managed to not write about them. I don’t know what happened as I bought the album and remember thinking it was pretty amazing. Well, suffice to say, check it out. It’s a no brainer purchase. And you can add their brand new single to your shopping as well. “Jupiter” has a slightly more sweet melodic flavour, reminding me a little of the melodies I recall from Et Tu Bruce’s early work. Boston’s Kid Gulliver offer up a stylized old school new wave single with “Stupid Little Girl” from their latest EP Gimme Some Go! The vocals are so reminiscent of a load of early 1980s indie girl groups and girl-led bands. Speaking of old school, the Automatics have something in their DNA that allows them to effortlessly synthesize a host of 1960s influences. It’s there in how the vocals meld with the guitars on their great new single, “Black Velvet Elvis.” This is a should-be hit single. I hear just a hint of Freedy Johnston in the vocals, particularly in the chorus. Santa Monica’s The Popravinas continue to develop their unique blend of poppy Americana on their new single “Do the Creep.” It comes in advance of their new LP Goons West and breaks new ground songwriting-wise for the band, with its sleek guitar lines and rather dark moody aura and lyrics. Pitchfork called Quivers’ “Gutters of Love” an ‘instant anthem,’ the sound of 1980s bedsit indie college rock. I’d have to agree. As the opener to the band’s new album Golden Doubt it’s a marvelous ‘welcome home’ for fans and a hearty ‘hey, hello’ to new listeners. The light jangle, alternating vocals, group singing and soaring choruses are very Grouplove or The Smittens on a particularly tidy day. You’ll come for this single but stay for the rest, for sure.

The Italian rock scene is holding its own these days. We reviewed Vicenza’s Hearts Apart’s recent single “Waste Time” and now the rest of its accompanying EP is out, Number One to No One. The five songs alternate between punk pop and more straight up rock and roll. I’m digging the rollicking “It’s All the Same” with its cheeky guitar licks and hint of Americana in the chorus. Though “Lonely Days” is a pretty close runner up with a vibe reminiscent of The Vaccines. London’s The Speedways have delivered a neat little EP entitled Borrowed and Blue, featuring covers tunes from bands as diverse as Hanoi Rocks, ABBA and Kirsty MacColl. But the track that knocked me over was the cover of Billy Ocean’s 1976 single “Love Really Hurts Without You.” The band really crank the Motown feel, driving the hooks home like The Jam might do. The other covers here are equally inspired, a very fun collection. One look at The Sheepdogs website and you know these guys are heavily into the 1970s. Their music is clearly inspired by the poppy boogie rock of that decade. Being from Canada, they remind me of bands like The Stampeders or even mid-period Chilliwack. Their latest single is “Keep On Loving You” from their No Simple Thing EP and it’s pure AM radio 1974. Its got the swing, its got pumping piano action, its got those guitars with chorus effects that go on for days. Mostly its got that countryfied vocal sound that bands as disparate as the Doobies, the Eagles, and Band went in for in the mid-seventies. Remember Sports are the band formerly known as just Sports. They’re also the band formerly known for ‘basement rock’ but their new LP Like a Stone has come upstairs. The sophistication of the album has drawn comparisons to Sleater Kinney and Rilo Kiley. There’s plenty of variety here but I’ve fastened myself onto the almost Buddy Holly punk title track, “Like a Stone.” There’s an edge to the song that belies but somehow intensifies it melodic content. I’m also partial to the very Rilo “Out Loud” and the country-ish “Odds Are.” Spain is a land full of power pop lovers. One day I plan to go there to see some kick ass Spanish power pop band. Perhaps like Madrid’s Macarrones. The band’s latest album is emblazoned with XX across its low-key cover. But inside is a blistering collection guitar-slashing, very danceable tunes. I’m just going to focus on one that has a bit of a new wave groove and some sweet background vocals, “Más Que Una Idea.”

Wilding’s compilation album Hello My Name Is … is described as ‘folk pop’ but there are more than a few departures from that script on this fabulously diverse collection of his tunes from the past decade. Like “Swipe Right.” A bit of 1960s pop psychedelia, a dab of XTC, even a hint of The Vaccines, it’s a delightful dose of manicured indie poprock. And the other 19 songs are worth checking out too. On their prior records The Mergers sounded like they’d got lost on Merseyside around 1964 and somehow just resurfaced with their setlist intact. But the band is actually from Germany and with their new record Three Apples in an Orange Grove they are striking out for new musical territory as well. They’ve expanded their sound for a broader neo-psychedelia meets Britpop, kinda like Love meets Oasis. You can really hear that hybrid on “Seekin’ for the Light” but I’m more drawn to guitar hook anchoring “Right as Rain.” We wrap up this instalment of Life at 45 rpm with a pair of teen brothers from Ohio who have got their jangle down. As The Laughing Chimes their debut record In This Town is proof these guys know their way around those early REM and Smiths records. The jangle is off the charts and the songwriting is strong. My current fave is “Back to My House.” I love the ways it builds with plinky piano, reverbed-up guitar and vocals that remind me of early Grapes of Wrath.

The Mergers – Right as Rain

Well there you have it, a whole lot of 45s to take in – and there’s more on the way. Needle drop your way through these selections and click on the hyperlinked names of the ones that grab you to learn more.

The top photo is actually of a collection of paintings by Morgan Howell. He paints very large versions of classic rock and roll 45s. You can check out the range of his work here.

Cover Me! The Beach Boys “Girl Don’t Tell Me”

29 Thursday Jul 2021

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This just might be my favourite Beach Boys song. When it was released in late 1965 it represented a departure from the band’s prior neo-1950s surf rock for more Beatles melodic territory, particularly its jangle guitar and Carl Wilson’s lone vocals, sans the usual group back up. Brian Wilson would later cite the Fabs’ “Ticket to Ride” as particularly influential here. I didn’t hear the song until my Dad came home with Endless Summer in 1974 but immediately it stood out for me from the rest of the band’s early period hits on the collection. Brian Wilson’s usual subject matter – teen drama – remained the same but the song’s structure and subtle hooks were nothing like the other 19 songs. It’s a tune I can play and play and still want more. Curiously, covers of the song were few until more recent times, no doubt reflecting the increasing critical appreciation of the band and their legacy that has occurred over time.

The Beach Boys

“Girl Don’t Tell Me” appeared in December 1965 on the Beach Boys’ eighth long player Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) and as the b-side to the “Barbara Ann” single. But Brian Wilson had written the song back in February and the composition had been shopped to various artists. 13 year old Keith Green would actually release the first version in October 1965, his vocal range suiting the teen angst of the song. Green’s career as a teen star was ultimately cut short by the rise of Donny Osmond but he later surfaced as a highly successful Christian rock artist. Teen pop idols Dino, Desi and Billy recorded a version of the song in 1966 but couldn’t quite hit the ‘I’s in the “I’m the guy who left you …” line. A much better version was put together the same year by Tony Rivers and the Castaways, a Brian Epstein managed group that had the Rolling Stones’ Andrew Loog Oldham produce their release. And then … nothing. Covers of the song evaporated as critical interest in the Beach Boys’ early material declined and the band’s commercial and creative drive stalled in the 1970s (other than as a featured act on the emerging ‘oldies’ circuit).

Keith Green
Tony Rivers and the Castaways

Covers of “Girl Don’t Tell Me” only really start to appear in the 1990s and beyond as the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson in particular start to gain traction as important, critical influences on late twentieth century popular music. An early adopter was Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens who included a cover on the band’s debut EP Girls About Town as far back as 1980. That band drive the lead line home throughout the song, making it a killer hook. But things really take off in the 1990s with covers from Gumball (1992), Heartworms (1995), Fuzzy (1996), and the Sparkle Jets (1998). The first two bands perform the song with a grunge and rock demeanor while the latter two are more into the indie and jangle scenes.

Heartworms
Fuzzy

In the new millennium bands started to take refreshing new liberties with the song, like Truly’s Beach Boys-meets-The Who rendition that appeared on their rarities collection Twilight Curtains in 2000. Other reinventions include Ken Sharp’s baroque interpretation (2000), the blistering punky version from the Hot Pockets (2002), Amy Miles’ fantastic 1970s throwback (2005), and Joe Jistsu’s Weezer-ish treatment (2007).

Truly
Hot Pockets
Amy Miles

Since then bands have increasingly experimented with the song’s structure and traditional instrumentation. Check out Oceanics radically retooled version (2012) for a take you won’t recognize until the lyrics kick in. The Lunar Laugh’s Jared Letkis (with Laura Biagini) gives a performance that is pure ear candy, adorned with all sorts of catchy instrumental choices and unique harmony vocals. Mudwerks has a wonderfully different interpretation of the song, with neat keyboard echo effects and distinctive guitars. Meanwhile Halifax, Nova Scotia’s Fossil Cliffs offer up a very satisfying psych rock workout.

Oceanics

As our new decade begins, interest in “Girl Don’t Tell Me” continues unabated. 2020 alone offered up three more inspired covers. Stephen Bates loves all things beach and summer and his take on the song has a refreshing, slightly punk/DIY feel. Chicago’s Gal Gun uses just an acoustic guitar to offset his stark, intimate vocal. Kevin Robertson lets loose the jangle on a cover that appeared with all the other songs from Summer Days (and Summer Nights) put together by the should-be famous TM Collective. The most recent cover comes from another tribute collection, the Jem Records Celebrates Brian Wilson album. This time the Anderson Council put an inventive pop psychedelia stamp on the tune, with fabulous results.

Anderson Council

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the many non-English covers of the song as they too show remarkable ingenuity and talent. Italy’s Nomadi put out “La mia libertà” (translation: “My Freedom”) in 1966, switching out the traditional guitar lead line for what sounds like a cello. And it works spendidly. The Hik put out a less engaging Dutch version in the same period. Next up, Sweden, with Gyllene Tider’s great “Ge Mej Inte Det Där” (translation: “Do Not Give Me That”) in 1981. More recently Argentina has gotten into the act with Fleko’s 2016 Spanish language version, which has some far out spacey guitar adornments and fierce vocals.

Nomadi
Gyllene Tider

Well here I am, 23 versions of the song later and I’m still ready for more! Sometimes a song is just so good you can’t break its hold on you, regardless of how it is played or how often you hear it. So I say, bring it on cover bands! I’m ready for even more of Brian Wilson’s deceptively simple, addictive earworm.

Growing up: Drew Beskin, Matthew Milia, Brett Newski, and Common Grackle

26 Monday Jul 2021

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Today’s artists are all grappling with growing up, shifting from their twenties spent aping cool to a thirties confronting responsibility, aging and loss. They’ve glimpsed the fork in the road that spells the end to endless wandering and possibility. It’s time to commit. Luckily these hard and sometimes painful experience translate into plenty of grist for their music mill.

Athens, Georgia everyman Drew Beskin is back with solo album number three, Problematic for the People, the title a cheeky riff on REM’s Automatic for the People. Beskin’s poprock bona fides were established long ago in bands like PURSES, the District Attorneys, and Party Dolls but on this record he lets loose his considerable stylistic chops to produce an album of gorgeous breadth and intensity. I mean, check out the perfect intro roll-out on the opening cut “I’m Not Human,” the languid way it establishes the basic lead guitar hook amid some effortless rhythm guitar flourishes. As the song continues, it delivers a big chorus, the kind that keeps you humming long after the fade out. From there the album shifts moods with ease, from the rocky early 1980s retro of “Going Alright for You” (reviewed previously here) to more stark acoustic numbers like “Culdesac” and “Torn and Blue” to the lush album closer “Atlantic.” There’s some really exquisite stylistic synthesis going on here. Like “Swimming in Bed,” a track that manages to send wonderfully mixed signals with a muted performance while still bursting with an Oasis-like feel and intensity. Personally, I love “Personal Shopping” with its low key seventies pop-disco feel and Beach Boys-doing-Double Fantasy vibe. My take, Problematic for the People is enjoyment guaranteed. Slip the album on your music player and enjoy the ride.

Matthew Milia‘s second solo album Keego Harbor kicks off with “Salad Bars,” a track whose intro piano trickles out like a lost Carpenters tune, only to suddenly lean hard on the country pedal steel. At that point, it kinda sounds like a deep cut from some early America album. From there the pedal steel and country vibe never really go away, but to my ear it owes more to Fountains of Wayne and the Beatles doing country than Nashville. A lot of it has to do with song structure, with songs like “Sunburnt Landscapers” and “Haven’t Heard You Laugh in a Long Time” sounding right out of the Schlesinger/Collingwood songbook. But another factor contributing to this is Milia’s vocals with their hints of Collingwood, sometimes a bit of Elliot Smith, even exuding some Ben Kweller on “With the Taste of Metal on my Tongue.” I will confess a partiality to the few more uptempo numbers on the album, loving the ‘do do do’s carrying “Condo Lakeshore” and Joe Jackson-meets-Apples in Stereo-ish “Autumn America.” In the end, Keego Harbour is more a musical a love letter to a time rather than a place. Still, you can get there just by hitting play.

It’s Hard to be a Person is described as the soundtrack to a book, a very cool idea. Brett Newski is nothing if not barrier breaking. Developed during lockdown, the project has seen Newski confronting his anxiety and depression via a reconnaissance of his past. The project is a new book of drawings and music developed from old notebook sketches and song ideas. Yet the end result looks and sounds as fresh as anything. Fans of Newski will recognize his familiar punk rock Tom Petty vocals while the songs veer toward a caustic acoustic attack not unlike the Violent Femmes (particularly the raucous “Lie in All Honesty” and “Dead to Me”). Things go a bit more poppy on the opening cut “I Should’ve Listened to Ferris Bueller,” which features a guest vocal turn from Steven Page. Despite the album’s consistent vibe, there’s still plenty of variety, with a great shuffle feel on “Lillian Road,” a country/folk swing to “Second String Heart,” while “Life Underwater” alternates between forceful punky verses and a more hooky chorus. But the album’s coup de grace is undoubtedly “Varsity (American Pie),” the obvious single with its steamroller pace, relentless hooks and engaging falsetto vocals (in the chorus). Ultimately Newski’s right, it is definitely hard to be a person. Listening to this record is one way to make it easier.

Old Dog New Tricks is the second LP-length release from Common Grackle, a collaboration between indie pop auteur Gregory Pepper and hip hop producer Factor Chandelier. The results are a decided departure from Pepper’s more typical, madly manic poprock. The ten songs (running just 20 minutes) are low key, often spoken word ruminations on life, loss and growing up. But engaging melodies lurk here too. The McCartney-meets-Satie piano on “Tiny Aphrodite” offers us just such an engaging moment. It’s there with the lead line buried deep in “Bad News.” You can hear it all over “Bud Dwyer” with its muted, discordant Beach Boys vibe. Sometimes the key element of the song is in the changes, like where producer Chandelier changes the aural setting so strikingly it’s almost a hook in itself. The shift in “Mint Chocolate Chip” at the 22 second mark is captivating and a bit additive. Turning to possible singles, the closest thing might be “I Got Scared.” Here I really like the horns and piano and winsome vocals. Bonus: the bandcamp download contains an extra 10 songs and they’re special too (particularly for me, “Please Stop” and “Canadian Raisin”).

Growing up is an exercise in transformation, shedding the old self for something new. Or maybe it’s just a re-arrangement of life’s deck chairs. Either way I reckon there’s insights and enjoyment galore on these here releases.

Moody melodies: Pearl Charles, Lord Huron, and Lane Steinberg

16 Friday Jul 2021

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There are records that strike a mood instantly. You put them on and slip into some place totally defined by the ambience. Today’s artists are just those kind of full immersion performers.

Pearl Charles is being written up in all the usual trend setting and mainstream places. Her self-described ‘country funk’ sound is all the rage with tastemakers in the US and Europe. But she is the real deal, a performer whose songs instantly evoke any given musical moment from mid to late 1970s. I was struck by the opening of “What I Need” from her 2021 album Magic Mirror, drawn in by its smooth keyboards, unmistakable Fleetwood Mac rhythm feel, and alluring pedal steel guitar. And then there’s her light, piercing vocal style. By the chorus I was convinced this must be some kind of 1978 re-release, the track is so era-note perfect. This only  seemed to be confirmed with “Slipping Away,” a more haunting hooky rock and roll number but still cast in a late 1970s register. Charles’ back catalogue is worth a listen too. I love the Abba-esque guitar shimmer on the title track from her 2018 album Sleepless Dreamer. I’m also really partial to the lead guitar riffs driving “I Ran So Far” from her 2015 self-titled debut EP. But don’t let all this retro music talk give you the wrong impression. While Charles is definitely inspired by the past, her tunes are enjoyable in the here and now.

I don’t think Lord Huron need any help from me to sell records. But I feel the need to write about their latest album Long Lost as it is quickly becoming my favourite album of 2021. The record’s first single “Not Dead Yet” caught my ear with its jaunty feel and Duane Eddy lead guitar. But as I started listening to the album as a whole I surrendered to the band’s cinematic neo-1950s musical landscape, with its dynamic emotional tension stretching between a prairie desert ennui and a honky tonk Saturday night. “Mine Forever” captures it all between the rumbly lead guitar, sweeping strings backing, and a tender, somewhat tentative vocal. The record then advances through a juxtaposition of songs and spoken word links, the latter sounding a bit like Andy Griffith’s creepy radio populist in Elia Kazan’s brilliant movie A Face in the Crowd. The guitar tones are also one of the real stars of this record. Just listen to the opening bars of “Love Me Like You Used To” to see how a delicious guitar resonance can make an already fabulous song even better. But arguably it’s the band’s talent in synthesizing so many disparate influences that makes this album such a remarkable achievement. Case study: title track “Long Lost.” The song manages to meld a very Beatles Sgt. Pepper strings section with some classic Owen Bradley plinky piano that is just so Patsy Cline. And the combo somehow works. I could go on (and on) about every other song here as the record really represents the band at the peak of their songwriting. Instead, I’ll just highlight the impressive Johnny Horton-like vocal buoyancy kicking off “Twenty Long Years,” the lovely duet on “I Lied,” and the subtle melodic hooks pulling you in on “What Do You Mean.” But you’ll have your own favourites.

Lane Steinberg is a prolific artist, literate both intellectually and musically. His records are chock full of inverted pop culture references, clever social commentary and more than little dark humour. I discovered him via his fabulous, action-packed 2018 collection Lane Steinberg and his Magical Pony, reviewed here. More recently he’s released a cool EP of Grateful Dead covers (Lane Plays Dead) and a catchy collaboration with former bandmade Steven Burdick (Wondertrack). But I’m here to rave about his recent powerful, stripped down EP The Invisible Monster. Though it’s just Steinberg’s voice and guitar, I find the record riveting. The opening cut “The Invisible Monster” oozes menace, managing to convey both fear and vulnerability. Song-structure-wise, the tune is pure Hoagy Carmichael while the lyrics might be the dark side of Johnny Mercer. The rest of the EP is mostly covers, but you’d be hard pressed to recognize them from the originals given their transformation at Steinberg’s hands. For instance, “I Talk to the Wind” is from King Crimson’s 1969 debut album but the version here emotes a spare 1950s Mel Torme yearning. In fact, all the 1960s cuts on the EP sound like they’ve been put through a Torme/Brazilian jazz filter (and that’s a good thing, in my view). The formula works on material as disparate as Bacharach and David’s Dionne Warwick hit “In Between the Heartaches,” Love’s “Andmoreagain” (from Forever Changes), and Chico Buarque’s 1966 single “Quem Te Viu, Quem Te Vê” (obviously). Steinberg has a slightly different demeanor on a touching remake of the Beach Boys “I Want To Pick You Up” (the vocal reminds of Mark Everitt’s style on his E recordings) while his run at Kurt Weil’s “Lost in the Stars” sounds like something Elvis Costello would work up. The record ends with another original, the timely Bacharach-tinged “These Ain’t Normal Times.” If you’re looking for something to accompany those dark nights of the soul, something for Sinatra’s wee small hours, spend some time with this Lane Steinberg EP. You’ll feel something. Good.

Music can be like a magic mood changer if you’ve got records like these. Visit Pearl Charles, Lord Huron, and Lane Steinberg for your non-prescription mood altering drug.

I get mail: Half Catholic, All Over the Shop, Astro Chicken, James Henry and more!

05 Monday Jul 2021

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The mailbag is full. So many of today’s artists have to do it all: write, record, make the tea, and slop the product to people like me. The least I can do is respond with a little word love.

Rockford isn’t just the name of some trailer park living, hard luck 1970s private detective. It’s the Illinois home of Half Catholic (formerly Pink Beam) and their neo-1950s goth poprock. Right now they’re just a single: the stylized, mixed-genre “Slow Down.” The song has some nice 1950s touches layered into the background of a contemporary melodic angst rock number, particularly the swooping background vocals. It has a consistent feel, despite various timing changes and shifts in aural attack. Keen to see where an album or EP will take these elements. Just a state away Detroit’s All Over the Shop offer up a distinct rock sound featuring stripped down guitar work and a vocal timbre that conjures the intimate intensity of early Roxy Music on “Moving Too Slow” and Richard Thompson, particularly on the should-be single “If That’s Magic” and “Brand New Summer.” The latter track has some striking melodic changes, particularly into the chorus, with the guitar and vocals in a dynamic but complementary tension. These tracks and more all appear on the band’s recent self-titled debut EP.

If we keep moving east we’ll end up somewhere else. Like Astro Chicken’s new record Different Town. The band still reside in NYC but stylistically they’ve moved on, to a more intimate sound, sometimes folky (“Fight”), sometimes just a more laid back poprock (“Hey Charlie” “SOB” “Card Trick”), sometimes both (“Fred”). If I were a bet-making guy my money would be on “Love Comes Close” as should-be hit single material with its unmistakable Nick Lowe/John Hiatt notes. Though I admit I’m partial to the languid lead guitar driving the instrumental “At Least For Now.” Get caught up on the arc of AC’s past heroic indie poprock efforts from our previous post on the band and then enjoy the adventures this new album represents. Heading north Toronto’s Robby Miller hit 2020 with a nice bit of poprock crunch on his debut EP. But his new single “Little Words” turns up the melodic elements in a very nice Beatles/FOW sort of way. The rhythm and lead guitars nicely balance each other and there seems to be a new confidence in the songwriting. A whole album of tunes along these lines would be most welcome.

Fans of Squeeze, Crowded House, Paul Carrack or any of those early 1980s guitar poprock groups (like the revived version of The Searchers) are going to love James Henry’s new album Pluck. Henry is a virtuoso guitar player and some of his earlier work reminded me of John Martyn or Roy Harper in their more melodic moments. But with Pluck he embraces his 1980s beat group sensibilities, tossing irresistible hooks into every song. Album opener “A Girl Like You” has a vocal and song structure that is so Glenn Tilbrook meets Paul Carrack. But I hear a bit of Neil Finn (“I’ve Never Loved You More”) or Joe Jackson (“Cinema Haze”) or Todd Rundgren (“Currently Resting”) or even an updated Beatles (“Available for Selection”) elsewhere on the album. Currently I’m hitting replay on the addictive “So Many Times Before,” with its Merseybeat guitar flourishes and Billy Bremner sense of heart on the vocal. Other should-be chart toppers include “Only Find Love” with its killer chorus and background response vocals and “Tomorrow May Be Too Late” featuring those hypnotic lead guitar hooks. Get a copy of Pluck, the album is a masterclass in poprock songwriting and performance.

Sometimes the mail presents me with boundary issues. Is this song/album/band really poprock? I’d put Sweden’s Kingfisher somewhere near the border yet still inside. Overall their sound may be a bit on the rock club/dancy side of things but “Illusions” has the punch and swing and melodic chops I associate with genre-crossing acts like Portugal The Man, particularly the guitar work. So I’m counting them in. Their current release of three singles definitely shows tremendous promise. Meanwhile Old Town Crier has that old timely Americana thing going on. “Don’t Go” sounds like something Lennon and McCartney might have vamped during those extended Let It Be sessions, Americana with a touch of punk. But most of the EP I’m Longing for You Honey in Middleboro, Mass has a more Springsteen meets Titus Andronicus vibe, particularly the distinctive harmonica/piano combo on “I Might Get Lost.”

You don’t need a letter from me to find these acts. Click on the hotlinked artist names to reward their melodic hustle.

All Canada’s Tomorrows

01 Thursday Jul 2021

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This is not a holiday post. While Canada may not fly the flag like our neighbour to the south this year’s national day is even more muted than normal as the nation grapples with its state’s historic mistreatment of indigenous peoples. The gist of today is then more about reckoning than celebration. Just what does an invocation of nationhood even mean anymore? Today’s songs all draw on ideas or stereotypes about Canada that people in this space we call Canada are starting to question.

The Sheepdogs not only sing about Canada, they’re from Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to be specific. “Up in Canada” appears on their 2018 album Changing Colours and captures the longing and nostalgia for home of an Canadian expat living in the American south. The song has a fresh country pop sound reminiscent of so many mid-1970s crossover hits, with pretty pedal steel guitar and plinky piano. The song also seems pretty lyrically positive about their northern home, though the singer admits Canada ‘has got our ways to go’. Slowpoke, another Canadian band (this time from Toronto), has written a song simply entitled “Canada.” The mood of the song shifts from jaunty to somber but the lyrics are hard to decipher. There’s something about ‘winter’s dawn’ and ‘fire’ and how ‘in Canada you always lose it all’ but just who and what is losing or being lost is unclear.

Other bands pitch an image of Canada from popular culture tropes: vernacular, sports, how we are perceived by people in other places. Guster let loose with a host of familiar Canadianism with the help of Barenaked Ladies member Tyler Stewart on a customized version of their 2019 single “Overexcited” from the Look Alive album. It was just one of eight extra versions of the song the band recorded in different languages to suit different cultures. As such, the tune has plenty of ‘eh’s and references to Tim Horton’s. While fun, it reproduces the jokey view of Canada as a generally nice place, perhaps a bit obsessed with hockey, cheap coffee, and not being American. Sure Canada is all that but there’s a darker side to the country that such characterizations tend to obscure. On his Threeep EP Matt Pond sings about getting “Calls From Canada” and he seems to be considering whether it represents a better life for himself as an American. The song is a pleasant, airy hummable tune, with nice strings and acoustic and pedal steel guitar. But really, how can Canada offer a ‘better life’ for others when it fails those who’ve been around for thousands of years?

Matt Pond – Calls From Canada

The largely uncritical international view of Canada as ‘good’ is probably why an Ann Arbor, Michigan band decided to name themselves after the country. I mean, no one is rushing to name their band after Uganda or Belarus. Giving their 2006 album This Cursed House a spin, the songs don’t appear to deal with anything distinctly Canadian. Then again, maybe the LP’s title would seem apropos to indigenous peoples. Canada’s music is a nice rootsy folk pop that reminds me of Bombadil. I’m particularly taken with their clever use of a typewriter as a source of percussion on the instrumental “Hey Garland.”

You never really get away from the sins of the past. Sooner or later, somebody’s gotta pay. On this day the indigenous peoples in this geographic locale we call Canada are demanding change. Everybody else here needs to think deeply about just how to do that.

Today’s banner visual was designed by the late Kwakwaka’wakw artist Curtis Wilson. The design features swimming salmon on the side panels with an orca whale inside the maple leaf.

Almost summer singles mixtape II

27 Sunday Jun 2021

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Day in, day out, new singles arrive at our Poprock Record headquarters. It’s a wonder we can keep the Technics 1200 turntable running smoothly what with all the needle dropping going on. Especially today with the second installment of our ‘almost summer’ single mixtape event. So get ready for another twenty – that’s 20! – solid selections for your perusal and possible inclusion on a seasonal singles mixtape.

The arrival of any new recording from Aberdeen’s jangle heavyweights The Vapour Trails is something to cherish. Now that band’s main songwriter/guitarist Kevin Robertson has a solo album but it’s something a bit different. On Sundown’s End Robertson goes exploring stylistically and the results are pretty sweet. Case in point: title track “Sundown’s End.” It kicks off with a very VT guitar hook but as it develops the song moves in a more rocky psychedelic direction than we’re used to. Another guy moving in new directions is Jeff Shelton. The hardest working man in powerpop show business has a new project: Deadlights, a slightly more dreamy take on his usual pristine poprock goodness. Turns out, his new path ends up in basically the same place he usually goes, with solid tunes, earwormy hooks, and enticing playing all over the record. Opening cut “Breaking Down” sounds very REM to me with great swirl of vocals and catchy lead guitar lines. Turning to yesterday’s heartthrobs even working class dogs can learn new tricks, if Rick Springfield’s latest release is anything to go by. Album 22 for Springfield has hit the racks under the moniker The Red Locusts and the results are fantastic. The mild jangle, the harmonica, the big rhythm guitar chords and Rick’s great vocal make “Another Bad Day for Cupid” a should-be hit single. The album is like the Wonders meet the Romantics, it’s that fun. From the ‘never lets you down’ file, Brad Marino is a guy who knows what he likes and he delivers it again and again. His solo work and records with The Connections effectively mine the neo-1950s, post pub rock sound of bands like Rockpile to perfection. But on Looking for Trouble Marino leans into Merseybeat on cuts like “Fell in Love Again.” Love the chime on the guitar and sweet harmonies. Was it just a year ago I was singing the praises of formerly-from-Portland band The Memories? The album was Pickles and Pies and the song I couldn’t get out of my head was mini folk masterpiece “Second Try.” Well they’re back with something that is nothing like that. They’ve segued into a kind of Donovan-meets-Jonathan Richman motif on a new EP Beautiful Sunrise, and particularly with the goofy “Banana.” I mean, who doesn’t like a whistling solo? This definitely sounds like beach blanket material.

Seventeen year old Melody Caudill is back with her Career Woman project, still blending an Elliott Smith esthetic into her work with a new shoe-gazy single, “Balcony.” Once again the guitars are up front (though perhaps toned down a bit from her prior “Teacher’s Pet” single), particularly early on in the solo acoustic part of this new song. Something wonderfully Mary Lou Lord or Annabelle Lord-Patey is going on here. Our next artist deserves an apology. I bought their fabulous debut I Swear My Love Is True but then neglected to write about it. And that’s a shame because Donaher’s work is some fun pop punk in the best Me First and the Gimme Gimmes or Bowling for Soup tradition. From that album, “Heather” particularly deserves your attention. Their new EP is Angus Soundtrack 2 and contains a super remake of what sounded like a demo on the prior album, “Courtney.” Another band I really grooved on was Purses whose “Wheels on the Run” was on pretty constant repeat throughout 2016. So when I heard band member Drew Beskin had a solo outing coming out, I shifted mode to ‘interest piqued.’ The album is Problematic for the People but only a few singles are available. So far I’m loving “Going Alright for You” with its early 1980s Pat Benatar rhythm guitar slashes and otherworldly synth background. Damn, if this single isn’t alive with 1980s excitement! Keeping this manic feeling alive, Cult Stars from Mars have a new single and it combines everything that makes them a fun hot mess of 1970s pop rawk. I’d almost swear there was spandex and cheap lighters embedded in “Funny Face” somewhere but the cool ‘whew hoo’s temper the excess. It helps that the chords are extra chunky with a side of pumping piano. Cincinnati’s Flying Underground really arrive with their latest single, “Nothing.” All the elements of the band really come together with the songwriting, singing, and performance. I love the guitar effect on the arpeggiated solo at the 17 second mark, one that is repeated throughout the song. It’s striking track with so many cool musical adornments that it oozes should-be hit.

I can’t keep up with Freedom Fry. Seems like every month or so they’ve got another single, EP or new album. They sing in English and French and offer up creative, often dramatic covers of classic songs as well as finely crafted, engaging original material. Their brand new album is L’Invitation, all new songs, all sung in French, and up to their usual high standards. But here I’m going to reach back, all the way to last December for their happy-go-lucky one-off single, “One Big Happy Family.” The duo really excel at this kind folky, endearing sunshine pop, their voices melding effortlessly against a backdrop of spare musical accompaniment. Both versions of the song are worth getting to know. In rise-from-the-ashes news, I was gutted when The Strypes called it quits in 2018. I couldn’t believe that their last album Spitting Image, which I thought was their best, did poorly on the charts. Now three of the four band members have a new outfit named after an old Husker Du record, Zen Arcade, and I have new reasons to be excited. “Don’t Say a Word” takes  the former Strypes fellows into a more punky new wave direction than their previous act. Very Stiff Little Fingers or Mould’s Sugar outfit in terms of musical demeanor. Right now there’s only two singles but what a launch! These guys are definitely going places. Another band I hated to see go was Crowded House. Thankfully, they keep coming back around. Dreamers are Waiting is the band’s first record in 11 years and it gives fans just what they want: midtempo lush melodies and gorgeous harmonies. Many highlights here but I’m digging “Start of Something” for its hewing to the classic Crowded House sound. A band that never really goes away is They Might Be Giants (and that is a very good thing). Their new song is “I Broke My Own Rule” and it is an intricately developed piece of pop songcraft. I don’t know how these guys manage to be so productive, to constantly move in new directions while still sounding oh so TMBG. This is what you get when you apply genius to poprock songwriting and performance. In a more pop punk vein, Indiana’s The Putz prove that Buddy Holly is alive and well and lurking inside their new album, Rise and Shine. It’s all over the last track on the record, “All the Time in the World.” At first I thought this might be some Bond cover tune but the drumming and guitar alerted me that this would be a not-so-pure but still great Lubbock, Texas-inspired event.

Crowded House – Start of Something
They Might Be Giants – I Broke My Own Rule

Jenny’s Justin Mauer has many different outlets for his creativity and he’s using most of them in his autobiographical comedy play Falling on Deaf Eyes. One of his bands appearing on the soundtrack is Suspect Parts and they have a groovy song in “Alright With Me.” The guitar riff and vocals are so mid-1960s fed through a 1980s indie filter, with just a hint of a punk rock Tommy James. The guitar and organ work here is perfection. Looking for a crazy band origin story? Stephen’s Ruin have got it. Original band arrives mid-1980s to some notoriety and success. Now the son of one of the founders restarts the band with a new crew and some pretty amazing 1960s-meets-1980s tunes. The band’s recent double A-sided single “Runaround”/“Tonight” is a pure retro beat rock and roll delight. The former is a frenetic garage-y melodic rock romp, with spot on new wave call and response background vocals. The latter lulls you with its sweet rumbly guitar licks and pristine harmony vocals. I want a whole album of this! Another act mining the past for good measure are Steve Stoeckel (from The Spongetones) and Irene Peña on their one-off single, “Why.” This one hits me right in the musical solar plexus, immediately calling up all those beautiful folk rock duets from 1960s, from Ian and Sylvia to more recent efforts by Don Dixon and Marti Jones. The song is so 1965 and Steve and Irene’s vocals blend perfectly. Really, a lovely piece of work that will have you hitting ‘replay’ again and again. Now if you’re looking for something that screams subtle summer movie blockbuster theme song, Tim Jackson is your man. His new single “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart” has the confident pop stylings of a great Hall and Oates or Crowded House single. It’s pretty straightforward keyboards and vocals but the simplicity masks a clever complexity in the melody. This one is an earworm that works its magic in a sneaky ‘I’ll just listen to this one more time’ sort of way. From his soon-to-be-released second album Litter in the Park. Rounding out our pool of twenty artists is the prolific Richard X. Heyman from his recent album Copious Notes. 70 year old Heyman has been rocking since the 1960s and solo album 14 shows no decline in his songwriting and performance standards. “Tell Me When” literally springs out of the speakers with head turning piano trills and impressive vocal gymnastics. And it’s just a damn good song. Another stand out from the album is the moving love song “Ransom.” The achingly beautiful melody is given depth via Heyman’s incredible vocal and baroque keyboard/strings instrumental backing.

Richard X. Heyman – Tell Me When
Richard X. Heyman – Ransom

Summer’s not going to organize itself. Thankfully your beach tuneage is squared away. With 40 solid poprock artists to choose from your seasonal mixtape this year will be brimming with hooks and jangle.

Almost summer singles mixtape I

23 Wednesday Jun 2021

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It’s so close you can almost taste the vodka cocktails. Summer! And that means music to accompany those warm breezes, surf and sand, and lazy, hazy days of scorching heat. To that end, let me present an almost summer bevy of selections for your mixtape, uh, I mean, playlist. In this first of two installments, we offer up 20 suggestions for high rotation seasonal singles.

Let’s get started with my hometown, Vancouver, and some nice ringing guitar from The Uptights on “The Pulse.” The song is from the longplayer Back Again, which came out right near the end of 2020. I love the organ that really comes to fore as the song progresses. 4000 kilometres away (but still in Canada!) Waterloo’s B.U.D. rises from the ashes of Goldfinch in a new solo project from Omar Elkhatib. There’s not much not to like here. Crunchy guitars, punchy synths, and a solid swinging hook anchors “What’s the Point of This (If I’m Not Into It).” A promised follow up EP has yet to materialize but a few more singles have arrived, like the rollicking fun “Popstar Rock N’ Roll.” Ok, enough Canadian content (for now), we’re off the NYC and a bit of a boundary tester for this blog from Laura Stephenson. “After Those Who Mean It” is just a heart-wrenching acoustic number from an artist who normally rocks it up a bit more. There’s something searing and so melancholy about this performance. I can be such a sucker for a good sad song. In Memphis, Your Academy offer a pick-me-up with “Starlight,” a great guitar poprock tune with a slight country feel, from their recent self-titled debut. Now I say ‘debut’ but the band are all veterans of the local music scene and it shows all over this tight record. Brooklyn’s Answering Machine also have a debut album out (well, actually, it’s been out for a year …). Verdict? Bad Luck is more of the eerie melodic rock goodness that appeared on previous EPs and stand-alone singles. For me, the stand out song here is “Marie.” The lead vocal has the soulful country ache of Neko Case cast against a driving lead guitar hook and surging rock and roll beat. It would be a killer cut live in concert, no doubt.

Now, generally speaking, I’m not a live album guy. But when I saw the cover of The Shambles Live at the Casbah with its obvious nods to The Beatles Second Album (Long Tall Sally in Canada) I thought it warranted a needle drop. The opening cut was the band grinding through their first single from 1993, “(She’s Used to Playing With) Fire,” and from the opening rhythm guitar I was hooked. The performance is anything but a shambles: loose yet solid, exciting, with great harmony vocals. The album was assembled from various shows at this location early in the new millennium and it showcases the band’s strong material and serious live chops. Another California band effectively working the retro rock and roll scene are The Forty Nineteens. Their new album The New Roaring Twenties vibes those classic 1960s rock and roll outfits (e.g. Rolling Stones, CCR) while still giving off a bit of 1980s indie (a la The Replacements), depending on which track you pick. I was torn about whether to choose the rockin’ Joe Walsh-ed vocal on “I’m Always Questioning Days” or the more melodic package that is “It’s the Worst Thing I Could Do.” I went with the latter, with its pumping piano and judicious use of jangle guitar. Throwback Suburbia’s drummer had an interesting idea. Write some songs and then ask a gang of different artists to sing on different tracks for a new band, Rooftop Screamers, and a new album, Next Level. It’s a project idea that can easily lose its focus but Mike Collins makes it work, largely because the songwriting is so consistently good. Case in point: “Buckle Up,” featuring Jellyfish vocalist Tim Smith. The song has the sleek pop aura of a top rank Crowded House single. I fell hard for the ear candy that was Ten Tonnes “Better Than Me” from his 2018 self-titled debut. Recently he reignited that spark with the glammish “Girl Are You Lonely Like Me?” with its shuffle beat and emotional vocal, kinda like The Vaccines or Haircut 100 in therapy. The kid’s got swing and killer sing-along background vocals. For those of us who can’t get enough of the Bryds, a very special record is due out soon from an exquisite jangle-friendly band, The Floor Models. You can get a taste of their fab back catalogue from the 2013 retrospective Floor Your Love but here I want you to enjoy their indie-fied version of “Lady Friend,” a teaser from their soon-to-be-released album, In Flyte Entertainment: A Tribute to the Byrds.

The Floor Models – Lady Friend

Jeremy Porter and the Tucos’ “Dead Ringer” is straight ahead melodic Americana, reminding me of the more upbeat moments on that first Peter Case solo album back in 1986, particularly vocally. I love the synth snippet that kicks in at 3:10 in the final few moments of the solo. It’s featured on their new longplayer, Candy Coated Cannonball, and it’s just one of many highlights. Given that Ramirez Exposure’s latest album is named after an environmental newsletter that advocated the end of humanity as a solution to environmental crisis, the contents are surprisingly chirpy. Opening track “Bridges and Roads” is light and sunny, but it is the title track “Exit Times” that really grabbed my attention with its cool electric guitar arpeggiations and dreamy vocals. Sometimes I imagine NYC as just teeming with bedrooms for making pop music. Like the work from Goodman. I’ve featured this talented, almost totally one-man-band before and every new release reveals new depths and influences. On his new record Goodman Versus the Nostalgia Machine he is like Ray Davies reborn, piling up catchy tunes with clever commentary. “Bitter. Alone. Again” shimmers with sneaky, subtle hooks and vocals that add emotional colour and depth. From the mean streets of Baltimore Bombardier Jones offers us the cool vocal delivery of a Steve Miller. “Great Ideas” from Dare To Hope is just a straight up AM radio goodtime single, circa 1975. Love the spare piano solo to bursts on the scene two thirds in. Cotton Mather guitarist Harold Whit Williams has a side project that might conjure up the ‘s’ word for any remaining red diaper babies out there. It’s called Daily Worker. Now you don’t have to be a card carrying anything to enjoy what he’s doing here. I mean, check out the shuffling strut behind “I Got Hypnotized” with its creative mix of acoustic guitar rhythm, sixties organ, and tasty lead guitar. The rest of Hometown Hero is a winner too, with a Harrisonian soft rock flair competing with a Plimsoulsian new wave vibe.

You’d swear contemporary LA band Electric Looking Glass were giving it to you straight from 1968 Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. It’s not like they’re hiding their influences with an album title like Somewhere Flowers Grow. But it really is there in the music too. Opening cut “Purple, Red, Green, Blue and Yellow” kicks off with a solid blast of psychedelic pop guitar before opening up into a great bit of Turtles/Jefferson Airplane hippie poprock. Moving back to the future, there is something so cool about the brooding New Order-ish riff kicking off and driving Mattiel’s recent single, “Those Words.” I really enjoyed the rough-hewn rock and roll sound of the band’s last effort Satis Faction and this new song suggests there more where that came from. The band’s vocalist/songwriter Mattiel Brown really delivers on both here, with a striking performance and timely lyrics. Some bands like a real challenge, like writing a song about American President Warren G. Harding. Who, you might ask? He’s no Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, or Kennedy but The Rose Petals manage to turn out a western style performance a la True West or Rank and File all about Harding’s many foibles. It’s the opening track on the band’s engaging debut LP American Grenadine. Now for a complete change of mood, there’s Robert Sherwood. On Mr. Sherwood he showcases a bevy of light pop sketches that remind me Roddy Frame’s Aztec Camera. Sherwood does wonders with interesting vocal harmonies and spare but intriguing lead guitar work. On “Blue All Over” and the rest of this highly listenable record there’s more than a hint of a genius song arranger bearing similarities to Richard X. Heyman or the Eels’ Mark Everett. Ok, big finish time and what better band to close things out by taking us over the top than Weezer? Seems like an army of haters are out there just waiting for Rivers and Co. to stumble but the band just keeps on delivering the goods. The playful Van Weezer is no exception. “The End of the Game” cleverly rides the edge of rawk bombast with love while delivering the band’s signature knock-out hooks. And there’s more to love here – my blog writing friends can’t agree on what track they love the best.

The pent up energy for a perfect summer this year is swelling all out of control. People are desperate for fun. Here at Poprock Record we take our public service role seriously. So relax, we’ve got your music sorted. And even more is on the way with part II, coming soon.