Category Archives: Poprock Themepark

Cover Me! Tommy Tutone “867-5309 Jenny”

11 Wednesday May 2022

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In the realm of perfect poprock songs there are few rivals for Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309.” The opening lead guitar hook reels you in, the slashing guitar chords send you straight to the dance floor, that dynamic bridge takes it all up a notch … It’s a song that literally never hits a wrong note. Its secret is the tension it manages to create at every turn, with multiple guitar lines and vocals pulling in different directions – then resolving – then pulling apart again. In terms of performance the guitar work is simple and straightforward but oh so addictive while the vocals are heartland rock and roll at its best. Undoubtedly this song ranks in my top 20 all-time great poprock singles. Indeed, it’s so good it unfairly cast everything else the band ever did in shadow. They were even reduced to reworking it into a Christmas song 28 years later.

Given the songs obvious strengths, the lack of cover versions in the first two decades after it was released might seem surprising. But then again, maybe not. Frankly, I imagine it was hard for bands to think how the song might be done differently, so iconic were the song’s signature riffs and arrangement. Early on, only punk and heavy metal bands dared to mess with it, with results that predictably tended to quash the tune’s hooks and more subtle melodic charms. As more conventional rock and roll covers emerged in the new millennium they didn’t stray far from the original Tutone formula, perhaps changing up the instrumentation or vocals only slightly. Case in point: Mark Allen and Company. This 2007 version is pretty Tutone, limiting its innovations to the vocal delivery, power chord and the lead guitar tones. It’s credited Mark Allen & Company & Tommy Tutone but what went down here is hard to get any info on. On 2008’s Rollerball Candy The Chevelles stretch the song’s lead guitar line intro and amp up the bar chords but swap the Americana vocals for a more new wave sound. In the same year The Outliers decided to slow the tune down, adding a special allure to the vocals and giving the melody a more Johnny Rivers feel. Or, for something more different, Pamploma Spain’s Innerve switch to a more acoustic but still rocking sound on their 2011 version.

Mark Allen and Company
The Chevelles
The Outliers

It would take the dawning of a new century to shake off established practice when it came Jenny. Just ahead of the curve a cappella group Amazin’ Blue offered up a rich cacophony of voices to populate the song. They’re not alone – I found five other a cappella versions – but their take is definitely the most dynamic. Lisa Breslin gave the song an understated, hushed performance but felt the need to point out she was not into women, she just liked the tune. Really? Where’s the mystery? Contrast this with Mark Weigle’s brave remake “867-5309 Jimmy” from 2003. Yes, he’s singing about a guy and he’s not bothered, and he takes creative chances with the arrangement that really pay off: an acoustic guitar lead line, some inventive rhythm guitar work, and some hilarious spoken-word telephone messages. Weigle’s album Different and the Same has some other surprises too, like a cover of Pete Townshend’s sexuality-ambiguous “And I Moved” from Empty Glass and a rewrite of the Jackson Five’s “ABC” as a critique of a controversial AIDS drug in “AZT.” And then there’s the banjolicious romp that appears on the Pickin’ On Series 2008’s collection Pickin’ and Singin’ the Biggest Hits of the 1980’s, Volume 1. Seriously, solid banjo propulsion and a fiddle solo break is clearly what this song needed all along.

Mark Weigle
Pickin’ On

As we turn to more recent covers the range goes from the exquisite and carefully crafted to inspired DIY love. Kurt Lanham is amazing musician and his mostly acoustic guitar instrumental version is a form of audio art, the arrangement is so precise and delicate, vibing a bit of Kenny Burrell guitar tone and low key Latin feel. By contrast, what Flopsweat lacks in musical precision he makes up for in DIY enthusiasm and intensity, his vocals and guitar work exude such love for the tune the listener can’t help but be drawn in, captivated. But my most favourite recent version is Mike Browning‘s from his 2021 album Class Act. Clear, sharp, haunting in parts, Browning strips things down to essentials, reminding us again just why we love this song so much.

Kurt Lanham

Well there you have it, eleven creative covers of a certified poprock classic. And yet I can’t help but feel there’s plenty room on the “867-5309 Jenny” cover-train for more. Personally, I’d love to hear the likes of Tim Finn, Pictish Trail, The Martial Arts, Richard Turgeon, and host of other artists I’ve featured on this blog take a crack at this tune. Perhaps there’ll be a part two?

Top graphic courtesy Kurt Lanham’s 45 design for his single “867-5309 Jenny.”

May Day Reveille

01 Sunday May 2022

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May Day is an annual wake up call for the working class, a day celebrated in more than 160 countries around the world. What better way to get on-message than through music? Today’s post honours May Day aka International Workers’ Day with songs about class, identity, and solidarity. It’s definitely time to work out which side you are on.

New York City’s Jeremy and the Harlequins put out a killer album in 2019, Remember This, a solid slab of Americana rock and roll in the Fallon, Mellencamp and Springsteen mold. But the standout song for our purposes is “American Gold,” a highly listenable hooky tune with lyrics that slay the American dream with a clarity seldom matched in popular music:

Brothers and sisters if you wanna be saved
Listen close to a story about how the streets get paved
Not by men selling greatness or hope
But on the backs of the working class folks
Well they sell you a dream that you don’t really need
Cut you up by colour or creed
Then they’ll give somebody to blame
It’s the same old story but they change the name

There’s a lot of talk about outlaw country but the usual examples are anything but. Most just mix dominant ideology with a few y’alls and call it a day. And then there’s Will Hoge. His 2018 album My American Dream takes aim at Republican politicians, the NRA and the conservative undercurrent to the country music establishment. Given how the latter dominate that scene, Hoge is clearly the real outlaw here. On “Stupid Kids” he rages in favour of kids making a difference, with a Steve Earle snarl and a driving Blue Oyster cult guitar riff:

Oh stupid kids don’t listen to what the old folks say
You’re the only ones that are ever gonna make things change
Keep your feet marching
Raise up your voice don’t quit
Keep doin’ what you’re doin’
Keep being stupid kids

But the coup de grace lyric comes in the bridge when Hoge sings:

Turn your music up
Sing to your own damn song
You know you got it right
When all the old white men don’t sing along

Crossing the pond This Circus Life take a break from their usual smooth poprock sound for something more Beautiful South or Chumbawumba (in a mellow mood) on “Where Are the Working Classes?” From 2021’s The Vast and Endless Sea, the tune calls into question the superficial and mostly unattainable middle class aspirations of the post Thatcher era in the UK, reminiscent of critiques from the likes of filmmaker Mike Leigh in his movie High Hopes. As Charlie Mear sings “Didn’t we see them pulling the wool down over our eyes?” Indeed. Another UK band that reliably banged on and on about class were McCarthy. I can’t believe I didn’t notice this band during their heyday circa 1987-88. They were essentially a twee version of The Smiths but with super-sized politics. For these guys, everything was political. Lyricist Malcolm Eden is like that guy at the party that won’t stop droning on about capitalism. My kind of guy obviously. There are so many possible songs to choose from here but “In the Dark Times” remains relevant and has some nice Johnny Marr-like guitar work. Wrapping things up this May Day we have the ever relevant Billy Bragg. His recent album The Million Things That Never Happened is another Americana folk tour-de-force, both sing-a-long good and highly topical. On “Freedom Doesn’t Come for Free” Bragg shreds the libertarian right, pointing out the glaring flaws in their unrealistic utopian plans that should be the obvious to everyone.

McCarthy – In the Dark Times

So listen for the bugles’ call this May Day. Whether your reveille be “The International” or “This Land is Your Land” the sentiments are basically the same. As my grandmother used to say, ‘working people gotta stick together!’

Top image is Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo’s 1901 painting The Fourth Estate.

Spring singles countdown

19 Tuesday Apr 2022

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This is a countdown to both warmer temps and hotter tunes: our spring singles countdown! I find my incoming new singles pile never really shrinks but that’s not really a problem is it? So here goes with another 21 songs just pining for your attention.

The Stranglers were one of those bands I was vaguely aware of in my youth but I was too distracted by the melodic heft of The Jam and Squeeze to take notice of their more subtle charms. In fact it was only in the past few years I heard the band’s exquisite “Golden Brown” from their 1981 album Le Folie. Fast forward to last year and the band’s 18th album Dark Matters is full of winning tunes. The tribute to late longtime band member Dave Greenfield “And If You See Dave …” is touching while “The Last Men on the Moon” has a hooky futuristic vibe a la 1980s Moodies meets Blue Oyster Cult. Another band doing the coming-back-strong thing are The Lovetones. After a decade gone they returned in 2020 with Myriad and the must hear song for me is “Rescue.” Ok, this is not a breaking single but it should have been, it’s got that magical mid-1960s sparkle tune-wise. Tamar Berk is building up to something pretty extraordinary, if her drip drip of confident pre-album singles is anything to go by. “Tragic Endings” opens with alluring simplicity, just a single electric guitar and Berk’s clear voice, before adding layer after layer of sonic hooks. The song is masterful arrangement of push and pull melodic effects and the vibe is like Pat Benatar meets Blondie, with a touch of Laurie Anderson thrown in. The upcoming album is Start at the End but you’re gonna want in at the beginning. Ottawa’s Robby Millar turns up the 1970s bubblegum/glam guitars on “All We’ve Got” with a chorus that is very The Cure. It’s a creative combination that is oh so obvious once you hear it. Incipient spring brings a new double A sided single from Nashville artists *repeat repeat and they certainly paint a picture, “Soft” a dreamy, shoe-gazey float along the water, “Hmm Feels Like” a punchier Kevin Devine-ish acoustic bit of hooky shuffle.

The Stranglers – The Last Men on the Moon
Robby Millar – All We’ve Got

Houston’s enigmatic poprocker K. Campbell layers his recent single “Breaking Glass” with an intoxicatingly compressed sound, like a classic 45 blasting from a transistor radio. But listen a little more closely to hear all the subtle shifts in sonic texture that elevate the tune. Another textured mini-masterpiece comes from L.A.’s A. Michael Collins. “In Other Climes” initially sounds like it’s a member of the Bryds family tree with its jangly guitars and harmony vocals. But it quickly turns into something more contemporary, not unlike the retro reinventions from the likes of Richard X. Heyman. Bryan Adams albums typically alternate between effing-eh truck-driving stadium-rawk and more radio-friendly poprock earworms. Album 15 So Happy It Hurts delivers on both but I’m drawn more to the latter, which just happen to be all the songs he wrote here with his traditional hit-songwriting partner Jim Vallance. “I’ve Been Looking For You” is textbook poprock goodness: so simple, nothing ground-breaking here, but man does Adams know how to put it together. Now for something a bit different, Classic Pat takes on Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s In Love With the Boy” stripping out all its ‘easy listening’ country elan and replacing that with a fabulous 1980s Canadian indie vibe e.g. The Northern Pikes or The Grapes of Wrath. The song is just one of many commercial country make-overs appearing on a worthwhile album split with Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard entitled Country Buffet. Austin duo Hovvdy wowed critics with their self-described ‘pillow core’ album True Love last fall. Now they’re back with a new single “Everything.” The acoustic guitar sets the tone and hook for the song, building from a stark and spare backdrop only to drop in a bit banjo on its way to veritable wall of sound as the tune builds. It is somehow both a bit manic and oh-so-smooth at the same time.

Bryan Adams – I’ve Been Looking For You

Everything about Isle-of-Eigg dweller Johnny Lynch is original. His recordings as Pictish Trail defy easy categorization. Me, I’m drawn to the melody central cuts, which really comprise only some small part of his musical vision. As Guardian writer Jude Rogers reveals, his latest album Island Family is an oblique love letter to his island home and community. My choice for your listening pleasure is “Melody Something” but the rest of the album is worth some dedicated listening. Lincoln UK’s The Rills are something a bit different again, offering up a lot of story detail on “Skint Eastwood.” The verses have a driving, almost relentless attack but when the chorus kicks in, wow, it’s like melodic crack. Staten Island’s Goin’ Places have shifted the intensity of their punk delivery over their twenty years together, edging slightly into more pop punk territory on their most recent album, Save the World. It’s a strong album but personally I’m digging the Mersey-ish “Recover.” Sure, there’s a still a strong punky feel to the proceedings but the boys add some very melodic guitar lines and sweet background vocals. Veteran protest songster Billy Bragg came out with a new album The Million Things That Never Happened last fall and it had more than a few of his signature hooky folk rock numbers. The highlight for me was album closer “Ten Mysterious Photos That Can’t Be Explained” with its rollicking tempo and razor sharp social commentary. Kelowna’s Stephen Schijns has a curious new single that combines an eerie Gordon Lightfoot-reminiscent vocal with a chugging yet propulsive bit of poprock performance, and a tasty bit of 1970s guitar solo. It really works.

North Carolina’s Tracy Shedd ambles onto centre stage with her single “Going Somewhere,” its laid back feel gaining more urgency in the chorus. Definitely a bit of car-driving, windows-open on a summer day sort of music. The Telmos’ “What She Knows” actually first appeared on the band’s 2019 EP How Quick It Goes Away but it has now been re-released by Aldora Britain Records. It definitely deserves a second chance, given its sunny 1960s pop psychedelic feel. Kinda like The Zombies jamming with The Hollies. Back into the pop punk field, Boston’s Invisible Rays pump out what sounds like a somewhat more socially adjusted Weezer on “Landline.” This one is jump-up-and-down dance good. Another late find for me is smiles “Gone For Good.” This 2019 release oozes Teenage Fanclub, Big Star and Matthew Sweet vibes. Turn it up loud and get lost in the melodic haze. Chicago’s Kerosene Stars continue their English 1980s band revival kick with “Purpose of Friend,” a song that sounds like something from Manchester 1988. A bit confessional folkie, a bit swing poprock.

We’ll wrap things up with a double blast from prolific Cambridgeshire indie artist 65MPH. The recent singles “Real Life” and “Don’t Walk Away” cap a series of releases from this guy, so an album proper cannot be far off (can it?). I love the rough and ready vibe on these songs, reminding me of work from the likes of The Jam and Cast.

Twenty-one singles crammed into one post is like finding a variety box of quality chocolates on your Easter egg hunt. There’s definitely going to be some you really like. Time to start indulging.

Radio ready: Televisionaries, Ex-Vöid, Goodman, and Papa Schmapa

09 Saturday Apr 2022

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Radio was the aural wallpaper of my youth. Always on somewhere and playing plenty of things I could dig, if not all the artists I was into. Today’s post focuses on radio-ready sounds that could have fit into yesteryear as well as today.

I thought I knew what I was getting when I picked up a copy of Televisionaries new album Mad About You. I’d heard the recent singles and needle-dropped my way through their back catalogue. I’d loved band member Trevor Lake’s solo album Bunker Stew, as well all his involvement in other retro music projects. And the band’s traditional focus on 1960s-inspired retro rock is certainly still there, with splashes of surf, Merseybeat and a Stonesy take on R&B. But there’s much more here too, with a strikingly modern flavour to a number of the tunes. The album kicks off with the smoking, highly danceable “Mad About You,” a track that meets in the rock and roll no man’s land separating the Beatles and Rolling Stones circa 1964.  Then “Girls” captures that urgent pop feel reminiscent of so many of those early Beatles album deep cuts. Other songs recall different distinct moments of rock and roll’s glorious guitar past, like classic 1950s rockabilly instrumentals (“Curmudgeon”), or signature Chuck Berry guitar work (Quarter Past Eight”) , or lush surf ballads (“Satisfaction”). But get ready for something different when you get to “Over and Out.” This should-be hit single represents a whole new vista for this group stylistically, exuding a fresh contemporary sound. “Ultimatum” is another surprising departure, vibing more modern bands like The Strypes. I’m loving this new twist on the band’s influences. Also in the ‘more modern’ category would be “Annie” and “Yesterday.” Here I hear bands like The Connection. Meanwhile “Too Much Time” has a seventies pop feel, kinda like bands like King Harvest. Look out world, Televisionaries are broadcasting on some new frequencies.

It’s hard to figure out just what Ex-Vöid is. An angrier Teenage Fanclub? An indie rock remaking of Richard and Linda Thompson? The 2018’s teaser maxi-single that gave us a taste of their brilliance with early takes on “Boyfriend” and “(Angry) At You Baby” certainly signalled something special was on the way. And it’s finally here, debut album Bigger Than Before. The album practically launches out of the speakers with the urgent guitar bash of “Churchyard.” “Chemical Reaction” fakes out a punk opening before settling into jangly swirl of guitars and a unique of blend of male and female vocals. “Angry at You Baby” really brings to mind the updated Richard and Linda Thompson comparisons with the discordant tension between the two vocalists riding a wave of chunky rhythm guitar. “Boyfriend” remains the obvious single, cast in a more muscular setting this time around. Then again, “Weekend” takes the jangle in a more pop direction, reminding me of Mary Lou Lord’s wonderful guitar pop numbers. This is what aids the mystery around this band. One minute they’re rocking out on numbers like “So Neurotic” and “Lying To You.” Then they effortlessly shift gears into more melodically poppy moods on tracks like “I Couldn’t Say It To Your Face” and “No Other Way.”  The album ending offers further surprises with “My Only One,” a lovely harmony-laden acoustic ballad. Bigger Than Before is an exhilarating mix of exciting guitar and beguiling harmony vocals, definitely not to be missed.

The great thing about Michael Goodman’s material is that whether instrumentally tarted up or stripped down to just an acoustic guitar the songs work. His Goodman project’s latest album How Close Are You To The Ground? is full of solid songs, delightfully played. Goodman’s style? Timeless. He takes the basic poprock songwriting style that gelled in 1960s and performs them in a way that defies an easy identification with any particular era. “One Thousand Channels” opens with a guitar/organ blast that is vaguely 1979 Springsteen but then resolves into a more stripped-down guitar-pop number. “Mis’rable” uses call and response vocals to add intensity to its basic pop hooks – to my ears – in a classically 1980 AM radio way. Despite the strong rhythm guitar sheen to most tracks here the keyboards are the hidden star on this record. Listen to how they lend an earworm quality to “how to tie your shoe.” Title track “How Close Are You to the Ground?” is one of those winsome deep cuts you enjoy getting to when you let the album play through. “Weekend Cruise” updates a basic early 1960s vamp style into something sounding fresh and now. And, as noted in a previous review, “Au Pair” is the obvious single, a genius bit of poprock production. Or, if you’re into a more slowburn bit of hooky songwriting, “Desk W/ A View” will definitely sneak up on you. Give How Close Are You To The Ground? a few spins and see if you don’t agree, it’s another high quality installment of the Goodman musical saga.

In the early 1980s there were a host of bands that put out smooth AM radio-friendly poprock that got a lot of airplay. Think of all those clearly Beatles-influenced hit singles from The Alan Parsons Project or the revived Moody Blues. That sound is back with a vengeance on Papa Schmapa’s Where Are You Now? You can definitely hear it on various tracks from the band’s earlier 2019 album, songs like “I Don’t Mind” and “In the End,” but the effect seems more solidified on the new record. Album opener “Warm” surges to a start with guitars reminiscent of those Gerry Rafferty hit singles and a tune that is so SoCal 1981. Then “It’s All Over Tonight” starts slow before transforming into a kind a pop version of a Blue Oyster Cult single. “Keep This All in Mind” offers up a striking mix of jangle guitar and  change ups in the vocal style, particularly in the chorus. The guitar work is very mid-period Beatles while the vocals from Elysia Cristantello sound a bit early 1980s Carlene Carter. Most of the vocals on the album are handled by Joe DelVecchio who has a great everyman rock and roll timbre, though together with Elysia something magic happens, as on the propulsively poppy “What You Gonna Do.” Elsewhere the record vibes the mellow pop feel of 1970s Wings on cuts like “Come Bad Days” and “Fly Away.” But the bands also rocks things up a bit on “Love is on the Line” and serves up a soaring melodic chorus in “Where Are You Now?” So whether it’s 1981 or the here and now, I’m pretty confident Where Are You Now? should meet your approval as a very pleasant car-driving, cassette tape-decking playing good time.

Warm
Keep This All In Mind
What You Gonna Do

Even if radio isn’t the be all and end all for music exposure today it still haunts our collective imagination, defining a kind of sound and success (for better and worse). My gut says today’s artists are radio ready even if radio isn’t really up to the challenge anymore.

Top photo: exclusive Poprock Record model Rob Elliott tunes into radio in an undisclosed eastern European location. Courtesy Swizzle Gallery.

The republic of Mersey

31 Thursday Mar 2022

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The Beatles are such a touchstone for the melodic rock and roll genre that it’s not surprising that artists keep going back to the source again and again. At the same time, covering the Beatles is pretty much an impossible task. I mean, how do you improve on anything JPGR did? In one sense, you don’t – they’ll always be the definitive version. The trick is to reinvent their material in an unexpected but still recognizable direction. Today we visit acts taking the Beatles’ material to all sorts of new places while still remaining within the borders of the republic of Mersey.

Staten Island’s Goin’ Places is a pop punk group in the Ramones/Green Day mode, so not exactly the boys we’d expect to find hanging out at Lime Street Station. Yet it actually makes them the perfect outfit to punkify the Beatles’ catalogue. The lion’s share of the 18 cuts featured on their Fingerboard Road draw from the early to mid-period Fabs records. Some of what they put together is genius – all of it is fun. Fun like those Me First and Gimme Gimme’s albums of sixties covers! “I Saw Her Standing There” so works with a wall of punky guitars, the song being halfway there to begin with. Other songs that easily lend themselves to punking up include “She Loves You,” “Eight Days a Week,” and “Ticket to Ride,” the latter really only requiring hitting the lead guitar distortion pedal. Other tunes go punk simply because they were ballads that are now being played a triple speed: e.g. “Yesterday,” Something,” and “Hey Jude.” They sound jarring but remain melodically cool. “Norwegian Wood” and “I Will” get extra marks for inventiveness as the band add new musical interludes to spice things up. “A Day in the Life” is particularly special with its very Green Day treatment. But at other times punk gives way to just a rocking good time. Both “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Help” are simply exuberant rocking love letters to the originals. The Clash may have hated phony Beatlemania but Goin’ Places deliver the real ‘pop-meets-punk’ thing.

Stephen Krilanovich and Donny Newenhouse are the Wind-Up Beatles Chronicles, which they describe on their bandcamp page as a ‘pandemic music project.’ Whatever the impetus, man do these two nail the Beatles’ mid period sound (think Beatles for Sale to Revolver, with a few outliers). Sometimes they sail pretty close to the originals, which makes noting the small differences all that more interesting for Beatlemaniacs. For instance, “She Said She Said” is pretty Beatles note perfect. In other instances, they lean into various elements a bit more than the Fabs. “Wait” has a got an interesting and different guitar sound even while the timing is spot on and so familiar. “What You’re Doing” has got a bit more sparkle on the jangly guitar. “Rain” is probably the most different treatment here: less psychedelic and droney, more Brydsian. At other times the basic difference is simply that these two guys have got different voices than JPGR and no matter how clever the musical backing the overall effect is gonna be unavoidably different. “Paperback Writer” illustrates this well. The music sounds so much like the original single but the voices are pretty different (though pleasantly so). Probably my fave cut here is “I’m Looking Through You.” It’s delivered in a Rubber Soul approved light breeziness and sounds like an alternate take to the original. It’s fair to say that a splendid time is virtually guaranteed for all with this record.  It’s definitely for Beatles fans who ever thought ‘hey, I like to hear those songs done differently but not too differently done.’

In 2013 Canada’s Bullseye Records decided to put out a three volume tribute to the Beatles entitled It Was 50 Years Ago Today: A Tribute to The Beatles. So many great tracks but two particularly stood out for me, The Lolas’ rendition of “Good Morning, Good Morning” and Eytan Mirsky’s take on Harrison’s first song-write “Don’t Bother Me.” The Lolas balance some guitar grind with a lighter take on the vocals than in Lennon’s original. They also straighten out the tempo, less off kilter that what we’re used to. The song gets a bit lost amid the chaos of Sgt. Pepper but here it gets a chance to stand out on its own. As for “Don’t Bother Me,” I’ve always had a soft spot for a tune routinely dismissed by Beatles experts as lightweight and rudimentary in terms of Harrison’s eventual song-writing prowess. Yet I always thought it had an original melodic twist. Eytan Mirsky works the song over, adding distinctive lead guitar tones and some nice call and response vocals. At times he sounds like The Zombies’ lead singer in full-on, white boy blues whine (and that’s a good thing). Sisters Gwendolyn and Lucy Giles of Dog Party offer up a double A sided single of Beatles tunes. Nothing ground shaking in these reworkings of early Beatles’ hits but their harmonies do manage to add to the magic allure of “I Feel Fine,” bending the melody here and there in new and exciting directions, while their vocal take on “All I’ve Got To Do” adds mystery and a bit of mischief to the proceedings.

Now for a project that is more than a bit out there: Fabs songs converted into Avengers exposition. Insane Ian is a comedian that sidelines as a modern day Weird Al, though needle dropping through his voluminous catalogue his ouvre is more about the immediate gag rather than something you might listen to more than once. But his Meet the Avengers album is a musical superhero riff of a different colour. The musicianship is pretty impressive, hitting the Beatles marks where they need to. And the writing is pretty funny too. So “Nowhere Man” becomes “Iron Man,” “Help” transforms into “Hulk,” “Lady Madonna” becomes “Lady Natasha,” and so on. Sometimes the new lyrical detail overwhelms the old tune, as when “Thor’s Big Silver Hammer” leaves “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” in a bit of disarray. By contrast “Hawkeye” nails the cadence and lyrical spacing of “Blackbird.” Personal fave: the rocking reworking of “Day Tripper” as “Steve Rogers.” The chorus even shifts melody slightly. As a rule, comedy projects don’t have a long shelf life but Insane Ian’s clever writing, surprisingly good musical performances, and creative artwork give this effort legs. Meet the Avengers might be funny but it’s no joke.

Lover of all things 1970s Nick Frater takes us in a decidedly different direction with his Mersey-influenced outing, focusing on The Rutles rather than the Fabs directly. The point of his Nick Frater Presents The Rebutles: Ron, Dirk, Stig and Barry The Solo Years, Vol​.​1 effort was to imagine what The Rutles might have sounded like if they’d broken up like the Beatles and then gone on to release (send-up) solo singles. The whole thing is pretty meta but, as with all things Frater, ultimately pretty clever, highly accomplished, and very listenable. The songs go from a late Beatles rooftop motif (“Struck in a Rut”) to early solo sort-of Fabs (“Baby I’m Amazing”) to mock Bond (“You Only Live Once”) to later solo Fabs recycled nostalgia (“When We Were Eighteen”) to morbid pastiche reunions (“The Last Laugh”). You’ve got to be pretty far down the Beatles/Rutles rabbit hole to get all the jokes and references but the beauty of Frater’s work is you can just enjoy the songs for what they are: pretty decent songs, well played. The fact that Frater can toss projects like this in as a free insert with his more serious album releases is a testament to his prodigious talent.

The republic of Mersey is a groovy place, surely the ultimate green and pleasant land. You don’t need a passport to go there. All you need is love, an open mind, and a thirst for the evolving musical influence of the Beatles.

This is a modern world: Waaves, Big Nothing, Semprini, and Said the Whale

26 Saturday Mar 2022

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This site is pretty retro mostly. We work the 1960s-through-1980s melodic rock side of the street and we’re happy with that. But every now and then we get into something a bit more contemporary. Like post 2000. Today’s post embraces the modern hooky taste-makers that cross our radar because, after all, melody is timeless.

Waaves is one of those bands with a legendary reputation rooted in a certain kind of ‘tude,’ generally a post-punk indie snarl. But with Hideaway the band drops the pretence of cool indifference to openly seduce us with catchy tunes and inventive musical arrangements. Album opener “Thru Hell” vibes a bit of The Vaccines for me. Then “Hideaway” delivers on the band brand of pop punk, delivered oh-so smooth. But with “Help Is On The Way” things branch out. The big vocal hooks, the up-front rhythm guitar remind me of Vancouver’s The Zolas. In fact, I hear a bit of that band on the mid-tempo pleaser “Planting a Garden,” though punched up here and there. “Sinking Feeling” is the showcase single and it shows, with a killer roll-out featuring  cool competing guitar lines. The song itself has a mesmerizing effect, a hypnotic tension created between the drumming and rumbly versus jangle guitar counterpoint. The country influences are probably the most surprising addition to the mix here. “The Blame” is great rollicking country pop number, perhaps my fave cut on the album. There’s a subtle John Lennon/Beatles melodic intensity at work in here somewhere. “Marine Life” is another track with just a bit of a country veneer pulling focus from the overall punk feel. I’m also partial to “Honeycomb,” a nice, bit spacey, mid-tempo pop rock number. Overall Hideaway banishes the genre tags that have dominated Waaves’ career to just let the music speak.

The gorgeous cover of Big Nothing’s new album Dog Hours deserves vinyl proportions to really be appreciated. The pastoral cover painting also gives clear visual clues to what’s inside, a veritable wrestling match with melancholia, with sadness pulling at the edges of all the sonic sketches included here. If sometimes it feels good to feel bad, get ready to feel very good indeed. The album begins with “Always On My Mind” setting the scene with its shoe-gazey, Teenage Fanclub sombre sensibility. This one sounds like the radio-ready single release. “A Lot of Finding Out” follows with something a bit more up-tempo, a straight-up indie rock number with a touch of country going on. Liz Parsons takes over vocals on “Still Sorta Healing” giving the band a very different sound, almost The Carnations-like. But with “Don’t Tell Me” the album’s basic mood gets established. Building off an acoustic guitar base, the song has a 1980s crossover country/indie sound in REM mode. “Curiosity” uses subdued piano and guitar flourishes to create a low-key backdrop, only to lift us up with harmony vocals in the chorus. Even the rippling lead guitar lines buffeting title track “Dog Hours” can’t obscure the downbeat feel of the song. “Make Believe” is a bit more cheery, a bit of that crossover country/indie vibe laden with killer lead guitar lines. “Back the Way” also works its hooky lead guitar line into every available space in the song. “Accents” has jumpy acoustic guitars driving the song, sounding very very 1980s English guitar band. And then the album ends with its basic ennui intact using an acoustic guitar-picking colouring to define “What I Wanna Say.” Dog Hours is an album for a wistful walk at twilight or sound-tracking some late-night lamp-lit apartment. By combining melancholy with melody, it’s ultimately a feel good record.

Semprini is one of those brand new bands of old guys that I just love. Veterans of numerous 90s grunge and indie bands they’ve now come out with self-titled debut album that sounds as fresh as anything their younger selves might have put together. The flavour of the first few songs is very Bob Mould in his immediate post-Sugar phase. Listen to “Words You Say” and “Puts Hands in Last” along with “Eastbound” a bit further into the album and you might come away with singular view of what the band is doing. But there’s some striking variety on this album. “Soft Focus” has a very new wave Byrds feel and “Understand Anything” continues in the same vein, with a slight country tweak. “The Front Door” adds an Americana dimension to what is going on while “Best Of You” sets it hooky guitar breaks against an almost Band-like piano background. “Wish We Had Kissed” sounds like the single with its jangle guitar and earwormy constant invocation of the title line. And then the record ends with another surprise, “When the Lights Go Out,” a lovely, almost meditative tune where the bass guitar line really hooks you in, only to build to a bit of structured chaos in the latter half. Give Semprini a listen to hear some old dogs doing new tricks.

Vancouver’s Said the Whale are really saying something with their seventh long-player, Dandelion. Like ‘we’re ready to be big stars’ with this winning collection of killer tunes. The confidence in the execution of these songs rings out on tracks like “The Ocean” and “Sweetheart.” There’s no filler here. Every inch of album space is an opportunity to demonstrate all the amazing things this group can do. Just listen to how the band shift effortlessly from the extremely danceable “Honey Lungs” to the somber instrumental piano ballad “February 15.” The record is really a kaleidoscope of shifting musical motifs. There’s the earnest, relentless poppiness of “99 to the Moon,” a head-bopping Portugal the Man-esque turn on “Return to Me,” and the touching, stark ballad effort with “Dandelion.” The voice-over and sound effects on “Everything She Touches is Gold to Me” give a cinematic launch to a tune that is both subtly alluring in the verses and wonderfully  bombastic at the chorus. Meanwhile, “Show Me Everything” sounds like it’s going to be a big vocal ballad before twisting in the chorus to something more melodically sinister – brilliant! Dandelion is an album bursting with sonic surprises and melodic goodness from a band clearly ready for the big time.

Just because something’s modern doesn’t mean it has to leave old men shouting ‘get off my lawn’ in its wake. It can be relatable. Today’s acts know how wrap good old fashioned hooks in the most modern of fancy paper.

Cinematic powerpop: Super (2010)

16 Wednesday Mar 2022

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James Gunn’s soundtrack for Marvel’s Guardians of Galaxy got almost as much commentary as the film itself. The hooky selection of tunes probably had a lot of powerpop connoisseurs attributing the choices to some nameless musical supervisor. But a scan of Gunn’s movie resume suggests he doesn’t leave such decisions to just anybody. In fact, you get a feel for Gunn’s powerpop instincts with the choice of Tsar’s “Calling All Destroyers,” which he featured prominently in an earlier vehicle, his 2010 black comedy Super. While the movie got mixed reviews the soundtrack deserves a definite thumbs up, at least when it comes to hitting the powerpop marks. I’m not saying every song in the film fits the genre but with tracks from Tsar, Eric Carmen, Cheap Trick and The Nomads there’s clearly some kind of theme to the whole thing. I mean, just check out how Gunn uses “Calling All Destroyers” to open the movie with its animated title sequence. Talk about setting the scene – this is pure fun!

Another nod to the powerpop canon on the Super soundtrack is the inclusion of Eric Carmen. You don’t get much closer to the genre’s royalty than his early 1970s band The Raspberries, even if his solo career is largely defined by easy listening and power ballads. “It Hurts Too Much” is an exception, a welcome throwback to The Raspberries big hooks and Spector-ish production. Seeing Cheap Trick here also set off the powerpop alarms big time. “If You Want My Love” is from the band’s 1982 album One On One and it’s dripping with a late period Beatles vibe. Another track fitting the genre is the pop punky “I Do” from the mysterious Lo Def Dollz.

Eric Carmen – It Hurts Too Much
Cheap Trick – If You Want My Love

From there the soundtrack goes in a number of mostly complimentary directions. A surprising number of Swedish artists make the cut. Moneybrother offer up some pop reggae on “God Knows My Name ‘11” and “Born Under a Bad Sign” in a style reminiscent of The Specials. The Ark offer a more 1980s pop dance number with “Let Your Body Decide.” Last on the Nordic front is The Nomads doing punk honour to The Standells “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White.” Then Gunn adds in back-to-back country and hip hop selections with cuts from Terra Naomi and Acevalone, just to throw in some grit. Tyler Bates provides seven of the seventeen tracks on the soundtrack, mostly incidental music, except for the striking “Two Perfect Moments” which is a song proper.

The Nomads – Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White
Tyler Bates – Two Perfect Moments

The music on the Super soundtrack really works with the movie, effectively framing Rainn Wilson and his girl sidekick’s wonderfully demented performances as heroes/anti-heroes. The critics may have been divided but I thought the movie rocked, blowing up the superhero genre and defying easy identification with its themes or characters. Of course, the inspired soundtrack just made it that much better. To my eyes and ears, Super really is super.

March singles spectacular

05 Saturday Mar 2022

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As a month, March just feels so in between. Lacking any real ‘big event’ or holiday it can seem like we’re all just doing time waiting for spring to start. What we need is something big, something spectacular. So I’m offering a roundup of recent melody-drenched singles to help get you through.

San Francisco’s Richard Turgeon kicked off 2022 with a new career highlight, the infectious stand-alone single “Better With You.” Need a shot of feel good guitar oriented power pop? Turgeon adds a lot of Matthew Sweetener to this track but to my ears the mix is just right. The king of Dad rock is unstoppable! Shifting gears, French outfit Persica 3 takes us in a more ethereal direction with their dreamy “Water Lily,” the most straight-up radio friendly contribution on their new LP Tangerine. The song is like a museum of sonic trappings from years gone by, a bit 1980s keyboard ambience, some lilting 1970s acoustic guitar, and vocals that would be at home in any roomy medieval church. With Commotion Pop Garden Radio have released a tribute album to Creedence Clearwater Revival that pulls together 26 indie artists to remake the band’s canon. It’s a gutsy endeavor because trying to cover John Fogerty often begs the question, why bother? It is gonna be hard to top the master. All the bands make a stellar effort but the contributions from Popdudes and Yorktown Lads really stand out for me. Popdudes key up the jangle guitar and fatten the vocals on “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” in a way that really suits the song, adding something new to this classic. Yorktown Lads hilariously add an early Beatles rocking veneer to “Green River.” The mix could have been just a joke but the band ace melding the disparate styles with such a smoking dexterity you can’t help but be blown away. Michael Goodman’s musical project Goodman is reliably good. Every few years another album comes down the pike full of hooky poprock sketches, drawing from classic 1970s and 1980s indie motifs. His new album is How Close Are You to the Ground? and the whole thing is strong but the obvious candidate for should-be hit single is the punchy “Au Pair.” Goodman mixes up all the various elements with a creative genius: engaging guitar, hooky vocal lines, a staccato seductive lurch to the rhythm.

Like every other Beatlemaniac, I was thrilled to see the band put out some new songs in the 1990s. But somehow I just couldn’t get past the poor quality of John’s vocals on the two singles. Enter Francis Lung with his beautiful and Beatles-faithful rendering of “Real Love,” a version that offers us a more balanced treatment of the song. Now we can really hear how good it is. Sometimes there’s a band doing something that generally is not your thing but then there’s a deep cut that totally grabs you. Well that is Connecticut’s punky, sometime-screamers Anxious for me. Their uptempo material on Little Green House is fine but it was their out-of-character acoustic guitar ballad “Wayne” that really got into my head with its mellow backing and captivating vocal interplay. And looking at album’s cute cover design, it’s really the only song that you’d predict would be there. Let’s say you release an album of new tunes in the October, so what do you do in the new year? If you’re Ricky Rochelle you release a stand-alone single that branches out with a whole new style. 2021’s So Far So Good featured songs that straddled the pop punk and indie rock and roll sound but his new single “In a Dream With You” is something else again. Personally I like where he’s going. The song is a bit more light and buoyant than the previous efforts, with a dreamy hook in the chorus. Minneapolis subs for Memphis when The Cactus Blossoms come to town. Their new album is One Day and it delivers on what fans loved about their debut album Easy Way, an unerring feel for that Everly Brothers/Roy Orbison mode of playing and singing. The new record does branch out a bit into more contemporary song styles (e.g. “Everybody”) but tune in to “Hey Baby” to get your fix of the old magic. Another band living the 1960s musical dream to perfection is New York’s Jeremy and the Harlequins. On their new single “It Won’t Be Love” they reinvent the early 1960s tragic rock song style, adding some Springsteen-ish rocking muscle to proceedings.

A straightforward blast of poprocky goodness can be found The Summer Holiday’s “What Happens When You Lose.”  I hear a bit of the New Pornographers in the song’s poppy twists and turns. The band’s creative force Michael Collins is working on material for new album, according to I Don’t Hear a Single. So there’s that to look forward to. The Hoodoo Gurus are back after eleven years with a new album and winning, timely single, “Carry On.” Though written back in 2005, the song manages to give voice to healthcare workers struggling to keep going amidst this seemingly never-ending pandemic. The song has everything you’d expect from the HGs, big guitars, in-your-face vocals and solid rock and roll hooks. Another band with a big sound is Cardiff’s Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard. Their new album Backhand Deals is chock full of a 1970s sense of poprock abandon, all driving keyboards and different vocals playing off each other. But it’s “Break Right In” that will really knock you over. The lyrics are eccentric and the mood is a shot of seventies 10cc meets Queen in full-on pop mode. Seems it was just yesterday that The Orange Peels re-released their 1997 debut Square to serious reviewer accolades (it was 2019, actually). But the band is not living in the past. Their most recent album is Celebrate the Moments of Your Life and it’s full of perky song sketches, like “Indigo Hill” and “Human.”  I hear a real Shins vibe on the former but the latter reminds me of The Pixes, particularly the keyboard work. Former Figgs and NRBQ member Pete Donnelly moves in a more decidedly poprock direction his new EP Anthem of the Time. You can really hear it on the title track, a song that has some definite Beatlesque turns and benefits from a relentless dose of jangly lead guitar work.

The Summer Holiday – What Happens When You Lose

Norway’s Armchair Oracles must be working up to a new album, what with the slew of singles they’ve released over the past three years. “Addicted to the Ride” is the latest and this time out I’m hearing a very Gerry Rafferty gloss on the vocals (and that’s a good thing!) while the tune is very Macca in mid-period Wings flight. Surge and the Swell is an Americana project from Minnesota’s Aaron Cabbage, working with the Honeydogs’ Adam Levy. I think you can really Levy’s impact on “Gravity Boots” with the electric guitar licks really adding some poppy hooks to the song. It just shows how a creative songwriter and producer can work together to blur genre boundaries, with good effect. I really got into Sarah Shook and the Disarmers on their 2017 Sidelong album, a wonderfully ramshackle bit of what Rolling Stone dubbed ‘agitated honky tonk.’ But that didn’t prepare me for their new single “I Got This.” The song defies genre. The playing reminds me of Darwin Deez in its economical roominess while the vocal is full of surprises. Gone is the surly country twang, replaced by a more direct delivery in the verses and disarming falsetto in the chorus. Altogether a delightful surprise. Another genre crosser is Oliver Tree. He describes his new album Cowboy Tears as ‘cowboy emo’ but on the earwormy single “Things We Used to Do” I get a more Front Bottoms or Grouplove vibe. This one will seduce you slowly, its shuffle beat and acoustic guitar anchor lulling you into hitting replay multiple times. One of the many delights of 2019 was the debut effort from Glasgow’s U.S. Highball. Great Record was indeed a great record. So the teaser release of a single from their upcoming new record A Parkhead Cross of the Mind is most welcome. “Double Dare” sounds a bit different off the start but once it gets going it’s not too different. There’s the jangle, there’s the poppy melody, there’s the distinctive vocal harmonies we’ve come to rely on from this duo. There’s even a cool keyboard solo halfway through.

Surge and the Swell – Gravity Boots
Sarah Shook and the Disarmers – I Got This
Oliver Tree – Things We Used to Do


Let’s wrap up this 21 song March spectacular with Tamar Berk’s new single “Your Permission.” Berk was one of the breakout indie stars of 2021 with her smart, stylish debut album The Restless Dreams of Youth and particularly the single “Socrates and Me.” But let the reinvention process begin because with “Your Permission” she offers up a striking change of direction, shifting from a guitar to keyboards focus to create a gorgeous pop setting for this tune. The song itself channels the sophisticated song-writing and performance of a Suzanne Vega or Aimee Mann. A new album can’t arrive fast enough.

Whew, what a cavalcade of should-be stars! With these tunes you can cast aside your winter doldrums and put a bit of spring in your step. Even if there’s still snow left to shovel.

Post photo courtesy Swizzle Gallery.

Rock and roll party night: Dream Boogie, Trevor Lake, Superkick, and The Friends of Cesar Romero

09 Wednesday Feb 2022

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Here at Poprock Record we’re not always about sweet vocal harmonies and earworm melody-drenched material. Sometimes we rock out. Really. And the proof is right here in this post as we host a hooky rock and roll party night. So dim the lights and get that two-four of 50 chilling in the fridge. It’s time to cut loose.

Sweden’s got a reputation as some kind of social democratic paradise where blond people are excruciating polite to each other. But Dream Boogie exists to let you know they can get messy. I love the ramshackle, loose party vibe to the performances on their sole release to date, Sorry to Disappoint All Music Lovers. Kinda like Titus Adronicus meets The Replacements, with a touch of 1964 Beatles guitar. Opening cut “Pirlo,” a paean to the Italian soccer coach, really sets the scene with a driving beat, retro guitars, whistles and group singing vocals. “At the Heart of Seoul” adds a bit of rambling, countryfied Merseybeat to the proceedings. Then there’s a dab of “The Batman Theme” kicking off “A Boy Can Dream,” punkish doo-wop on “Good Boys Don’t Stop the Music,” and a Stonesy psych feel to “A Letter to the King.” There’s also jangle to spare all over this record, on “Surf Green,” “Shanghai Nights,” and “Where I Turn.” “Television Will Not be Revolutionized” cleverly inverts Gil Scott Heron’s classic message, stylistically moving into Springsteen territory circa The River. My personal fave on this record is “Will There Ever Be a Rainbow?” It’s got the vibe of a Spector-era girl group classic on some sort of punk revival circuit. “Bullets” rounds out the LP and conjures up a seething, sweaty mass jumping up and down in unison. This is a party band par excellence. Live in concert I’m pretty sure they don’t disappoint.

Forget Athens or Manchester as your fave hip music city. Rochester, New York is the place to be! The local indie music mafia includes such great bands as The Chesterfield Kings, The Demos, The Hi-Risers, and The Squires of the Subterrain, among many others. Like Trevor Lake. Locals have already seen this guy in a host of bands from Dangerbyrd to The Televisionaires to a revived Hi-Risers. But it’s Lake’s solo work that’s got our attention here, specifically his swinging melody-pleasing long-player Bunker Stew. Past solo work from Lake has stretched from the full on rockabilly revivalism of Laughin’ and Jokin’ to stripped down punk from Danny’s Favorites. But Bunker Stew falls into the sweet spot between neo-1950s and early 1960s melodic rock and roll. Some of what appears here is straight up Johnny Horton rockabilly-influenced, like “Big City Girls” and “Big Footed Dan,” or Merseybeat and/or surf rock themes on “Do What You Wanna Do” and “Go, Go Ferrari.” But other tracks synthesize those retro motifs into something like the new wave poprock that emerged in the late 1970s. Album opener “There She Goes” sounds like a track Marshall Crenshaw would have demo’d back in 1979 for Alan Betrock’s Shake Records. “Never Thought I’d See the Day,” “I Wanna Know Her,” and “Many Roads to Follow” also have the stamp of that era. “Heaven On Earth” reminds me of the country bop style on that great Capitol records compilation Hillbilly Music … Thank God, Vol. 1. Wanna add a bit of swing to your party? Definitely serve up some Bunker Stew.

Chicago’s Superkick may fall on the heavy side of my usual thing. But our rocking party night can surely handle a bit of mosh pit once we get going. Initially I was taken with the cover of their 2020 debut Like This / Like That. It certainly screams ‘party just about out of control’. But soon it was the melodic undercurrent lurking beneath the grinding guitars that grabbed my attention. The album pulls together a host of previously released singles like the surging opening cut “Project 21,” “Uncomfortable,” and the band’s more mellow collaboration with Laura Jean Anderson “Sure Thing.” Title Track “Like This / Like That” and “Jock Jam ‘97” fall somewhere between SWMRS and The Front Bottoms style-wise for me, with the wall of guitars and melodic vocal lines. And then there’s departures like “Rumble Seat” that dial back the guitars a bit, letting the poppy melody ride a bit higher in the mix. Clocking in at just 20 minutes long, the album is really more of an EP. Then again, the band does play pretty fast.

Speaking of EPs, the hardest working band plying the sixties-meets-punk side of the street are back with a new collection of four killer tunes. The Friends of Cesar Romero once again really deliver with In the Cold Cruel Eyes of a Million Stars. It’s a great title and the cover is pure 1960s fashion model chic, the kind The Smiths adorned all their singles with. But it’s what inside the EP jacket that counts and here they don’t disappoint. “Athena Crystal” echoes that classic 1960s garage pop rock and roll sound that came on strong again in the late 1970s. “Life of a Sun Queen” owns its late 1960s psych rock sound with a vengeance. “The Moment Playboy” is relentless in hitting its poppy rock marks. “Plastic Moon Love Arrest” has more of Gene Pitney angst to it, if he’d been backed by an actual rock and roll band. I don’t know where band leader J. Waylon Miller gets all his inspiration from but, please, please, don’t let it stop.

Rocking the night away? Sure, we’re up for it. Especially with the crew from this post in attendance. Better line up a ride home for later. Much later. The turntable is just getting warmed up.

Cold snap singles

01 Tuesday Feb 2022

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Winter has hit us hard here in the Great White North. Correction: it’s hit us harder in the parts that usually don’t get sub-zero temps and dumps of snow that won’t leave e.g. Toronto. Nothing to do but hunker down and check out the singles scene. This mix has got a wide variety of poppy rocky sounds, most pretty new, some left behind from 2021, and a few surprises too.

West Midlands’ jangle purveyors The Proctors offer up a killer B-side with “You Me and the Sea.” The guitar just drips with reverby jangle goodness and the vocals are breathy and ethereal in that 1990s English guitar band sort of way. And that’s a pretty groovy synth keyboard riff tucked in there too. Did I mention it’s on pink vinyl? Snuck in at the very end of 2021 was the release of The Boolevards’ new album PoPtastic. It’s a garage take on British Invasion guitar pop, wonderfully exemplified on “Master of Lies.” And many more of the 14 tunes on this LP. With a musical resume like Jason Narducy (Superchunk, Bob Mould Band) the polish and hooks on his recent Split Single album Amplificado should come as no surprise. The single “(Nothing You Can Do) To End This Love” is poprock perfection, charging in from the start only to take off melodically in the chorus. The melding of guitars and vocals reminds me of the always reliable mix from bands like the Well Wishers. Faster Than Light wield a wicked, straightforward brand of melody infused rock and roll. Their one-off single “Blacker” is a fist-pumping, highway-driving song loaded with tasty lead guitar licks. To mark what would have been David Bowie’s 75th birthday, Automatic Shoes decided to put out nice little tribute EP called Rising. I love what this guy does production-wise, the acoustic guitars are so crisp, the vocals are so 1970s-intimate in the best Bowie/Marc Bolan style. The cover of  “Andy Warhol” from Bowie’s 1971 Hunky Dory gets a more stripped down treatment here, which really allows the delicacy of the tune to surface.

Brighton UK’s Bloody Norah are bloody marvelous. From their Instagram page they self-describe as “your dad’s favourite rock band” with “[m]elodies tastier than your mom’s spaghetti and harmonies sweeter than your uncle’s crème brûlée.” This is not just presser bluster. “Shooting Star” is a delightful sixties-themed poprock confection, complete with addictive lead guitar lines and splendid harmony vocals. B-side “Joy” is a winner too, with its Abbey Road Beatles wavery guitar and minor key poignancy. More please! Brett Newski has just released the original version of “Dirt” recorded makeshift-style while living in Vietnam a decade or so ago. The song appeared on his 2014 album American Folksong Armageddon but this older version has a very different feel, rougher obviously, less slick, but also channeling a serious level of late 1960s Donovan. Retro but somehow also very contemporary at the same time. Stourbridge anyone? Yes, I had to look it up, a town in the West Midlands, UK – Birmingham is the most recognizable town to outsiders. Well that’s where you’ll find jangle masters Amoeba Teen. They’re putting together a new album and this month’s teaser single was, appropriately enough, entitled “January.” The song has the band shifting a bit into a country lane filled with the likes of The Byrds and Teenage Fanclub, on occasion. Airy, pedal steel-filled melodic goodness here. Seattle’s Green Pajamas have to be the best kept secret in indie rock and roll. Since 1984 the band has released something like 35 albums or so of original material! You can catch up on the first 15 years of singles on the compilation Indian Winter. But why just love the oldies? The band have got a brand new single that is so 1980s indie retro fabulous. “I Love the Way You Smile at Me” is a lovely midtempo pleaser, with catchy guitar licks and bits of pop psychedelia thrown in here and there. Heading over to the Dutch province of Limberg, we catch up with easygoing funsters Afterpartees whose mega-single The Bunn pays tribute to the band’s fave beer hangout. However, I’m more partial to the sub B-side offering “I Don’t Want the World to Stop.” The track has got a great loping rhythm and a steely lead guitar line that won’t give up while the hint of desperation in the vocals is strangely endearing.

Afterpartees – I Don’t Want the World to Stop

Terms like ‘emo’ get thrown around in discussions of Pittsburg’s Short Fictions but I’m not even sure what it really means anymore. Sure, their 2019 album Fates Worth Than Death had a pretty serious undercurrent but also some pretty funny song titles like “I Don’t Want to Wait Out the Apocalypse With Anyone But You” and “Nothingness Lies Coiled at the Heart of Being (It’s Such a Good Feeling).” Besides “Really Like You” sounds pretty chipper. Ok, lyrically, very emo. Well they’re back with a new single, the very Front Bottoms vibing “Don’t Start a Band.” Can a new album be far off? Dubbed ‘America’s least known supergroup’ The Split Squad combine the talents of former members of The Fleshtones, The Plimsouls, Blondie and Cherry Twister. That experience is all over their new LP Another Cinderella, particularly the title track, which is an onslaught of hooky guitar pop. Dave Molter is another kind of music veteran, the poster boy late bloomer who only released his acclaimed debut EP Foolish Heart in 2019, despite a music career stretching back to sixties. Now his first full LP is about the released and the teaser title track is out now, “Approaching the End of Usable Life.” I’m liking where it suggests the album will be going, some good old fashioned meat and potatoes rock and roll in a Huey Lewis vein. Self-described ‘modern vintage rock band’ The Undecideds are a couple of teens stranded in the here and now, far from the 1980s where they obviously belong. Their understated but still rocking take on Tom Petty and Heartbreakers’ “Even the Losers” has got an authentic feel to it, a thrill all its own. I’m no fence-sitter here – these guys are great. Speedways main man Matt Speedway slipped an EP out at the end of 2021. On Only Trouble Is Gee Whiz he turns the amp down from 11 and dials the Speedways frenetic pace back a bit to showcase his pop side a bit more. Opening cut “She’s Got a Melted Heart and a Frozen Mind” is a mini-masterpiece from the Elliott Smith or Replacements low-key hooks department. The riff snaking throughout the song is pure magic.

Short Fictions – Don’t Start a Band

I’m liking everything about Ryan Allen’s new EP I’m Not Mean. I like the cover. I like the guitar sounds. I like the range of styles he crams into a release with just four tunes. These tunes are bit more poppy in execution in a 1960s British Invasion mold. Give all four a listen but if pressed for time go right to “Cut Your Teeth” which has a bit of 1990s Britpop going for it too. Another band that seldom lets me down is Freedom Fry. They have a Paul Simon knack of putting a little melodic twist into the simplest of songs to lodge in your head. “You Know the Way” is the first of a new ‘sing along’ series they’ve cooked up. The electric piano line is a sublime delight. Tim Izzard’s campaign to bring glam back into the poprock mainstream continues with a new EP, 21st Century Expose. Once again a decided 1970s Bowie/Bolan inspiration is in evidence but turned to totally contemporary concerns on opening cut “Empty My Head.” The track is a timely rumination on the often oppressive impact of social media, linking back to concerns and lyrics from Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” And it’s a catchy little number too. Indie music blogger Eclectic Music Lover put me on to Belfast band Unquiet Nights, specifically “In Spite of It All.” The track has a hypnotic quality, a bit Pink Floyd, a bit U2. Very nice fluid guitar work throughout. The song is the one new contribution to a greatest hits collection they’ve just released, First Ten 2012-2022. You can pick up one album and you’re all caught up! Kelowna BC indie rocker Stephen Schijns (pronounced ‘Skines’) so captures our collective desire to escape cold snaps and Covid with a surf-licious homage to sunny climes and rumbly guitar work on “Trans-Pacific Beach Bum.” And he works in some Dad-joke worthy turns of phrase. This would definitely go with rum, some coconut-flavoured mixer and a sun lamp.

We wrap things up with a folkie turn, though screened through a late 1970s commercial folk filter. Recall those smooth, folkie singer-songwriter singles from the likes of Al Stewart, Gerry Rafferty, and Dan Fogleberg and you get a sense of where we’re going. “Either Way” is the opening track of Steve Noonan’s new album Dreamland and it kicks things off with striking effect. In this song it’s the rhythm guitar that really establishes the hook, offset by an almost staccato delivery on the vocals. This stuff was a staple of early 1980s AM radio and for good reason, it has a very broad possible appeal.

This cold snap’s not going anywhere just yet so grab your sweater and pull up to your Mp3 player to review these super cool singles. The hyperlinked names take you to the artists, their music, or some kind of internet real estate you can hang out on.

The header art above is a fragment from Rob Elliott’s Pandemic Diary page 38.