Category Archives: Poprock Themepark

Summer beach soundtrack: Nite Sobs, Brontosaurus, Lisa Mychols & Super 8, and The August Teens

21 Tuesday Jul 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 5.36.44 PMImagine it’s a summer like any other. Sunshine, lotion, BBQ, and sweet sweet tunes on the portable stereo. There are songs just made for summer and today’s contributors are all vying for a place on your summer soundtrack.

Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 5.40.08 PMAustin’s Nite Sobs alternate between a Jonathan Richman-led Weezer project (“Vowelerie”) and a reinvented Merseybeat sound (“I Need to Hear It”) on their debut longplayer Do the Sob! So if you’re looking for a bit of sock-hopping fun, minus all the drama and insecurity, then dial into this record. I mean, lyrically, there’s all the usual heartache, sometimes with a delightfully madcap delivery (“Aftermath”). But it’s hard to stay down with so much upbeat material on offer here. I love the updated beat group sound on tracks like “Saving You a Place” with its great synth shots. Or check out the sweet sweet harmonies carrying the album’s first single, “I Could Tell You.” You can clearly see the influences in the band’s spot on cover of the Lennon-McCartney cast off composition “I’ll Keep You Satisfied,” a 1960s hit for Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. It’s all there packaged perfectly in the sign off should be single, “Victoria,” with its driving beat, jaunty guitar and punchy vocal delivery. This is a record packed with good vibrations.

Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 5.41.17 PMEvery now and then a band comes along that is smart, well-informed and seemingly able to knock out a cracking tune on any theme. Today that band is Glasgow’s Brontosaurus. The sort-of title track “(Theme from) These People” sets the tone for the album of proletarian poprock to follow, casting bitter lyrics about how “we don’t have dreams, we don’t have freedoms, we don’t have hopes, we don’t have reasons” against some sparkling and hooky guitar work. “Band of the Week” turns the camera back on the self-indulgence of the indie artist with their ‘box of CDs’ and ‘band of the week’ designation from ‘May 2014’ (with just a melodic hint of “Band on the Run” laced throughout the tune). “Blogger” cuts a bit close to home, singing about people who ‘write a blog no one reads about bands no one likes’ – ouch! The song is pretty brilliant though, cleverly quoting The Smiths (‘people see no worth in you but I do’) and deftly exposing the blogger/band racket: “‘we need each other, band and blogger …” With vocals that sound sometimes Morrissey-ish (if he actually cared about something) or Marc Almond (minus all the overwrought libidinous affectation), what comes through is a strong dose of sincerity, despite the send ups. Songs like “Contact Centre Advisor” manage both incisive social commentary lyrically (the job is experienced by the worker as ‘a filter for your rage on the minimum wage’) and catchy guitar solos. Other highlights for me include the Beautiful South-meets-Spook School “A Do-It-All Dad’s Denim Dream,” “Powerpop by Numbers” with its killer chorus, and “The Supergeek,” which explains everything you need to know about how to respond to online trolls (key lyrical insights: ‘there’s more to life’ and ‘he needs this more than you’). Not since Pulp’s “Common People” has a band so effortlessly captured our present working class malaise. ‘I am a binman for the council’ indeed!

Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 5.42.15 PMYou put together two phenomenal and prolific talents like Lisa Mychols and Super 8 and you’re pretty much guaranteed something pretty special. His lock on the late 1960s sunshine sound (from the Village Green to Haight Ashbury) combined with her unerring power pop chops makes their debut collaborative album a nonstop summer delight. “What Will Be” sets the groovy tone from the outset while “Trip and Ellie’s Music Factory” assures listeners a rollicking good time will be had by all. The laid back California sound is all over this record, in multiple registers. There’s the sophisticated Dionne Warwick, Bacharach & David smooth pop of “You & Me, Me & You” and “Honey Bee.” Or the San Francisco acoustic vibe behind “The Monkey Song,” “Your Summer Theme,” and their amazing cover of Kenny Rankin’s “Peaceful” (which owes more to his original than Helen Reddy’s cover). But there are departures, like the great Rolling Stones homage “Time Bomb,” the mournful, serious “Flying Close to the Sun,” and the Sgt. Pepper-esque psych pop feel to “The Arms of Water.” Recognizing all these highlights, I think my fave track is the exquisite “Laguna Nights to Remember” with its amazing vocal from Lisa, which reminds me of work from Juliana Hatfield and Liz Phair. Believe me, you’re going to want to add this Lisa Mychols and Super 8 record to you ‘don’t forget’ beach list, right after the sun screen and disguised bottles of Bud Light.

Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 5.43.13 PMOk, I’ll admit what caught my eye about The August Teens was their new album cover and its title, I’m Selfish and So is My Cat. But what caught my ear was the band’s straight-ahead 1980s FM radio sound – equal parts early 1980s new wave, with echoes of the BoDeans and the Eels as well. Goofy album title notwithstanding, this is a no nonsense rock and roll outfit. Exhibit A: “You’re Not Like Me Baby” – a track that Pat Benatar would surely give her eye teeth for. The album opens with a foot on the accelerator with guitars blasting through “This Time,” a song sweetened in the chorus with some dynamite harmonies. “Oh Emily” kicks off like an early Who outtake before easing into a more easy-going jangle-laden melody. “Backup Man” then shifts things into a more country gear. And so on. So many classic-1980s sounding songs: a bit of Tom Petty (“Be Still, My Rock and Roll Heart”), a touch of Springsteen (“You’re Going to Lose Me”), and smokin’ hot dance number (“I’m in Love with Rock and Roll”). And then there’s the obvious single, “Crestfallen,” a brilliant hooky number that barrels along with some nice change ups. You know what, forget the jokey album cover for a minute. This is a seriously high quality piece of poprock goodness. It deserves your full listening attention.

Chart your path to summer music should-be hits with can’t lose contributions from Nite Sobs, Brontosaurus, Lisa Mychols & Super 8, and The August Teens. Some re-application of the products will most definitely be required!

Canadian content: Daniel Romano and Girlongirl

01 Wednesday Jul 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-07-01 at 10.08.29 AMCanadian content or ‘Cancon’ rules place a quota on radio programming in Canada requiring that a certain percentage of the music played must be from Canadian artists. While decried by market libertarians, there’s a reason the Canadian music scene exploded in the 1970s – the rule worked. Before its introduction, worthy Canadian acts could not get onto playlists, crowded out by high profile American and British artists. For Canadians, success in Canada would only follow making it in the United States, a path successfully taken by group like the Guess Who but few others. But from the 1970s on, thanks to Cancon, a host of homegrown acts could make a living just being stars in Canada. This Canada Day (yes, international audience, today is Canada’s national holiday), let’s focus on just two great Canadian acts made possible (at least in part) by the legacy of Cancon.

Welland, Ontario’s Daniel Romano is an irrepressible musical force, unrestrained by genre boundaries or conventional marketing strategies. Country, metal, new wave, prog rock – different musical styles are just a blank canvas for Romano to work out his songwriting and performance magic. Seriously, is there anything this guy can’t do? I got turned on to his talent with his killer swinging single, “When I Learned Your Name” from 2017’s Modern Pressure. I just had to keep hitting replay. Then his 2018 double album drop of Nerveless and Human Touch turned my head. Man, I thought, can he crank out the songs. Well 2020 has seen Romano surpass even his previous over-achieving bar, releasing seven albums so far! And with no compromise on quality. I’m going to highlight tracks from just a few of them but, really, you won’t go wrong with anything stamped Daniel Romano.

From Visions of the Higher Dream I’m digging “Where I Take My Rest” which has a nice, almost brittle 1979 sort of sound, with a great punchy change-up in the chorus. Super Pollen has a winning title track, a great barreling-forward poprock song, carried on a bed of blistering but still melodic electric guitars. But perhaps the most adventurous mix comes on Dandelion, a more mellow rock and roll rumination with touches of country and super smooth background vocals. There something so Canadian about this recording, with hints of the more radio-friendly Bruce Cockburn here and there guitar-wise. Check out the distinctive horn shots on the hit single hooky “If You Don’t or If You Do,” or the catchy rhythm acoustic guitar guiding “Silent Spring,” or the new wave keyboard on “Ain’t That Enough for You.”

Toronto’s Girlongirl describe themselves as “jangle pop smothered in grunge” and that is confirmed with “Take,” the opening track of their most recent album. I like it, but the band really get down to business in my view with track 2, the obvious single “Girls,” throwing out an irresistible guitar hook to anchor the song. This is a band with a tight, distinctive sound, typified by the dreamy rumble guitar behind “Nen” and “Burn Me” and strong vocals. Another should-be hit single is “Marathon” which alternates between ethereal jangle and grunge guitar, making the shift on the transition from verses and chorus. You can tell from the performances here that Girlongirl would be a kick ass live band. Someday we’ll get to find out …

We’re not the flag-waving, love-it-or-leave-it types up here in the great white north. Canada Day often passes with little more than a BBQ and some cranking of the backyard tunes. This time, add Daniel Romano and Girlongirl to your Cancon-inspired holiday playlist. Cancon or no, they’re most deserving.

Short sharp shocks: The Magnetic Fields and 2nd Grade

11 Thursday Jun 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-06-11 at 5.07.42 PMI seem to recall Canadian poprock iconoclast Gregory Pepper saying something about two minute songs. For him, anything more was surplus to requirements. But stitching together a meaningful short song is harder than it looks. Fools tend to rush in to verses and a chorus and run out of song before they know it. Today we feature two masters of the exquisitely short song, Stephen Merritt’s Magnetic Fields and Philadelphia indie pop combo 2nd Grade.

Like many people, I fell in love with Merritt’s work after just a few listens of 1999’s sprawling, three CD set, 69 Love Songs. The humour, the pathos and, most importantly, the hooks kept me hitting replay again and again. Since then he’s gone in a number of directions with his work (e.g. the rockier Distortion) but regularly delivers solid songwriting, often in abundance. Case in point, his recent 50 Song Memoir witnessed Merritt handling all the vocals on a project that documented each of his 50 years with a separate tune. Now MF are back with a brand new album and Quickies sees Merritt re-assembling the full band, complete with his usual collection of vocalists. The songs are short,  definitely sharp and often shocking. I mean, only Merritt could craft a catchy number about “The Biggest Tits in History” or “The Day the Politicians Died” but both tracks really work, with smart lyrics and eminently hummable tunes. A song about bathroom sex? Got that covered on “Bathroom Quickie.” Merritt’s songwriting sometimes comes off like a stream of consciousness riff on his lifetime encounter with popular culture, like on “Kraftwerk in a Blackout.” And nothing is sacred, as is clear on “I’ve Got a Date with Jesus” and “You’ve Got a Friend in Beelzebub.” With 28 songs, I can’t go into everything on this record but like a deluxe box of Quality Street chocolates, there’s plenty to like here and a lot to savor. If you’ve liked past Magnetic Field efforts, you won’t be disappointed.

2nd Grade offer up what we might call a ‘two-four’ of songs here in Canada on their latest long player, Hit to Hit: 24 tracks, most clocking in at 2 minutes or less. As a songwriting strategy, it really works here. The material is snappy, fresh, vibing a bit of Apples in Stereo or recent Mo Troper. Ranging over the selections, the band are lyrically playful on songs like “Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider” and “When You Were My Sharona,” punk things up “W2” and “Trigger Finger,” or just offer up straight ahead poprock on “Shooting From the Hip” (with a touch of mid-period Fleetwood Mac here) and “Sunkist.” Tempo shifts include more low key folkie material like “Something I’ll Have to Remember” or the nicely Elliott Smith-paced “Maybe I.” My personal faves are probably the mildly urgent “Over and Over” and the seasonal smash, should be hit “Summer of Your Dreams.” But hey, with so many choices why settle on a strict ranking just yet? I’d recommend hitting random play and see what moves you. There’s a lot of serious goodness here to discover.

Short songs, long albums – variety!  That’s what you’ll be getting with these offerings. It’s a nice twist on the usual thing. So check out Magnetic Fields and 2nd Grade’s latest magnum opi, live with them a bit, and see if you don’t just want to listen to them a bit more.

Misspent youth: Westcoast edition

04 Thursday Jun 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-06-02 at 1.29.44 PMIn the 1970s and most of the 1980s, I grew up in Vancouver, Canada’s largest city on the country’s west coast. I still love the town’s abundance of Edwardian architecture, kooky downtown neighbourhoods, and even its long stretches of gray, rainy weather. But it wasn’t until I moved away that I realized just how isolated it was from the rest of urban North America. Many was the time that major music acts would skip Vancouver on their tours – it just wasn’t economical for a lot of bands to make the trek so far from touring circuits based out of Los Angeles or Chicago or New York City. Yet this geographic reality, combined with Canadian content laws introduced in the 1970s to help Canadian music get on the radio, contributed to a pretty cool music scene.

Some of the earliest westcoast acts I remember hearing were the Poppy Family and Chilliwack. Terry Jacks would achieve uber fame with his international hit cover of the Brel/Mckuen classic “Seasons in the Sun” in 1974 but I much prefer his earlier Poppy Family recordings with then wife Susan Jacks. The band’s biggest hit was the title track to their 1969 debut, Which Way You Going Billy?, and it is a great song, but check out the smoking cool organ and melodic hooks that animate “Where Evil Grows” from the follow up record, Poppy Seeds. This is an absolutely perfect sonic confection! Chilliwack were a Vancouver music institution, releasing countless hit records in Canada throughout the 1970s and early 1980s under the guidance of creative leader, Bill Henderson. A lot of people only know the band for their biggest U.S. hit, “My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone) from 1981 but they had 19 chart entries in Canada from 1970 to 1983. Personally, I’ve always loved “There’s Something I Like About That” from the band’s 1974 album Riding High (which contained the distinctive hit single, “Crazy Talk”). The album is transitional, with the band shifting from hippie folk and long-hair rock to a more catchy, rock and roll singles sound, and it shows on this song with its shifts between a seductive shuffle in the verses and the belt out fun chorus.

As the 1970s gave way to the eighties new wave and punk hit Vancouver hard, without entirely shaking loose the locale’s hippie and dude rock and roll vibes. Such musical contradictions were all over Prism, a band initially put together by soon-to-be-superstar producer Bruce Fairbairn and Bryan Adams songwriting partner Jim Vallance. The band produced a spate of great singles like “Flying,” “See Forever Eyes,” “Armageddon,” and “Young and Restless” but my fave remains the Lindsay Mitchell/Bryan Adams-penned “Cover Girl.” The Payola$ were more straight-up new wave-influenced and the band always seemed a bit too cool for the local scene. Despite that, they couldn’t find their footing chart-wise, with their early albums a bit too indie for the mainstream (e.g. 1982’s No Stranger to Danger) while later bids for commercial success failed to grab radio play and alienated longtime fans (e.g. 1985’s Here’s the World For Ya). Personally, I think 1983’s Hammer on the Drum hit the sweet spot artistically and it should have been the break out hit with jaunty tracks like  “I’ll Find Another (Who Can Do It Right)” and the touching “Where Is This Love.” The record did produce a #8 Canadian hit duet with Carole Pope, the upbeat “Never Said I Love You.”

Something happened in the mid-1980s with the consolidation of a broad, non-mainstream indie music scene, largely supported by college radio and small music venues. Suddenly it seemed that not everyone was going the stadium rock route or topping the AM radio charts, and that was Ok. The most exciting local band working this seam for me were the Grapes of Wrath. Technically a Kelowna band, they set up shop in Vancouver in 1984 and released their debut a year later. September Bowl of Green blew me away. I worshipped these guys. They were like our local R.E.M. They had jangly guitars and great songs and I couldn’t stop playing their first single “Misunderstanding.” Their second release was the Tom Cochrane-produced Treehouse and it was a masterpiece. Really, their whole catalogue (six albums, one EP) is pretty solid, including an incredible comeback record in 2013. Another band proudly wearing the indie banner were 54-40. They’ve released 14 albums since 1984 and, despite a lack of hit singles, they’ve sold a lot of albums in Canada and maintained pretty high standards throughout. I don’t get it – tracks like “One Gun,” “Miss You” “One Day in Your Life,” and “Casual Viewin’” all sound like radio hits to me. But if I had to cut my 54-40 collection to just one song it would be the enigmatic, hypnotic, addictive “Baby Ran.”

I left Vancouver permanently in 1996 and leaving town was hard but, ultimately, good for me. The world is a big place and seeing a bit more of it put my home town into better perspective. I could see how small and contained it was, provincial in many ways. But I could also appreciate how much it accomplished – a pretty vibrant music scene – despite its geographic isolation. So, in honour all of things westcoast, click on the band names to get caught up with these great acts! And if you’re looking for a primer on Vancouver’s music scene from an era prior to this one, the Vancouver Record Collector’s Association have a four volume history of the best local acts covering the 1950s and 1960s, with exhaustive liner notes written by local rock expert Michael Willmore (check out Willmore’s wacky but informative TV show, Rockinitis).

The banner photo is an incredible diorama of a typical Vancouver street block by a fellow I only know as dancecommander. You can read his write up here and see more pics here.

I get mail: Sanglorians, You’re Among Friends, R.E. Seraphin, The Pozers and more!

28 Thursday May 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-05-28 at 4.53.01 PMWhen I say I get mail, I mean messages, email, notifications, etc. And that’s a good thing given what I’m hearing about the challenges moving music through the conventional mail services right now. Rain, sleet, snow, hail? Clearly they’re easy-peasy compared to Covid 19. Well the pandemic will not get in the way of today’s delivery of loud guitars, bedroom pop, finely crafted songscapes, and much more.

Eclectic Music Lover nailed it when he described You’re Among Friends as “funky, blues-infused folk rock” channeling “Steely Dan, The Grateful Dead and even a bit of Elvis Costello.” I might add a bit of chooglin’ CCR on a few tracks. From their new record Start Making Sense I love the jazzy swing on “Waiting for Life to Start Making Sense,” definitely a bit of early Costello-vibing here, and the groove anchoring “Once the Toothpaste is Out of the Tube.”

Robby Miller’s debut EP is a nice slice AM radio-friendly poprock songcraft. With a vocal delivery falling somewhere between Al Stewart and Fountains of Wayne’s Chris Collingwood, the songs shift between sweet and light melody and a bit guitar crunch, particularly apparent on “Freya” and “Take a Smile.”

Former Talkies frontman R.E. Seraphin is being written up all over the power pop blogosphere and deservedly so for his uber cool solo debut, Tiny Shapes. The record is a wonderful distillation of power pop rock and roll influences, slightly notched down from genre’s regular amp setting of 11 via a warm DIY performance. Opener “Today Will be Kind” is like a road map for the whole album: great song, hooky lead guitar lines, hushed alluring vocals. The formula really delivers again on “Bend” and “I’d Rather be your Enemy.” Then “Fortuna” changes it up, offering an early 1980s atmospheric poprock vibe. Everybody was doing this kind of spare, spooky guitar thing back then and it really works on this song. I also love the discordant jangle of “Streetlight” and lead guitar line hooks all over “Safe to Say.” This album is more than a collection songs, it’s an album that’s got its own distinctive and oh-so-pleasant aura going on.

Dallas power pop veterans The Pozers have been rocking out for more than 25 years, eliciting comparisons to Cheap Trick and the Beatles with their combo of airy background vocals, melodic guitar runs and impressive stylistic range. 2019’s Crybaby Bridge showcases all those elements in fine form. Check out the light Beatlesesque rompiness of “The Only Girl” while “Nonstop” has a bit more Revolver-era crunch with just a dab of understated organ in the mix. Meanwhile “Telling My Secrets” updates things with a bit of Oasis-ish panache. Believe the hype – the Pozers are the total poprock package.

Described as power pop meets prog rock, Sanglorians definitely ignore guitar town’s city limits on their first record in seven years, Odalisque. The sheer inventiveness on this record is breathtaking and, after just a few listens, quickly endearing. Some tracks come on like AM radio hit singles. “Miriam” kicks things off with a faint breeze of Weezer, “Down to Affection” is a melodic wild ride worthy of a Fun album deep cut, while “Come Back to What You Are” sounds like a great lost ELO single. But other parts of the album are a bit more experimental. Wait out the 60 second instrumental prelude to “Clearer” and you’re rewarded with a sweet, hypnotic, XTC-like melody. Throw in a few choice covers (Beatles, Magnetic Fields) and at least one more candidate for a great big hit single (“In Bruges”) and it’s pretty clear Sanglorians are back with a hooky vengeance.

What would happen if you could take the sneer out of Steely Dan? You might end up with something like Essex’s The 1957 Tail Fin Fiasco. These guys have definitely got the Steely Dan cool swing down but somehow sound less jaded and blasé than the original. Actually, I hear a lot of 10cc on the band’s new album The Harvard Tango, particularly some of the vocal textures on tracks like “Bros. Fairchild & Marylebone” and the boogie strut on “Dirk is not a Bogey.” On the whole, there is pleasant, rollicking 1970s piano-based rock and roll feel to this album, like Elton John with a bit more glam (exhibit A: title track “The Harvard Tango”). But personally, I like the outliers on the record, like the acoustic guitar, harmony vocal-driven “A Yard of Place” and the sensational, jaunty “Monogamy Pews.” For clever cheekiness, the boys remind of London’s Scandinavia.

Wilson & The Catholics is the new side project of Tennis Club frontman Wilson Hernandez. Fans of TC’s fantastic low-key psych-pop album Pink from 2019 may find the stripped-down sound of WLC a bit underwhelming but the melodic payoffs are still here. Dreamy, atmospheric, drawing from that early 1960s style of disaster rock (‘Look out! Look out! Look out!’) on tracks like “Strawberry Hill” and “Commercial Alley” or just a breezy poppiness on “MD 2020” and “Super Bowl ’97.” Bedroom pop suitable for those times when you really need to hide from your roommates.

Hitting the bottom of the mailbag, I got word from the Suncharms’ Marcus Palmer about a fabulous new collection from Indonesia-based Shiny Happy Records and it’s a winning tip. Shiny Happy Fanzine 4 – Please Rain Fall Compilation is jam-packed with 19 tracks of shimmering low-key jangle goodness. There are so many highlight here but I’ll just twig you to Tullycraft’s hilarious “We Couldn’t Dance to Billy Joel,” Well Whale’s “She’s a Punk,” and, of course, The Suncharms’ own stellar contribution “3 Billion Heartbeats.”

Things are so easy today, you don’t even need to write a cheque to send away for new music by mail. You can have it all now, without leaving your exclusive listening lounge! Click on the artist names to get closer to some new music immediately.

Pandemic poprock

20 Wednesday May 2020

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Pandemic-Diary---ball-and-chain-and-scientistWe tend to be inspired by the world we live in so it’s not surprising that some artists are ruminating musically about our present pandemic. While the artists featured below are all over the map in terms of their responses to the situation, the results are all music to my ears!

Kicking things off, prolific poprocker Michael Carpenter teams up Michael Oliver for the slightly country, melodious, and oh so apropos “It Only Hurts When I Breathe.” Thankfully Michael-squared only seem to be suffering from heartbreak rather than lung dysfunction. Whew! Tilting the mood somewhat, the one-off single “wr fkd” is from the Whateverly Brothers, aka Chris Church, and its churning grind of delicious jangle definitely captures how a lot of people are feeling right now. Again, it might be love problems motivating these musical sentiments but, hey, if it fits the bigger picture why not use it? Another deliberately displaced tune comes from Asylums’ last album, Alien Human Emotions, but here too I think the song speaks to our present moment. As some lobby for a quick return to economic normalcy, one has to wonder if the results won’t be a kind of “Graveyard Tourism.” Dead rich, that’s what they’re really aiming to be. Planning to defy that end game is LA’s powerpop grunge-meister Richard Turgeon on “Still Not Ready to Die.” It’s a brand new song that is definitely about what is happening now and it rocks, in his reliably hooky way. Let’s end on an up note with America’s most cheery musical iconoclasts, They Might Be Giants, and their eminently pleasant, uplifting and predictably quirky “It’s Good to be Alive.” Maybe play this one a few times, just to up your dose of good feelingness. And don’t forget to click on all the artist names to give them some money-coloured love.

Today’s feature graphic is courtesy Toronto pop artist Rob Elliott. If pointed laughter is your thing, head over to his Pandemic Diary pages and laugh until you cry.

Springtime sound explosion!

14 Thursday May 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-05-14 at 12.04.41 PMThirteen original artists! Twenty featured songs! Springtime 2020 is witnessing an explosion of sounds, curated here specifically to ease your pandemic-induced isolation. It’s not K-Tel, but it’s the next best thing. And the best part? No groove-cramming or adverts for a bogus, non-working record selector. So get ready to add some hooks to your springtime playlists.

Since the early 1980s scribes have routinely dubbed Kyle Vincent’s 19 album body of work ‘soft pop’ but that changes with his new release Whatever It Takes. Well, sort of. There’s still a strong easy listening pop vibe to the album (he’s even written a song that name-checks Gilbert O’Sullivan, so that’s a strong clue) but with former members of the Raspberries for a backing band on some tracks, things rock up a bit in a 1970s soft focus, low wattage power pop way. It’s there on the breezy Shaun Cassidy-esque “Bubblegum Baby” as well as my choice for b-side, “Hard to be Happy,” with its low key ABBA notes. Another incredibly productive fellow is Brian Jay Cline, with 13 albums and 4 EPs out since 2001 by my count. His most recent EP is Songs for a Generation of X’s and it taps that vein of melodic Americana that Cline does so well. I’ve been hitting repeat on the addictive “Two Left Feet” with its great Springsteen harmonica and irresistible hooks. Heading over the Valencia, Spain Baby Scream has a new album of covers out entitled, predictably, Just Covers, and this time everybody’s fave DIY John Lennon definitely colours outside the lines. This is fun collection, with inspired reworkings of Cyndi Lauper, the Psychedelic Furs, 10cc, Culture Club and more! I’m singling out for a double A side the muted yet rollicking “Secret Agent Man” on one side with the tight pop-rocking Fastball track “Warm Fuzzy Feeling” on the other. Back in North America, if anyone doubts that Montreal is Canada’s undisputed cool city, slip Pale Lips 2020 LP After Dark on the turntable. Self-described ‘dripping mascara slopped rock and roll with sprinkles,’ the party vibe is evident from the opening chords of “Some Sort of Rock and Roll,” the album opener. Overall, the songs are variations on a 1950s-meets-1970s workout, except for “That Old Ghost Don’t Lie” which changes things up, slowing the tempo, and anchoring everything with a spooky lead guitar. B-side? Definitely the hilarious romp “All My Baby Brought Back Was the Blues” – such great lyrics!

Kyle Vincent – Bubblegum BabyKyle Vincent – Hard to be Happy

If anyone has written an anthem for our times, it’s Dolph Chaney. “It’s Ok” (from his recent Rebuilding Permit) was written before our current state of affairs but its message definitely resonates now. Well, frankly, it’s always a pretty relevant message. And Dolph loads it with a host of nice melodic twists and turns, shifting the song’s dynamics like a hooky mood swing. Also love the distinctive synth solo at the 1:50 mark! Bill Majoros describes his new Foreign Films record Ocean Moon ‘retro-futurism, musical technicolor and groovy beats’ and I’d have to agree. It’s certainly a departure from his previous 2018 set, The Record Collector, a sprawling, 3-album stylistically varied offering. Now Majoros turns to a somewhat familiar, pleasantly throwback sound circa early 1980s. I’m particularly enthused about the title track “Ocean Moon” with its breathy Elvis Costello-meets-Roy Oribison vocals and Travelling Wilburys rhythm guitar. Another new single echoing some classic EC to my ears is the latest from former Cry! Leader Tommy Ray. The new LP is First Hits Free and check out the catchy lead line and brash guitar driving “Hey Susanne.” The dance floor never looked so alluring. For a b-side to this single, I’d add “Tuesday’s Girl” with its mid-1980s British energy and familiar vocal snarl. Honourable mention: “Gone South” – love that organ opener! Chicago’s Beach Bunny are doing that contemporary dissonant pop sound with a bit of vocal grit in the mix all over their debut record, Honeymoon. Personally, I’m loving the deep cut single, “Cloud 9” with its hooky bass line and rocking-out swinging chorus. I could see “Ms. California” as the b-side with its almost FOW-style chorus and crunch rhythm guitar. On this record, feeling bad never felt so good.

Speaking of alienation, there are times when West Virginia’s Rozwell Kid sound like they’re channeling some serious Weezer love, like on “Letterman” from their new Dreamboats 2 album. But then they shift gears and up the pop quotient on the obvious single, “Absolutely.” You can’t pin these guys down, other than to find the fun in what they do. The LP is celebration of pop culture, with tunes celebrating David Letterman, Dr. Doom, a possible fourth sequel to Back to the Future, and even an Enya cover! Now if you need a driving insistent guitar/synth combo, have I got a song for you. Nicholas Altobelli picks up the pace from 2019’s more low key Vertigo LP with his new single, “Ghost.” This is the distinctive melodic rock and roll that drew me to Antobelli releases like the great EP The Day-Olds and single “Exit Polls.” B-side “Wonder” is also a winner, with its charming, light 1950s ambience. Now, for a bit of Merseybeat, look no further than Tommy Sistak. Music for Sale is the new record and “On My Way to Somewhere” manages to work in that familiar Liverpool 1964 sound without sounding derivative. Like visiting an old friend who still has a few surprises in store for you. Speaking of old friends, people waiting for a follow up to Ed Ryan’s super 2017 Furious Mind have something to tide them over given his recent collaboration with Orbis Max on “Everybody Wonders.” The song is a solid slice of poprock, featuring some cool organ solos and nice vocal interplay. The song bodes well for new album of Ed Ryan tunes!

Hey, let’s end on with a guaranteed ear worm. I know I name-drop Fountains of Wayne a lot but Steven Wright-Mark sounds like he’s channeling a lost deep cut from Welcome Interstate Managers with “Underground,” from his recent EP Wake Up! If I had a Poprock Record chart this one would definitely be zooming up it. The vocal delivery, the background instrumentation with that seductive Gotye feel, it all adds up to ‘hit single’ to me.

Whew! That was a lot of should-be hit-single ground to cover. But health crisis or no, the chords must play. Assemble your own bargain hits collection by clicking links above. Looking for vinyl? You can the physical platter for many of these artists at Kool Kat Music.

Summer is coming!

29 Wednesday Apr 2020

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summer-is-comingWith sunshine and a hint of spring heat in the air, people are starting to think about summer. And just what is summer going to be like with face masks and gloves and social distancing? It’s going to look like a very polite zombie apocalypse, that’s what. Acerbic Toronto-based pop artist Rob Elliott colourfully captures our likely regimented future in the above graphic (check out his hilarious, biting Pandemic Diary) so I’ll do a creative take on the music side of things.

What got me thinking on this theme was hearing “Almost Summer” from Steven Wright-Mark’s 2012 LP My Plastic World. I’d heard it poking around his three albums of material on iTunes after checking out his latest EP Wake UP!, which is also pretty special (personally, I’m loving “Underground” from the new release). It’s got ringing guitars and shimmery harmony vocals – I mean, what’s not to like? Denmark’s Tommy and the Rockets come on a bit more Beach Boys-meets-Ramones on “Here Comes Summer.” You can almost smell the mixture of stale beer and salt sea air. London’s The Speedways suggest we’re headed for “Just Another Regular Summer.” Uh, not. Of course nobody in 2018 could predict we’d be stuck in pandemic town. San Francisco’s Propeller may short out the details on their blissful Teenage Fanclubby “Summer Arrives” but the feeling of freedom is definitely real.

Steven Wright-Mark – Almost Summer

But what is summer 2020 going to be like? Norway’s Sweden might be banking on a “Barefoot Summer.” I love the rush of this track, with its hooky descending lead guitar lines and pounding piano. Summer sounds fun here. Or it could be the “Summer of the Mosquito” if Melbourne’s Monnone Alone have anything to say about it. The title track of their 2019 release has the band sounding like a slightly less manic version of Titus Andronicus and that is totally OK. LA’s Earlimart haven’t released much in the last decade but one of their more recent songs was “Internet Summer,” surely a prescient 45 given our present circumstances. Everything will be just fine sing Vista Blue on their California-summer-1963 coated “Summer Wonderland” from last December’s EP Hit the Floor! I definitely feel like revving my woody (if only I knew what that was). Not bad for four boys from New Orleans presently camping out in Nashville.

Sweden – Barefoot SummerEarlimart – Internet Summer

Frankly, I think Velvet Crush literally crush all rivals in this 2020 summer song sweepstakes with “Weird Summer.” Yes, Bryan Hyland, it’s gonna be a long, lonely summer this time around. But there’s positive vibes out there aplenty with melodic treats like Michael Slawter’s “Summer’s Kind” on the turntable. Check out that sweet, sweet hooky lead guitar line! Finally, let’s leave things with grunge-meets-powerpop super group Cabana Wear and their song “Summer.” It’s peppy and a bit ambiguous, kinda like our future.

Velvet Crush – Weird Summer

With summer tours cancelled and musicians everywhere desperately strumming their acoustic guitars online for e-change, it’s definitely time to pony up for some great recordings. Like these. Do the click thing and get the money-go-round moving.

Cover Me! Jagger/Richards “So Much in Love”

19 Sunday Apr 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-04-19 at 7.04.20 PMDigging through my vinyl collection I came upon a 1974 Deram/London (Decca in the UK) Records release entitled Hard Up Heroes, a compilation focused mostly on lesser known tracks from British artists from the ‘beat’ era (roughly 1963 to 1967). It’s got some cool stuff on it but the real find was a track called “So Much in Love” recorded by The Mighty Avengers. What a tune! So subtle in its earwormy effects. Now imagine my surprise to discover it was a Jagger/Richards cast off from a period when they were trying to mimic the Beatles’ songwriting largesse by giving away their excess material to other artists. And what makes the story even more intriguing is just how many acts tried to make this a hit – unsuccessfully! Most of the versions came out in the mid-1960s period, with a few in the 1970s, one in the 1990s, and then one last version in 2018. And, of course, there may be other versions I’ve yet to find. I won’t feature them all here, just the ones that take the song in slightly different directions.

In my view, arguably the ‘best’ version of “So Much in Love” was the 1964 original by The Mighty Avengers. They were a Coventry band that were briefly a part of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s stable of artists (as he attempted to mimic Beatles manager Brian Epstein’s success managing multiple acts). Oldham procured the song for them from the Stones and then produced the cut, with help from future Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones. I love the sound of this era of British poprock and the band squeezes a nice amount of hookiness out of the tune, helped by some great plinky piano and a straight up early Moodies-style vocal.

The Mighty Avengers

Subsequent versions of the song split between more poppy and rocky takes. In 1965, three covers of the song typify this division. Australia’s Johnny Chester and his Chessman offer up a very genteel, mannered pop arrangement that stylistically would not be out of place as an Everly’s album deep cut. Ian Crawford amplifies the song’s pop elements with horns and fancy background vocals. By contrast, Liverpool’s Ian and the Zodiacs deliver a classic Merseybeat version. Three more covers in 1966 continue this trend with The Herd rocking things with plenty of soul organ, Denmark’s The Hitmakers blowing up the pop sound, particularly on the vocals, while sometime fashion photographer Charles Dickens vibes a little Beach Boys with production help from Andrew Loog Oldham.

Johnny Chester and the his ChessmenIan CrawfordIan and the ZodiacsThe HerdThe HitmakersCharles Dickens

Despite its failure in the 1960s bands would continue to keep trying to push “So Much in Love” onto the charts. Arguably the most successful was Australian band Cheek, whose 1977 version briefly made that country’s top 50. However, the band broke up shortly afterwards, having released only two singles and no album! Three years later UK pub rock/new wave band The Inmates featured a rollicking version of the song on their second album, A Shot in the Dark. The next cover came 15 years later from a band that technically didn’t exist. The Lonely Boys were created to provide the music for a fictional 1960s band featured in a 1990s book and movie of the same name. The band’s performance exceeded all expectations, producing a strong debut album and a killer version of “So Much in Love” that seemed to out-sixties the actual 1960s recordings. Most recently Roxanne Fontana turned out a peppy yet understated classic rock and roll rendition of the tune in 2018.

The InmatesThe Lonely BoysRoxanne Fontana

Discovering this great lost Jagger/Richards tune has got me thinking there has to be a Songs the Stones Gave Away collection out there somewhere, full of overlooked gems, even if their efforts did not bear the same fruit as their Merseyside competitors.

This post benefited from research insights from PopArchives.com and SecondHandSongs.

Gardens of hooky delights: Poprock collections, compilations, and compendiums

16 Thursday Apr 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-04-16 at 11.22.07 AMWhat’s not to like about compilation albums? They’re like a load of presents crammed onto one or two pieces of vinyl, or they’re akin to a kind of melody buffet tempting to you to gorge on each one. This post runs the gamut of definitive compendiums on a theme (XTC) to compilations based on style (sunshine psychpop) to diverse collections serving other purposes altogether (the Wild Honey and Lame-O collections). Let’s dig in!

Kicking things off is a rather titanic offering, a truly ambitious labour of love that I’m happy to report is a stunning success: Futureman Records’ Garden of Earthly Delights: An XTC Celebration. XTC were a strikingly intelligent, musically adventurous, should-be hit machine. In some universe music creators as talented as the duo mostly responsible for XTC’s multi-decade output would be lauded with accolades and bags of cash. In this universe, by contrast, the eccentric, highly listenable genius of Partridge and Moulding produced 14 brilliant albums but mostly indifference from the record buying public, other than a small army of dedicated fans. Luckily, if this fabulous tribute album is anything to go by, just about every fan must have gone on to form a band! The collection draws from every period of the band’s catalogue with an amazing 49 cuts. And the quality is very high indeed.

Some of the covers here seem like spot-on recreations of the originals (e.g. Jim Laspesa and Rob Bonfiglio’s “Dear Madam Barnum”). Others take the songs in new directions, cast them in a different register, speed them up or slow them down, etc. (e.g. King Radio’s “Mayor of Simpleton”). Really, there something here for every kind of fan, from the band’s art rock/punk origins to their psychedelic Dukes’ records to the perfect poprock of their later period offerings and even some album deep cuts. I can’t possibly comment on them all so I’ll just single a few tracks that caught my ear. I love how the Kickstand Band kicks off “Life Begins at the Hop” in such a familiar way, but then bends and reinvents the melody a bit with their distinctive harmony vocals. Coke Belda and El Inquieta Roque elevate “Standing in for Joe” into classic-sounding poprock tune. You can hear the XTC-isms in Danny Wilkerson’s version of “Where Did the Ordinary People Go” but he also manages to highlight the song’s hookiness. The acoustic guitars in Gentle Hen’s take on “No Thugs in our House” lighten the mood and nicely accent the song’s melody without removing the dread that suffuses the tune. Glowbox add a nice bit of urgency to a great selection from XTC’s magisterial 1986 album, Skylarking. For XTC fans, or for those just discovering the band, Garden of Earthly Delights offers a unbeatable treasure trove of yet to-be-discovered treats.

The back story to the fabulous Kool Kat Records release of For the Record: A Tribute to John Wicks is nothing short of tragic. The legendary frontman for new wave indie darlings The Records had amassed an album full of superior tunes and got them half finished before sadly dying of cancer in 2018. But the happy ending is how co-songwriter and music blogger Richard Rossi, producer Jamie Hoover, and a cast of power pop luminaries finished the record. The album sounds amazing! The songwriting is so strong and the performances are stellar. Of course, with help from people like Peter Case, Paul Collins, Don Dixon, Bill Berry, Al Stewart and so many others, it’s hardly surprising that For the Record is such an enjoyable listen. Personally, I’m stumped picking out just a few faves. Love the “1-800-Colonoscopy” (lead vocal from REM’s Bill Berry), “Repo Man” (featuring Jamie Hoover), and Wick’s own turn at lead vocal on “She’s All I Need.” However, if I had to single out one tune it would be Paul Collin’s amazing take on “Glittering Gold,” apparently recorded live yet still hit-single-worthy. Buy this record, it’s worth it!

Our present state of corona virus upheaval has brought out the latent benefit record proclivities of both artists and record labels. We’re featuring two interesting contributions from Wild Honey and Lame-O Records, respectively. The Wild Honey release, The Benefit of Things to Come, has a great cover, mimicking the classic look of the California pop scene of the late 1960s. The Lame-O collection has a great name, Don’t Stand So Close To Me: A Lame​-​O Compilation For Self-Isolation – so apropos! The latter is mostly a lofi indie and rock and roll set but with a few sterling melodic contributions from U.S. Highball and Mike Bell and the Movies. The former is a bit more in our pop rock wheelhouse, with killer cuts from The Rubinoos, The Peawees, Doug Tuttle, MojoMatt, Peretta, and others. Our last featured collection is more about vibing on a style, this time perhaps drawing from some early Style Council plus light 1960s pop psychedelia on the fadeawayradiate records release, F.A.R. Out: A Sunshine Psychpop Compilation. It’s an eminently listenable collection, but make sure to check out the tracks from Night Heron, Young Scum, the Catherines and the Suncharms.

Compilations often give us a bit of what we know and a lot of what we might otherwise not check out. As such, there’s a real sense of adventure about the whole enterprise. And sometimes, as with the cases above, they’re also for a good cause. So click on the links and book your adventure to start now.