Category Archives: Should be a Hit Single

Should be a hit single: Strange Neighbors “Hotline Psychic”

08 Wednesday Feb 2023

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I was listening to Strange Neighbors new EP Party of None, enjoying the first few tracks, minding my own business. I had assigned it to an upcoming ‘breaking news’ post, largely on the basis of my positive reaction to the rollicking opening cut “Whoa is Me.” I love the slashing guitars and new wave Natalie Merchant vocal. I think track 2 “Skeleton Boy” is another winner, though here the vocal tipped more toward Amy Rigby in her prime. But I was not prepared for track three, with its stark opening guitar chords and arresting verses that give scant hint of what is to come. Then “Hotline Psychic” hits the chorus like a rush of adrenaline that just goes on and on, with lyrics that are hilarious and oh so cutting. There’s a febrile energy at work in this song that will have you hitting replay over and over again. Frankly, track 3 stalled my encounter with this EP because I knew I had to feature “Hotline Psychic” as a ‘should-be hit single’ pronto. Now, as a bonus, the two remaining tracks on this EP also keep the poppy rock dynamism going, particularly “Window Watching.”

So click on “Hotline Psychic” and see if you don’t agree, it’s a should be monster hit. And then stay for the rest of Party of None, it’s one of those too-good-to-be-true EPs – as in, total enjoyment.

You can check out Party of None and Strange Neighbors’ excellent back catalogue at this Bandcamp party stop.

Photo fragment from “Hotline Psychic” 45 cover designed by band member Zach.

Should be a hit single: Dazy “Rollercoaster Ride”

28 Wednesday Sep 2022

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In commenting on the as-yet-to-be released new long-player from Dazy, a fan described the band as “the best noise pop I’ve come across.” The description is an apt summation of the Richmond, Virginia group’s early vibe, nicely captured on the 2021 compilation Maximumblastsuperloud: The First 24 Songs. There’s a punkish ferocity to these early tunes, like Jesus and Mary Chain on speed. But the new album Out of Body is something else. I’m hearing more straight up power pop and even a turn to a more crafted, subdued melodic pop, particularly on the fabulous single “Rollercoaster Ride.” The song kicks off slow-ish, luring you in with a swing like Sugar Ray or Weezer in pop melody mode, before kicking the hooks into high gear. And what a ride it is. The chorus delivers the good time rush we might associate with arriving at the midway, primed for a great time. The single’s b-side “Peel” is pretty special too, working a Beatles/Oasis melodic grind of guitars plus sweet vocal work.

Get in on the ground floor with this band. Their exhilarating, shifting synthesis of poprock is only just starting to gel.

Photo: fragment from Hazy single graphic for “Rollercoaster Ride/Peel.”

Should be a hit single: Denim “Summer Smash”

30 Saturday Jul 2022

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Ok this one really should have been a hit single. It was pre-released and getting good reactions from radio music journos in late August 1997 until a princess car crash led the record company to pull it to avoid possible accusations of poor taste. Poor Lawrence (no surname)! After releasing 10 critically acclaimed but not million selling albums and singles as Felt in the 1980s his new band Denim was supposed to bring on the success his talent so obviously deserved. Alas, it wasn’t to be. This single and the third Demin album it was supposed to launch never materialized. Lawrence would go with another vehicle Go Kart Mozart/Mozart Estate that would continue with his playful dystopian social commentary and peppy tunes, though with similar commercial results. A recent-ish documentary has revived interest in Lawrence’s career and catalogue, so perhaps it will help finally garner the mass audience he once dreamed would be his.

It’s fascinating to see the arc of Lawrence’s career through his many different musical projects: from an English indie-jangle Lou Reed (early Felt), to ground-breaking keyboard heavy indie pop (later Felt), to more focused (though still eccentric) efforts at commercial hit-making (in both later bands). “Summer Smash” is really the best example of Lawrence’s wonderfully weird reach for a chart topper. The keyboards are so computer poppy and boppy, the track bubbles with hooky charm and a radio friendly elan. Nothing ironic here. Just a fun blast of carefully crafted sure-fire hit tuneage. If this really had got its proper release back in 1997 it would have wallpapered radio everywhere.

Denim – Summer Smash (remix single)

If you’re just getting started with Lawrence I’d recommend Felt’s Forever Breathes the Lonely Word from 1986, it’s their electrifying transition-to-keyboards album. For Demin, there’s a great 4 song Summer Smash EP. And check out Lawrence’s most recent single from Mozart Estate “When You’re Depressed” to see how his hooks never fail him.

You can keep up with Lawrence’s occasional news on his Mozart Estate Facebook page.

Should be a hit single: Bob Segarini “Please Please Please”

21 Monday Mar 2022

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Stardom in Canada is not like being big in Japan. One gets a sense that the latter is kinda like Beatlemania but in a language you don’t understand. But people are still going crazy. In Canada, everybody’s too mellow to get too excited. So why Bob Segarini thought moving to Canada was the right choice for his stalled musical career is a head scratcher. After slogging it out with a host of bands in the late 1960s and early to mid-1970s he ended up in Toronto in 1977 to kick off a solo career. And it worked out for him, sort of. While Americans remained indifferent his records got play on Canadian radio, sparking a few minor hits.

Growing up in 1970s Canada the Segarini song I recall getting maximum rotation on the radio was “Goodbye LA” with its Booker T and MGs organ opener and relentless vamping style. And as a Canadian, a song about giving the heave ho to an American cultural capital seemed just about the right sentiment. But I can’t say it was my favourite cut from the album of the same name. That distinction belongs to the exquisite, should-have-been hit single “Please Please Please.” It’s a cover from Ducks Deluxe but with a lovely Merseybeat guitar wash over everything that brings out the tune’s hints of 1950s and early 1960s song stylings. How about that pumping piano instrumental break? Or the Hard Day’s Night guitar touches at the end? I can just hit replay again and again.

Segarini’s got a few other cool tunes too, tracks like “Gotta Have Pop,” “Hideaway” and “Living in the Movies” from 1978’s Gotta Have Pop as well as the aforementioned numbers from 1979’s Goodbye LA. Basically, if you like Moon Martin or Walter Egan, Segarini’s got more of that good stuff for you. Segarini’s solo work can be found on Bandcamp while his often hilarious, sometimes serious late-in-life musings can be enjoyed at his blog Don’t Believe a Word I Say.

Should be a hit single: Grrrl Gang “Pop Princess”

12 Wednesday Jan 2022

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Yogyakarta, Indonesia’s Grrl Gang explode across your ears at the start of “Pop Princess” with a song that says – no demands – ‘dance to me!’ The driving, droney guitar is a relentless call to shake something. Surprisingly, the chorus is not the hook magnet here. If anything the chorus taps the brakes, letting you catch your breath before diving back in. The song appears on the 2020 collection Here To Stay! that brings together material from the group’s stand-alone early singles and EPs. There’s plenty more fab stuff here like the Teenage Fanclubby “Dream Grrrl” and the Smithsian “Night Terrors.” The magic here is how the band combine a Scottish indie pop elan with just a hint of post-1950s American song styles. And smart? Whoa. These peeps have got something to say and they’re going to say it now, particularly on restrictive gender roles and sexuality. But they manage to meld those political passions and insights into the music almost seamlessly. Fist pumping and arm waving, all at the same time. The band’s more recent single “Honey, Baby” is also pretty special, dramatically expanding the sonic depth of their sound. All this and they’ve yet to release an actual debut album – now that is going to be a thing.

Visit the Grrrl Gang at their Bandcamp, Instragram or Facebook pages and catch the wave.

Should be a hit single: The Orion Experience “The Cult of Dionysus”

21 Tuesday Sep 2021

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I just found about NYC’s The Orion Experience and now it seems that life prior to this discovery was perhaps a bit more dull and unexciting than I had realized. Their 2006 debut album Cosmicandy throws a whole lot of uber cool sounds into the hopper – Blondie era-disco riffs, Chumbawumba-esque anthemic group singing, some Grouplove loose rock n’ roll – and a consistent, clever political and social commentary. It’s all good. Really good. But my hands-down fave on the record is the ELO meets New Pornographers rave up “The Cult of Dionysus.” The song is a rush of hooky adrenaline, constantly shifting its attack, from stripped back guitars to dueling vocals to a full-on wall-of-sound assault. Then there’s the understated bridge, where everything drops out to acoustic guitars and sweet sweet vocals that slowly build back up to a driving climax. It’s an instant repeat-play kind of tune. The band have a few equally good albums sprinkled over the past 15 years, a pleasant solo EP from group leader Orion Simprini, and some appealing brand new material coming out right now. But you’re gonna want to start here, with this song and this album. For poprock fans, it’s a guaranteed good time.

The Orion Experience have plenty of internet real estate but start with Bandcamp – that’s where the music is.

Should be a hit single: The Mavericks “Touch a Lonely Heart”

12 Thursday Aug 2021

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I discovered The Mavericks via their 2003 self-titled album, The Mavericks. I was blown away by the songwriting: “I Want to Know,” “Shine Your Light,” “Would You Believe,” and many more. But I also fell in love with lead singer Raul Malo’s fabulous diversity of singing styles, sometimes echoing the clipped diction of Buck Owens or the emotional intensity of Roy Orbison or the country blues sadness of Patsy Cline. The band themselves play a lively mix of Tex-Mex country/rockabilly with flashes of Cuban and Cajun influences. This particular album emerges at an interesting juncture in their career, coming out three years after their initial break up and nine years before they would unite again. The song I’m focusing on here, “Touch a Lonely Heart,” is also from this period, actually appearing as the b-side to the first single from The Mavericks album, “I Want to Know.” I can’t believe something this good could be left off the album! Just listen to the initial roll out of the tune with its snappy electric lead guitar line, “Help Me Rhonda” pumping fairground organ, and irresistible melodic hook. Then Malo’s vocal slides in with a candy-coated smoothness that is utterly seductive. The sonic elements of the song seems so immediately familiar but this is no derivative sound alike tune. Instead The Mavericks wield the constituent elements with the mastery of a band that has played a thousand nights together. This is textbook should-be hit single songwriting and performance.

Touch a Lonely Heart

If you like what you hear here, you’re going to love the rest of the band’s catalogue. You can catch up on their early period hits with the cheekily-titled Super Colossal Smash Hits of the 90’s: The Best of The Mavericks from 1999 or dip in to any of their post-2013 albums and not go far wrong. Their most recent album is 2020’s fab Spanish-language En Espanol. You can read all about The Mavericks, their recordings and tour news on the band’s website here.

Should be a hit single: The Monroes “What Do All The People Know?”

28 Friday May 2021

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Anyone who lived through the beginning of the 1980s will instantly recognize the keyboard sound that drives The Monroes “What Do All The People Know?” The song kicks off with Springsteen-esque airy piano feel but this quickly shifts to a driving guitar/keyboard combo reminiscent of Greg Kihn, The Fixx and J. Geils Band. I mean, check out the instrumental section at the 2 minutes mark – pure 1980s magic. Released in 1982, the song managed to climb to 59 on the national US charts despite the fact the band’s Japanese label went under shortly after it came out. The group tried to carry on but eventually broke up a few years later. Over the years, the song has been resurrected regularly by fans as a great lost hit. Former band members took notice and in 2013 released a re-produced version of the original song along with some material that didn’t get an airing before. Yet it was only in 2019-20 that a proper relaunch of the group occurred, including a new video for “What Do All The People Know?” There’s an even happier ending: since then The Monroes have released a slew of new songs, proving they were not a just a one hit wonder. For instance, check out “Saturday” for a particularly winning cut.

Persistence can pay off.  Enough people believed in this song to keep it coming back. Check out more of what The Monroes have to offer on their website and Facebook page.

Should be a hit single: Throwback Suburbia “Circles”

24 Saturday Apr 2021

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A truly great poprock single usually has a catchy opener, some hook that makes you pause and want to know what comes next. Portland’s Throwback Suburbia nail this with their 2007 debut single “Circles.” The lone synth riff comes out of nowhere, a head turner that grabs the listener long enough for the band to come crashing in. What follows is a great synthesis of eighties and nineties melodic rock influences. With a vocal that is pure Glenn Tilbrook phrasing, a guitar and keyboard attack vibing ELO, and a melodic sheen reminiscent of Rooney, the result should have been super radio hit. But the AM/FM music directors apparently didn’t get the memo. The band would release a few EPs and two critically acclaimed albums but wild success wasn’t in the cards. A shame really. Everything they released was pretty solid on the rockin’ melodic song front. They even put out killer covers of tracks from their most obvious influences, Squeeze’s “Up the Junction” and Elvis Costello’s “Accidents Will Happen.”

You can keep up with band members’ post Throwback Suburbia efforts on the group’s Facebook page as well as buy up their existing catalogue of tunes.

Should be a hit single: James Holt “Mystery Girl”

09 Tuesday Feb 2021

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I stumbled across Mancunian James Holt doing a fun cover of Crowded House’s “Weather With You” with himself playing every instrument simultaneously in the video. This led to a bit of research and the discovery of this gem, released in early 2020. “Mystery Girl” is a mélange of alternating musical shots: pumping piano, organ, and harpsichord (among other instruments) amid the delightful swirl of the main and background vocals. There’s something a bit 10cc here, definitely Neil Finn-worthy, even Gilbert O’Sullivan-ish. On the whole, the song is a masterful bit of production disguised as a breezy pop confection, Holt so effortlessly hits all the melodic and instrumental marks. This surely marks the beginning of something good.

Check out Holt’s website, Facebook and Bandcamp pages to see what he else he’s got going on.