We don’t usually cover legacy acts or artists who make the mainstream charts here. They get a lot of press already and they’ve usually got a strong fan base. But I do have a few faves I can’t help but write about because I do love them so. Obviously I’m not going to move the needle on their chart placements but hey, I can say my piece. Today we single out a few songs from stars that continue to shine for me.
Elvis Costello’s Rusty project is such an interesting endeavor for a host of reasons. Backstory: Elvis decides to reunite with a guy he played in a duo with before he made it big on his own. I mean, what happens to all those bandmates who came before an artist gets famous? Mostly left behind, I suspect. So for Elvis to reunite with his former partner Allan Mayes 50 years after they parted is pretty special. And the results are impressive too. The Resurrection of Rust kicks off with a sound not unlike the pub rock of Brinsley Schwarz and EC’s first solo record. And why wouldn’t it? The song “Surrender the Rhythm” is a Nick Lowe Brinsley-era song. Nick’s “Don’t Lose Your Grip on Love” sounds great too. But the early EC original “Warm House (And an Hour of Joy)” is probably my fave here. Another striking blast from the past is Julian Lennon’s most recent longplayer Jude. It’s been a lifelong challenge for this guy to move out of his famous father’s shadow, given the considerable baggage he’s got. But this album might just be his best yet, playing to his soft rock strengths while still sounding very contemporary. The songs are strong, particularly the acoustic “Not One Night” and Oasis-y “Lucky Ones.” The standout track though is “Round and Round Again” with its spy-worthy trebly lead guitar and an overall atmosphere that reminds me of Black’s Wonderful Life record.
Drag queen Trixie Mattel is a one-woman entertainment dispensary: comedy TV star, fashion and make-up entrepreneur, and singer-songwriter extraordinaire. In a way her recent Blonde and Pink Albums is just the culmination of a trajectory she’s been signalling for a while. Starting off in the country and folk genres Mattel has hinted throughout her various releases that she’s a poppy rock and roll girl. The 14 songs here are all-in power pop, mostly Mattel originals but with covers of the Go Go’s and Cheap Trick thrown in too. The results are maximum fun. There’s a touch of Aimee Mann on “White Rabbit,” a bit of Fountains of Wayne in “Girl of Your Dreams,” and a return to Trixie’s country roots on “This Town.” But I think my fave here is the candy-coated pop delight “Goner.” Another surprise in 2022 was the return of an old favourite band, Tears for Fears. It’s hard to capture how omnipresent the band were back in their heyday of The Hurting and Songs from the Big Chair. But last year’s comeback album The Tipping Point easily outstripped the popularity of their previous comeback album from 18 years earlier, making the top ten in countries around the world. I loved the album’s second single, the acoustic guitar-led ballad “No Small Thing.”
Pixies are another comeback group whose quality of material didn’t suffer after two decade break. With the release of 2014’s Indie City it was like they’d never paused. Personally I thought 2016’s Head Carrier had some of their best material with tracks like “Tenement Song.” But their recent 2022 album Doggerel sounds as fresh as anything they’ve produced, particularly “Haunted House” and the should-be hit single “Thunder and Lightning.” What’s left to say about legendary American family band The Cowsills? They were inspiration for television’s The Partridge Family, originators of the Americana sound, and unlike many family bands of the period most members just oozed talent, both within and outside the group, most notably Bill, John, Bob and Susan Cowsill. Their first album came out in 1967 – their tenth arrived just last year. Rhythm of the World features Bob, Paul and Susan Cowsills sounding pretty sharp. I’m partial to the hooky “Every Little Secret” with its captivating classic-Cowsills overlapping vocal arrangement.
Not all stars fade into the night sky. Some come back brighter than ever.
Photo courtesy James Vaughn.
A new feature of sorts, a tribute to the almighty single! In this age of catastrophic change in music consumption the single is back as a way of teasing interest in an artist and their new releases. It is now fairly conventional for artists to release a single well ahead of the album. Take this first round of singles – all precede their designated albums by many months. And, frankly, I can’t wait around to feature these talents!
Time it was that I waited on every Elvis Costello release like the second coming of rock and roll’s savior. And then post-Spike, I got a bit more choosy. I mean, I totally support artists going beyond whatever they’ve done in the past and Elvis clearly had many more roads left to explore. They just weren’t always my thing. But like every George Jones record, there’s seldom lacking at least one truly great cut on any given EC album. It looks like Costello’s to-be-released new album will be no exception. “Unwanted Number” is a pre-release cut from Look Now and it’s a winner. Think Imperial Bedroom meets Painted From Memory. The piano and songwriting are reminiscent of the songs from that great Costello keyboard period stretching from Imperial Bedroom through Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World. Meanwhile the bridge captures the feel of the work he did with Burt Bacharach on songs like “Toledo.”
Next up is the criminally under-appreciated Paul Collins, veteran of so many great acts like the Nerves, the Breakaways, and, of course, the Paul Collins Beat. What is striking about Collins is the quality of his songwriting output over a four-decade period. His new single shows he’s still got it. “In and Out of My Head” is the pre-release single from his upcoming album, Out of My Head. The rumbly guitar is wonderfully retro yet freshly deployed on a tune that sounds like it belongs on a Roy Orbison album.
Described as “Califorian pop from sunny Utrech, the Netherlands” on their website, The Maureens have a keen ear for a melodic blend of country folk and poprock sounds. 2015’s Bang the Drum was a solid release, oozing hooks and harmonies. Now they’ve released “20 Years for the Company” from the to-be-released Something in the Air and it’s a blast of harmony-drenched goodness. Speaking to the economic insecurity of times, the song nonetheless gives off a positive vibe with it’s captivating mix of male and female vocals.
A lot of words have been written about Elvis Costello (the artist himself added a few hundred thousand in his recent autobiography 
Things changed dramatically with album number two, now backed by Costello’s defiant new band, the Attractions. This Year’s Model charges out of the gate, its stripped-down, in your face rock and roll delivered with a crisp ferocity unmatched by any of Costello’s other recordings. This is the critics’ favourite album for a reason. I like it less than the debut but still love it, particularly the catchy lead guitar line on “You Belong to Me.” Elvis dials back some of the attack on his third album, Armed Forces, letting the listener in on some impressive aural landscapes that illustrate his talent for arranging his music. This is captured nicely on the single, “Accidents Will Happen.”You Belong to Me
Get Happy!! and Taking Liberties were both released in 1980, the latter a compilation of B-sides (released as Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers in the UK). With each record topping out at 20 songs, together they represented a cornucopia of poprock. What is striking here is the restraint, the subtle hooks of “B Movie,” “New Amsterdam” and “Secondary Modern” on Get Happy!! or “Radio Sweetheart” and “Hoover Factory” on Taking Liberties. One almost gets a sense that the songs were chiseled into shape, worked over until every detail reflected the light just so. Of course, there were also more raucous examples like “Possession” or “Crawling to the U.S.A.”
Sure, when you first hear Edward O’Connell you get the Costello vibe, you get it bad (by which I mean you get something good). You might even think “Hey, this guy is putting out the albums I wish Elvis Costello would …” But the seemingly familiar Costello ring to the songs, to the vocals, to the turns of phrase is so much more than simply reminiscent. O’Connell has taken the inspiration and made it his own. And there is so much more influence afoot in his two albums of material: a bit of Matthew Sweet, a dash of Peter Case, even some Marshall Crenshaw and, of course, Nick Lowe and Tom Petty.
His debut record from 2010, Our Little Secret, is a solid start: a host of great tunes and a cover riffing off of Nick Lowe’s Jesus of Cool album and the unknown comic. “I Heard It Go” has a great turnaround in the chorus, “Cold Dark World” has wonderfully shimmery vocals, “We Will Bury You” is trademark Costello country, while “All My Dreams” sounds like a lost track from Imperial Bedroom. But the standout song on this album for me is the majestic “Pretty Wasted.” A real gem that exudes equal parts Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, with a lovely Nick Lowe lyrical sleight of hand with the line ‘She’s pretty wasted … pretty wasted on you.’ Pretty Wasted
Four long years passed before O’Connell’s sophomore effort, Vanishing Act, emerged in 2014, but it was worth the wait. The album kicks off with strong material in “My Dumb Luck” and “Lonely Crowd” but the third tune, “Every Precious Day,” is a master class in poprock songwriting: killer guitar riff opener, great Tom Pettyish vocals, with just a hint of Crowded House in the swirling organ and guitar work at the 2/3 mark. Other highlights include “Severance Kiss” (with another great guitar opener), “Odds Against Tomorrow,” “Yesterday’s World,” and “Last to Leave” with its exquisite low tempo atmosphere. “The End of the Line” deserves to be featured if only for its surprisingly aggressive guitar opener that then melds seamlessly into a super midtempo poprock number. But my favourite song on the record is the witty Nick Lowe-ish “I’m the Man,” a sad tale of a man who ‘should have seen it coming’ with his death-obsessed partner.
Poprock Record 