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Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2022

05 Thursday Jan 2023

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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*repeat repeat, Allan Kaplon, Andy Bell, Bats, Beachheads, Bill DeMain, Bill Lloyd, Bloody Norah, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Chris Castino, David Woodard, Dazy, Edward O'Connell, Fjord Mustang, Flipp, Frank Royster, Freddie Steady Krc, Freedy Johnston, Goodman, Grrrl Gang, Jane's Party, John Larson and the Silver Fields, Kevin Robertson, Kurt Lanham, Lawn, Limblifter, Linda XO, Lisa Mychols & Super 8, Marc Jonson, Martin Luther Lennon, Moonlight Parade, Murray Atkinson, Novelty Island, Phil Thornalley, Pictish Trail, Push Puppets, Ramirez Exposure, Richard Turgeon, Richard X. Heyman, RIcky Rochelle, Rogers and Butler, Sky Diving Penguins, Sloan, Stephen Schijns, Steve Robinson and Ed Woltil, Suburban HiFi, Superchunk, Tamar Berk, Teenage Tom Petties, Televisionaries, The Bleeding Idahos, The Demos, The Kryng, The Minders, The Proctors, The Rallies, The Rubs, The Stroppies, The Telmos, The Toms, The Wends, U.S. Highball

It was another busy year for melody-drenched rock and roll. Releases were coming fast and furious and frankly I could barely keep up. Still, I managed to get 82 posts up on the blog in 2022 and write over 64,000 words on the loosely-defined rock and roll sub-genre I call ‘poprock.’ I couldn’t write about everything that crossed my desk or what others may have necessarily thought was review-worthy, I just covered what caught my ear or worked itself into some kooky theme I cooked up. So let me be clear, what appears here is a completely arbitrary exercise in personal taste and discretion. I’m sure others may have a somewhat different set of worthy tunes that deserve more attention. And that is totally cool. The point is to celebrate the artists and perhaps give people another shot at checking them out.

So here it is, Poprock Record’s top 50 should-be hit singles from 2022:

1. Grrrl Gang “Pop Princess”
2. The Bleeding Idahos “The Beat Said”
3. Dazy “Rollercoaster Ride”
4. Bloody Norah “Shooting Star”
5. Allan Kaplon “Restless One”
6. Televisionaries “Over and Out”
7. John Larson and the Silver Fields “Reversible Heart”
8. Push Puppets “There’s No-one Else Like Lynette”
9. Tamar Berk “Your Permission”/“Tragic Endings”
10. Freddie Steady Krc “Bohemian Dandy”
11. The Toms “Atmosphere”
12. The Proctors “You and Me and the Sea”
13. The Minders “Home”
14. Richard Turgeon “Better With You”
15. Flipp “You Can Make It Happen”
16. Bill DeMain “Lone Ranger”
17. Limblifter “Haystack Rock”
18. Stephen Schijns “I Met Her Yesterday”
19. The Rubs “When I Dream About You”
20. Edward O’ Connell “Golden Light”
21. Superchunk “Endless Summer”
22. The Kryng “Get”
23. Freedy Johnston “There Goes a Brooklyn Girl”
24. Phil Thornalley “Fast Car”
25. Lawn “Down”
26. The Stroppies “The Perfect Crime”
27. Beachheads “Jupiter”
28. Martin Luther Lennon “jfkha”
29. David Woodard “Stupid Kid”
30. Linda XO “California Girl”
31. Richard X. Heyman “When the New Dawn Comes”
32. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard “Break Right In”
33. Sloan “Magical Thinking”
34. Teenage Tom Petties “Boxroom Blues”
35. The Demos “Streetlight Glow”
36. Suburban HiFi “In Her Reverie”
37. Moonlight Parade “Amsterdam”
38. Ricky Rochelle “In a Dream With You”
39. The Telmos “What She Knows”
40. Marc Jonson and Ramirez Exposure “Tape Recording”
41. Sky Diving Penguins “Run Boy”
42. Novelty Island “Jangleheart”
43. Goodman “Au Pair”
44. Pictish Trail “Melody Something”
45. Kevin Robertson “Tough Times (Feel Like That)
46. U.S. Highball “(You’ve Got To) Activate a Carrot”
47. The Wends “What A Heart Is For”
48. The Rallies “Must Be Love”
49. Jane’s Party “It’s Been Years”
50. Frank Royster “Open Door”

There were so many great songs put out this past year, I was spoiled for choice. And choosing wasn’t easy. Sometimes I cheated a little. Grrrl Gang’s “Pop Princess” technically came out before 2022 but I only got around to writing about it this last year. What a tune! It’s a perfect example of the kind of excitement a great single can generate and, really, why I write this blog. People need to hear it! Or there’s the fresh indie hooks driving The Bleeding Idahos’ “The Beat Said” and Bloody Norah’s “Shooting Star.” Dazy had a knock out AM radio earworm with “Rollercoaster Ride.” And then there was veteran songster Allan Kaplon coming on like The Highwaymen at first only to let loose the Rockpile hooks in the chorus of “Restless Ones.” There were new faces and old favourites and surprises aplenty. Click on the links to go to the original posts featuring each song.

I had to create a few new categories this year, just to capture all that was good and groovy about 2022. The post-Covid covers album phenomenon continued and most were great fun. But some were particularly inspired. And then there were a lot of acoustic guitar-dominant tunes out this past year that I felt really needed to be singled out in a category I’ve dubbed folk pop.

So, without further ado, here are Poprock Record’s most inventive covers from 2022:

1. Kurt Lanham “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (The Beatles)
2. Lisa Mychols and Super 8 “I Can’t Explain” (The Who)
3. Bill Lloyd “The World Turns Around Her” (The Byrds)
4. Andy Bell “Light Flight” (Pentangle)
5. Murray Atkinson “Bus Stop” (The Hollies)

And here are Poprock Record’s top folk pop singles from 2022:

1. Fjord Mustang “Health Class Field Trip”
2. Rogers and Butler “Oh Romeo”
3. Bats “Golden Spoon”
4. *repeat repeat “Hm Feels Like”
5. Steve Robinson and Ed Woltil “Make Amends”
6. Chris Castino “Chinese Whispers”

I do love making lists but the choices do not amount to any big heavy pronouncement on anything – just my bit of fun and chance to celebrate these artists a little bit more. Check them out and see if you don’t agree, they’re seriously good!

Photo courtesy Fred Rockwood.

Treasure hunt: Tamar Berk, Freddie Steady KRC, Fur and My Idea

03 Friday Jun 2022

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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Freddie Steady Krc, Fur, My Idea, Tamar Berk

Thing about treasure hunts, you know that a treasure’s been buried somewhere. So if you and other kids root around long enough, something buried is gonna be found by somebody. This treasure hunt is similar but even easier: the treasure is right out in the open. You just have to come and get it.

In what has been one of the most anticipated albums of 2022, Tamar Berk kicks off Start at the End with her heady pair of pre-release singles, “Your Permission” and “Tragic Endings.” The duo are a slick, carefully-calibrated dose of sophisticated songcraft in the best Suzanne Vega or Aimee Mann style. I mean, the arrangements themselves comprise half the beauty of the songs here. But the rest of this album is no slouch either. There’s an intimate, confessional quality to most of the songs, like Berk is beckoning you in, confiding something. “Hoping This Day Won’t Kill Us” starts so spare, building tension with some subtle 1980s synth and eerie background vocals. From there the tracks roll out like a shifting kaleidoscope of emotions, each one using a distinctive guitar, keyboard or vocal effect to speak to its raw feeling. “June Lake,” “You Already Knew,” “No Chair,” and “Wrong Information” – these songs are wistful and delicately shaded. Meanwhile “Just Be” gives off an air of self-liberation, its carefully stated acoustic guitar and piano lines circling, propelling us forward. The album has some more rocking moments too: the early Bangles-like “Real  Bad Day,” the Stonesy “Sweet Relief,” and the Harrisonian “Alone Tonight.” “Dandelions in my Flowerbed” has got rollicking, good-time single written all over it. And if you do decide to Start at the End the first thing you’ll hear is the album closer “This is Me Trying,” a song that captures the whole point of the record, a stark, raw testament to just putting one foot before the other. This really is an album to treasure, a wonderful, messy, emotional and joyous journey through song. And it is going directly to the ‘best of the year’ pile.

There is little more I can say about the many talents of Austin’s legendary Tex Mex troubadour Freddy Steady Krc that hasn’t already been said. From his fabulous 1980s recordings with his band The Explosives to his numerous turns as sideman to the stars the guy is a living rock and roll museum. And he’s still putting out great new music. Dandy sees his Freddie Steady Review knocking out new tunes as well as polishing up some older, previously released material. The album kicks off with the should-be hit single “Bohemian Dandy.” Driven on by rippling piano lines and irresistible melodic hooks, it’s a flawless slice of radio-friendly tune-age. Nothing else on the record is quite like it but that’s ok, the range of retro Americana material lends the record a party air. “Dear Delilah” has that great 1950s rockabilly guitar and a swing that says get your dancing shoes ready. “Muchacho Borracho” is an obvious fun Tex Mex workout. “Rustler’s Moon” reminds me of so much of the mid-period solo Nick Lowe material, though the vocal leans more to Ian Gomm. There are some departures, like “Girl Who Wore the Violent Crown” with its Elvis Costello feel to the songwriting. Or outliers like the jazzy cool talking-blues “I’ve Been Framed.” But overall this is an album that understands what Nick Lowe once called the ‘roll’ side of rock and roll, i.e. the key importance of tempo and timing to great performances. The Freddy Steady Review are the kind of band you know can dole it out all night, steady and highly entertaining.

What a transformation can occur in a band in just a few short years. In 2017 I had Brighton’s Fur pegged as a pleasant early-1960s beat group revival band and I was happy with that. But 2021’s When You Walk Away marks a remarkable and dramatic expansion of the band’s musical palette. The record charges out from the start, a veritable onslaught of guitars relentless in their aural assault. But the guitar wash is all in the service of a host of irresistibly hooky tunes. Opening cut “When You Walk Away, Pt. 1” is the sort of song that has audiences leaping to their feet and belting out the chorus. “Anybody Else But Me” combines a distinctive lead guitar sound with a melody that shifts effortlessly from major to minor hues. The wall of acoustic guitars that floats “To Be Next to Her” allows the inventive melody to be just that much more alluring. “The Fine Line of a Quiet Life” exudes excitement with a relentless pumping piano that won’t let you not start dancing. There are few throwbacks to the band’s earlier, more manicured 1960s ballady sound, tunes like “No Good for You” and “What I Am” with its 1963 fairground feel. “Wild Heart” also stands out for its sparkly jangle lead guitar line. This is definitely a band to watch. They’ve got the thrilling quality and intensity of bands like The Strypes, The Strokes and The Vaccines but with a demeanor all their own. Just listen to the jazz notes threaded through “Love You All the Time” or the obvious hit single vibe all over “She’s the Warmest Colour in My Mind.” I think these guys may just be getting started.

Brooklyn duo My Idea have got a highly original sound. Bits of it may seem familiar but when it comes together the effect is something else. Their initial EP release That’s My Idea hinted at the madcap creativity that was to come with breezy pop tunes like “I Can’t Dance”  and more edgy stuff like “Stay Away Still.” Full album Cry Mfer delivers, kicking off with a Kate Bush in a Hounds of Love register on its title track, the effect both mesmerizing and hypnotic. Then “Crutch” breaks that spell with its jaunty guitar pop and breathy Mary Lou Lord vocal. “Baby I’m the Man” sounds simple but the audio keeps warping ever so slightly, like a cassette tape left in the rain. “Lily’s Phone” sounds tougher in a post 1970s new wave sort of way. The styles change up quickly, one minute vibing a pristine jangle on “Yr a Blue,” then offering up an off-kilter country-style sing-a-long on “Pretty You.” If pressed, I’d choose the collaboration with Thanks for Coming “One Tree Hell” as the single. But let’s face it, this band repels convention at every turn. Anything could be the single for them. Best to let the album flow over you and enjoy the ride.

Knowing there’s treasure doesn’t take away the thrill. Get out there and get yours from this seriously good quartet of new albums. Top photo courtesy Suhash Villuri.

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