The past is always with us. Reflections of it glimmer here and there, bouncing off every bit of today’s popular culture. At its worst, it’s just cheap nostalgia. But at its best it combines yesterday with today, helping to keep us linked to what went before. Today’s acts are masters at bringing the past into the present in new and interesting ways.

Poprock workaholic Super 8 is back with a whole new album of sixties-reminiscent musical treats on Hoopla. His specialty is psychedelic pop with Kinks and Beach Boys shadings and this installment is more of the good same. Though this time around I hear a more pronounced Beatles influence on the material. Opening cut “All My Friends” gives us a very baroque start, like the Stones “You Can’t Get Always What You Want” when they opened with a choir and then segued to the band, though this time it’s strings. Substance-wise, the song eloquently speaks to the moment we’ve all been living through. Then “Susan’s Revolving” offers up a very special collaboration. The track is developed from a song sketch by Andy Partridge so the XTC elements are obvious. But this version further develops the sixties influences embedded in Partridge’s work, drawing particularly from the psychedelic Beatles era. Solo Fabs influences can also be heard on “All My Worries” which echoes an early solo Lennon vibe, particularly the dominant role for the piano. There are departures, like the Ben Folds-like whimsy fueling the light and uplifting “Not Like the Rest” and the buoyant lilt to “Love Ya.” Other sixties influences include the Band on “Be My Yoko” and “Our Town” or the Byrds on “Moments in Time” and “The Hangman’s Daughter.” Then there’s my fave “Out of My Head.” This one has got such subtle melodic hooks amid a delicate swirl of backward masking and a Turtles-worthy background vocals arrangement. Hoopla really is a soundtrack for fun. One play will put an extra spring in your step and bring on irrepressible smiles. Who knows multiple plays might do.

John Sally Ride leader John Dunbar has a fascinating concept album out under the moniker JSR entitled The Other Women. The song titles might seem familiar, featuring gals named Ronda, Sheena, Emily, Rosie and Renee, among others. The back story on this project is that Dunbar decided to take the heroines from a host of old classic hit singles but reimagine their stories. In this universe it’s “Run Away Renee,” “Go to Sleep Little Susie,” “Sheena is a Prog Rocker,” and “Alone Comes Mary.” You get the picture. The songs are not rewrites but wholly new compositions simply inspired by the originals and taken in new directions. The results are reliably Dunbar-delightful, a supremely pleasant collection of tunes in the Tilbrook, Costello and Lowe song-writing tradition. Though I must confess I’m drawn to what would amount to side 2 of the record (tracks 6-10). “All the Girls Hate Alice” works the minor chords with a painter’s detail brush. “Go to Sleep Little Susie” has a hypnotic grace, balancing striking lead guitar strokes with exquisite harmony vocals. “See Emily Work” melds XTC and Squeeze vibes effortlessly. “Alone Comes Mary” closes out the album with a beautiful mournful lament. The Other Women draws from the past but only to get Dunbar’s creativity going – the end product is something new and original.

Past and present, why choose? Today’s acts let you bring yesterday’s musical inspiration into the present. Check them out before tomorrow comes to confuse the whole issue.