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Shopping for singles

02 Thursday Oct 2025

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Back in the day the big decision was whether to pick up a 45 or go for the whole album. If you knew you were going to like it, the album was definitely the better deal financially. But in the era of physical product it was often hard to needle-drop across the full LP before ponying up the cash. Thankfully those days are over! Now you can sample these 21 new tunes with no commitment at all.

Brooklyn’s Cut Worms dial up the country vibe on their recent 45 “Evil Twin” in a very Wilco way, accent on acoustic guitars and tasty electric lead guitar licks. Game Theory are one of those legendary great lost bands whose fan base mostly consists of other musicians. Chris Richards and the Subtractions cover the band’s “Make Any Vows” with the loving care of real fans. The tune really suits their clashy guitar sound. Australian Gavin Bowles is not shy about sharing the details of his lady problems. This time his band Gavin Bowles and the Distractions lays it out on “She Hates My Guts.” Ouch. Plenty of ringing lead guitar lines and sad sack lyrics of the most enjoyable kind. The career of Daisy House is proof positive the charts are not just. Their ability to conjure up the best elements of the 1960s was unparalleled. Still, band leader Doug Hammond manages to find a few lost tracks here and there, like the striking ballad “The Seducer.” The aura is so Netflix Elizabethan-period drama love-scene. Check out the appetizing lead guitar work luring you in to Invisible Rays’ recent stand-alone single “I Don’t Dream of You.” The Boston combo are just so reliably good.

It was really hard to pick just one song to feature from Toronto’s The Young Novelists new album These Dark Canyons. At first I thought I’d go with the Americana-ish “All My Friends Are Leaving.” Then I was struck by the strong new wave hooks defining “Gimme Your Love.” But then I heard “Run Away” and that was it. The song kicks off very Golden Seals before settling into a sing-along chorus. You can always rely on Peter Yorn for something a bit different but still hooky. On “Ana Capri” you’ve got an AM radio chorus wrapped in verses that take up an inventive, intriguing soundscape. Have we got time for an oldie? If it’s Robert Ellis Oral the answer has to be yes. “Love’s On the Way” is from his 1986 album The War Between Us and it time-trips me back to a very special kind of poprock, one that could combine commercial chops with ear wormy hooks. Time to get back to the garage for some down and dirty rock that never loses grip on its magnetic melodic undercurrent. The Low Spirits “Can’t Love You Back” is a distilled drink of 1966. Another pull from the past is a song from Dave Paulson’s 2018 Tommy Boy themed album Sandusky, Ohio. “Don’t Let It Get You Down” sounds like a 1970s singer-songwriter romp, oscillating between different instruments and pacing while falling somewhere between Gilbert O’Sullivan and ELO.

Toronto’s Nicky Koro gets his jangle on with his recent summer 45 “Dreamin’.” Wow, this track has got ‘classic’ stamped all over its 2 minutes and 22 seconds. The shimmery guitars and seductive vocals meld together so pop perfectly. Not everyone in The Jerrys is named Jerry. The gal in their recent song “Kentucky Girl” may not even be from Kentucky. What we do know is the band combines an infectious hit of Merseybeat with the folk pop sensibility of bands like The Lilac Time. Nothing seems to be able arrest the creative energy of Power Pop Hall of Famers The Spongetones and that is a very good thing. Their most recent album is a 40th anniversary concert that also includes three newly recorded songs. They’re all so good it seems almost churlish to highlight one over another. Nevertheless, I’m leaning toward “Lulu’s In Love” as my current fave (but that could change by next week). More Toronto? Yes please. Ontario’s capital city gives us Octoberman and his indie folk rumination implicating “Harry Nilsson.” Things get a bit rocky in the middle but I’ve always like that kind of folkie flexibility from acts like Hayden and this one. Man has this band Pouts got the mid-sixties British Invasion sound down, with just a bit Britpop coating. “Stay Awhile” swings along, largely carried by its rhythm guitar with break out lead guitar lines adorning all the non-vocal spaces. Delightful!

Mark Ward’s new stand-alone track “I Don’t Care” launches hard with loud guitars before melting into a melody-drenched chorus. The overall feel is very early 1980s melodic rock while the sentiment is good old fashioned social critique. Grrrl Gang are an Indonesian force of nature. Their music is super-charged and danceable while their melodies are positively delectable. “O, My Love” is brimming with energy and insight – another winner, for sure. If we want to genre-shift to something a bit more homey and old time country-meets-rock and roll then The International Treasures fit the bill. “Last Regret” would have made a good number for the Everlys but this version is pretty sweet too. I’m getting my Canadian content in today, particularly from my own Toronto neighbourhood. Ron Sexsmith has a new album out and it is everything you’d expect: wistful, aching, and packed full of memorable melodies. I’m hitting replay on “It’s Been Awhile,” which captures my own longing for more Sexsmith material over the years. Another band with a new album are The Mommyheads. No Quietus is another installment of intelligent pop music, played with the pop sophistication of an XTC or Tally Hall. Check out “It’s Only Life” to get a taste of this superior pop product.

Ron Sexsmith “It’s Been Awhile”

One more time to the Toronto well for a wrap on our 21 single salute with Pony’s seismic song “Superglue.” This one has got the gloss, the shimmer, and the cheeky alluring hooks that just keep coming and coming. Surrender to the total sonic wash going on here.

Single shopping was never so easy as this. No salesman will call. Just hit on the hyperlinks and pile up your purchases from the comfort of your own couch.

Photo ‘Bruntsfield at night’ courtesy Bryonv2 Flikr collection.

Not workers playtime

01 Wednesday May 2024

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Workers Playtime was a BBC radio show that ran for two decades after WWII, broadcasting live music and comedy from shop floors across the UK. As culture should do, it held a mirror up to what the great mass of people do day in, day out, as if that mattered. On today’s May Day we revive that spirit with a collection of songs that also focus on work, working, and workers.

I’ve never heard anyone capture the essential problem of work in a song quite like Birmingham, Alabama’s Lolas. Running just shy of two minutes, “Work is the Blackmail of Survival” beats its jangle fueled fist against the tyranny of modern employment. Not that Lolas leader Tim Boykin could be accused of sloth, given how he regularly churns out great tunes. His real concern is about how work for pay tends to stunt out lives, alienating us from ourselves and others. Boston’s Air Traffic Controller are not clear on what kind of employment they’re writing about on “The Work” but it doesn’t sound like a walk in the park. But like Lolas they still sound chipper about it, musically at least. Cotton Mather main man Harold Whit Williams has another project that is right up our themed alley. Writing and performing under the moniker Daily Worker he has a whole album entitled May Day. On “Write If You Get Work” he offers a folk pop rumination on the struggle to get work in seemingly never-ending tough times. In a related vein Canadian power pop juggernaut Sloan weigh up the pros and cons of any given work opportunity on “Nice Work If You Can Get It” with a few Beatlesque guitar hooks just to sweeten the deal.

Our next group of songs are about working. On his website Paul McCartney writes about “On My Way to Work” from his 2013 album New. Ever the wistful one, Macca does capture the mood of his pre-Beatles working class self going to work, mind on other things. On their last album in 2011’s Sky Full of Holes Fountains of Wayne tucked in one of their usual stellar daily-life song sketches with “Workingman’s Hands.” With a quiet respect, the song’s lyrics honour the impact of work on those who do it. Jack Green’s 1980 album Humanesque has a unique blend of guitar and vocals that is so of the era. It also includes the rhythm guitar chord fabulous tribute to working class gals on “Factory Girls.” The light synth touches are just a bonus. Reaching back to 1973, the struggles of working class couples with conflicting shifts gets an airing on the Liverpool Echo’s “Sally Works Nights.” Though I doubt the protagonist’s solution here really met with Sally’s approval.

Paul McCartney – On My Way to Work
Jack Green – Factory Girl
Liverpool Echo – Sally Works Nights

Shifting gears, work is the focus of a lot anguish in terms of how it limits what people can do with their lives. Philadelphia’s 2nd Grade neatly sum the essential problem on “Work Till I Die” where the singer works and works to gain ‘free time.’ Similarly Richard Turgeon bemoans the days lost to “Workin’ for the Man.” As he notes lyrically “There’s a moral to this story but it might not have a happy ending.” The Primitives left space on their fabulous 2014 comeback album Spin-O-Rama for a soliloquy about how hard labour sucks on the delightful “Working Isn’t Working.” And they throw in some pretty special glam buzz guitar too. Then there’s Cupid’s Carnival giving their best Beatles treatment of their own “Working All Day.” It almost makes suffering the work day worthwhile.

Cupid’s Carnival – Working All Day

This May Day as much as any we have to ask why the great mass of working people put up with their situation, given that they represent the overwhelming majority of humanity. Chris Corney suggests it might have to do with a particular mindset. On “Do Not Adjust Your Mind” he addresses how people let things go rather than interrupt the flow. Robert Ellis Orrall puts the blame on a broader set of ‘doing stupid man things’ that dominate so much behaviour. What people need, according to angry troubadour Ike Reilly, is to abandon a fake past and embrace of real future and “Fuck the Good Old Days.” Amen.

Chris Corney – Do Not Adjust Your Mind
Ike Reilly – Fuck the Good Old Days

This moment in history is no workers’ playtime. While AI fiddles our future as workers burns, unless we collectively decide otherwise.

Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2021

08 Saturday Jan 2022

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In our social media-saturated universe it seems that your 15 minutes of fame has been reduced to just 15 seconds. Who going to give up the time to listen to a whole album, let alone gaze longingly at the cover (like we used to do) while it plays? That means today’s albums have really got to have something special going on, like great tunes, engaging styles, and hooks that seem to improve with repeated listenings. Those are the standards we applied to the 2021 album releases we encountered this past year, resulting in a list of 25 must-have LPs we think you should get to know. But wait, that’s not all. We’ve also helpfully culled the racks for top EPs, covers albums, and long lost albums that finally saw the light of day in 2021. Forget the Columbia House Record Club, we’ve got all the long-players you need and then some. Hyperlinks take you to the original review.

So let’s get the show rolling with Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2021:

1. James Henry Pluck
2. Brent Seavers BS Stands For
3. The Boys with The Perpetual Nervousness Songs from Another Life
4. Lane Steinberg The Invisible Monster
5. Ruen Brothers Ultramodern
6. Aaron Lee Tasjan Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!
7. Greg Townson Off and Running
8. Rich Arithmetic Shiftingears
9. Richie Mayer The Inn of Temporary Happiness
10. Drew Beskin Problematic for the People
11. Rob Ellis Orrall 467 Surf and Gun Club
12. Nicholas Altobelli Technicolor Hearts
13. The Friends of Cesar Romero War Party Favors
14. Steve Robinson Swallowing the Sun
15. The Brothers Steve Dose
16. Lolas All Rise
17. Lo Talker A Comedy of Errors
18. The Armoires Incognito
19. Tommy Ray! Handful of Hits
20. Chris Church Game Dirt
21. Matthew Milia Keego Harbor
22. Henry Chadwick We All Start Again
23. Rich Mattson and the Northstars Skylights
24. Ken Sharp Miniatures
25. Fishboy Waitsgiving

Putting James Henry as my number 1 album choice for 2021 might surprise a few blog watchers but frankly I don’t know why Pluck isn’t topping all the indie charts. Maybe it’s the subdued cover art or perhaps the album just falls between the genre cracks, I don’t know. But if you love those highly listenable 1980s Squeeze or Crowded House albums, this guy is for you. Each song should be stamped ‘earworm warning’ as a positive public health measure. Take it from me, Pluck is a relentless hook machine. 5 stars for sure. Other choices – Brent Seavers, The Brothers Steve, Lolas, Chris Church – are perhaps more predictable. Hey, they’ve delivered before and here they deliver again. Genre-wise, Lane Steinberg and Fishboy undoubtedly raise boundary issues but damn they are fine albums with subtly hooky tunes. And the rest? Well they’re all defined by content that is mucho killer, nada filler.

Next up, Poprock Record’s top five EPs for 2021:

1. Daryl Bean Mr. Strangelove
2. The Blendours Go On Vacation
3. BPM Collective Catastrophe Girl
4. The Cudas Alien Vacation
5. Rumble Strip Let’s Roll

Can’t spare the time for a full album experience? These extended play releases will meet your need for more than a single but not quite a long-player. But fair warning, these concentrated blasts of melodic goodness may leave you wanting for more. They’re that good.

Then, there’s Poprock Record’s top five covers albums for 2021:

1. Richard Turgeon 10 Covers Volume Two
2. Mike Browning Class Act
3. The Speedways Borrowed and Blue
4. The Unswept Power Pop for all the People
5. Spygenius Blow Their Covers

The pandemic moved just about everyone to put out an album of covers. But they’re actually pretty hard to nail, ranging in quality from elevated karoke to the unrecognizable. The trick is to rework the unique creative spark in the song, making it both recognizable and different at the same time. Turgeon’s a master of song reinvention, taking up tunes others wouldn’t dare to try (from the likes of The Monkees, The Mamas and Papas, and the Bryds, among others) and succeeding. Browning applies his own distinctive poprock chops to material from the sixties to the eighties that lets you fall for the classics all over again. Ditto 3, 4, and 5 – they love the songs and it shows.

And finally, Poprock Record’s 5 best long lost albums of 2021:

1. Sorrows Love Too Late … the real album
2. Steve Rosenbaum Have a Cool Summer
3. Bruce Moody Forever Fresh!
4. Doublepluspop Too Loud, Too Fast, Too Much
5. Underwater Sunshine Suckertree

The idea that a band could put all the work into writing, playing and recording an album and then not have it released almost seems like a crime in my book. Numbers 4 and 5 had their work ‘misplaced,’ only to accidently resurface recently and get released. Numbers 2 and 3 were indie artists whose various DIY and professional recordings never got gathered together for a proper release, until the rise of recent niche music markets made it viable. And number 1 is a remarkable story of a band that wouldn’t let their record company/producer’s mangled version of their album stand. So instead they rerecorded it, this time getting it right. That the Sorrows could make their rerecording of Love Too Late sound so 1981 is a testament to their talent and sheer doggedness.

Ok, one last category, Poprock Record’s best ‘best of’ album of 2021:

Dropkick The Best of Dropkick

Sometimes greatest hits collections really hit the mark. The Best of Dropkick is one of them. It’s a comprehensive overview of this great band’s career, packaged with attractive artwork, and at a very nice price.

Well we stretched the 25 album limit but it really was the only way to be fair to all these super LPs and EPs. I think this post demonstrates that while classic era of the album may be over, there’s still lots of tremendous long-playing records out there. If you love them, support them, whether its live or Memorex.

Lego records graphic courtesy art/design student _Regn.

Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles of 2021

03 Monday Jan 2022

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Welcome to our sixth annual collection of should-be hit singles gathered from the artists, albums and tunes featured on Poprock Record in the previous year. You’d think after five tries I would have come up with some kind of rock solid science to make these choices. But, no. Still winging it, going with whatever takes my fancy. I mean, I think you’ll see a pattern: catchy guitar hooks, soaring melodies, earwormy compositions, all accomplished in three minutes or less usually. Putting this list together was particularly challenging this year – positively spoilt for choices! My initial list of possible songs had over 200 selections. The hyperlinks below will take you to the original post about each artist as they first appeared on the blog.

So let’s get to it, Poprock Record’s top 50 should-be hit singles for 2021:

1. The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness “I Don’t Mind”
2. White Fang “Never Give Up”
3. The Vapour Trails “That’ll Do It”
4. James Holt “Mystery Girl”
5. Brent Seavers “More Than A Friend”
6. Timmy Sean “The College Year”
7. Aaron Lee Tasjan “Another Lonely Day”
8. Ruen Brothers “Cookies and Cream”
9. The Martial Arts “Bethany”
10. Daisy House “Last Wave Home”
11. The Coral “Vacancy”
12. Robert Ellis Orrall “Sunshine”
13. Deadlights “Breaking Down”
14. Love, Burns “Wired Eyes”
15. The Blendours “Tell Me The Truth”
16. Daryl Bean “Keeping Me Alive”
17. Stoeckel & Pena “Why”
18. Richard X. Heyman “Ransom”
19. Automatics “Black Velvet Elvis”
20. John Myrtle “How Can You Tell If You Love Her”
21. The Red Locusts “Another Bad Day For Cupid”
22. James Henry “So Many Times Before”
23. Lane Steinberg “The Invisible Monster”
24. Geoff Palmer “The Apartment Song”
25. Mike Browning “The Little Black Egg”
26. The Eisenhowers “Suffer”
27. The Jack Cades “What Am I Going To Do?”
28. Friends of Cesar Romero “Thinkin’ About Leavin’”
29. The Kickstand Band “Hey Julianne”
30. Pseudonym “Before the Monsters Came”
31. David Brookings “Mania At The Talent Show”
32. Lolas “Pain In My Heart”
33. Tommy Scifres “Thought You Knew”
34. Vanilla “I Shall Be Re-Released”
35. Hyness “Cruelty”
36. Tim Jackson “How Do You Mend A Broken Heart”
37. Caddy “Cost of Love”
38. Chris Church “Know”
39. Tim Izzard “Breaking Me Down”
40. BPM Collective “Catastrophe Girl”
41. Benny Hayes “Don’t Make Me Go”
42. Steve Robinson “Mr Empty Head”
43. The Poppermost “Laziest Fella In The Realm”
44. Liz Phair “Hey Lou”
45. Juliana Hatfield “Gorgon”
46. Robert Sherwood “Blue All Over”
47. Kurt Hagardorn “You Are My Girl”
48. Richard Turgeon “Goodbye to Summer”
49. Ed Woltil “Paper Boat”
50. The Amplifier Heads “The House of Young Dolls”

This year’s list privileges strong, strong hooks. I’m talking the jangleliscious guitar work from the ever reliable Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness on “I Don’t Mind,” the relentless driving guitar riffs animating White Fang’s “Never Give Up,” or the delicious 1960s roll out kicking off The Vapour Trails’ “That’ll Do It.” Or the pumping, plinky piano and organ cocktail that undergirds James Holt’s killer single “Mystery Girl.” Then there’s the more traditional poprock Brent Seavers, springing the earworm in the chorus of “More Than a Friend.” Still, there’s room for variety on this list, from the tender acoustic Aaron Lee Tasjan ballad “Another Lonely Day,” to the Beach Boys homage in Daisy House’s “Last Wave Home,” to a folk rock duet from Steve Stoeckel and Irene Pena on “Why,” to the striking sonic heartbreak embodied in Richard X. Heyman’s touching “Ransom.”

Truly, this list is just a bit a fun, one more chance for me to shine a light on the artists whose work had me hitting replay in 2021. But I’m sure you might make different choices. Feel free to tell me all about them! Either way, don’t forget to find some way – buying music, attending live shows (when it’s safe!), or taking up those opportunities to interact with them online – to support their bottom line. They may not only be in it for the money, but money does allow them to stay in it.

Breaking news II: The Friends of Cesar Romero, Robert Ellis Orrall, theCatherines, and BPM Collective

17 Sunday Oct 2021

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News keep breaking on the brand new poprock music front. In our second news episode in as many days we kick out the rock and roll jams, shine up our jangle, and court some seriously superior songwriting. Grab these headlines and have a party!

I only recently discovered The Friends of Cesar Romero with their sparkling single “Summer Boyfriend.” Now I’ve discovered they reach a whole new level of visceral rocking greatness via their just released album War Party Favors. This is a band that comes on strong, often with a wall of rock and roll guitars and a strong vocal assault. The record’s opening title cut “War Party Favors” exemplifies  this ‘tude with its punky, you’re-on-a-thrill-ride abandon. But you never have to look far on any FCR effort to find some laconic melodies and irresistible hooks. Like those alluring guitar riffs all over “The Lonely Popular Girl” that keep drawing you in, waiting for more. Or “Neon Teens” which comes on like some kind of Joan Jett deep cut, alternating demure verses with anthemic choruses. Then there’s “Beauty and the Broken Heart,” essentially a Phil Spector girl group song cast in more rock and roll register. Personally I’m loving “Thinkin’ About Leaving’” with its hooky lead guitar work and very Phil Seymour vocal, as well as the stunning Buddy Holly-doing-new-wave masterpiece, “Baby How Long.” I could describe them all but hearing them will make you a believer. And with 16 tracks for the price of a single album War Party Favors is definitely value for poprock money.

Robert Ellis Orrall is the man behind the hits and hit-makers as a songwriter, producer and record label impresario. He himself had a few major label deals, he did make the charts a few times back in the day, but over his long career he’s mostly avoided the spotlight for himself. Until recently. With a global pandemic unfolding Orrall decided it was time to make a musical statement of his own. And readers we are the lucky beneficiaries because REO not only writes great songs, he’s great at performing them too. Sometimes funny, often smartly political, always engaging musically, previous releases have included clever tunes like “Trust Me, I Work for the Government,” “Clear Channel,” and “Al Gore, the Musical.” But this review is about his latest release, 467 Surf and Gun Club, named for his Memphis record label flop house. There’s a low-key rock opera feel to the musical proceedings, with a number of songs offering up exposition on Orrall’s record label locale and what took place there. Our hero emerges from “In Dreams” to a musical landscape defined by dreamy Beach Boys harmonies. On “Morning Song” our protagonist gets ready to take on another rock and roll day. Then “Here in our Backyard,”  “467 Surf and Gun Club” and “Welcome to Paradise” are like musical montage sequences that fill in all the details. Stylistically, the Beach Boys influence is up front and all over this record, occasionally tempered by a flash of Hall and Oates in the hooks department. Other influences abound, like the obvious love for the Beatles on “Iceberg” or Todd Rundgren on “Miserable.” In terms of a clear hit single, there’s no contest: “Sunshine” is a joyous 2 and half minutes, full stop. It’s what truly great 45s are all about. With 467 Surf and Gun Club Robert Ellis Orrall may be closing up shop on one musical era but the door is clearly opening up on another.

Morning Song
Here in our Backyard
Sunshine

This is a somewhat new sounding theCatherines long-player. Sure, the curio poprock songwriting is still going on. And there’s plenty of that jangly guitar we’ve come to expect from this combo. But Sink Into Oblivion is a departure of sorts. First, it has cleaner, less DIY sound. You can really hear the vocals, now more up-front in the mix than ever before. Second, the songwriting ambition here casts a wider net. There’s a Style Council urbane sophistication to tunes like opening cut “You Never Have Any Self-Doubts, Do You?” or a Pet Shot Boys panache all over “Let’s Write the Book of Love.” Of course, there’s some good old fashioned theCatherines here too, apparent on “Love is Just Far Away Today” and “Where Have I Gone Wrong.” But check out the café jazz pop stylings on “You’ve Got It All Wrong,” “Kid P.” and “Terrible Loser.”  Or the classy piano opening to that cool slice of 1979 melodic pop, “Sappy Together.” The band also conjure up some Bacharach and David for “Like a Song by Nichols and Williams” and give an Attractions-like backing to “At Least Your Bird Can Sing.” But my fave contribution here “Lift Me Up To Your Level” with its terrific guitar/keyboard interplay really adding something special to an already solid tune. On Sink Into Oblivion succumbing to stupor never sounded so good.

Maybe it’s just my faulty memory but alongside the rock and MOR bombast of the 1980s were a host of super 1960s-inspired, melody-focused rock and roll outfits. To my ears, Seattle’s BPM Collective nail that sound. Their debut EP Catastrophe Girl is a stunning showcase of poprock styles from that decade, and they’ve got it sounding fresher than ever. Just give the title track “Catastrophe Girl” a spin to get swept up in a soaring melody and driving mix of distinctive organ and guitars. The vibe is so familiar, like an early Bangles or mid-period Don Dixon tune. And while the “Adelaide” sung about here is probably in Washington state, the song does have a haunting Down Under music scene kind of feel. What I find so impressive about this EP is the remarkable range of songwriting across just five songs. Note the touch of Merseyside on “Mr Congeniality” or the hint of Roxy Music in the chorus of the otherwise Americana poprocking “Something to Dream About.” And then there’s the Orbison-esque vocal turns of phrase colouring in the sombre “The Valley.” Wow. This baby is heading for the ‘best of the year’ lists for sure.

Don’t wait for any film at eleven. Go right now to the hyperlinked names above to get more on these breaking stories. It pays to stay informed.