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Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2022

10 Tuesday Jan 2023

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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2nd Grade, Afterpartees, Chris Lund, Edward O'Connell, Eytan Mirsky, Freedy Johnston, Friends of Cesar Romero, Greg Pope, Kate Clover, Ken Sharp, Kids on a Crime Spree, Love Burns, Movie Movie, Papercuts, Pete Astor, Phil Thornalley, Push Puppets, Richard Turgeon, Ryan Allen, Sad About Girls, Sloan, Superchunk, Tamar Berk, Televisionaries, The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness, The Genuine Fakes, The Happy Fits, The Happy Somethings, The Kryng, The Minders, The Photocopies, The Rubs, Tony Molina, Trevor Blendour, Young Guv

Once again I’ve assembled a crack team of ace reviewers to whittle our towering pile of albums from 2022 down to an essential must-have list of just 25 choices. How could these stuffed suits know what’s hip, you might say? It’s kinda like how album covers can be deceiving – the dullest dust jacket may obscure a real gem. So I’ve had these guys working overtime to bring you the very best of 2022, as featured in the annals of this here blog over the past calendar year. They’ve combed through countless long-players, extended plays and concept albums to put together multiple ‘must have’ lists. Tough work but you can tell by quality of their tailoring that they were up for it.

Cue drumroll – here we have it, Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs from 2022:

1. Tamar Berk Start at End
2. Trevor Blendour Falling in Love
3. Televisionairies Mad About You
4. Kids on a Crime Spree Fall in Love Not in Line
5. The Kryng Twelve Hymns to Syng Along
6. The Minders Psychedelic Blacktop
7. Eytan Mirsky Lord, Have Mirsky!
8. Edward O’Connell Feel Some Love
9. Phil Thornalley Now That I Have Your Attention
10. Kate Clover Bleed Your Heart Out
11. Push Puppets Allegory Grey
12. The Rubs (dust)
13. Afterpartees Family Names
14. Sloan Steady
15. 2nd Grade Easy Listening
16. Greg Pope Rise of Mythical Creatures
17. Papercuts Past Life Regression
18. Young Guv Guv III
19. Freedy Johnston Back on the Road to You
20. Pete Astor Time on Earth
21. The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness The Third Wave of …
22. Superchunk Wild Loneliness
23. The Happy Fits Under the Shade of Green
24. Tony Molina In the Fade
25. Chris Lund Indian Summer

Tamar Berk’s outstanding album Start at End tops our list for 2022. Melodic, poppy, inventive, and with a smooth AM radio sheen that encourages repeated listening. And then it’s hard not to fall for the manic, almost gleeful energy of Trevor Blendour’s Falling in Love. The Televisionaries’ Mad About You is just a wonderful mixture of retro rock and roll and hooky modern melodic riffing. I could go on (and I have – click on the hot links to go to the original posts). The list has got old faves (Freedy Johnston, Edward O’Connell, Eytan Mirsky), power pop stalwarts (Sloan, Greg Pope, Chris Lund), and a whole lot that was entirely new to me (Kate Clover, Push Puppets, Pete Astor). And there’s jangle to spare (The Kryng, Young Guv, The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness). The list is proof that, contra claims we are solely a sample culture, the long-playing album is alive and well in the new millennium.

And there’s more. The ongoing revival of the extended play record format has led to this list, Poprock Record’s must-have EPs from 2022:

1. The Happy Somethings Ego Test
2. Movie Movie Movie Movie
3. Sad About Girls Wild Creatures
4. Friends of Cesar Romero In the Cold Cruel Eyes of a Millions Stars
5. Ryan Allen I’m Not Mean
6. Love, Burns Fade in the Sun
7. Richard Turgeon Rough Around the Edges
8. The Genuine Fakes Extended Play Vol. 3

The Happy Somethings make me happy, about a lot of things. They say important things, they give me hope. And their tunes are swell. The rest of the list is pretty winning too. Great tunes in smaller packages. That leaves no excuses not to check them out.

Sometimes an album is bigger than its constituent parts. Sometimes it’s just big. So I had to carve out a special category for Ken Sharp’s latest homage to the 1970s, Poprock Record’s must-have concept album from 2022:

Ken Sharp I’ll Remember the Laughter

Our last category recognizes an artist of prodigious talent and shocking productivity. By my reckoning over the past year alone he has turned out 2 albums of completely new material, 8 EPs of new material, 3 double-sided singles, 3 greatest hits albums, a b-sides album, an EP of remakes, and a holiday EP. Sleep is apparently not for this guy. Thus we bestow the Poprock Record special award of awesome poprock merit to:

The Photocopies

Another year, another avalanche of great tunes. Melodic rock and roll lives and here is the proof. Click on the links and find your new faves. The guys in suits are done here (for now).

1954 ‘Speaking of Pictures’ ad courtesy James Vaughn.

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.

Should-be stars: Superchunk, The Minders, Beachhead, and Cheap Star

27 Wednesday Apr 2022

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Artist Spotlight

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Beachhead, Cheap Star, Superchunk, The Minders

Today’s acts are indie for sure but their output is so consistently solid they seem like should-be stars to me. Particularly with these new releases. Think REM before Green or U2 before Joshua Tree. Hit play on these new albums and see if you don’t agree.

Superchunk is one of those bands that always seemed to be on the periphery of my musical consciousness. Liked by all the right people, running with all the right musical crowds. But a bit too punky or indie rawk for my tastes. But their new album Wild Loneliness is something else. From the opening track’s Verve-esque string section “City of the Dead” the record had my full attention. Album number 12 sees the band let the songs breathe a bit more than usual, loading them up with acoustic guitars and a pacing that’s not in any hurry. It’s apparent on “Endless Summer,” a single-ish number that is both highly listenable and a kind of environmental anthem. Or there’s the perky “On the Floor” with its piano-heavy arrangement and some background vocals help from REM’s Mike Mills. We can draw out comparisons, hearing a bit of U2 Joshua Tree on “Set It Aside,” or echoes of that Bacharach-like string section that Springsteen coated his 2019 Western Stars album with on “This Night,” or even a bit of Josh Rouse on “Wild Loneliness,” but really it’s all Superchunk. My personal fave and vote for should-be hit single is “Connection.” It starts off pretty Tom Petty-pensive before breaking out into a lush but lightly-jangled Byrdsian chorus. Man, those ‘ooh ooh ooh’s’ are chill-inducing! 33 years in and Superchunk have released their most accessible album. An adult-party, play-it-all-night sort of thing.

With their Elephant Six and Apples in Stereo connections it’s a wonder I’m only just a recent convert to the indie pop glory that is The Minders. I had run across their fabulous 1998 album Hooray for Tuesday and was digging that when I noticed they had a new record out, Psychedelic Blacktop. Shifting focus to the new record was a bit jarring as the sound is different. Sure, those crazy keyboard lines are still there but the vocal and guitar attack lean more toward folk rock than their previous more baroque and jaunty guitar pop, at least early on. “Home” opens things up and sets the scene with a Donovan-esque poppy folk number, loaded with great organ. Then “Let’s Go Driving” starts off sounding a bit like the Lovin’ Spoonful meets Jonathan Richman, but those ‘sha la la la la’s shift things into a more Turtles direction. Again, great organ solo. “It’s All the Same” sees the band slipping back towards their more baroque pop roots, definitely jaunty. “You Call to Me” offers up a very folk country vibe, like Ian and Sylvia circa 1966. I’m also really liking the outlier track, “Listen! The Bugle Calls,” which has an ominous Magnetic Fields 1960s revival sound. And so on. If I were you, I’d get comfy: with 13 tracks, there’s plenty of audio tarmac to tear up on Psychedelic Blacktop. Even the album closer “These Days” leaves me wanting more. It’s defined by great rhythm guitar hooks and madcap feel, particularly in seemingly unrelated coda.

Entitling their second album simply Beachheads II suggests this is not where these Norwegian poppy rockers decided to invest their creative energies. No, Beachheads put their effort into the songs. This outing still has the guitars-up-front style that caught everyone’s attention last time out but added in is a greater focus on the vocals, namely some sweet sweet harmonies. You can hear it all over the strong pre-release single “Jupiter.”  Much of the album does carry on from their earlier work, like opening cut “Break It Off,” “1000 Hurts,” and “Oh Joy.” But you can also hear a concerted effort to change things up songwriting and performance-wise.  “Change” is pitched a bit slower than their usual manic pace, with an anthemic chorus and some arresting, melodic guitar lead lines. “Down South” and “Shine” are also both departures, sometimes jaunty, sometimes smooth melodic pop. There are darker numbers here too, like the ominous “Nothing.” Or check out the striking turn the band pulls off in “Death of Nation,” breaking out from a drone-y verse into a seductive melodic chorus. This is band that knows what we like but is keen to surprise us too.

Cheap Star’s recent album Wish I Could See is not just a product of should-be stars. The performers read like a roll call of indie power pop royalty with members of The Posies, Fountains of Wayne, The Raconteurs, Jellyfish, Nada Surf and others pitching in. Bona fide indie superstar artist/producer Mitch Easter even drops by with a guitar solo. The results are spectacular, an enticing, guitar-laden slice of power pop. Tracks like “Flower Girl” and “Wish I Could See” remind me of Nada Surf while “Lifetime” and “Move Away” strike a more Michael Penn chord. There’s a lighter touch on “You Don’t Want to Change” and “Slow Down” where the acoustic guitar sets the pace, the latter with an additional country Byrds flavour. Or listen to how the band combine Rubber Soul era guitars with an Echo and Bunnymen vibe on “What’s It Like.” For should-be hit singles, there are so many choices. “Flower Girl” obviously but I’d also cast a vote for “Holding On” with its great lead guitar roll-out kicking off and then anchoring the tune. It’s got a very Matthew Sweet melody and feel. Altogether Wish I Could See has got the sound of a classic vinyl era power pop record (the physical product can be found at Kool Kat Musik), one you’ll want to add to your collection.

The should-be stars are out tonight. Don’t miss their sparkle and shine.

Top photo: Trevor Dobson “Star trails over an abandoned farmhouse – Boddington, Western Australia”

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Recent Posts

  • Around the dial: The Small Breed, Electric Beauty, Turn Turn Turn, and Best Bets
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  • Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2022
  • Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2022

Recent Comments

Bernie L. on It’s 1965 again with The …
Dennis Pilon on Cover me! New Order “Blue…
EclecticMusicLover on Cover me! New Order “Blue…
Mark G on Poprock Record’s should-be hit…
Scott on Poprock Record’s should-be hit…

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