Lost and Found: Adam Roth and Steve Rosenbaum

The Lost and Found category is for bands that up to this point were not “discovered” by the power pop community until recently.

Adam Roth

The Adam Roth and his Band of Men “Down The Shore”

Adam Roth was a musician mostly under the radar, but well-loved by those who knew him. Once a member of the Boston rock band Del Fuegos, and regular collaborator with comedian Dennis Leary, his album of 80s frat rock was just about lost to history. The 1982 movie Beach House (aka Down The Shore) was a very low-budget Animal House/Porkys teen comedy without much positive to mention, other than the soundtrack. It jump-started Roth’s career in movie soundtracks (The Ref, Monument Ave, Hollywood Vietnam) and TV commercials. He passed away in 2015 of cancer, but Hozac Records remastered his album and featured new liner notes written by Adam’s brother Charles Roth.

The music is very much a product of its time, but brilliance shows through. “Judy Won’t You Dance With Me” is similar in some ways to The Shoes, and “Now You’re Runnin” and “I Just Wanna Have Some Fun” have more of a punk attitude displayed on the faster-tempo rockers. Overall a good addition to your 80’s power-pop collection.

Amazon

 

Steve Rosenbaum

Steve Rosenbaum “Have A Cool Summer”

Steve Rosenbaum is a DIY San Diego musician with a jangling guitar and lots of songs written between 1979-89. Similar in style to Tom Marolda (The Toms), The Modulators, The Deal, The Rubinoos – Steve really should have been signed by a major label at that time. But it never happened.

Fortunately, these songs are finally available to the public at Bandcamp. The songwriting here is pretty good, but the production was recorded mainly on the Tascam 244 cassette 4-track, and the sound quality is pretty spotty. There are some gems to be found; the Beach Boys-like “Me Alone,” “Come On Over,” the Twilley-like “Got To Tell Ya,” and REM-like jangle of “72 days.” Steve does offer a FREEBIE sample of these tracks on his Two-Cassette Deck Bounces EP. Fans of the era will see the potential in these songs because it’s music that deserves to be heard.

Bandcamp

Biggest disappointments of 2020

Just let me start by saying this isn’t a “worst albums” list but a collection of mediocre albums that I will likely not listen to again. I tend to pick on established stars who should’ve known better. Let the hate mail flow…

 

Billy Bremner

Billy Bremner “Rockfiles: A Tribute to Rockpile”
Bremner paying tribute to his old band Rockpile (with Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds) sounds like a decent idea, but he can’t pull it off. Musically it sounds like a lame cover band, and Bremner’s vocals just aren’t up to snuff — it’ll have you reaching for the original almost instantly.

 

Kevin Godley

Kevin Godley “Muscle Memory”
Godley was an integral part of 10cc, one of the most innovative rock bands of the ’70s. Unlike his counterpart, Graham Gouldman who’s done a great job this year with a new album, Godley’s work is as non-melodic and experimentally boring as can be. Godley’s vocal is still impressive, and it makes the experience listenable. Barely. “Periscope” is the only tolerable tune here.

 

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello “Hey Clockface”
Many critics fall over to the “master craftsman” who mixes styles and moods “brilliantly.” This scattershot mess feels like a series of loose demos. He goes for weird moody Arabic instrumentals, ballads he croaks out (his vocals are shot), and tin-pan alley pop that seems better suited to Randy Newman or Leon Redbone. The song “Radio is Everything” has him doing narrative poetry. Maybe he thinks he’s Bob Dylan now? His one “angry old man” song “No Flag” is pure cacophony compared to his last album Look Now.

 

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney “III”
Sir Paul figures he could just indulge himself, playing lots of loose jams and sketches. But unlike McCartney which was a home-tooled response to The Beatles, and McCartney II which was an attempt to incorporate new music trends, “III” feels like he’s noodling around and bored. The septuagenarian multi-millionaire pop star still has legendary talent, as “Seize the Day” proves he can still fart out good music whenever he wants to. But after all that promotional build-up, he’s just taking it easy here. Ho hum.

 

The top 25 best power pop of 2020 is coming soon…

Power Pop for sale! Come on Down! Paul Collins Concert coming soon!

Power POp for sale

The Power Popaholic Sell-A-Thon

If you are near Massapequa Long Island tomorrow, there is a big music expo going on at American Legion Massapequa NY Post 1066 at 66 Veterans Blvd, Massapequa, New York 11758. I will be selling a big pile of my music collection. This stuff has been accumulating for over 10 years now and I’m ready to give it to you for pennies on the dollar. Many CDs will be $2 each and some $4 each. I will also be selling a few very rare items, like my Squeeze Box Set and Cheap Trick Box Set.

And many other vendors will be there, lot of records and other goodies will be for sale. So come on down!

The Paul Collins – Rockinghams Concert

Coming up next month….

The John Sally Ride and The Creation

“The John Sally Ride“

The John Sally Ride “A New Set of Downs”

John Dunbar teams up with Sal Maida (Milk & Cookies) and drummer Sal Nunziato to form this solid trio. Anchored by Maida’s great bass line, Dunbar makes the best of the opener “One of These Days You’ll Have One of Those Days,” a very Kinks-like composition with kazoo and guitar flourishes. The steady rhythm of “I Didn’t Know I Was Saying Goodbye” is another gem about an unexpected break-up.

Dunbar gets stuff off his chest with “Your Closest Friends,” a rant that mentions “If you met them now for the first time you’d hate their guts.”  And easily the catchiest tune is the single we heard last month “Not Taking Credit.” Another big highlight is “The Girl You Won’t Leave Your Wife For,” with its dense melody and harmonies in the chorus. Not everything here hits the mark, but this is easily Dunbar’s most accessible work. Highly Recommended.

Amazon

“The Creation“

The Creation “Action Painting”

Back the days during the height of the Mod rock movement 1963 -1968, a handful of bands lead the way and their influences have persisted across the decades of rock and roll. The biggest bands at the time were The Who, The Small Faces, and The Kinks but a band that arguably belonged in that strata was The Creation. Produced by Shel Talmy (The Who) the band traveled in the same circles and hit it big in 1966 with “Making Time” and “Painter Man.”

The band line-up never stayed consistent, as their rotating membership contributed to the eventual breakup in 1968. But the band’s short life was profoundly influential on many artists following them including Paul Weller, Led Zeppelin, The Sex Pistol and many others. Read my full review of the new “Action Painting” CD Box set on http://www.50thirdand3rd.com

Amazon