Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

Automat and Michael Carpenter

powerpopaholic
Automat

Automat “Turn The Music Up”
The under-rated David Doll and Mat Taylor collaboration return after a long absence, and they deliver some greatness here. Automat continues to be a shining example of power pop, starting with “It’s The Beginning Of The End” its top-notch, hook-filled, guitar-pop taking its influences from The Beatles, The Monkees and Squeeze. “What There Could Have Been” is a McCartney & Wings-styled mid-tempo gem and the gentle acoustic strums of “Fly” recall Jellyfish in its optimistic chorus.

The sound varies at times, but always keeps a compelling melodic line, as “I Need, I Know, I Do”  and “If I’m Talking” are straight from the Glenn Tilbrook playbook. The quality of the music is consistent without note of filler, although the Beatlesque ending “A Minor Miracle” drags out over six minutes. Overall, a spectacular album that deserves your attention and gets added to my now crowded top ten list.

Bandcamp only

Michael Carpenter and The Cuban Heels

Michael Carpenter and The Cuban Heels “Ain’t Nothing Left To Say”
How do you follow up retirement? Well Aussie music legend Mr. Carpenter gets his band The Cuban Heels together and delivers what he does best. Like other Cuban Heels albums, the blues and country influences are more pronounced than his solo works – but he throws a few power pop tracks in here.

The title track is a great start, with its steady rhythm, melody line and guitar accents. “I Should Have Told You” and “Wasted Years, Wasted Time” have that familiar steel pedal, and twang. Other highlights include “Photo” and “You’re Givin’ Love A Good Name.” At the end Carpenter gives a shout out to his wife on”Thank You” making for a satisfying finale. Highly Recommended.

Bandcamp only

David Brookings and Gary Ritchie

powerpopaholic

David Brookings and The Average Lookings

California musician David Brookings has been a steady favorite of mine for many years, refining his songwriting craft and sound with each album since 2000. With his new band The Average Lookings, David delivers a truly unique sound that retains his main influences (Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds) without sounding imitative. His vocals are a little like Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) so he has better range than most. Each song here hits the bulls-eye; “Hearts” starts us off with its effective catchy chorus, jangling rhythm and ending crescendo. The hand-clapping, bouncy “Time To Go” is a perfect follow up and “The Optimist” is another gem that proves “you’ll never be a winner unless you lose for quite a while.” Even the ballads like “Don’t Stop to Doubt Yourself” are compelling both lyrically and melodically.

Another memorable twist is the country-tinged rocker “I’m in Love With Your Wife,” which is a fictional accounting of Eric Clapton bragging to George Harrison that his girl Patti “looks wonderful tonight.” Beautifully written and produced, its all killer, no filler – and enough variety in style and tone that keeps the music fresh and unpredictable. It’s darn close to a flawless record and rockets to the top of my best LP of 2016 list.

Itunes | Buy direct from David | CD Baby

Here is a great bio video of David…

Gary Ritchie

Gary Ritchie “Poptimistic”

Chicagoan Gary Ritchie returns on Poptimistic and from the bouncy opening “Million Dollars” its very much like a classic Rubinoos single followed by “Let’s Pretend,” a Beatlesque tune full of simple lyrics and Rickenbacker bass lines. Clearly Ritchie has improved his songwriting over the years, as the compositions are tighter than past albums. “Subtle as a Freight Train” allows both Ritchie and co-guitarist Jeff King to show off a bit, and Gary also has a love of old school ’50s pop Buddy Holly style on “Perfect Girl.”

No filler anywhere, and plenty of catchy gems like “Carol Says” about a profile of a fortune teller and “Dial 9,” a mid-tempo Merseybeat charmer. The attitude of all the songs are summed up in “Real Good Feeling,” and if you are a fan of retro-grade pop perfection look no further. Highly Recommended.

Amazon | CD Baby | Kool Kat Musik

The Honeydogs and Champagne

powerpopaholic
Honeydogs

The Honeydogs “Love & Cannibalism”

The Honeydogs return this year, and lead dog Adam Levy (fresh off his brilliant solo LP Naubinway) unwinds a bluesy pop opener “Vermillion Billows (Shouldn’t Take It So Hard)” with a smart lead riff in the chorus and just like that, The Honeydogs are back. “Devices” has the band sounding tighter than ever, with jazz horn and funk guitar accents. Levy makes music here that is both celebratory and soulful.

“Art & Vandalism” is my favorite here, a Honeydog classic about “counting your blessings” and it has a Steely Dan-like confidence alongside its catchy melody. “Wheels” and “Left Alone” are good upbeat rockers, and “Looking Through the Sun” is another great guitar melody, so no filler here either. The Americana themed “Ordinary Legs” and Caribbean themed “Little Sister” close out this fine album, highly recommended and worthy of many repeat listens.

Amazon


Champagne

Champagne “Beach Closed”

Champagne is a band from Cádiz, Spain that explodes on the scene with Beach Closed. The loud opener “Tell Me Why” is a piano-guitar melody that is everything we love about power pop, from the catchy chorus to infectious guitar solo midway through. Despite the euro-accented vocals,”Visiting You” is another gem that rings true with deep riffs closer in style to Weezer or The Gigolo Aunts. It does veer into arena rock territory with “Don’t Feed The Animal” and “The Van,” but the energy level is high and songs still engage you.

“It’s Alright” is a campfire beach sing-along with a simple ukulele and guitar melody and “Where’s Barbara Ann?” is a wonderful Beach Boys themed rocker that’s my favorite here. Another terrific ear-worm is “Plastic Feelings,” with a toe tapping guitar melody and “Weller” is a nice shout out to The Jam frontman. It ends with the lovely harmonies of “Hawaii,” especially the dream-like layered ending. Highly Recommended.

Amazon

Arvidson & Butterflies and Weezer

powerpopaholic
Edward Rogers

Arvidson & Butterflies “Arvidson & Butterflies”

A big thanks to Wayne “The Ice Cream Man” Ford, a power pop blogger/radio DJ who helped bring Swedish power pop musician Roger Arvidson to my attention. Backed by a first rate band known as The Butterflies, its full of jangling Rickenbackers and uplifting themes. Fans of Joe Algeri’s work (The Jangle Band, Britannicas, and The JAC) will feel at home with this album. Starting with“Tired Of Running,” it has that Byrdsian layered rhythms and echoing vocals sure to please.

The album follows this formula, as each song is crisp and inviting and but especially good “Changing All The Time” has a little more weight reminding me of Tom Petty. No filler here, although “Change The World” gets a little preachy with its mantra. Roger even gets a little wild on “Alright” with its head shaking tempo. Another big thanks to Kool Kat Musik for releasing this highly recommended album.

Kool Kat Musik | Amazon (EP only)


Weezer

Weezer “The White Album”

When the band decided to “come back to the shack” on Everything Will Be All Right in the End it appeared Rivers Cuomo had embraced Weezer’s glorious past. So on this newest self titled LP known as “The White Album” Rivers teams up with Dan Wilson (Semisonic) on the opening track “California Kids.” But as an opener it feels like a overproduced throwaway track, with its “ooh-wee-ooh” backing and familiar structure we’ve heard before, almost like a Weezer cover band. The melody on the piano of “Wind in Our Sail” is much better, and the chiming “(Girl We Got A) Good Thing” is a real winner with its joyful chorus and solid guitar break. Whew! Weezer is back.

However we still get lyrical weirdness of “Thank God For Girls,” a male rant/rap that pokes at gender fears and offers absurd analogies without much melody. Also “Do You Wanna Get High?” painfully tries to re-create the era of Blue Album – it almost works, but its Rivers love letter to his wife Kyoto “King of the World,” that feels closest to the “old” Weezer in terms of style. “Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori” continues this nostalgic trip. The good news is that the band still sounds great and makes an effort to tell stories that tie together, and it succeeds for the most part. Even with a few duds, this is the Weezer you know and love. Highly Recommended.

Amazon

The Monkees “Good Times”

powerpopaholic
Monkees

The Monkees “Good Times!”

After 20 years, The Monkees return to make an album that celebrates the bands 50th anniversary and revives those past days. Here is an album that mixes old unheard songs with newly written music by the band and  musicians who grew up huge Monkee fans (mostly power pop royalty.) Is it as good as all the hype I’ve read so far?

The answer is a resounding YES. Good Times works best when the modern songwriters write the new Monkee “hits” and though the remaining band members (Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork) are senior citizens, they still sound great. Under the care of Monkees archivist and musician Andrew Sandoval, and producer Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne) they deliver an album that blends the new with the old seamlessly. The albums first half is flawless, and even though the other half slows down a little, the songs are still awesome. Gets a big fat top ten rating this year no doubt.

Amazon

Other blogs have detailed the albums highlighted tracks, so I will spread the link love if you want more reading:

Consequence of Sound

Boppin’ (Like The Hip Folks Do)

The Spaz Review