Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

Explorers Club “Grand Hotel”

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After the heavenly Beach Boys harmonies of Freedom Wind, Explorers Club moves forward five years to the early 70’s AM soft rock era. Starting with a Pet Sounds styled instrumental intro, the horns blast out the first single “Run Run Run,” a hook filled gem with lush orchestration similar to The 5th Dimension. Then the guitar and multiple vocals of “Anticipatin'” make it a dead ringer for a lost Grass Roots tune.

You’ll have lots of fun playing “spot the influence” on each track – like the BJ Thomas shuffle on “Bluebird,” then the Sergio Mendes-Burt Bacharach (“Grand Hotel”), and Neil Diamond (“Go For You”) – in fact the last 3 tracks lean heavily on Neil’s style (thanks to Beach Boys’ engineer Mark Linnett). I could go on and on… The arrangements and musicianship are flawless throughout, but only a handful of tracks really stick in your head. Many are too short, and after getting started seem to end abruptly (“Any Little Way”). However when the band lays down several beautiful harmonies on “Summer Days, Summer Nights” and “It’s You,” its thrilling. And it’s hard to get mad at filler as sweet as “Acapulco (Sunset).” Overall, a visit to Grand Hotel is a pleasant nostalgic trip.

 Itunes | Amazon

Oberon Rose and The Backpeddlers

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Oberon Rose “Wunjo”
Connecticut’s Tom Oberon leans heavily on classic sixties influences like The Kinks, Beatles, T.Rex and more on his debut, Wunjo. The sweet melody “Young Goodman Brown” flows nicely and the guitar rhythm reminds me of the Zombies a little. The brilliant jangle on “One Man Show Of Sorrow” showcases this gem which compares well to The Posies. With the title track and “Ballad Of The Taller” it goes in a more roots-driven pop direction with simple acoustic strums leading the way, both recall the simplicity of Big Star.

“Buried Alive” is another compelling song with double-tracked harmonies and minor chords. Other songs evoke the golden age of psyche pop without getting cliche, like “Of Life Divine” and the brilliant Beatlesque ender “So is The Flow.” Each track is compelling and overall this album is a real treat for lovers of classic melodic rock.


CD Baby | Amazon

The Backpeddlers “Songs of Guilt & Revenge”
Originally known as Mark Norris and The Backpeddlers, this Buffalo band plays foot stompin’ rock and blues done with plenty of gusto. “Turn The Tables” is kinda like Bob Dylan jamming with The Offspring, then the bar room blues “It’s All True” plays out like classic Stones. The band goes into full Kinks meets Who mode on “We Know (Who We Are)” with drummer Jeff Pietrzak doing his best Keith Moon. It also get downright punk pop on “(DoThe) Crying Shame” with Mark almost losing his vocals. “Doctor Friend” is another Kinks-styled tune along the lines of “Dandy.” There is plenty of musical variety here and if you like gritty raw emotion with your tunes… you will feel guilty if you miss this and revenge isn’t even a factor here.

CD Baby | Amazon

Throwback Suburbia “Shot Glass Souvenir”

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Its comforting to know that bands like Portland’s Throwback Suburbia “get it.” This third album builds on the band’s consistent sound and musical development. The opener “Give and Take” is an emotional hook-filled gem with a thrilling bridge and jangle filled rhythm. The signature sneering vocals of Jimi Evans and mastery of composition come forward on “Setting Sun.” On “Here Again” the band notes “history’s overrated” through its slow building power ballad.

No filler to be found as each track makes a strong melodic statement. On “Sinking Feeling” the gruff riffs recall Butch Walker and the 50’s styled piano ballad “Side Effects” provide a much needed break from the relentless guitar bounce. The slower groove of “Best Intentions” is another gem that offers some nice slide guitar with Evans best vocal performance. Even the last track “Neither Here Nor There” steps up with some nice group harmonies. It also pushs this album into my top ten for 2012; listen for yourself and see if you don’t agree.

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Chris Alvy Band “Art Noise”

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After a wild debut EP last year, The Chris Alvy Band is back with a more realized full length album. Joined by Fernando Perdomo (who also produced and engineered) it re-does a few of the previous EP tracks and adds several more. Not an easy band to categorize, they have a loose guitar rock style with snappy melodies (sort of like an updated version of The Spin Doctors) but they also have a touch of Badfinger in there too.

The band opens up with the title track, a party styled anthem that reminds me of those 90’s comedy movie soundtracks.  “Can’t Get You Off My Mind” has some great harmonies in the chorus, and Alvy’s strong power chords take over from there. A funky beat starts off “This Summer’s Day” and the middle eight takes the band to the next level, here the guitar solo is just as impressive. Then we get “Something’s Missing,” it’s a wonderful mid-tempo ballad which reminds me of Pete Ham’s “It Had To Be.”  The band certainly knows how to write a sticky chorus, both “Inside Job,” and “The Fall” qualify with swirling hard guitar leads and solid hooks. It takes a delicate balance of guitar theatrics and solid melodic composition to make it all work right. The band does a great job till the last few tracks, where they kind of channel Extreme and the harmonies fade away. Overall, a really excellent album that will appeal to many fans of hard driving melodic rock.

Official site | Itunes

JTG Implosion and The Connection

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The JTG Implosion “All The People Some of The Time”
This resissue of Joe Gidding’s band from 2002 is a welcome addition if you’ve missed it when it was part of Not Lame Record’s catalog (which is now gone forever). This is a classic melodic power pop album that needs to be re-discovered. Giddings crunchy riffs get the party started on “Delta 88” and the hand clapping goodness of “This Is What You Get” is another gem. Best compared to Enuff Z’nuff and Velvet Crush these tunes have layers of fuzzy rock guitars against bouncy melodies (“The Biggest Liar In The World”), with the occasional harmony laden mellower tune (“Puzzle Peace”). Every song here is exemplary, not a weak track in the bunch – and if you’re looking for a yardstick in this genre it’s hard to find better. For newbies to power pop this is required listening.

CD Baby | Amazon

The Connection “New England’s Newest Hit Makers”
Retro to the max, baby! If you love those “classic oldies,” we’re not talking about Boston or REO Speedwagon. We’re talking about Chuck Berry, Beatles, and The Swinging Blue Jeans. Musicians Brad Marino, Geoff Palmer, Chris Faulkner,and Andy Casey have decide to form The Connection, and deliver balls to the wall Merseybeat in its best form. The short punchy compositions start with the bouncy riffs in “It’s All Right.” Each of the eight songs here follow the feel-good high energy vibe – in fact I’ve been listening to the guys on my treadmill (“Stop Talking” has got the perfect BPM). Despite the lack of a ballad, the songs are catchy as hell, much like The Romantics early efforts and their hit single “What I Like About You.” Enjoy!

CD Baby | Amazon