Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic Archives - Page 294 of 358

Dennis Diken with Bell Sound "Late Music"

September 29, 2009January 5, 2025 powerpopaholic 1 Comment

Rock geeks, get ready to drool. If you just can’t get enough of rock nostalgia, then Smithereens drummer Dennis Diken has been joined by a group of special guests to make this love letter to the golden age of rock. Oh yeah, those guests include, The Wondermints, Andrew Sandoval, Brian Wilson producer Andy Paley, The Honeys and Jason Falkner. Fellow New Jersey native Pete DiBella collaborated with Dennis to bring these songs to fruition, reflecting their mutual love of classic pop and rock genres. Fans of all the old school greats: The Four Seasons, The Who and The Beach Boys will find this pure ear candy. Each song evokes the spirits of each of these rock gods. The first track “The Sun’s Gonna Shine in the Morning” is a half Monkees and half Dave Clark Five, complete with studio echo. Then the Beach Boys/Four Seasons vibe is all over the gorgeous wall of sound in “Standing in Line.” And the Shel Talmy-era Who is all over “Long Lonely Ride.” Each song sounds like a lost classic! Even on “No One’s Listening” the vocals are almost identical to Howard Kaylan (The Turtles). “Fall into Your Arms” is a dead ringer for a solo Brian Wilson hit. I could go through each song here, but you get the idea. It’s a Diken’s vision to make you a “mix tape” of his favorite influences. Diken’s drumming and vocals are awesome, and even a throwaway instrumental like “Lost Bird” is pleasing in it’s own bossa nova way. Towards the albums end, it gets more experimental, mashing up these “pure” influences, so “No One Does It Like You” is both weird and compelling to listen to. As much as I like derivative music, there are so many potential AM pop “hits” here, you can’t ignore it for our year end top 10. Mark Deming from Allmusic Guide said it best: “An album made by music fans for music fans.”

MySpace | Amazon| Lala | Kool Kat Musik (includes a bonus disc!)

Listen to “Standing in That Line” at on Bob Brainen’s show
Listen to the clip here!

Charlotte Pop Fest "09 Compilation"

September 25, 2009April 4, 2018 powerpopaholic

As Charlotte Pop Fest runs into this weekend I wanted to let readers note that Saturday (9/26) morning and afternoon shows on the Main Stage at Freedom Park are FREE. On hand are The Parallax Project, Tony Low, The Singles and other favorite artists. And if you’re stuck at home, you could do yourself a favor and get the Compilation CD. It’s a massive pile of 35 great tracks. The starting point is a NEW Smithereens track, “Someday Boy” and then The Spongetones “Lost Weekend” pulled from their latest album. Although Roger J. Manning Jr. wasn’t able to make the festival, he is represented with “Living In End Times.” There are several exclusive tracks you’ll not find anywhere, like Ed James riff heavy “Princess Perfect”and The Jellybricks “Beryllium.” Having the light touch of Jill Sobule on “A Good Life” is a nice change of pace, and the familiar, but awesome Mike Viola adds “Maybe, Maybe Not.” It also gives us an opportunity to hear lesser known groups, like The Stellas and Crisis. There is something here for all types of power pop fans from the hard (Popdudes) to the soft sounds (Linus of Hollywood). No weak tunes here, as James Deem has done a great job of picking tracks, and he even covers XTC’s “Dear God” too.

MySpace | BUY THE COMPILATION | The Pop Fest website

Archie Powell and The Exports "Loose Change" EP FREE Download

September 24, 2009June 15, 2026 powerpopaholic 2 Comments

Chicago native Archie Powell and The Exports are more than plain ole’ rock and roll, it’s a mini party in a 5-song EP. Powell opens things up with the rootsy “Moving To The City” which is a bit like Wilco or Old 97s poppier tracks. “Loose Change” is another good follow up that works in a hummable chorus and a punchy beat. Other other songs here are also clear winners including “Mattson Is A Flake” which reminds me of Ben Kweller with a Weezer styled chorus. On “Piggy Bank Blues” he mentions “Rock and Roll is just a pyramid scheme…” So to prove Powell’s not part of any scheme, this the EP is a free download, so you have no excuses. Highly recommended for sure.

MySpace | Bandcamp Free Download Page | Archie Powell and The Exports Website

Bill Donati "Never Like This"

September 23, 2009July 6, 2024 powerpopaholic

Bill Donati played drums with the Goatdancers, and Lawson and Four More, a group that released two 45s on the Ardent Label in Memphis. The Ardent Label gained some fame with Big Star, but clearly missed out by not recognizing Donati’s talent earlier. As a pianist and singer, Donati wrote and recorded his own songs in Memphis and Los Angeles. Donati’s solo album is a lost treasure from 1972, and fans of Beatles, Badfinger and Big Star will be amazed at the gems here. Opening with the Merseybeat and high vocals in “Never Like This” it stays true to the Fab formula, and delivers classic songwriting as well. Donati’s Rickenbacker riffs and piano lead on “Catherine” and “I’m Not Saying” compares well with Pete Ham in his prime. “A Love Gone Mad” is also pretty interesting, a mix of Kinks-styled vocals and Beatlesque piano. Most of the songs feature strong production work by Ardent’s legendary engineer Terry Manning. It runs out of steam by the albums end a bit, but there is plenty here to recommend. Fans of the Ardent “sound” as well as Tommy Hoehn and Van Duren will also find a lot to like here. Bill also has a claim to fame as creating one of the very first modern rock videos “Nuclear Surfer”in 1982. Recently he’s also teamed up with Jimmy Pou on the group Byron’s Dream. Much like other “lost” releases this year, I am grateful that this album is seeing the light of day.

CD Baby | Not Lame | Kool Kat Musik

Thowback Suburbia "s/t"

September 22, 2009July 6, 2024 powerpopaholic

“If you should find yourself having trouble locating a pulse in today’s music, Throwback Suburbia is the proof of life in power pop.” – these words are posted on the Throwback Suburbia My Space page. Here is an awesome band that wraps itself up in the spirit of the genre. It opens with the pop explosion that is “Private Oasis” full of ringing guitars and strong melody reminiscent of The Rubinoos. The follow up “Asking Why” is a Velvet Crush/Raspberries-like tune full of great chords and impeccable harmonies. The band hits for the fences here and succeeds with the ELO-styled opening piano chords on “Head Over Heels” and it’s one of the albums many standouts. Fans of Jellyfish will appreciate this as well as the “The Same Mistake” which has such a clean pop sound, and smart songwriting that it really deserves to be a radio friendly hit. The first half of the album hits the sweet spot for sure, then it goes for a harder sound on “Say When” for the Tom Petty fans here. But really, there is not a single note of filler here, and plenty of pop gems to soothe hungry ears. “Perfectly Okay” goes all Fountains of Wayne with us and “Halfway To The Stars” is a cool Jellyfish mid-tempo that sounds as good as anything Roger Manning has written, and it’s my favorite song on the album. They’ve already blown the doors off of International Pop Overthrow in Los Angeles this year and I hope to hear more of them in the years to come. This band deserves much accolades for this full length debut – easily one of the best of the year. It’s another “must-get-it-now” slice of music heaven.

MySpace | CD Baby | Not Lame