Category: Power Pop Review

Holiday Gift Guide: Cheap Trick and The Searchers

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Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick “Christmas Christmas”

Like an Energizer bunny, Cheap Trick has been firing on all cylinders this year with a new album and now it’s first ever Christmas album! Needless to say, this one is a real holiday gem with a combination of new and old songs. Robin Zander can belt it out unlike anyone else on  “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.”

As with most things CT, you get ringing guitars and a full production. A good mix of slower numbers (“Please Come Home For Christmas”) balance out the hard rocking crowd-pleasers (“Run Run Rudolph”). The only missteps are an odd remake of The Kinks “Father Christmas,” (the slower tempo just doesn’t work) and “Our Father Of Life” which sounded like filler. Otherwise a great soundtrack for your holiday.

Amazon

The Searchers

The Searchers “Another Night: The Sire Recordings 1979-1981”

During the British Invasion, there was another Liverpool band topping the charts not named The Beatles. The Searchers had 11 Top 40 hits between 1963 and 1966 in the UK, with “Needles And Pins,” “Sweets For My Sweet,” “Don’t Throw Our Love Away”  and the US hit “Love Potion No. 9.” By the end of the decade, they toured Europe but never faded away. The band continued to develop musically, change personnel and eventually signed with Sire Records in 1979 for a revival. This was a rare case of an “oldies” band re-tooling to a new generation successfully.

“Hearts in Her Eyes,” (written by The Records’ Will Birch and John Wicks) was a vibrant new sound that still maintained the Searchers trademark harmonies. The band showcased this sound on the Sire recordings, as they covered many great bands (Big Star, Duck Deluxe, Tom Petty) and originals. “Feeling Fine,” is a lost link between those Merseybeat days and 80’s power pop, with its jangling chords, harmonies and catchy as hell chorus. Fans of supergroup Rockpile (with Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe) will really enjoy this collection, as the guitar work and even vocals make The Searchers very comparable. The music has no filler either, as most of the songs have a timeless quality with little of the cliched overproduction from the era. Fans of 80’s power pop will love this and its highly recommended. Thanks for the Christmas gift, Omnivore Records!

Amazon

Holiday Music Bonanza: The Weeklings, Michael Carpenter, Vista Blue, and more!

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The first Rockin’ Christmas tune from The Weeklings is a mix of The Beatles “Revolution” and “Winter Wonderland”

Power pop favorite from the land down under, Michael Carpenter delivers a real gem here about “Another” Christmas song!

Vista Blue is back with another punk-pop Christmas. Fans of The Ramones will love this, especially Gimme! (Garfield’s Christmas Theme) and its a big FREE download for your stocking!

More gifts! Futureman Records has a FREE holiday sampler with great artists like Chris Richards and The Subtractions, The Hangabouts, Nick Bertling and many more.

The Pengwins also have a free gift for you, courtesy of SpyderPop Records – it’s Christmas Again!
Remington Super 60 is a indie-pop project from Fredrikstad Norway, founded by composer & producer Christoffer Schou. This shares a title with Mr. Carpenter’s song but is very different. Think, warm fireplace and hot cocoa!

Felsen and Howie Payne

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Felsen

Felsen “Blood Orange Moon”

Felsen’s fifth LP was written while frontman, (and cancer survivor) Andrew Griffin hit a rough patch due to ongoing health issues. “I needed more surgery and kinda dropped off the face of the earth for a few months.” he mentioned, “after I was out of the hospital I started to amass new little song embryos on my computer. Play guitar, stare at screen. Eventually, the words and the music meet.”

The opener “Vultures On Your Bones” is a haunting tune that recalls Big Star’s Third mixed with a David Gilmour styled guitar wail. Most of the album contains thought-provoking songs with slower tempos and quieter low vocals. A little like Leonard Cohen with more guitars, the themes are of profound loss and intimacy. The fuzz crunch of instrumentals “Kung Fu Medallion” and “Spanish Jam Sandwich” inject some needed life into the album, and standouts emerge like the ultra-cool textured chorus of “White Denim Jeans” and stealthy “Unemployed In Chicago.” Overall, this is a grower, with songs that will stick and resonate on repeat plays.

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Howie Payne

Howie Payne “Mountain”

Liverpool based Howie Payne (the Stands) is a singer-songwriter that has a delivery that can be called both soulful melancholy and immediately catchy. It opens with the somber “Quick As The Moon,” a slow-building ballad and Howie’s clear and high timbre vocal is similar to Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) here. The music is very introspective, although it breaks into the shuffling “Some Believer, Sweet Dreamer,” which recalls mid-1970’s melodic pop.

“The Brightest Star” increases the tempo and adds layered harmonies of “Yeah, yeah, yeah” make it one of the most accessible tunes here.  Another gem is the mellow “Thoughts On Thoughts” with its call and response chorus, subtle bass and acoustic guitar. There is a West Coast feel to most of the music,  but it really stands out most on the last two tracks “High Times” and “Evangeline (Los Angeles)” with its Crosby Stills Nash atmosphere. Overall a satisfying little album that seems made for a rainy day. It’s music that deserves to be heard.

Amazon

Holiday Gift Guide: Ronnie D’Addario Box Sets

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Ronnie D’Addario was a pleasant “lost” discovery for me, and as a singer/songwriter in the ‘70s and ‘80s he has a knack for melodic pop full of hooks and harmonies, comparable to both Paul McCartney and Gilbert O’Sullivan. Its no wonder that his sons Brian and Michael aka The Lemon Twigs, have been receiving accolades as one of the hottest young pop bands, performing on Tonight Show, Conan, and Stephen Colbert. The apples don’t fall far from the tree or in this case, the “Papa Twig”.

Ronnie has just released a massive collection of his music, distributed amongst two (3 CD) box sets. The first set covers his early work until the mid-eighties, and the second set continues up to this year. One thing that struck me is how consistently good the music is. Unlike his more famous contemporaries, you don’t really hear a drop off in quality even in the later years. For the audiophile that has everything, this is a perfect holiday gift.

Ronnie D'Addario

Ronnie D’Addario “First Songs 1976-1983”

This set covers Ronnie D’Addario’s first three solo albums; Take in a Show, Falling For Love and Good For You.

D’Addario’s hook-filled immediacy is displayed early on “Take In A Show,” and you clearly hear his McCartney-like tendencies on “Nice Meeting You Again” and his Brian Wilson like approach to melancholy balladry on “It’s Spring Too Soon.” Eventually, he got to create “Falling For Love” for the Carpenters, a song is so good it’s not hard to imagine Karen singing the lead. “Good For You” finds more great music, with even styled guitar rock thrown in (“Suite 16”) comparable to Dave Edmunds. Loaded with bonus tracks, it really contains the cream of the crop. Highly Recommended.

You Are The Cosmos | Amazon

Ronnie D'Addario

Ronnie D’Addario “Don’t Wait For Yesterday 1986-2017”

This set covers Ronnie D’Addario’s last two albums, Time Will Tell On You, A Very Short Dream and his newest release entitled, The Many Moods of Papa Twig. That last title parodies another dad of talented musicians, but Papa Twig has both talent and insight on this collection.

While Ronnie was raising his kids, he never stopped writing and playing music. You can hear the more modern production (synths) but the style and quality of gems remain. “Time Will Tell On You” continues the run of perfect ballads (“So That’s How It Is”) and a few rockers (“She’s Alright”). Also added is an impressive violin version of “Caroline, No.” Once we get to “A Very Short Dream,” Papa Twig starts to look back on his career as he sings “Somedays you feel as though, you’ve been around forever.” He even gets his sons to do an Osmonds-like tune on “Trophy Girl.” The introspection continues on most of the new album, and its the most stylistically varied. Overall another terrific collection. It even contains the holiday single “Brand New Christmas.”

You Are The Cosmos | Amazon

Tuesday EPs: Cotton Mather, Orouni, You’re Among Friends

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Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather “Young Life” EP

Following Cotton Mather’s Wild Kingdom album from April, bandleader Robert Harrison’s ambitious goal of his “Songs From The I Ching” project is near the halfway point. The project includes writing 64 tracks, one for each hexagram of the I Ching, the ancient text which he refers to as an “extraordinary book about ordinary life”

Young Life E.P. adds six more originals to the project and its sadness is apparent as these are the final recordings with the band’s late bassist, George Reiff, who’d been with them since the Kontiki days.“Mighty Girl” is a standout with a jangling riffs and poignant chorus. “Dutch Light” continues the somber tone, with the sole rocking songs here “Eleanor Plunge” and “Shepherds Purse.” Harrison’s music is consistently excellent and highly recommended.

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Orouni

Orouni “Somewhere In Dreamland” EP

French band Orouni isn’t power pop, but it is a lot of fun to listen to. I enjoyed “Makeshift Fans” from their 2014 album Grand Tour. This EP was a little more mainstream reinterpretation with French-British artist Emma Broughton (Bon Iver, Lisa Hannigan) providing the lead vocals. The distinct percussion is what stands out, “Speedball” is a quick bouncy tune, and “Unca Pugilator” has catchy synth chorus with Emma’s light as air vocals. This short EP is definitely worth exploring.

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You're Among Friends

You’re Among Friends “One Day You’ll Look Back” EP

This Cleveland rock band has been described as “bluesy power pop,” but it sounds to me a little bit like a really loose version of Steely Dan, the jazzy “I’m Happier Now” and funky wah-wah chords on “Back To Work Tomorrow” are worth exploring. The production is a little muddy, but the band does a good job in composing each song. And you can explore the band’s entire output on Bandcamp and you can name-your-price.

Bandcamp