Category: Power Pop Review

The Honeydogs and Champagne

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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.

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Arvidson & Butterflies and Weezer

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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

Gentle Hen and Gretchen’s Wheel

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Gentle Hen

Gentle Hen “The Bells on the Boats on the Bay”

Gentle Hen is the creation of Northampton Mass. songwriter Henning Ohlenbusch. The band includes Brian Marchese, Max Gemer, Ken Maiuri, and Tony Westcott. These are emotional, easy going pop tunes starting with the relaxed “I Don’t Know About Anyone Else But” with its catchy chorus and its repeating echo motif.  Its a little like They Might Be Giants without all the nerdy subject matter or accordion — “Jake and Kim Broke Up (Leave Me Out of It)” has a snazzy rhythm and soaring vocal ending.

Overall the music is compelling as “I Wasn’t Looking For This” and “Somebody Else’s Problem” is about the difficulties of breaking up (with a very sweet Kinks reference.)  Sometimes the limitations of Henning’s vocal range are evident on several songs, but the multi-tracking on “the Wrongway Out of Town” make it very palatable. Another fun gem is the stream-of-thought lyrics on “The People You See Regularly Never Grow Old.” Worth checking out!

Amazon


Gretchen's Wheel

Gretchen’s Wheel “Behind the Curtain”

Gretchen’s Wheel is the brainchild of Nashville-based Lindsay Murray. Her music is a lush indie-pop with some power pop influences. While her first album Fragile State was produced by Ken Stringfellow (Posies) this new album is assisted by musicians Phil Ajjarapu, Ira Elliot (Nada Surf), Donny Brown, Andy Reed, and Jack Thomas.

The quick tempo “Invisible Thief” starts out good, but “Younger Every Year” is a stunning composition that showcases a lush pop sensibility and Lindsay’s ethereal vocal. “The Good Things” is another song with an easy flowing melody, but the guitar takes center stage on “Live Through You,” delivering a rock solid tune.  “Try To Make It” is another gem written by the power pop legend Sloan, so you just gotta give Gretchen’s Wheel a spin.

Amazon

The Monkees “Good Times”

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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.

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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

Ray Paul and Broken Promise Keeper

powerpopaholic

Ray Paul “Whimsicality”

Ray Paul is a Boston performer very much in the mold of his idol Paul McCartney, on his opener “I Love It (But You Don’t Believe It)” is a straight ahead rocker with a Macca hook and Rickenbacker rhythm. In addition Ray’s vocal timbre is similar, so “You Don’t Have To Prove Your Love” could be mistaken for the ex-Beatle on first listen. But Ray Paul has  a bit more bounce to his melodies on “A Fool Without Your Love” and “In My World.” Add in guest appearances by Clem Burke (Blondie), Emitt Rhodes, Terry Draper (Klaatu), Kurt Reil (Grip Weeds), Gar Francis, and you’ve got a top notch album.

A faithful cover of Manfred Mann’s “Pretty Flamingo,” sounds even better than the original in my opinion. Ray’s skill writing those “silly” little love songs like “Jeannie,” is evident as it carefully constructed a narrative about a widower. And a cover of the Grass Roots “Temptation Eyes” is slowed down as the chords resemble “my Guitar Gently Weeps.” He covers Macca’s own “Oh Woman, Oh Why” with a spirited bluesy performance. I may be nitpicking, but I would’ve liked less covers and more originals. Still, this is highly recommended album and… catch Ray performing at next month’s Power Popaholic Fest!

CD Baby | Amazon


Broken Promise Keeper “Broken Promise Keeper”

Broken Promise Keeper (aka Rob Stuart) is an Atlanta musician who has been a reliable purveyor of power pop for many years and his latest self-titled album still delivers the goods. Starting with “Here We Go” the quick tempo, manic beat and harmonies in the chorus set a good tone even if Rob’s vocal tends to be a bit nasal. “She’s So Cool” is a bit more measured and the mid-range vocal is best utilized here.

However for goofy fun you can’t beat “Sasquatch Love.” This is a great single in the vein of They Might Be Giants about falling in love with a girl who’s “ten foot tall and covered in hair” and its my favorite track here. “Get My Message” and “Play Ball” have good rhythms worth following; the latter song about a dad’s take on Little League Baseball. There are plenty of decent songs here (no real filler) so give this one a chance!

CD Baby | Amazon