The band Fooling April has several videos out with their live cover of The Beatles “Abbey Road” album in Philadelphia. Check it out.
The Orbans "When We Were Wild"
The debut from The Orbans is a perfect cure for you if you’ve been suffering from alt. country and pop withdrawal. Try to imagine of Ryan Adams and Wilco teaming up with Coldplay and jamming out. “New Dress” is a distinct pop opener with strong guitar riff and marching chorus. Following this is the awesome “Songs We Sing” with dance hall piano tinkle, ripping guitar solo and pure pop bliss in the melody. Lead guitarist Kenny Wayne’s hook filled riffs are a huge asset atop each song, and slowly the tenor of the album gets more countrified by the fourth track, “Don’t Lose Yourself.”
The band also has a knack for rich three-part harmonies on “Barely Someone’s Known” and the soft ballads (“Darlin’ My Dreams” and “Go”) are both poignant and well written. The twang gets heavy on “When We Were Wild” — I felt like Duane Eddy was playing here. The composition on “Alibi” is another power pop classic, and Peter Black’s vocals give each track the perfect balance between alternative and country sounds. The songs throughout the album are consistently great, as no single track dominates and that makes for great repeat listens. One of the best debuts this year, it earns a top ten nod.
Hay, hay, my, my – ELO’s Mike Edwards is gone.
Despite my gallows humor in the title of this post, what happened on Sept.3 is no joke. A giant 1200 lb. bale of hay rolled into the road at Devon, England. This caused a multi-vehicle accident and ex-ELO Cellist Mike Edwards was killed. Edwards played a significant part in Electric Light Orchestra’s success, despite his short stay with the band (1972 -1975). He constantly showed up in crazy outfits and invented new approaches to playing his cello (think: plucking and strumming with various citrus instead of picks). You tube has an interesting interview and performance of Mike from 2009.
Timmy Sean "Songs From & Inspired By Noisewater"
After logging time in with his band Luzer, Timmy has spent the past four years developing this solo album (and growing a beard). In the tradition of pop impresarios like Todd Rundgren or more recently Paul Steel, Timmy performs nearly every instrument and dabbles in virtually all his childhood influences here. Bookended by an instrumental overture and reprise it has a grandiose scope that touches on McCartney, Brain Wilson, ELO and Queen it certainly sets up your expectations. “Girl From Omaha” carries through it’s promises with a hook-filled chorus and richly textured composition. Another brilliant track is the McCartney-Wings era piano of “If Your Mother Has Her Way” full of horn flourishes and multi-tracked harmonies.
Timmy’s vocals sometimes feel lost in all the instrumental richness, but it’s best displayed on the ballad “There’s No Other Way” which actually reminds me of Extreme’s “More Than Words” a little. And Jeff Lynne fans will flip for “Wait” with it’s orchestral synth bending chords and dramatic chorus. Every track has a detailed and compelling melody from beginning to end. Overall, a brilliant debut that could be a soundtrack to a imaginary musical. Get a the “Noisewater Overture” FREE here and judge for yourself.
The Offbeat and Nick Vernier Band
The Offbeat “In Love Field”
The Beatlesque band takes all the tracks from the great EP “To The Rescue” and adds a few more to make it even better. Since I already raved about those tracks, the band pretty much continues where it left off with “Where is The Girl” complete with it’s McCartney styled melody and crisp harmonies. A country-folk harmony leads the warm sing along “Whern You Got Love” and this easy feeling continues on “A Love To Last.” The band has gone beyond just sounding Fab, but stretching to include other bands of the era like The Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, and even the closing track “Jennifer Says” recalls The Moody Blues. You have to give the boys (Darren Finlan, Tony Cox, and Nigel Clark of Dodgy) full credit for serving up such sweet slices of pop nostalgia to close out the summer with.
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The Nick Vernier Band “Sessions”
Nick Vernier is an alias for musician-producer Eric Van Den Brink, and he’s put together an eclectic treat by teaming up with several well known artists on each track. Starting with Paul Jones “I’m Your Kingpin” it has a funky sax and harmonica that recall classic Steely Dan. Next comes the album highlight, “I Send Up My Prayer” done with Probyn Gregory (Wondermints) full of rich melodic texture and hints of the old Mints are easy to hear. Next a collaboration with Emitt Rhodes on a sitar version of “Time Will Show the Wiser” with Iain Matthews (Fairport Convention) will mellow you for sure. The strangest song here is a reworking of The Monkees “Zilch” with musical accompaniment and the actual song samples – it kind of works as “Mister Bob.” Another notable track is “Now Sue” a Gerry Beckley (America) original mid-tempo charmer, with beautiful backing harmonies from Jeffrey Foskett (Brian Wilson’s band). Other tracks experiment with jazz, world music, and blues – but the pop tracks standout nicely and are welcome on my ipod.
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