After my high school reunion, I found something very 80’s to feature here. It’s the only charting track for Jeff Lynne (ELO) under his own name. This was only released on the Electric Dreams soundtrack. So the movie was about a love triangle between Miles and Edgar the computer and Madeline, his attractive neighbor. The way she meets Edgar is through a duet. If you’d also like to see the video for the movie’s title track, check it out sung by Phil Oakey of The Human League.
Minneapolis’ Gidgets Ga Ga will immediately recognizable to pop fans as hybrid of Oasis and The Replacements. Lead by lead guitar/singer Mickey Flores and assisted by bassist Zac Zidron and drummer Larry Beers, the music is consistently good throughout it’s 18 tracks. These loud rocking tracks like “Beki” and “Baby You’re A Star” should be played at full volume. This is no frills rock that has plenty of catchy melodies, like the hand claps all over “The Bomb” they will recall some of the early 90’s best pre grunge-pop. Some of the mid-tempo songs like “Dreamer” and the country flavored “Ease Your Mind” get a little routine, but the band switches gears with the high powered “Damn!” that recalls The Godfathers, and even the heavy power ballad “Lullaby” sounds like it could’ve been a Stone Temple Pilots/Nirvana single. The production techniques on a few tracks change, like “Streetwalker” has a rich full sound, and then “9 Ways” almost sounds like garage demo for example. And with the ending track “Belmont (Bone Us)” you barely hear the vocal. It gets a little distracting, but that doesn’t diminish the quality of this rousing rock music.
Holmes (aka Roy Shakked) has the ability to write melodic songs full of humor and meaning. After a very good debut, we have a self titled sophomore effort which collects all the tracks from the Basement Tapes EP and adds a few more. The new material is mainly guitar based blues ballads and pop, that evoke a bleak picture. “Let Go” is a Steely Dan styled pop dirge where “two jobs and broken wife” weigh on Roy’s mind. This is very timely recession era music and it’s an album highlight. “Unsatisfied” channels a Paul Simon mid-tempo ballad with a gentle synth keyboard. “Hurts So Bad” and “Not With You” are painfully poignant and depressing ballads that make Elliot Smith sound cheerful. The excellent “So Many Of You” strays into the sunlight a bit more and it’s got a masterful hook in the chorus. The older songs fit nicely here, with the exception of the Devo-ish “Go Computer.” And it’s always fun to hear the Bush bashing “Not A Political Song.” The haunting cover of Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” round out the album. If you didn’t pick up Basement Tapes, this collection is worth the listening effort — it’s full of high quality musicianship and great timely songwriting.
Paul Steel performing one of Brian Wilson’s classic ballads.
NOTE: Due to a changeover of servers, older posts will be missing a few graphics. After years with a web hosting service that kept having issues, I’m on stable ground now. Unfortunately this means I have to go though over 800 posts to update some graphic links.
Fans of sunshine and baroque pop would do well to check out the latest album from Armstrong. Songs About The Weather is a sweet batch of light pop gems that will bring to mind Andrew Sandoval, William Pears, or The Pearlfishers. Opening with the light synths and gentle strum of “Break It In Two”lead singer Julian Pitt sets the albums pastoral tone. Next “Sunshine Feeling” has a Byrds/Beach Boys feel that makes for a perfect summer song. But there is definitely an undercurrent of sadness across the rest of the album. Starting with the break-up song “Perhaps It’s Time We Said Goodbye,” it’s a delicate song that looks back at love lost. Much of the remaining songs take this melancholy approach. And the lovely acoustic guitar work is an ever present backdrop to these dark songs like, “Picture of The Bay,” and “Rainfall” which reminds me of summer teen romance in a past memory. Thankfully a few up tempo songs are added, and “Summer Rain” and “Drowning in Self Belief” recall those Chad & Jeremy folk tinged pop classics. If you enjoy wistful ballads and sun-kissed melodies that are brimming with emotion you’ll want to listen to Armstrong.
