The Get Alongs - Second To None

 

We do travel around the genres, but always know when we are at our home base and The Get Alongs are there to welcome us home. The quartet are from Toronto, where else? and Second To None is wonderfully right up our street.

Great Pop Rock that mixes everything that you think of from tied to the genre put together in one handy 10 track offering. There's the looseness of 70s Rock, Power Pop and even Psych Pop. Songs are built on a rhythm led groove.

Sunday Afternoon is all let's do the show right here, but catches you with killer Psych Pop Riffs and an extraordinary solo. Secret Shopper is built on a Rock and Roll instrumental, Sound is great 70s Pop Rock, but hints at both Primal Scream and Brit Pop.

One And Everything sounds a little Madchester, but is also great noisy Psych. Merry Way is top notch jangling 60s UK Beat. On And On enters Garage Rock with another killer riff, the heaviest that they get here and they do it so well.

Then there is the monster closer, all 6 and a half minutes of it. 232 is off the scale. It broods and broods and you know that you are waiting for the explosion to come. When it does, it just grips you completely. You know that the song is gonna close live sets for years and years.

We are fortunate that the last couple of years have been a great time for Guitar Pop. But Second To None is much much more than that, it moved, it shakes, the riffs just grab you and the songs are performed so well. This is The Get Alongs second album of many more.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl and as a download.

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The Hanging Stars - Just A Day

Welcome to the sixth album from The Hanging Stars. More recently, I've reviewed the last two albums. Hollow Heart here and On A Golden Shore here. A decade or so, these type of albums were predominant, less so now, as if the best have surprised and the potential return of The Vapour Trails.

The Hanging Stars are a quartet that are up there with the best of them, they know what they are great at and take it a step further with each album. Initially, more noted for Americana, they are now more based with the likes of Dropkick and the more recent mellower, Teenage Fanclub.

They are never gonna blow the bloody doors off, that isn't what they are about or want to do. Although, they are some band when the pace picks up, most noted here on the wonderful Show Me The Way. There is always gonna be something a bit special from an album produced by Gerry Love in Edwyn Collins's studio.

The songs are beautifully played, built on riffs and keyboards. When the keyboards kick in, there is an instrumental feel of The Band, when they Jangle, you think of The Byrds, so there is still a very West Coast feel.

What marks them out most from their peers are the four part harmonies, demonstrated perfectly on Time Is Nothing with its I Can't Let Maggie Go vibe. Sister Of The Sun underlines those harmonies splendidly, great California Pop Rock. The Hanging Stars are masters of what they do and long may it continue.

 You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Thee Windows - Out And Down

 I have previously noted that there seems a surplus of bands wanting to call themselves Thee at present in a flagon of your finest ale stout yeoman of the bar way. Just a general observation! I forgive Baltimore's Thee Windows as they build an ever interesting developing career.

Out And Down is the quartet's second album bisected by an EP and the growth is really obvious. Previously known as Indie Pop, I question that as the genre should maybe reserved for chart bothering wannabes commerciality. Guitar Pop seems a more apt starting base.

But even that genre doesn't do justice to the band's scope. The songs are beautifully arranged and performed with complex arrangements that are far from obvious and instrumentation that is as at home with the Organ as the Guitar and the band raid genres at will with ease.

You can hear so many different directions across these 11 songs. There is Pastoral Pop, Shoegaze, Psych Pop, 80s Indie and Brit Pop. The rhythm section nail every song down, allowing the songs to drift in any direction that you wish.

The stand out is the magnificent Linen. In other hands, this would be a straight ahead affair, but these four turn it into an extravaganza instrumental. This may be Indie, but it fully explores areas that show that that can be just a catch all description.

Owl Song is splendid Psych Pop, So Long is Brit Pop and Losin' It is jaunty rhythm led Guitar Pop. The whole album is cohesive, a rarity in that it gets better and better as it proceeds, no front loading here! Out And Down is highly Recommended to all.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl and as a download.

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Listening To This Week Update

 

I've gone with the old logo as this isn't the new LTTW Playlist that traditionally goes out on Mondays. As a one off, the new Listening To This Week will go out on Tuesday next week, totally a one off. A simple explanation is that I am not around tomorrow for the tagging that goes out after the Playlist goes out.

Rather than going early tonight, it makes more sense to delay the post until Tuesday. Tonight, I am writing Reviews in draft, to be posted tomorrow to keep you all occupied until Tuesday. There are some great albums to tell you about.

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Ben Auld - Loserdom

 

I thought that I had lost my frustration that great artists don't get the attention that they deserve and that they are pushed forward more by fans, reviewers and even themselves. I haven't because I feel that way about Ben Auld's second album.

It is an incredible album that takes up the States' slant of DIY and Lo-Fi and moves it in all directions. At its heart , it is great Power Pop, but is Fuzz laden, built on incredible riffs, the type of album that we really hear recorded by a Brit. It is also a testimony to the joy of the Guitar.

Auld is from Norwich and he is supported by Guitarist, Conor Etteridge, Drummer, Duncan Baker and Bassist, George Witty to form a twin Guitar four piece. The Guitar Riffs are Glam laden and the songs are more than a little Slacker.

The Fuzz is totally engaging offering up a delightful noise. At times, I'm reminded of Weezer and Teenage Fanclub, but there's a real 80s feedback to proceedings. The songs are short, most not much over 2 minutes and just have you think you've heard the best song, the next one beats it.

There is a real energy to the whole thing and Auld's sweet-ish vocal is at one with the instrumentals, but blends perfectly with the material. Loserdom is heads down and onwards, but those unique riffs light up the album and the rhythm section provides a great platform to take off.

A special mention should also be made for York's Safe Suburban Home label. What a year, it has been for them, with this, Labrador, Rural France and Sumos. But the focus here is on this storming wake up album. I can't wait to hear more from Auld in the future.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD or as a download.

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Skooskny - The Recordings 1971-1981 Remastered

 

Skooshny are one of the great lost bands. This release is another tenuous link to Anything Should Happen days. The remaster, here, is on Roger Houdaille's Think Like A Key label. Roger is a good friend, largely due to my complete fandom towards his band, Ex Norwegian. 

Think Like A Key is a label that releases great new albums, but also digs out great lost albums from the past. His taste is impeccable and you will be reading a review of a joint hero's album soon. That reissue is of Jimmy Campbell's Half Baked Album.

This album was originally released on Bill Forsyth's Minus Zero label. Bill similarly unearthed long lost albums, whilst also releasing new albums, most notably Orgone Box, of a Psych Pop bent. Bill owned the Minus Zero Record Shop, Mick Dillingham worked there and it was a haven for touring musicians.

Mick is one of our own, still a part of IDHAS, although less frequently these days, you can read his interviews across the site. He was also a writer for Bucket Full Of Brains and my main sidekick in Anything Should Happen.

Bill had been recommended to the band by Bomp's Greg Shaw. Contained here are the band's complete recordings up until 1981. The line up of Mark Breyer, Bruce Wagner and David Winogrond aided by different Bass Players, one of which was Michael Penn who produced a 4 Track EP.

The Los Angeles band split up in 1981, but reformed on the release of this which culminated in the magnificent 1996 album, Even My Eyes (also on Minus Zero and the follow up, Money in 2000. Those albums offered up a beguiling range of Psych Pop, Pop Rock and Folk.

Sadly, Breyer died in 2023. His legacy as vocalist, guitarist and songwriter lives on. The beauty of the band's material compares with the Pop Rock greats of the 70s, my beloved Psych Pop and an ability to introduce Folk into the setting.

This new reissue has been remastered by Professor Stoned and adds four bonus tracks. I was tempted to embed my three favourite songs as is the norm, but I really wanted listeners to hear the old thing. So below is a You Tube link to the album. I have also provided details on where to buy.

You can buy the album on CD or as a download here. The CD is available at all good record shops. You can listen to the whole album here.

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Hoaxxers - Hard Luck EP (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

Austin Texas's Hoaxxers certainly remind me of Green Day. A Power Trio that offer up pace and melody. I get sent a lot of Pop Punk and am a bit of an outlier, because followers don't note this place as one that is a haven for the genre.

This is the sort of Pop Punk that I adore. Not a bit of the robotic vocal and standard riffs. The songs at times edge towards a noisier Power Pop. They don't come up for air and you don't want them to. They deserve a wider audience.

Built on killer riffs, big choruses and short blasts. Hard Luck is an engaging EP, 6 songs in 13 minutes, say what you wanna say and get off. Make Your Bed is addictive, driving shake yer fist stuff with a rare extended solo.

The title track is the most Power Pop, a great energetic anthem and a groove that is hypnotic. These three are great at what they do, real up and at 'em stuff. Totally engaging in a way that asks that you realise that Pop Punk encompasses more than one style.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.  It is at Name Your Price, so what have you got to lose?

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