The Sugar - Somewhere To Go

 

Thanks to the detective work of one of our keen followers I can now follow up with more details on the band. You can find out more about The Sugar here. The original review from October is posted below.

I've been wanting to tell you more about this album for months and it underlines one of my biggest frustrations. With dealing with new bands, I don't expect to find information about them easily across the internet. But all too often, I can't find anything.

With not relying on submissions, finding out more can take much needed time away from actually writing about them and to be honest, I give up on some. I've tried all I can to get more info on The Sugar, evening trying to get in touch with the studio where the album was recorded.

Now I have to pass it over to you to find out more and will post links to where can you listen to the album. I have persevered because the album is right up our street, It is at the rockier end of Pop Rock, but wonderfully melodic.

At times it will remind you of great Pop Rock bands such as Cheap Trick, at others it gets more into the territory of Rush instrumentally, even a little vocally without ever getting near the Peart lyrical quality. Yet the album could easily appear on a 70s Classic Rock major label or a Not Lame or Big Stir.

It is beautifully performed and produced, melodic to the extreme and as catchy as catchy can be, but it does Rock. I'd love to find out more about the album and cover it deeper, so it may we have musical detectives around with greater skill or more time.

Like all recent reviews, I haven't embedded tracks, hoping that followers will go off and listen to the whole album themselves and discover their own favourites. Somewhere To Go definitely needs more attention if only we knew how to do that. Links to the streaming sites I've found are below.

Apple Music

You Tube Music

Amazon Music

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Geoff Palmer - An Otherwise Negative Situation

 

Geoff Palmer is extremely good at what he does. He knows what works and with the accompaniment of Kurt Baker on Bass and Zach Spraque on Drums, an ace Power Trio is formed. This is Power Pop of the highest order.

It is a rockier version of the genre with songs built on grooves, but everything that is required is in place in spades. Bookmarked by two killer songs in Give It Up and Like A Dove, the other eight songs fit in nicely in between.

It is difficult to pick out any particular song, because all ten are written, performed and arranged perfectly, but a special mention does have to go out to Surfin' Nebraska which encapsulates everything that Palmer excels at.

There is at a times a slight Pop Punk vibe, but An Otherwise Negative Situation is essentially top notch Power Pop. Songs are built on melody with big choruses and massive riffs. You will soon find yourself singing along and tapping your feet which is exactly what the best Power Pop is about.

You can listen to and buy the album here. The CD can be bought from the Stardumb label itself here as well as all good music retailers

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Carl Green In Particular - Off Balance Off Guard and Off Duty EPs

Another splendid I Don't Hear A Single Discovery awaits your attentive ears all the way from the North East Of England. There have been three EPs released by Carl Green In Particular, the latest being Off Balance and all three are highly listenable.

This is essentially Pop Rock, but it is incredibly inventive, particularly arrangement wise. If you listen to the first two songs on the latest EP, the range shows. The Union Hotel is straight ahead-ish Indie Pop Rock, yet Algorithm And Blues is wonderful Gravitas Pop that is a reminder of the great mavericks of the 80s, Hitchcock, Partridge, Newell et al. Yet there is also a Billy Fury era about the song.

I'm reminded a lot of Cleaners From Venus with less of a folk bent. Fine Arts Student is wonderfully inventive Indie. Moving on to the Off Guard EP, Now It's Gone is a more straight ahead thing, but is really lyrical adept, almost an Acoustic Folk Song.

Flowery Words has a real Three Blind Mice feel and I couldn't help thinking of my great Brian Bordello as the song is right in his territory. A louder production and bolder vocal maybe, but the sentiments and style fit The Bordellos perfectly and I love that chiming Bell.

The Off Duty EP was my introduction to Carl Green and Art School Fringe in particular floated my boat. It is an ace example of the quirky Pop that I adore, a little bit zany with an addictive chorus and almost a very early Sparks feel.

She Sings In Her Sleep is again very first part of the 60s, you can imagine Joe Meek production. Who's Carl Green edges towards Psych Folk. Off Duty is probably my favourite of the three, simply because of the more Electric approach.

This sort of intelligent Indie is never gonna get a mass audience, it really is too intelligent for the plebs and they don't deserve it. With 12 songs here, there is more than enough for it to be an album and maybe that would have been easier to direct at the engaged than three EPs, but all three are a very rewarding listen.

You can listen to and buy them here.

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Various - Round And Round – Progressive Sounds Of 1974 (4CD)

 

Cherry Red and Esoteric are really good at this sort of compilation. In the wrong hands, they can depend on what rights a label has, be led by some storming familiar songs and a load of filler or be pay to a compiler's personal tastes. The label now has a hearty catalogue and Round And Round is proof of that.

There may also be those who look for a hiding place when they see the word Progressive and imagine hours and hours of noodling and time signature changing. Prog was a much wider gathering than that and in 1974, when the singles world was still dominated by Glam and Pop Rock, it has to be remembered that albums were more about these sort of bands and LPs were far more important to the non teens.

As with any compilation, there will be artists or songs here that you may think are not Prog, but it should also be remembered that the genre was a broad church and contained the Heavy, Folk and Melodic. I for instance have never thought of my beloved Be Bop Deluxe as such. maybe more Pop Rock, but Bill Nelson's Guitar playing could certainly flirt in that direction.

In my previous Blog life, music was not primarily about the new and there was a real love of Bands such as Man and Budgie, but I always considered them as more on the heavier side, but I can see why others would link them in. There are plenty here of who there is no doubt that they are indelibly Prog. Amongst them such as Gong, Jethro Tull, Hatfield And The North, Renaissance and Camel.

The Canterbury Scene is well represented and led by Kevin Ayers. It is also nice to see the European scene represented by Kayak and PFM and by German association, Nektar. The Melodic angle is covered by the likes of Barclay James Harvest, Traffic, Strawbs and of course Todd Rundgren.. It is also great to see compilation stalwarts, Procol Harum.

I also note my hometown band, Gravy Train are here, their albums were always immensely collectible, even if those long players flattered to deceive. Four Discs may seem a lot, but this selection is so wide and varied that it is a cracking listening journey. The package is well presented with authoritative notes and the sound is great. I'm off back to the new, but this set brought back a lot of fond memories.

You can buy the set here and at all good music retailers.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

27 songs this week and the latest playlist is an absolute cracker. There is no song preference in track order, just what we think flows.  I do hope that you can listen to all the songs across this week. The last listed is as great as the first and you have all week to listen.

This weekly playlist is solely for submissions, not the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. All embeds open in new windows to aid scrolling. Links to the artists will also appear on I Don't Hear A Single Social Media sites over the next 24 hours. This will help you to discover more about the artists who appear here.

Lomma - Surf Dream

The Young Hearts - Good Company

Tristan Dolce - Willow Springs

Reckless Coast - Bad Habits

Diamond States - While You Were Sleeping

Dad Soda - Simpsons Thermos (The Lottery)

ForEach Loop - Beyond the Kerosene

St. Jimi Sebastian Cricket Club - Golden Parachuter

Lions of Dissent - I Feel Nothing

The Smivets - Galaxies

Northern Trails - Please Let Me Down

Magic Machine - Sweet Creature

The Mellons - Make Me Feel

Charlie & Margot - Giving Up

https://soundcloud.com/charlieandmargotmusic/giving-up/s-t0qmt6FWLXY. Awaiting Embed and will add on receipt

DIN NYC - Crooked Line

Pekoe Cat - The Love Motel

Middle Part - Get Fixed

Fencer - Pity Committee

Drew Friel - Breakfast Bar

Polyglam - Loss

Vital Sparks - Is It Real?

deegie - Never Look Back (PJ)

Small Strides - Gone

Thompson Springs - Feel More, Feel Less

Winston Churchbus -Call Me Aimless

Mandy Kane - I Challenge The Runes

Velociraptor - Timebong

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Ex Norwegian - Sooo Extra

 

I think most of you know how I feel about Ex Norwegian. No Sleep to my ears is still the best album of the past decade or more and deservedly was our Album Of The Year in 2018 and would probably be the same in any year.

Well they are back and when I say they, this is essentially a Roger Houdaille solo album, not that you would realise that. Some Ex Norwegian albums are a band, some are not, this is the latter. Sooo Extra is still a heady mix of Pop Rock and Psych Pop, but here the emphasis seems that bit more on the Pop.

Houdaille also has an ability to shift genres with some fantastic unexpected arrangements. Take for instance Extra here. It is a song that has Psych Pop, 80's Twee and a Big Rock outro in the one song. Booster Club is so melodic, yet impossible to define, part gentle Psych, part melodic Alt Rock, but as catchy as catchy can be. 

Real Bad Bunny is Electro Pop and I have to admit that I didn't get it at all as a single, but on hearing it on the album it is a perfect fit. Hit The Wall has a great fuzzed up vibe and again the synth dominates. Indeed, keyboards are far more prevalent across the album than you would normally hear.

But there are classic Pop Rock moments that are as good as Ex Norwegian have ever been. Improbably Probable, Short On The Wires and Send Nudes are classic prime time Pop Rock moments that Ex Norwegian excel at. There's even a step into Classic Rock with Atlantic Columbia.

There is plenty here for long time fans, but Ex Norwegian have never been afraid of taking chances and they are taken here. It as though being a splendid Pop Rock band is not enough and Houdaille has to show that there is more. Default is Pop Rock, but there are many more directions to enjoy. Wonderful!

You can listen to and buy the album here. Roger Houdaille's Think Like A Key label can be found here.

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The Hasbros - God Hates The Hasbros

 

Five years on, it is great to have Queen's The Hasbros back with their second album. Expanded from a Trio to a Quartet with Tom Cavanagh doing on Bass, the sound sounds even bigger and builds on Cart Before Horse with some ace 90s sounding Pop Rock.

For a band that specialise in Pop Rock with a Guitar Driven emphasis on the Rock, via Twin Guitarists, that is more than a little IRS, the opener is a real surprise. Bury You sounds more like The Rembrandts than say R.E.M.

Fans of their scuzzy Guitar led stuff, should fear not though because they are soon back on that track. Songs are built around big choruses and riffs with Jangle thrown in regularly. Melodic and performed at pace, this is a fine selection of songs. 

The band are at their best when they let go and Be A Bee is the best example, a really noisy urgent affair that will translate well live. Hell Or Me runs it a close second, another song delivered at a frantic pace. But the band can also change direction and genre well.

Change is a splendid Jangling, almost Americana gem. Wonder is great Psych Pop and 30 Days Of Night is wonderful West Coast Rock. There's even a melancholic closer in What He Said, a beautifully arranged cooldown after all that excitement. It is cracking 5 minutes that ends a really fine album.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about The Hasbros here.

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