Librarians With Hickeys - How To Make Friends By Telephone
Probably the best Guitar Pop band on the splendid Big Stir label and they mine the full depth of the genre. From Jangle Pop to Surf, Pop Rock to UK Beat, West Coast Pop to 80s New Wave, they master it all melodically and vocal harmony.
Possibly at their best when they Jangle and that takes on different avenues. However, I've chosen Psych Pop for the example below, simply because I usually do. The variety on show however means no two songs are the same. Whoever mentioned difficult third albums are proven wrong by the joy on display here.
It is wonderful to have The Greek Theatre back. It has been a while since When Seasons Change and the Swedes never disappoint. They generally master a sort of gentle West Coast Psych that can edge into even gentler Prog akin to bands like Beaulieu Porch.
They aren't afraid of opening the box though and here they venture into Classic Rock and Pop Rock without ever forgetting what they are good at. Chilled and masterfully arranged. Don't be fooled by the laidback mood as you soon realise how much work goes into their work.
Now for something louder. Antwerp's Gnome Rock your socks off. Riff heavy and a little nearer to Classic Rock than we normally cover, but a much noisier version. These riffs reverberate around your brain, whilst the band take different paths to reveal and variety that just grips you in an extraordinary way.
Expect Hard Rock, Prog and Stoner and don't expect to come up for air throughout the journey. However, the results are surprisingly melodic and those riffs are just a heavier version of what we listen to. This will rattle the dentures.
This is called an EP, but with six tracks coming in at over 23 minutes, it is nearly as long as some Power Pop albums. The Boston quartet continue to show that variety and I suppose variance is the key thing that we love here.
Another Kind Of Vision is not afraid to Rock, taking in 90s College Rock, IRS Indie, Pop Rock, Modern Prog and Intelligent Indie Rock. There's even Funk and a little Jazz. Loads is packed into this excellent affair that showcases how ace this lot are.
New York's John Dunbar always brings splendid pop sensibilities across his solo and side projects. The John Sally Ride may be the best of the side projects. Lyrically adept, delivered with great wit and the typical tunesmithery that Dunbar brings to his work.
Themed around Music, good and bad, the album contains all the hooks you would expect as well as killer commentary about how us fans do think, not that we would admit it. He has turned self depreciation into an art and that shouldn't hide his great talent.
We can guess where the band name comes from and so as you might expect the feel here is wonderfully 60s. Across UK Beat, Psych, Pop and even Garage Rock, the vibe is splendid. Really accomplished for a debut album, the Neath six piece reveal their influences as well as fashioning up a cracking album.
The New Jersey Trio offer up a great 90s feeling Power Pop album that is quite straight ahead, but also gets splendidly scuzzy at times. All the riffs and hooks are here with an ability to get you up and at 'em, yet not forgetting what makes a great melodic Power Pop affair. They hold their charge when things slow down.
In 1996, Coke Belda, Pepe Murgados and Roque Esteban recorded some demos and played around the Valencia area. 28 years on, the band met at a party and decided to revisit the demos and record full versions. Dislexia is the result.
Here are six excellent songs covering Pop, Pop Rock and even Britpop. but it is the Psych Pop that is particularly bewitching. We know that Belda has a way with a melody, but these songs sound like a proper trio, each member holds up to their end.
You can listen to and buy the album here. The CD is also available on the Kool Kat label here.
Today's offering features four 2024 Archive releases. We are often asked to feature more Reissues. We've been reluctant to do this to avoid deflecting from our main intention of covering new albums. However 2025 will bring more of these in special separate sections, but not enough to confuse our audience.
Yachts - Missing In Action - The Lost Tapes 1980 - 81
Yachts are beloved, not just here, but in parts of the US and deservedly so. Described at times as Punk, but more often Power Pop. They are neither really. New Wave describes them best, the UK 78 - 80 version, not the 80s geeky synth overload variation. Here are the recordings that were to form their third album that never came to light.
The band split and this led to the likes of The Christians and It's Immaterial. Lovingly remastered recordings under the watchful eyes of band members Henry Priestman and Martin Watson. The Vinyl LP also contains the identical CD Version providing an essential example of the second Merseybeat.
Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club - The Definitive Anthology 1977-1981 (3CD)
Talking of New Wave. the band's only released album, English Garden is one of the essential albums of the genre. Containing the early versions of Video Killed The Radio Star and Clean Clean that were written by Woolley and the pre Buggles Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, that album is expanded.
CBS refused to release the second album bizarrely and that is here with loads of extra stuff and 2 In Concert Recordings, one from the UK and one from the US. An essential 3 Disc set from a band that included Thomas Dolby and a reminder of how joyous that New Wave scene was.
The Futureheads - Decent Days & Nights - The Singles
Without the intention of name dropping, I remember a conversation with Andy Partridge about similar bands to XTC and he singled out The Futureheads and Field Music as examples. Sunderland's finest certainly have that angular, swift changing of direction that XTC had, but also have the benefit of four part vocal harmonies.
19 singles are gathered together for then first time including that wonderful cover of Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love. Here is a band every bit as good as the likes of Franz Ferdinand with a fine Indie Guitar led collection that is available as a 2 LP or CD version.
You can buy the CD here. The Vinyl Edition is available here.
Tremeloes - Master (Remastered And Extended)
Known for UK Beat and Pop, The Tremeloes dropped the "The" for this 1970 release and showed a completely different side to the band. The poptastic gentle harmonies are placed on the back burner in favour of a crunchier Rock sound. But there are also some wonderful Psych Pop adventures contained within.
The harmonies are still here, but far more West Coast orientated. Here is the definitive version on Roger Houdaille's excellent Think Like A Key label. Remastered by Prof. Stoned and adding 12 Bonus Tracks.
A chance to celebrate more 2024 albums, before we move on to 2025. We just ran out of time to write full reviews for these excellent offerings, but just want you to know how much we liked them.
Silver Sun - Mild Peril
My love of Silver Sun from Day 1 knows no bounds. One of the finest Power Pop bands that the UK has produced. The sad loss of James Broad is felt by me as a fan and personally as we chatted occasionally mainly about our pet Lurchers. He handled his illness with great dignity. James's wife, Lu, dropped this album late in the year. It is the album that James was working on before he passed away.
You can listen to the album here. It is also available on the likes of Spotify. A wonderful testament to a wonderful man.
The Tangerines - Make It Happen
Swedish Power Pop veterans, The Tangerines are now approaching their third decade together. Make It Happen reveals they haven't lost their Power Pop chops, but there are also departures into Pop Rock. Jangle Pop, AOR and even Psych Pop. A great listen!
You can listen to the album here. You can buy the album and find out more about the band here.
Bubblegum Lemonade - Lawrence Of Suburbia
Laz McCluskey, he of Strawberry Whiplash, returns to his solo project, Bubblegum Lemonade. The Jangle Indie Pop is prevalent as you might expect with some lovely 12 String vibes. But there is also variety present and quite a few surprises. Overall, there is a Sarah Records feel, but also a Television Personalities feel. Another triumph for Mattinee Recordings. All the way from Santa Barbara via Glasgow.
Great angular Indie Rock from a mysterious Parisian 7 piece. The sound doesn't give the impression of a 7 fold band, it is quite sparse, but contains some wonderfully surprising riffs and arrangements. An album that is delicate, yet wonderfully listenable. Intelligent Indie at its finest and available on the excellent Hartlepool label, Prefect Records. Which is also home to Mt. Misery who have been IDHAS's 2024 wild card.
It's been almost a year since we had a Garden Of Earthly Delights column, I have no idea why it has taken so long. I must do these more frequently as they provide the opportunity to mention albums that I love that wouldn't, in some cases, naturally fit on IDHAS.
Narrow Head - 12th House Rock
Texas's Narrow Head's songs have been described as a cross between Shoegaze and Grunge. I don't see that at all, this feels more like Stoner Rock and I'm reminded of Masters Of Reality a lot. So from that you can deduce that the album is suitably noisy, wonderfully so.
The riffs are hypnotic with the vocal pushed back, but 12th House Rock is a fascinating list. At times the band edge towards Space Rock, but they know what they are about. Yer Song is a cracking listen and the likes of Stuttering Stanley and Nodding Off are just as enjoyable.
Martin Månsson Sjöstrand Trio - Universum Faller (Name Your Price)
Some of you may know Swede Martin Månsson Sjöstrand from the superb Dog, Paper, Submarine. Here he teams up with Josef Moller and Hannes Dahlrot for an instrumental album, but this isn't an excuse to solo for six minutes. 9 songs in 29 minutes is just right and the Guitar, Bass and Drums power format is astoundingly great.
The general theme is Space, but there is loads here. Surf, Psych and Rock seep out. Common Redhift 7 could be Cream and One Day Mary Anning Shall Find You drips Prog. The standout though is Innanför Händelsehorisonten, which could almost be Kraut Rock.
You can listen to and buy the album here and at Name Your Price, how can you not be enticed?
Iron City Houserockers - Have A Good Time But... Get Out Alive (Remastered With Bonus Tracks)
I've always had a real soft spot for this album, maybe due to the Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson and Steve Van Zandt connection. Van Zandt produced five of the 12 songs, Hunter and Ronson the rest and the fingerprints definitely show.
The album is very much in Southside Johnny territory and Joe Gruscheky's vocal is very Graham Parker. The stand out is the title track where the guitar sounds very Ronson influenced. This edition adds a bonus CD with 16 Tracks, plus there is something really tummy tingling about seeing Cleveland International back.
You can listen to and buy the album everywhere. All 28 tracks are on you tube here.
The Transpersonals - This Is the Sound Of A Ship On The River Avon
Bristol Trio, The Transpersonals offer up a cracking Psych album. Just five songs here, but three are 11 minutes long. Those three are very different, Timothy Leary's Not Dead is as hypnotic as the title suggests. The title track is just as trippy, but far more laid back, a bit more ambient.
San Francisco is a wonderfully gentler affair with a long mind bending outro. The two shorter songs are very different. The Sun And Moon Are Closing In has a killer riff with an Indie 1985 vibe whilst It Feels So Good is very west coast dreamy Psych. The three longer pieces interest me most, but I've embedded It Feels So Good to listen to here.
You can listen to and buy the album here.. You can find out more about The Transpersonals here.
It's been a long while since we had a Garden Of Earthly Delights feature, so now seems as good a time as any. Here are four albums to rock your socks off.
Dream Ritual - Trips Around The Sun
Springfield MI's Dream Ritual are a noisy quartet. There's more than a hint of Grunge, which isn't the most hip thing to recommend these days, but this is drenched in a mixture of Psych and Space Rock that is really effective.
The album is very riff led. I'm reminded a lot of Rush's Vapor Trails in style, but the vocal is much heavier. There's a hell of a lot to like here, particularly Shot In The Back which has hints of Soundgarden. Faster is a real hair shaker too.
The addition of Liz Carney on Backing Vocals on Outside Your Window and Stones adds a different dimension. The former is the best track on the album mixing a Spaghetti Western Riff with the dulcet tones of Carney and adding some great Guitar. You can listen to and buy the album here.
Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate - Ark
Although more known in Prog Circles, Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate are far more than that. Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland offer up big soundscapes. They are as at home with Alt Rock as they are Classical and so it's always a joy to hear what they have come up with.
Arc is a wonderful multi movement piece based on the Arc Royal. It's almost Classical in it's build, a modern day symphony if you like. It's a riveting listen. It's almost 12 minutes long, but feels half that. You just don't want it to end.
Chasing Neon is very different. A synth extravaganza that is somewhere between Jean Michel Jarre and The Orb. It reminds me a lot of parts of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells 3. Having provided two very different instrumental pieces, the final track has Galloway on Vocals and is gentle Celtic Folk that includes a big Electric Guitar stuff. I absolutely love all three pieces, Ark is a cracking listen.
Finding Beauty In Chaos was released in September 2018 and was one of the real surprises of last year. A project curated by Human Drama and Gene Loves Jezabel Guitarist, Michael Ciravolo, Ciravolo gathered up a host of Special Guests including Cheap Trick's Robin Zamer, The Mission's Wayne Hussey, The Cure's Simon Gallup amd Ministry's Al Jourgensen.
The results were stunning and here the album is revisited by passing the songs back to the artists, producers and DJ's to remix the original album. In some cases, alternate takes are used. What shouldn't work, more than does. The album is given new life without changing too much of what made it so listenable in the first place.
Any one of these 14 songs can be recommended. But the stand outs are Robin Zander and Michael Anthony's Drifting Away, Evi Vine's fascinating I Will Follow and in particular, Hussey and Gallup's fantastic Man Of Faith. The latter song is reworked twice, the Preacher Man Mix being my favourite.
What Do You Mean 'You Need A Colour TV' is not the type of album that most of us would normally listen to. That isn't a reason not to though and this is a different, but enjoyable listen. The album is suitably moody, but strangely hypnotic.
Roel Vermeer is a singer and multi instrumentalist from Amsterdam. The instrumentation is innovative and lends itself to his sometimes laid back croon. Twice is Gosto at his most upbeat and as a chorus that compares with any great Pop Rock, think Wax or 10CC.
Howdy Doody and welcome to the latest Garden Of Earthly Delights feature. Four bands that you should love and will spend the rest of the day wondering why you hadn't heard them earlier.
The Galileo 7 - Tear Your Minds Wide Open!
Medway would appear to be centre of all things Psych Pop at the moment. The storming amount of great mid to late 60's Pop that blasts out of Kent lately is vastly encouraging. Tear Your Minds Wide Open! is splendid Organ driven Psych Pop.
Many can do this, few can do it well, The Galileo 7 have mastered the genre. They even sound like the live version Of The Move on The Habit Machine and Baggy Madchester on Nobody Knows Anything.
However, it's the Syd Barrett esque Psych that makes most of the dents and this is beautifully done with all four band members driving the sound forward. Particular mention should be made to Allan Crockford for some great guitar riffing and sterling vocals.
The Green Ray - Half Sentences
Fans of the magnificent Help Yourself will know that Ken Whaley and Richard Treece formed The Green Ray in the Nineties. I love Help Yourself and their connections with Brinsley Schwarz and Man in the 70's.
The Green Ray carried on that tradition and there is a sadness in these recordings. Ken Whaley died in 2012, a year before the sessions started and Richard Treece passed away in 2015, so his final recordings are here. Ken's brother, Simon switched to Guitar to finish Half Sentences.
The result is the band's fourth album and it is a fine affair. Coming in as a sort of laid back Man or a less trippy Jefferson Airplane, at times pre AOR Journey, it's a cracking chilled listen. It centres around the 10 minute opener, Planes Crashing Into Birds, it's the other 7 songs that set the direction. Some wonderful low key Guitar rounds everything up.
This is another release on the fantastic Sugarbush Label, setting the standard again in Vinyl releases. You can buy the album from Sugarbush here or listen to and buy the album as a download here.
The Red Plastic Buddha - Songs for Mara
Songs For Mara isn't a new album, it was released in 2014, but it is the magnificent The Red Plastic Buddha's current album and this Chicago quartet show that the Psych excellence isn't limited to these shores. The band give a modern slant on Psych Rock, very much in the vicinity of The Luck Of Eden Hall.
So it's no surprise that Curvey guests as does Phil Angotti, so you are catching a drift of the quality here. The depth quota is high and although Psych Lovers will thrive on this, there's plenty for everyone else.
Cosmonaut is like Space Power Pop, A House Is Not A Motel could be Madchester, Stuck on Zero is Trippy to extreme. But it's the Psychedelic wonder that grabs you. She's An Alien is a fine opener, but it's the trippy splendour of Little White Pills that gets hold of me most. This is an ace album, a bit darker than the previous, All Out Revolution, but all the better for it.
The Warp/The Weft - Mapping An Absence Poughkeepsie's The Warp/The Weft are not like any of the New York Bands that I normally cover. I suppose you'd call it Acid Folk, as though we need another label, so imagine that Fairport Convention had joined a coven and you get the drift.
This is wonderfully dark Electric Folk. The album even closes with a spot of Dylan Thomas. Some of the song structures compare to the likes of Renaissance, there's a lovely mix of the Electric and Acoustic.
Mapping An Absence isn't a laidback listen, but these eight songs are both gripping and intensely rewarding. It's almost like the 80's Indie Brigade have got hold of Folk and given it such a shaking that it thinks it's Psych. This is a really really good album. Well worth taking a chance on.
This week's Garden Of Earthly Delights hands itself over to Christmas. There's been a lot of things I said I would never do this year, showing aging doesn't mean set in his ways. I've usually baulked at Top 10's, never seen the point. I had them as something that music fans do to avoid fixing the leak in the shed. Well there will be some on here as well as a Smash Hits / NME type of thing, presenting ridiculous awards in made up categories.
Secondly, I've always avoided Christmas Song Reviews. I've left Christmas to my good friend Stephen Schnee who covers them in a way that makes all others redundant. It's the forced jollity that does me. Every time someone says it's X sleeps until Christmas, I reach for the wet fish and a slapping session. It's days not sleeps, you are not ten blah blah etc etc.
There are positives, you get to see Roy Wood once a year, but if I never heard Last Christmas again, it would be too soon, even if it was for someone special. See what I did there? But seeing as The Garden Of Earthly Delights is about choosing four recordings and there are four such things around this year, it makes sense to tell you about them.
The Bordellos - The Bordellos Do Christmas
I spent most of my growing up in St. Helens, a town aided by it's proximity to Liverpool for the musically inclined. It was always a bugbear that we had no musician to celebrate from the town. We clutched on to Gravy Train who had largely been and gone by the time Senior School started and there was Bernie Clifton who did some appalling covers of the songs in the chart on Crackerjack.
As the 80's rolled on after New Romantic's dismal years, we even tried to adopt Rick Astley, he was from the Borough, but Newton isn't St. Helens. Now, of course, we've got Jacqui Abbott and there is one special band to mention in between.
The Bordellos are magnificent. Anywhere else and they would be celebrated from the roof tops, instead we'd rather celebrate some young lady shouting the life out of Hero or Hallelujah. People who look to other things than the TV and local press, know how magnificent they are. Their lo-fi indie credentials can stand up with anyone.
Brian Bordello is an unsung hero, the wit and invention that goes into his writing should have him compared to the likes of Mark E. Smith and Martin Newell. It's the true that what he does isn't for everyone, but there are more than enough people out there who like similar artists that should be delving into their Back Catalogue. The Bordellos should be more than a Cottage Industry.
So we have six original songs here that use all the tricks of the trade that have been learned over a fabulous recording career. Don't expect a wall of sound, but do expect to have your thoughts provoked. You can download the EP here for Free and you should head off there when you've read the rest of this post. I'd suggest you bookmark it now.
The Minus 5 - Dear December
Scott McCaughey's current Stroke related illness, puts this release in perspective, particularly at this time of year. His R.E.M. credentials have always been there to see, but The Minus 5 has always leaned more towards Indie Power Pop and it's splendid that it does.
Here we have 11 new songs for the Festive Season. Peter Buck as ever is present as head Guitar Boy and there are guest appearances from The Posies, Mike Mills, Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Chuck Prophet, Tammy Ealon, Kelly Hogan and more.
It's an absolute joy to listen to, wonderfully melodic, a perfect accompaniment to the Sherry and Mince Pies. You can listen to and buy it here.
Lisa Mychols - Winter Is Here
Few would argue that Power Pop can be a Boy's Club, but Lisa Mychols has consistently challenged this. Her Sunshine Pop and Sugar Sweet Vocals are joyous. Everything seems so much brighter when she sings.
Those vocals come in somewhere between Susanna Hoffs and Kirsty MacColl, but the beauty is that everything is upbeat and jangly. On In Love With Love, Mychols even sounds Spectorish. Mr Santa is all New Wave.
These six songs but the Merry into Merry Christmas. If this is a time for positivity and celebration, this should be the soundtrack. You can listen to the EP and buy it here.
Cheap Trick - Christmas Christmas
The fourth of the four is given to my long time favourites, Cheap Trick, This could have been a disaster, particularly with only three originals amongst the 12 songs. But Cheap Trick pull it off due to the sheer delight of it all.
There are the obvious Slade and Wizzard covers, the band obviously want to contribute to Roy Wood's pension fund with their constant raiding. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is rocked up though with Rick Nielsen's guitar.
It's the covers away from the obvious that are most interesting though, Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) and particularly Nilsson's Remember Christmas. Robin Zander's vocal on the latter is wonderful and in fact throughout, this sounds like a Zander album, his pipes are in fine form.
The three new songs include a guitar less, choir accompanied, Our Father Of Life and a song that may make it onto Christmas playlists for years to come in Merry Christmas Darlings. That song is classic Cheap Trick, everything that they do well is contained within. included the cheery lounge like interlude. The album is available everywhere.
The Granite Shore - Suspended Second
I purposely wanted this to appear in The Garden Of Earthly Delights section. Simply because I want this section to be useful to those not looking for the Poppier stuff that I concentrate on, but at the same time for those Pop fans to realise what else is around.
I'm a massive Fan of Nick Halliwell's Occulation Recordings, not only for dragging The Distractions back into public view. Any label that has John Howard on it is doing something right and every sign tells me that this is a label to reckon with.
The Granite Shore's second album is a cracker. Halliwell may have a plaintive vocal, but there is a fantastic structure and melody to the songs and the choruses don't half hook you. The seriousness of the message isn't lost in this follow up, but the debut album, Once More From The Top was a bit too reflective.
Suspended Second contains songs that seem a bit more jolly, even if the lyrics are not for Brexiteers. I defy anyone to write a song as beautifully melancholic as Someone Else. Ditto the nine minutes plus of The Performance Of A Lifetime which features completely addictive Backing Vocals.
Halliwell describes the album as Angry Pop, that's too easy a tag. The depth of the songwriting shows that he is being way too modest. The inclusion of Occulation label mates allow the vision to be reach fulfillment.
The Distractions' Steve Perrin is present as is The June Brides' Phil Wilson. The dulcet tones of John Howard are here as is that extraordinary piano playing. Arash Torabi and Ian Henderson complete the sextet.
Nick Halliwell has offered up an exceptional album on an exceptional label. You can listen to and buy the album here.
Bad Badger - Serpent Mother
Wichita Falls's Bad Badger have fashioned up an excellent album. The band are labelled with the all encapsulating Indie Rock. I mean what exactly is that these days? It would appear to be anything that is potentially Rock and not on a major label. Does it have quite a few synths on it, is there much guitar, no, oh that'll be Indie Pop, yes, oh that'll be Prog.
Serpent Mother is pure Rock and on something like New Pigs, the instrumentation is Caress Of Steel like, it's wonderful psych prog. Then there's Band Of Wagons which you'd expect to be on the Fruits De Mer label.
Lucid Livin' is so laid back it is almost asleep. Anna too is more of the same, mesmerising. Indeed the whole of the second half is far more dreamy and trippy than the pulsing of the first half. The two halves are divided by an interlude, all albums should make this mandatory.
This is a corker of an album, extremely mature, as well as grabbing the Nada Surf and Lemon Twigs crowd, Bad Badger should garner a much older following. Indie Rock indeed!!!!!! This is pure psych and all the better for it. I'll pass this on to my good friend, Chris Sirett at The Perfumed Allotment. I know he'll want to cover it too.
You can buy this everywhere including CD Baby hereand Amazon here. Listening samples are at both places. Ignore the categories though. Blink 182?????
Trent Reznor And Atticus Ross - The Vietnam War (Original Score)
The Garden Of Earthly Delights section was always meant to be something away from what I generally cover on IDHAS. It was intended to be away from the Power Pop and Pop Rock and from now on, it will appear regularly and do just that.
Nine Inch Nails which is essentially Trent Reznor have been known largely for Industrial Rock, really enjoyable but hard listening. Reznor's soundtrack work with Atticus Ross, who is now also a NIN member has been largely different.
Although Reznor had worked alone with Scores for David Fincher, since his collaboration with Ross on 2010's The Social Work, the projects have developed considerably. Their scores fit the films beautifully, yes this is ambient, but it is also effective. Not as up itself as some ambient music can be. Think Bill Nelson, who also makes wonderful albums in that field, although there are perhaps too many.
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's excellent Documentary series, The Vietnam War, is a big watch, 10 episodes taking up 18 hours. So although there are two different albums to accompany it, there is room for both.
The alternative soundtrack will be the one people naturally gravitate to. That is a bit obvious with it's Simon And Garfunkel and Creedence Clearwater Revival. All a bit Now That's What I Call Classic Rawk. Surely most people have this stuff already.
This double disc is the gem. It's very moving, can be listened to as background music or in depth. If you are composing an Electronic Music score, you have to make it interesting, it can't just rely on a Prog like repetition of the same theme.
Reznor and Ross manage that. It's a fine listen briefly or through all 95 minutes. This score can be compared to a modern day Classical Composer's work and there is still more than enough room for this and three minute love songs.
You can buy this everywhere. The likes of Amazon have sound samples here.
Artful Dodger - The Complete Columbia Recordings (2CD)
I rarely cover Back Catalogue on here unless it is something dear to my heart. A number of reasons. I cover a bit elsewhere, I've spent far too long over the last two decades, listening to and writing about the past, but mainly because I prefer IDHAS to be about the new and unappreciated.
However, if the right band come along, I'll say a few words and this is a few words. Artful Dodger are one of the great lost Pop Rock bands, akin to Liverpool Express in the UK. Their self titled debut album and the follow up, Honor Amongst Thieves have appeared on CD before, but the masters were dreadful and they fetch very high prices these days or did until perhaps not.
1977's Babes On Broadway has never appeared on CD and although it's not a patch on the previous two, it's great to have it available again. These three CBS albums have Single Versions of Scream and Can't Stop Pretending added to the two disc package.
Sadly 1980's finale, Rave On was on Arista and so the wait for that continues. Big In Cleveland, I suppose describes Artful Dodger with their Raspberries Pop. But this is great Pop Rock. Don't confuse the band with the UK Artful Dodger or you will get a nasty surprise.
This can be bought at Amazon here and everywhere else. Sorry for the quality of the song examples. There's not a lot available.
Welcome to another Garden Of Earthly Delights, where we take four new, but very different albums, all equally excellent and tell you about them.
The Terminals - Antiseptic
New Zealand's The Terminals bring their particular brand of noise pop back into the public arena and how welcome it is. Although they are firmly linked with the Flying Nun scene from it's inception, they are very different to the jaunty pop established with the New Zealand scene. It's been ten years since Last Days Of The Sun and it's worth the wait.
For the uninitiated, imagine a cross between The Velvet Underground and Midnight Oil. Wonderfully inventive and very hypnotic. Early Eno like in it's keyboards, but Nicole Moffat's violin hammers home like a lead guitar.
The Bopp feature a revolving cast of musicians centred around Jessie Bordeaux. French Power Pop isn't a widely known phenomenon, but The Bopp certainly press all the right buttons reminding me of anything from the UK New Wave to Brit Pop. That takes in comparisons to The Knack, Rain Parade and C86.
Two things stand out. This is really melodic stuff and the organ runs are so Inspiral Carpets like. There's even ventures into Dr Feelgood lite and Glam Rock. Bordeaux's voice is a laid back swoon rather than a belt out and that makes Power My Pop even more interesting.
Leeds foursome, Post War Glamour Girls have threatened to break through for a while. This is studio album number three since 2014 and you really feel they are getting there. They are one of the few of the new crop of bands that you could see holding a large venue's attention.
All their essential elements are still there. Hints of Psych, Goth, Post Punk and plenty of crunching guitar. The only thing I felt they needed was a bit more of a nod to mainstream rock and that's certainly showing on Swan Songs. The example I've chosen is Guiding Light, a sort of The Mission meets the first album of The Killers. This lot are certainly destined for bigger things.
The Singing Skies - Head In The Trees, Heart On The Ground
The Singing Skies is the project led by Kell Derrig-Hall. You'd expect the moody Country Folk to come from the Mid West, not the haven of Guitar Pop that is Sydney. Derrig-Hall treads right into the territory of Chris Isaak, apt perhaps with Twin Peaks back in vogue.
You'd expect this sort of acoustic folk to get a bit dull after a while, but the arrangements are so strong and the atmosphere created so gripping that the whole album is a fine listen. Head In The Trees, Heart In The Ground is not the sort of album that I'd normally listen to. I'm so glad that I did.
Although the album's cover might lead you to expect some Psych Pop, Everything Is Love is very much Beatlesque and when it's not, it's very much in that late 60's melodic pop that we know and love.
Cupid's Carnival used to be Cherrystone who released the excellent Our Life in 2008, although London based, the sound hails from further North. Girl with it's George Harrison like slide is so Beatles, I Was The Boy and Summertime are Badfinger to a tee. Sunny Days is an ELO patische, a sort of Mr Blue Sky II, very much in L.E.O. territory. There's even a cover of Whiter Shade Of Pale with Matthew Fisher on Hammond Organ.
Edison Lighthouse, Christie and some of the better mid 70's Pop Rock bands spring readily to mind, the whole album is a blast. The Right Time is perhaps a bit too Oasis for my liking, but Everything Is Love is great Summer Pop.
This seems the type of album that would do great business on Bandcamp. Strangely it's not present put you can find details of how to pick it up here.
The Move - Magnetic Waves Of Sound
Here he goes talking about The Move again. When I look around at all this music gathered over the period of 40 years plus, it all stems back to The Move and Sparks. In fact when Tez goes into one of her grumbles about the CD Wallpaper, I blame Roy Wood. Whilst the rest of St Helens were listening to Mud and Shang-A-Langing, this was my life.
The Move have been compiled to death, compilations seem to appear annually and so the Best Of is not that extraordinary. There's been some effort adding the likes of Cherry Blossom Revisited and What, but The Move to me are Looking On, Feel Too Good and The Girl Outside.
The real joy though is the DVD. The full Colour Me Pop Broadcast plus the Beat Club performances of Brontosaurus and When Alice Comes Back To Farm. Cherry Red's Esoteric offshoot generally do a good job of these reissues. I'm particularly looking forward to the upcoming Patto stuff. My one gripe here is that the 1971 footage isn't included and that's been around in great quality on Bootleg for years. Everyone should see Down On The Bay from that.
You can buy this CD and DVD set at Cherry Red's website here and everywhere else.
Who Killed Nancy Johnson - The Cops and Robbers EP
Reading based Who Killed The Nancy Johnson have released their debut EP and it's particularly good. Although you can hear Garage Rock influences, the thoughts of late 70's New Wave spring to mind.
They hit a riff and it's a loud one. The Ruts and The Rich Kids plus the better Manc Bands of that era are nodded at. However, these four songs could easily be on Tsar's second album. The spirit of Indie is alive and well and you can imagine the band are a pretty hot live act with some interesting covers.
All four songs are ace, but Stay Out Late appeals most to me, very 70's UK Wave and all the better for it. You can listen to the EP here and buy it for the ridiculously chap price of two quid.
Deacon Blue - Live At Glasgow Barrowlands
On such a poptastic Blog as this that celebrates the new and undervalued you would be surprised to read about Deacon Blue. A lot of UK Pop from the 80's is either rubbish or sounds incredibly dated. So you cherish those who extended beyond the electronic drums. That list includes Nik Kershaw, Nick Heyward, ABC and of course Deacon Blue.
Those first three albums stand up with anything else around snd Dignity stands up as one of the finest singles. When you listen to this great live set of 27 songs, you realise just how many great songs they were responsible for and that you know. Ricky Ross has a fine set of pipes and although they've never been particularly hip, they are particularly good.
You can buy this Double CD and DVD set for just over a tenner everywhere.
