It's been nine long years since Goodbye, Killer, so it is more than about time for Spread The Feeling. Indeed, a follow up was recorded and mixed a few years ago, only for it to be abandoned when Joe just didn't like the songs.
Since the album was abandoned, Pernice has revisited the songs with little mind change, until it was decided that a couple were worth saving and the task was then to keep recording until there was an album that hit the required quality mark.
The result is here and Joe Pernice has lost none of his talent. This is a splendid offering, all the trademark lyrical depth and killer hooks are present. Stories are told, bitter sweet words disguised by big melodies and boy is this album melodic, at times it's almost Pop.
There is also a song that may be the best thing that you'll hear this year. The jingling venomous, The Devil And The Jinn, is a real ear worm. Featuring Neko Case on Backing Vocals and Ric Menck on Drums. it hits every spot possible.
Although the sound across the whole album feels much bigger than usual, the quieter moments are allowed their own space, particularly on the magnificent Queen Of California. For all the trademark jingling joy of Eric Saw Colors and Skinny Jeanne, the slower moments that strike most. Evidently So is suitably sad and I Came Back has a real Wreckless Eric feel.
Mint Condition has a Cars like riff and a Glam Rock riff. Always In All Ways could be The Proclaimers. Throw Me To The Lions feels very 80's with a Lightning Seeds vibe. The album as a whole could be Joe Pernice's Pop Opus, what ihasn't changed is his ability to write a song. The lyrics are as strong as ever and Spread The Feeling is a real contender for Album Of The Year.
The first half of 2019 had less writing for me, but just as much listening. So with October being the second Review A Day month of the year, it's an ideal opportunity to catch up on things that I listened to, loved and didn't write about. One such example is Erk's album which was released in June.
This is Berlin's Erk Wiemer's third album and appears after a ten year gap. Wiemer stands up with those great piano playing singer songwriters of the 70's and although When Night Meets Day certainly offers up reminders of those great Pop Rock albums that graced the Seventies, there are indicators before and after that decade, in both style and content.
The arrangements are very up, but are equally Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson as much as Gilbert O'Sullivan or John Howard. Indeed comparisons could be made to Ben Folds and there is definitely a Jellyfish vibe here and it's strong. There's a lot to compare to Roger Manning Jr.
There's something really showtime about the album, almost like a BBC Omnibus Special or ITV Variety Summer Showtime. The arrangements are great, the harmonies meticulous and the whole thing is just a joyful listen.
I Walk Like Charly Brown is Lounge Jazz, Living My Life Without You is 60's Revue big sounding Pop. Rhapsody Of You is a Skellern / O'Sullivan piano ballad that is beautifully arranged. Better Sad Than Dead has a Randy Newman beat that is almost Manilow. Hey Bro is Ska.
It's the jaunty Piano Pop that pleases these ears most, it gives off such a fantastic vibe. Chilly Winds Ahead and Malibu Beach's in Berlin are a great examples. Taking My Time is a poptastic duet with Diane Weigmann that works beautifully. When Night Meets Day is superb Piano Pop with a series of darts into other genres. It's a corking listen.
I am NOT going to begin with the line, "There Is No Feeling Better Than Listening To This" as I can imagine it's already been cliched to death in other reviews. Fair to say, that Bloomington Indiana's Mike Adams At His Honest Weight offer up a splendid album.
What's more, Adams is another in the fantastic stable of artists that are on the Joyful Noises Recordings label. This is his fourth album and follows on from 2016's wonderful Casino Drone. The songs here sound as big as Casino Drone, but the arrangements seem fuller.
The collaborations on this album from those within the Honest Weight Circle make a big difference. It's not that previous offerings, that have been more solo affairs, are sparse, it just seems there is a harmonious feel to the whole album. That combined with the experience gained from being the fourth album in has provided an absolute winner.
There's a really laid back feel to the whole affair. At times, it's a bit like Bruce Hornsby without the piano, but there is far more here that. No Feeling Better includes an unexpected twee instrumental break to cover the Duane Eddy Guitar.
Datsun Dashes is a cracking Pop Song, a bit Michael Stipe with a Roy Orbison Backing Track Twang. Olivia is a big Ballad that again mixes the Sixties with IRS Indie. Do You One Better is pure Indie Pop. The general feel across these 11 songs is a more than pleasant Summer Jamboree. All this is Pretty, but the lyrics tell a different, political, story.
However, it's when the album steps away from the more mellow. Pressing Mesh is a biting wonder of a song and the magnificent closer, So Faded is one of the best things I've heard this year. It's almost like a US Pete Wylie with it's Big Chorus, it's a massive sounding joy.
There's so much to like here. There Is No Feeling Better will definitely be in IDHAS's End Of Year Best Of 2019. You can listen to and but the album here. You can find out more about Mike here. You can discover more about Joyful Noises's artists here.
The biggest question that I used to get as a Rush fan was but how do you stand his voice? Then into the 80's, it was don't they do those side long Prog things? There was also those who accused the band of selling out from Permanent Waves onward. Well you get used to the voice, it's been rarely mentioned since the 90's, they were Prog, but haven't been since Hemispheres. It was also the complexity of that album, particularly playing it Live, that led to shorter less complex songs.
The structure of the songs wasn't any less enjoyable, indeed the side long affairs were made up of individual shorter parts. More of a problem in the 80's for some listeners, particularly those of a Rawk persuasion, was the embrace of technology which fought with the guitar. Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures were when Rush hit pay dirt, the songs would never be throwaway. Peart's lyrics wouldn't carry less meaning, it eventually became about those bloody synths.
Signals hinted at what was to come and Grace Under Pressure provided more evidence. Grace Under Pressure is a fantastic album, dated by that keyboard sound. Geddy Lee bought every synth in the shop and wanted to play them all. I had been asked to write a big piece on Rush in the 80's and the only album that I couldn't defend was Presto, it remains unloved, but it's still better than the mediocre Test For Echo. At least Presto was trying to do something different, Test For Echo was phoned in.
In between T4E and Presto were two albums that I used to play regularly, but hadn't for some time. Hold Your Fire was initially hard to get in the UK, but is a fantastic album, Rush at their most poptastic. I'd love to do a piece on that and may do for something like the next Big Stir Magazine. But 1985's Power Windows it is and it still sounds as great as it ever did. Yes there are still keyboards, but not quite as many and Alex Lifeson had finally decided that he wasn't Andy Summers.
The stand out song is Marathon with a Riff that hooks you, but that's a Bass Riff and one of the band's biggest ever choruses, although this was outdone by Mission on Hold Your Fire. The whole thing is so damn melodic and catchy. You still air drum to Peart, but the biggest plus is Lifeson's playing, oh how we missed you Alex and what about that solo on Marathon? Not forgetting Anne Dudley's String arrangement.
Power Windows isn't just about the arrangements, it's all about those choruses. Grand Designs and Manhattan Project are great examples, the latter's Jangling riff that leads up to the first line of the chorus, "A Big Bang Took And Shook The World".There's a slightly gentler approach to the old Side 2. There is an almost Chinese feel in Intros. Territories has a killer Peart Drum Beat on the chorus. Middletown Dreams is moodier and more straight ahead, but has another Big Chorus.
Emotion Detector, tinkles and jangles until a paint stripping Lifeson solo and yes there's a big chorus. Mystic Rhythms hits that Rhythm and it carries you home. Rush have usually opened up albums with simpler, more throwaway songs, a sort of Loosener. This time it's Big Money, next time it would be Force Ten.
So Power Windows may not be as talked about in Rush circles as it should be. It is probably the band's most commercial album, despite the lyrical depth. It is all about the choruses, but more importantly, it marked Alex's Lifeson's return to being the guitar extraordinaire that he is. You can pick the CD up for buttons, you really should. Over and Out!
I'm used to hearing great Power Pop and Garage Rock from Spain, but Barcelona's Radio75 reside far more in Classic Rock Territory and verge on AOR and even Modern Prog. The choruses are big, as is the sound. This is a fine debut album.
First and foremost, this five piece major on the melodic. At times there's a hint of Pop Rock, Nonsense sounds very ELO Part II and it adds a great Guitar Solo. Time To Relax has the aforementioned Modern Prog feel and they do this so well.
Something to Learn goes almost Radiohead, but doesn't always work, largely due to the unnecessary Drum Programming. It's a shame, because there is a fine riff later in the song. Waves is the big Brit Pop closer and is exemplary,this again ends with a Prog feel and I definitely get the opinion that this is the best direction for the band.
.However, Celine is a cracking Pop Song, Fleetwood Mac-ish with a stomping chorus and the single, Junkie Cowards is a fine anthem with it's AOR chorus. There's a lot here to like. Songs For Celine is a really accomplished debut album. I look forward to what comes next.
You can find out more about the band and listen to the album here.
October is going to be a busy month on IDHAS. It's also going to be another Album A Day Review month. This gives me a chance to tell you about 2019 Releases that I should have mentioned earlier. I've already cued up 21, the other 10 spaces can be for new releases.
Detroit's Ronny Tibbs's album from earlier this year is an offering that I really should have told you about before now. Over Lone Fry's ten songs, there is such a mix of styles that it's hard to know where to begin. It's almost like a K-Tel album.
With ease, Tibbs switches from Synth Pop to Bubblegum, Cinematic Euro to Psych Pop, Country to 70's Pop Rock, yet at it's heart is a Nilsson like Orchestral Pop that fights to get out. This really is outstanding stuff. Casual Listeners may get a little confused, but we know better, Lone Fry is simply stunning.
30 Year-Old Boy kicks off proceedings with a wonderful slice of McCartney Pop and All She Wrote is a sort of Power Pop Ballad. Then any theme or preconceptions are blown out of the water. The synth pop Sunlight and Honourole provide Pet Shop Boys comparisons on the former and shades of Sparks' Music That You Can Dance To era on the latter.
Mona Lisa is a Piano Pop Ballad, Watching Annie is pure UK Glam Rock. Picture Us is twanging Country Rock, yet Black Party Girl is Brit Pop to a tee. Break Out is more straight ahead Rock, but still intriguing and where do you begin with Cost + Time?
Cost + Time is a futuristic soundtrack, more at home as a European Noir Soundtrack. I really can't explain in words, how splendidly varied Lone Fry is. I'm not sure how you define where the music of Ronny Tibbs actually sits, but why worry about that when you have an album as outstanding as this is. Highly Recommended!
You can listen to and buy the album here. You really should add this to your collection.
There's something wonderfully 70's about Chris Alvy's Back To Square One. It feels very English, a reminder of the likes of Jigsaw, Pilot, Stealers Wheel etc. The songs are beautifully constructed to provide a laid back groove.
Alvy has quite a back story, he's an ex Major League Baseball Player who turned to his preference, music. Many of you will be aware of him via The Super Fuzz's superb 2015 album, Super Famous, but he's been around a lot longer through various projects, none of which have disappointed.
Don't expect any breaking out here, there's no big riffs. In a lot of ways the comparison is Jellyfish or The Raspberries. The songs are really melodic and arranged to perfection, but provide a wide variety of styles, whilst always reminding you of days gone by.
Smoke A Cigarette is pure Stealers Wheel, Fly Away is early Eagles and Dreams is pure Marmalade. Tonight reminds me a lot of the great Piano Singer Songwriters, certainly John Howard. It's That Time Again is a corking optimistic jaunt.
There is even Lounge Jazz on One More Moment and Country Rock on The Avenger. Just Stand bounces along with it's strumming jollity and Walk With Me is a brave album opener with it's slow tempo, but it's a cracking song.
The main plus point of Back To Square One is how optimistic the album is. There is way too much misery written about lately and this upbeat affair is exactly what is needed. In it's own gentle way, this album is a splendid offering.
