My good friend Curt Vance at the badly missed Power Pop Overdose has long been a supporter of Milwaukee's Trolley and as usual he's right. Trolley are a one band Power Pop compilation.You name it, they can do it, it sounds familiar, yet it's distinctively their own.
The 60's Psych Pop of Thursday Girl, the Mod Pop of the title track, Step Into The Clear is pure Paisley Pop. Crying All The Time is Brit Beat at it's best. She Has It All is vintage psych of Dukes Of Stratosphear vintage.
All The Way is 70's US New Wave, Losing That Madly In Love is Syd Barrett Pink Floyd like or something you'd hear at the UFO Club. We All Fall Down starts off like mid 60's Beat, but ends up being very Shazam era Move. The Kids All Sing is late 70's UK New Wave. She Helps Me Celebrate starts with an Another Girl Another Planet style riff.
The closing track, Take My Love is even more different, seven and a half minutes of pure Heavy Psych, mesmerising in a Luck Of Eden Hall way.
Caught In The Darkness is a splendid album, I must catch up on the rest of Trolley's stuff, just as you can do. If I had one slight criticism, it is that the drum sound can get a bit irritating at times, but that's a minor when you compare it to how good this album is.
You can listen to the album and buy it for download or on CDhere. You can also catch up on the band's back catalogue at the same place.
Ah those heady Brit Pop days! Looking back two decades, I know, I know, it wasn't all about Blur v Oasis and Jarvis waving his backside at Michael Jackson. There was some great pop to come out of it and that can get forgotten amongst the images of Liam gurning.
That Pop included the likes of The Lightning Seeds, The Bluetones, The Supernaturals and many more, but one band more than any lit up Brit Pop. Dodgy were kings of summer pop and lest we forget became rather big, noting their Glastonbury 1997 slot.
Three fantastic albums and a run of singles from So Let Me Go Far to Found You that stands up with any fine pop you'd care to name. Live they were a great trio too, they could play, All are equal in that effort, but a special mention should go to drummer Mathew Priest, one of the most underrated drummers around. Those harmonies were ace too, testified by their acoustic performances.
Before we get to the now, kudos should be given to Nigel Clark's excellent solo album, 21st Century Man.
Comebacks are always dicing with danger, but 2012's Stand Upright In A Cool Place was great. The trademark harmonies were there, but it wasn't a continuation of the past. More acoustic, certainly darker, without insulting the band, it seemed a really grown up album. There was plenty of sterling guitar from Andy Miller. An all round cracker of an offering.
So what of 2016? Well the three piece have been expanded by adding Stu Thoy on Bass and Ultrasound's Vanessa Wilson is on four of the tracks.
The new album certainly isn't acoustic dominated, as demonstrated by the opener above. Now Means Nothing is the 60's of early Who and California Gold is West Coast wonder down to Any Miller's trippy solo. Are You The One is superb, harmonies and jangling are all present, a great song and probably the best track on the album with another great Miller solo.
Demonstrating the variety, The Hills could be any great 70's Singer Songwriter, Al Stewart springs to mind. Never Stop is pure Psych Pop. Mended Heart could be CSNY What Are We Fighting For, the title track, is a six and a half minute behemoth. a splendidly orchestrated anthem, absolute joy.
What Are We Fighting For isn't the happy clappy Dodgy of 20 years ago, but would you want it to be? We have those songs for the summer months forever. The harmonies and technical ability are still there and Nigel Clark is in fine voice, but this is a much deeper album and all the better for it.
The 2016 Dodgy could very well have provided their best album yet and have certainly provided a contender for anyone's Top 20 albums of the year.
I loved Garfield's Birthday's 2010 album, Tea And Sympathy, it's great feel good pop of the Dodgy, Bluetones, Posies variety. In fact I've slapped myself around the head a few times, for not owning more of their stuff and I will remedy that rapidly.
GB's main man, Simon Felton, has a new album out and it's really really good. In his liner notes, Simon describes the album as erratic, which is really unfair and a bit self depreciating, because this variation is largely a good thing.
There is a fair bit of introspection, but the instrumentation and arrangements offer every slower number something different. Whether Piano or Guitar led, the tempo changes are enchanting at times.
This is his fourth solo offering and the fact that you can pick this up with his three previous albums for less than £12 seems the greatest bargain in the shop today.
It's fair to say that there isn't the volume of jaunty stuff that makes up a Garfield's Birthday album, but that's what makes this album special. Fear not there is enough up tempo stuff present.
(It Must Be A) Nightmare could almost be Al Stewart. Indeed, there are plenty of comparisons to some of the better 70's Singer Songwriters present. Falling To Pieces provides more content listening with it's Supertramp like keyboard.
Waiting reminds me of prime time Eric Stewart and Missing Action is great melodic pop, probably the best song on the album.
The variation and melody on the album is admirable. Simon Felton may be bearing his soul at times, but I, for one, am certainly happy that he has.
You can buy this for a five pound note here, but as I mentioned earlier, getting the other three albums for an extra £7 seems the sensible purchase. You can listen to all before you buy. CD Lovers can buy Return To Euston Square for £6.
I'm hoping for a full length album from the excellent Mike Daly And The Planets. The Ex Lead Singer of New Jersey Power Poppers, Every Damn Day has followed up the splendid EP, The Cosmic Adventures Of ManBoy with a new single.
Never Too Late was originally written for the CBS Comedy Drama, That's Life.
It's poptastic and here;s hoping the full length album appears soon.
You can listen to Never Too Latehereand buy it from Amazon, iTunes and all the usual digital emporiums. You can also listen to six other songs from Mike herewith links to buy. His website is here.
Beaulieu Porch - One Last Summer
The Psych Pop delight that is Simon Berry's Beaulieu Porch have a new album out. Sarum Sounds will have a much bigger write up in days to come. In the meantime, the lead single is Giant Superman and it's as good as you'd expect.
B Sided with Thursday Sound Revival, both songs are available for a pound. They are also on Sarum Sounds. Three albums in and I don't think I've been as excited about a Psych Pop band since Orgone Box.
You can buy the single and Sarum Sounds here. You can also pre-order the album on CD.
The Stoplight Roses - Starlight / A Bomb Goes Off
Atlanta's The Stoplight Roses take their name from the Nick Lowe song and it shows. Although, you can see the connection in their sound, probably more to Brinsley Schwarz, they have a sort of TFC riff groove. It's a great laid back listen.
The double A Sided single is out now and you can buy it here as a Name Your Price.
Merries - Travel To Sun
I'm personally gobsmacked at how much great Pop is coming out of Finland at the moment. Merries are another example. Power Pop of the highest order.
Although Travel To The Sun has been released as a single and can be downloaded separately, I'm recommending the whole mini album.
It's the sort of heads down Power Pop that many of us love, but there's also plenty hints of Psych Pop, particularly on the likes of I'm Sorry Ace.
You can listen to and then buy the self titled album for 5 Euros here.
Cherry Red's Esoteric Imprint have reissued the first three Move albums plus the extended Something Else Marquee Live EP.
I've mentioned before that The Move started this musical obsession of mine and they remain dear to my heart. I play these albums regularly, still enthralled at how good they are and they also provide a Nostalgia Trip. I still remember excitedly buying that Move Compilation as an eleven year old, indeed the cover is framed on the wall.
I now have these first three albums four times, vinyl, original CD reissue, 2008 and now this. Not only that, but the complete albums are on The Movements Box Set and the songs probably make up a sixth copy across various compilations. The Move are released to death. There's also the Anthology Box Set which brought bits of all four albums together for the only time across four unreasonably short discs.
Esoteric have also released The Move and Shazam as single disc and Deluxe Editions. The Shazam split is a bit strange as it's only an extra pound for the two disc version. I'll cover all four releases in the ensuing days / weeks, but I start with Looking On. It's my favourite Move album, it's not the best, that's Shazam, but it means most to me and is The Move album I play most often.
Message In The Country isn't reissued, it was on Harvest. I have to admit though that has always been the runt of the litter for me. Half a great album. Three albums were being recorded at the same time and ELO 1 and Roy Wood's Boulders were far finer things.
The Move at this stage were down to Roy Wood and Bev Bevan as original members. Ace Kefford had been thrown out much earlier, Carl Wayne had left for cabaret and Trevor Burton didn't like the band's direction. In came Jeff Lynne from Idle Race and Rick Price on Bass. Incidentally, I've always felt Wood's songs always sounded better with Rick Price in the band, be that The Move or Wizzard.
The main difference on this 2016 release is the remaster. The sound is superb, a splendid effort. There are some strange omissions. Alternate Takes of Looking On and Feel Too Good that were on the 2008 Edition aren't here.
But what you finally get are the 1970 BBC Sessions. They've been available on bootleg for years in really ropey sound, these sound great here and are worth the admission alone. If only the same could be done with the Idle Race BBC Sessions.
The Move had completely distanced themselves from the pop glory of that debut album. It had started with Shazam, splendid though it was and ended with Looking On. The band had moved to the Fly Label and due to it's finances, promotion was minimal and the album sunk without a trace, speeding up the end of the band.
It was the ELO album that Wood and Lynne really wanted and The Message In The Country album was only recorded, so that they could release ELO 1.So concentrating on that original 7 Track album what do you get?
Feel Too Good is magnificent, my favourite Move song, it's Flower Power in a box. A joy from start to finish. Wood's other lengthy song is the title track. a heavy first half morphs into a sort of Jazz Rock that he would take up further, years later in the Wizzo Band.
Jeff Lynne wrote two songs, What, which hinted at what was to come with ELO and a gripping song with some great Bass playing from Price. The other was the psychedelic, Open Up Said The World, an extension of what Lynne had been doing in Idle Race.
Bev Bevan wrote a song, yes honestly and Turkish Tram Conductor Blues is surprisingly good. Wood in shouty mode and him and Jeff Lynne playing every guitar they could get their hands on.
This leaves the two remaining Wood songs. Brontosaurus was the final Regal Zonophone single (it's B Side Lightning Never Strikes Twice is also added). When Alice Comes Back To The Farm is simply wonderful. Here's a live version from Beat Club :
The BBC stuff is largely Looking On material, there are two covers of The Beatles' She's A Woman and at last an appearance of Falling Forever. The package itself shows that time has been spent on it. The original artwork is restored and there are splendid Liner Notes, done with admirable humour, by Mark Paytress.
This is the version of Looking On to have, if only I hadn't had to buy all the others. The lack of some of the alternate takes that were on the 2008 Edition is disappointing, but I suppose most Move fans will already have that release.
Hopefully this edition will bring new fans to the band. I love Music, I know how people credit my knowledge of Sparks, XTC and Power Pop. But the first band to ever move (sic) me were The Move. They still do and they are still my favourite band in the whole wide world.
I know reviewers who are desperate to be the first at everything, sit counting how many likes a "competitor" gets on Facebook and reciprocates them by sticking pins in a doll. It's not like that in the Power Pop world. We all just want to bring Power Pop to the masses and every little bit helps. It may be a pipe dream, but it's our pipe dream.
I have every admiration for what Wayne does at Icecreamman Powerpop And More Records. His releases open up the Power Pop world to all.
I'm delighted to report that Wayne has released the Merry Widows reunion EP, Password. If ever a band deserved some acknowledgement it's Merry Widows.
To only have the Waltz EP to their name before this is criminal. Wollongong's finest were looked upon as the new Go-Betweens and their brand of Folk Pop made that a fair assessment. Indeed, David Beniuk went on to an impressive solo Folk career, whilst brother Johnno played in the likes of The Stems.
Triple J loved the band and loads of decent support slots amazingly didn't break the band. Well their back and this 5 track EP is just fantastic jingly harmonic pop. It's pop with a capital P.
The band always had more in common with the UK than Australia, something that could also be argued about for The Go-Betweens. Perhaps that's why they never broke Oz. Password is pure UK Pop, fitting in with The likes of The La's, Cast, Northern Uproar and the part of Madchester that wasn't sorted and E'd up. Railway Children springs to mind.
Sky And The Sea is pure La's, White Pointer could be Roddy Frame. The Trumpet on Another Also Ran reminds me of Dodgy when they used Brass. All five songs stand up beautifully, but the gem is the closer, My Beautiful Girl Harbour, a jangly Go-Between of a tune.
An outstanding return.I was absolutely delighted to hear that they were back. Some reunions don't work and leave a lingering sadness, not this one. It's a splendid EP and I can't recommend it enough.
Seth Swirsky is a talented guy, he puts most of us to shame. Author, Artist, Film Maker, Baseball Expert and that's before we even get to the music and there's plenty more there.
He was a staff songwriter for Warner-Chappell and wrote songs for many, most notably, Taylor Dayne's Tell It To My Heart. He's also written for Rufus Wainwright, Al Green and many more too numerous to mention. You can find details of his songwriting adventures here. Visiting that pagegives you the added bonus of listening to the songs in demo form.
His Power Pop chops are also spot on, collaborating with the likes of Eric Carmen, Marshall Crenshaw and Jim Ellison. He's also in the jingle jangle joy that is The Red Button with Mike Ruekberg. Their two albums are highly recommended.
It's not often that you are so far into an article before you get to the point, that being Seth's solo career. he writes and plays wonderful Pop Rock of a 60's and 70's vintage. It is reminiscent of early McCartney, The Monkees, Nilsson, 10cc and The Beach Boys.
His debut solo album from 2005, Instant Pleasure, is a corker and features a rare guest appearance by Andy Sturmer.
The follow up from 2010, Watercolor Day, remains one of my favourite albums ever, it's just such a beautiful melodic soundscape as demonstrated by the title track.
2016 brings us solo album number three and it doesn't disappoint from start to finish. The opener starts all Beach Boys and then halfway through becomes prime time 10CC. It's an absolute cracker of a tune. The title track could be Pilot, Old Letter and Far Away are early McCartney like, when he was trying to prove he didn't need Lennon.
From the soft shoe shuffle of I Loved Last Night to the campfire clap along of Let's Go To Spain, the album is wall to wall quality. The thing that is different about a Seth Swirsky album is the variance. It's great pop but not verse verse chorus verse chorus guitar solo.
He's such a multi instrumentalist, that simple acoustic numbers branch out with orchestration and unexpected break outs. Certainly, no one does laid back better.
Sonic Ferris Wheel and Table could easily appear on The Orgone Box's debut album. Circles and Squares is a fine fine album. The overriding impression that I get from the acoustic led songs is one of Nilsson. It is an album to put on after making a cuppa or grabbing something stronger. then letting the world wash away for 40 odd minutes.
An Absolute Gem!
You can buy the album from the likes of Amazon and Kool Kat on CD and it is available for download at Amazon, iTunes etc.
