Category: Moldy Oldies and Guilty Pleasures

Robbie Fulks does Fountains of Wayne

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Robby Fulks, a fantastically talented country pop singer does his best parody of a typical FOW song here. Called “Fountains of Wayne Hotline” Fulks dissects each part of Adam Schleinger’s typical songwriting approach perfectly. On a sadder note, it was recently reported that the outdoor furniture/sculpture store that bears the original name “Fountains of Wayne” is out of business. It was kind of an New Jersey icon, located on Route 46 in Totowa just before the Willowbrook Mall. Urban legend has it that lead singer Adam Schleinger was related to the owners, but it’s not true. They just lived in Wayne, NJ and thought it was a cool name for the band.

Robbie Fulks site

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Jeff Lynne "Video" and Electric Dreams of the ’80s

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“Video!” — 1984, #85 (download)

After my high school reunion, I found something very 80’s to feature here. It’s the only charting track for Jeff Lynne (ELO) under his own name. This was only released on the Electric Dreams soundtrack. So the movie was about a love triangle between Miles and Edgar the computer and Madeline, his attractive neighbor. The way she meets Edgar is through a duet. If you’d also like to see the video for the movie’s title track, check it out sung by Phil Oakey of The Human League.

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Big Star Box Set and Book

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Big Star inspired a fevered allegiance among fans of power pop, giving rise to a cult of believers who spent decades spreading the gospel. Their enthusiasm turned this obscure Memphis pop band-one that got little airplay, sold few records, and only played a handful of times- into a remarkable rock and roll resurrection story. Big Star’s trek from obscure Memphis band to standard bearers for an entire genre of music has never been fully mapped-until now. Rhino presents the definitive look at the definitive power-pop band with a four-disc boxed set divided between key cuts from Big Star’s three studio albums and unreleased music. KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY is available now at Amazon

On a related note, Bruce Eaton has released a new book on the subject of Big Star titiled “Radio City (33 1/3).” In it he examines the key ingredients of Radio City’s lasting appeal- and through extensive interviews gets to the heart of the cult of Big Star. It explores the origins of classic songs like “September Gurls” and “Back of a Car” and has plenty of anecdotes of the recording process from people who were actually there. A must for Big Star devotees and Powerpopaholics. Bruce also has a blog with interesting tidbits about Big Star that didn’t make it in the book.
Amazon | Barnes and Noble

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The Scared Cows and the groovy guru

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Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 meet the Groovy Guru (played by Larry Storch of F-Troop) and the psychedelic group known as the Sacred Cows. Apparently that dippy hippy rock and roll was meant to brainwash teens to “Kill, Kill, Kill” and “bump off a square.” Well, maybe El Goodo could use those costumes for their next show?

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