Category: My Honest Opinion

Biggest disappointments of 2020

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Just let me start by saying this isn’t a “worst albums” list but a collection of mediocre albums that I will likely not listen to again. I tend to pick on established stars who should’ve known better. Let the hate mail flow…

 

Billy Bremner

Billy Bremner “Rockfiles: A Tribute to Rockpile”
Bremner paying tribute to his old band Rockpile (with Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds) sounds like a decent idea, but he can’t pull it off. Musically it sounds like a lame cover band, and Bremner’s vocals just aren’t up to snuff — it’ll have you reaching for the original almost instantly.

 

Kevin Godley

Kevin Godley “Muscle Memory”
Godley was an integral part of 10cc, one of the most innovative rock bands of the ’70s. Unlike his counterpart, Graham Gouldman who’s done a great job this year with a new album, Godley’s work is as non-melodic and experimentally boring as can be. Godley’s vocal is still impressive, and it makes the experience listenable. Barely. “Periscope” is the only tolerable tune here.

 

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello “Hey Clockface”
Many critics fall over to the “master craftsman” who mixes styles and moods “brilliantly.” This scattershot mess feels like a series of loose demos. He goes for weird moody Arabic instrumentals, ballads he croaks out (his vocals are shot), and tin-pan alley pop that seems better suited to Randy Newman or Leon Redbone. The song “Radio is Everything” has him doing narrative poetry. Maybe he thinks he’s Bob Dylan now? His one “angry old man” song “No Flag” is pure cacophony compared to his last album Look Now.

 

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney “III”
Sir Paul figures he could just indulge himself, playing lots of loose jams and sketches. But unlike McCartney which was a home-tooled response to The Beatles, and McCartney II which was an attempt to incorporate new music trends, “III” feels like he’s noodling around and bored. The septuagenarian multi-millionaire pop star still has legendary talent, as “Seize the Day” proves he can still fart out good music whenever he wants to. But after all that promotional build-up, he’s just taking it easy here. Ho hum.

 

The top 25 best power pop of 2020 is coming soon…

A Tribute: Bruce Brodeen

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You know, there simply would not be a Power Popaholic blog without the existence of one man. That would be Bruce Brodeen, founder of Not Lame Recordings. When Not Lame started in the 90’s, I was instantly hooked on the music they were selling. Bruce developed a devoted and rabid following, and his mail order fanzine/catalog was always read cover to cover for the latest power pop. Luckily, the genre was also going through a huge renaissance during that time. Artists like Jellyfish, The Posies, and Matthew Sweet got on the radio airwaves, but fewer heard the joyous sounds of Myracle Brah, The Shazam or Martin Luther Lennon. Not Lame along with the Audities mailing list was one of the few resources you could count on to discover “new” bands that fit the power pop genre. Much later Bruce went online with his own site, Pop Geek Heaven.

Through Not Lame, I also met up with David Bash who ran the music festival International Pop Overthrow. It was the only time I met Bruce face-to-face, along with the band Blue Cartoon in a small bar in New York City. My brother and I got to the show early and we were lucky enough to talk about the IPO artists and I tried to pry out any information on upcoming acts. After a decade of buying music, going to shows, and being a general “fanboy” of the genre I decided to blog about it. Mr. Bash inspired me to follow his footsteps with Power Popaholic Fest, but that’s another story for another day.

I write today to wish Mr. Brodeen a glorious retirement at the end of this year. He has earned it and spawned a dedicated legion of power pop evangelists. There are still so many bands Bruce knows about that I haven’t explored, his Lost Treasures and Jangle Pop gems along with other rock bands that deserve to be heard. And the power pop community he helped cultivate will never be the same without him.  Best of luck Bruce, what ever you do next I’m sure it will be super, duper, highly recommended!

Rock is Dead. Seriously? Open your ears, man!

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Commentary by Steve Baldwin

So Gene Simmons of Kiss has declared rock and roll is dead. To be fair, he had a few good points. There will never be another Dylan or Beatles. The era of the rock and roll gods making millions from society’s youth alone is indeed dead. Also gone is the power of the record company executive to determine an artists’ fate in the business. Add to this equation that people have been declaring rock dead since Elvis left the building to join the army.

Rock isn’t dead. Hell, Guitar Center just opened a new store in Times Square. Young people still want to play, form bands, turn it up to 11, and rock out together. The desire to make music — whatever we happen to call it — will never die. But yes, the peculiar economics of the pre-Internet music business — and the decadent “rock lifestyle” that this system supported for guys like Simmons — is extinct, and I say “good riddance.” It’s high time that young people become disabused of the absurd notion that they ever had any chance to “make it” in a business that’s always been stacked against them. If I sound cynical it’s because the best rocking bands I ever heard failed to make it — (i.e. Big Star, Badfinger) and that was over 30 years ago, back in the “golden era” that Simmons nostalgically celebrates.

I’ve seen my share of young people burn out and actually die on the alter of an unholy illusion fostered by the music business — the illusion that they could ever “make it.” The only guys who benefited from this rotten system were club owners, producers, drug dealers, and other zombies feeding off of young musicians’ blood. They’re all gone now, and that’s a very good thing. And please spare me your crocodile tears about that 15-year old kid in St. Paul who’ll never “make it.” That young person is better off focusing on a career path that’s actually sustainable than wallowing in obsolete rock dreams.

Once you take the money — and your beloved “business” out of the equation — you can easily separate the real artists — the ones who actually have something to say — from the poseurs who simply go through the motions because there’s a paycheck and a blowjob at the end of the night. Maybe this 15-year old kid in St. Paul will never play an arena, or tour the world, or own 300 guitars, or pay alimony to three wives, but he’ll own his own soul and be his own man — not a pathetic lapdog of the corporate music state. He will, in other words, keep on rocking, while the poseurs — who as Frank Zappa noted “are only in it for the money” — will justly fade into petulant obscurity.

 

The Rolling Stones celebrate their 50th anniversary

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You know, if someone had told me 30 years ago that the Rolling Stones would still be touring today, I would’ve laughed at them. As the Rolling Stones launch their “50 and Counting” Tour, it’s worth noting that 2013 seems to have brought with it a clear shift in the cultural zeitgeist in which vintage musicians such as the Stones, Bowie, Rod Stewart, Dylan, Lou Reed, and Ozzy Osbourne are being embraced instead of being subject to ridicule and scorn “for being too old.” For those of us who believe that music – not smooth-skinned celebrity and youth – is what really matters, one can only say “welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!”