Cirrone’s music video debuted this Saturday with “All Night, All Right” from the EP Kings for A Night. It’s a great party tune!
Tom Baker and The Snakes fresh from their last album Lookout Tower we get a 2-fer for FREE from that album. Raw rock the way it was meant to be played.
Vista Blue is back with some timely Halloween music. As with most Vista Blue FREE music, it’s great garage doo-wop rock with nice fuzz guitar, fans of The Ramones will love this stuff. ENJOY!
Static In Verona, the band name for Chicago musician Rob Merz – has gone further away from slickness to a more bedroom pop aesthetic on his new full-length album. Secrets Like Shadows makes good use of the echoing fuzz production and electro-pop flourishes. Recommended songs “Sleeping In (Dreams),” “Burning Flowers,” and “Last Night.” FREE download.
Down Time is a Denver band with a sweet bedroom pop vibe, full of harmonies and echoing reverb. Great little EP “for a long desert drive.”
If you like your power pop with classic ’60s and ’70s influence, Martinez hits his stride here. “Let Me Tell You Why” and “When We Meet” has that bouncy rhythm and sing-along hooks that easily could’ve made the AM radio charts back in the day. We get a little psyche-pop “Sooner or Later” with sitar and finger cymbals, but it tries a bit too hard. Much better is the grand “Time” which is a post-Beatlesque look back with a perfect point of view and Martinez vocal soars.
The Earle Mankey production is solid and Martinez is joined by Adam Marsland doing all the instrumentation here, they sound like they’re having fun on the rocker “Get It Right” and the title track. Not really any filler, unless you count the Prince-inspired finale “Will U B My Lover” with the entire roster of Karma Frog Records joining him. Overall, a really fine album that deserves to be heard.
Young pop-rocker Gordy Garris is a strong vocalist and his opener “Let Me In” has a big anthemic chorus that will stick in your head. The songs across the album are all about relationships, and their ups and downs, as “Out Of My Mind” he wonders why he’s even in one.
Standouts include “Good Times,” with its hook-filled harmonies, the multi-tracked “Move Me,” and the shimmering-guitar of “Wanted Man,” with its violin accents. Many of the romantic ballads are decent, if unremarkable but there is enough here to recommend. Gordy never gave up, so you should definitely give him a listen.
Coke Belda creates this fantastic tribute to the Brothers Gibb on his third album. Belda adds his own fine musicianship to these Bee Gees classics, so in many ways, it sounds fresh and new. He avoids most of the disco era, remember early in the Brothers career they competed with The Beatles, as evidenced by “Claustrophobia.”
What he’s done is pick buried treasures from the Gibb catalog such as “Run to Me,” (from To Whom It May Concern) “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” (from Idea) and B-sides like “Sir Geoffrey Saved the World.” These underappreciated gems are polished by Coke with vocal assistance from Gretchen Wheel’s Lindsay Murray, and mastered by former Merrymaker Anders Hellgren. Highly Recommended.
Karla Kane is the main vocalist behind The Corner Laughers, and she’s branched out with a sweet folk-pop album. Kane uses her ukulele to weave a simple melody full of traditional old world charm and her lithe vocals are like a warm comfy sweater on the title track. “Wishing Tree” is closer to The Laughers style of melodic pop, with angelic harmonies and minor chords with spoken word poem by favorite Martin Newell.
The Anglo-centric theme continues on the simple “Skylarks of Britain.” The joyous “Lilac Line” is another gem with a spritely chorus of “Lolly Leopard, I could live forever with you.” and the lovely “Don’t Hush, Darling” is a lullaby of female empowerment. Even The Laughers favorite “Grasshopper Clock” gets the unplugged treatment. The spartan arrangements keep the songs intimate and make this a great album for a quiet night. Amazon
The Forty Nineteens “Good Fortune”
If Karla Kane is a bit too mellow for your mood, then you can’t go wrong with California based band, The Forty Nineteens. This is power pop with a garage band ethos and the hook-filled opener “And Such and Such” makes it easy to come on board. There is plenty of variety here as “Easy Come Easy Go” has a punkier approach, and “My Camaro (Have Some Fun)” mines the retro guitar melody from “Tequila.”
The band tries a psyche-pop turn with “Purple Microdot,” and the vocal harmonies don’t quite work – but its trippy all the same. Thankfully there are lots of good songs here, and rarely did I hear a dud. More recommended songs are “Let Love In,” a great cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Time is On My Side” and the sweet finale “Two Pillows.” Highly Recommended.
Tom Petty has died of Cardiac Arrest. He was only 66, finishing the last leg of his 40th Anniversary Tour with The Heartbreakers. Born in Gainesville, Fla., and played in the local bands The Epics and Mudcrutch, until he formed his own band, the Heartbreakers. He even teamed up with power pop legend Dwight Twilley. Twilley and Phil Seymour also sang on Petty’s first album on “Strangered In The Night” and Phil’s the main backing singer on Petty’s first breakout hit “Breakdown” and on “American Girl”; and as Petty notes in the liners to his boxed set, it was Twilley who suggested that the guitar riff at the end of “Breakdown” be moved to the beginning, as that was clearly the hook. ”
He scored big radio hits with his third album, 1979’s Damn the Torpedos, when “Refugee” entered the Top 20 in early 1980. He scored another Top 20 hit with “The Waiting,” from 1981’s Hard Promises, and another with “You Got Lucky,” from 1982’s Long After Dark. Eventually, he joined The Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup that also comprised Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne. We only have two Wilburys left. Then Petty ditched the Heartbreakers, but got Jeff Lynne to jump-start his solo LP, 1989’s Full Moon Fever. Then came 1994’s Wildflowers and 2004’s Highway Companion, and hits like “I Won’t Back Down” and “Free Fallin’.”
Petty wrote “Even the losers get lucky sometimes,” but Petty was no loser, nor was he very lucky. It was a natural talent, hard work and stubborn persistence that made him a legend.
The Flamin Groovies are arguably the very first power pop-punk hybrid band, pre-dating both The Ramones and The Jam. And 24 years after their last album, Lead Groovie Cyril Jordan is joined by singer/guitarist Chris Wilson, bassist George Alexander and drummer Victor Penalosa to revive this classic band. And they definitely prove that you are never too old to rock and roll.
Opening with an R&B influenced “What the Hell’s Goin’ On,” its got a classic Stones influence and plenty of attitude. Their voices are a bit more grizzled but the guitar skills of Jordan and Wilson have not diminished as “End Of The World” and “Let Me Rock” are on par with classic Groovies cuts. They cover NRBQ’s “I Want You Bad” and similarly shine with that jangling Rickenbacker. Another highlight is “Crazy Macy,” a chugging rocker with the classic “Slow Down” riff that allows shedding solos in between the chorus. But the band sounds subdued on other tunes; “Fallen Star,” “Lonely Hearts” and a tame cover of the Beau Brummels’ “Don’t Talk to Strangers” just aren’t that memorable. The Byrdsian jangle of “Cryin’ Shame” while very pleasant, won’t make you forget “Shake Some Action.” Still, this is a keeper for Groovies fans and lovers of classic rock.
A long-term musical project finally arrives; Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), her husband John Cowsill (The Cowsills, The Beach Boys touring band) and Bill Mumy (Barnes & Barnes, America) combine to make the band Action Skulls. They met at a family Christmas party in 2013 where the band originated, as a meeting of musical minds.
It has a potpourri of styles, opening with the beautiful jangle pop of “Mainstream,” Vicki and John both sing on this catchy tune. It changes to a somber mood with “If I See You In Another World,” resembling a bluesy folk tune with nice harmonies mixed in. But there are other compelling songs here, “The Luckiest Man Alive” takes time to get to the chorus, but its a got a great twisted composition. Many songs have a slow burning quality, not quite blues rock but just enough to stick like on “Standing On A Mountain” and the almost country “Feed My Hungry Heart.” Overall, it will appeal to fans who are looking for something different and familiar at the same time. Check it out. Amazon
