As Charlotte Pop Fest runs into this weekend I wanted to let readers note that Saturday (9/26) morning and afternoon shows on the Main Stage at Freedom Park are FREE. On hand are The Parallax Project, Tony Low, The Singles and other favorite artists. And if you’re stuck at home, you could do yourself a favor and get the Compilation CD. It’s a massive pile of 35 great tracks. The starting point is a NEW Smithereens track, “Someday Boy” and then The Spongetones “Lost Weekend” pulled from their latest album. Although Roger J. Manning Jr. wasn’t able to make the festival, he is represented with “Living In End Times.” There are several exclusive tracks you’ll not find anywhere, like Ed James riff heavy “Princess Perfect”and The Jellybricks “Beryllium.” Having the light touch of Jill Sobule on “A Good Life” is a nice change of pace, and the familiar, but awesome Mike Viola adds “Maybe, Maybe Not.” It also gives us an opportunity to hear lesser known groups, like The Stellas and Crisis. There is something here for all types of power pop fans from the hard (Popdudes) to the soft sounds (Linus of Hollywood). No weak tunes here, as James Deem has done a great job of picking tracks, and he even covers XTC’s “Dear God” too.

Bill Donati played drums with the Goatdancers, and Lawson and Four More, a group that released two 45s on the Ardent Label in Memphis. The Ardent Label gained some fame with Big Star, but clearly missed out by not recognizing Donati’s talent earlier. As a pianist and singer, Donati wrote and recorded his own songs in Memphis and Los Angeles. Donati’s solo album is a lost treasure from 1972, and fans of Beatles, Badfinger and Big Star will be amazed at the gems here. Opening with the Merseybeat and high vocals in “Never Like This” it stays true to the Fab formula, and delivers classic songwriting as well. Donati’s Rickenbacker riffs and piano lead on “Catherine” and “I’m Not Saying” compares well with Pete Ham in his prime. “A Love Gone Mad” is also pretty interesting, a mix of Kinks-styled vocals and Beatlesque piano. Most of the songs feature strong production work by Ardent’s legendary engineer Terry Manning. It runs out of steam by the albums end a bit, but there is plenty here to recommend. Fans of the Ardent “sound” as well as Tommy Hoehn and Van Duren will also find a lot to like here. Bill also has a claim to fame as creating one of the very first modern rock videos “Nuclear Surfer”in 1982. Recently he’s also teamed up with Jimmy Pou on the group Byron’s Dream. Much like other “lost” releases this year, I am grateful that this album is seeing the light of day.