Essentially a collection of rarities and outtakes for fans of the Apples and lead Apple, Robert Schneider. The music is classic Elephant Six styled-twee goodness that spans the groups entire career. The trippy pops tracks all seem to fit together, even though it was recorded over 11 years. Some of the acoustic guitar solos (“Hold On To This Day” and “The Oasis”) show Schneider’s songwriting prowess and sound better than other groups finished songs. Brilliant ballads like “The Golden Flower” and fuzz rock pop (“On Your Own”) make this worth the effort to get this alone. This album also includes the funky pop gem “Stephen Stephen” that Robert performed live on The Colbert Report for the host. That being said this is not an essential, but a substantial collection of songs. Apples fans will most definitely want this. Optional for the rest of you. If you are new to the group, start with the “Fun Trick Noisemaker” album.

The Apples in Stereo web site | My Space | YepRoc Store | e-music

Scaeffer’s second offering is a concept album written about an auto accident and its effects on a relationship (as best as I could figure it out). After the epic dramatic opening “i love you with a crash” the album dwells in power ballad territory most of the way. Similar to other modern pop bands like Goo Goo Dolls or Matchbox Twenty, the slick production and intricate arrangements often make each song blend into one another. And with this downer of a theme, other than the transcendent melody in “Tell You I” it gets tedious pretty fast. With most songs topping the four minute mark and lyrics about painful recovery, like “Make Us See” – you expect the TV Show “ER” to use this for a commercial promo. It’s a shame only the CW shows use music like this. As a concept album it raises the bar for other bands that just put out pop fluff. Not a bad album, and I can appreciate the concept narrative here but the lack of stylistic variety hurts this overall. Recommended for fans of Schaeffer or overly melodramatic pop opera.

My Space | Emusic – the first album only | Itunes

A fun mix of Merseybeat and Garage sound straight from Kansas City, MO. The album “That Girl” starts out with a wild hook and “To Be In Love” evokes a Spongetones-styled pop bounce. The next tune “Come Back Home” is another tight gem, with an organ joining in to the rolling chorus and frontman Jamie Searle’s melodic screech. It also has a wicked solo guitar break and is easily the best song here. Then on “Hallelujah” the guitar starts to resemble a bit of McCartney’s Wings circa “Band on The Run” – and all it’s jangle and bass-play, you start to believe the lyric “I’m gonna throw out all my cares today, It’s okay.” After such a good run of Beatlesque songs including the very Monkees-like “Angela” the album takes a looser sound with “My Dear Wife” and it’s Eastern rhythms, similar to Camper Van Beethoven. This easy loose guitar jam style dominates the rest of the album. It gets almost into a pop hoedown with “Swing & Sway” and country-blues of “That Ain’t All.” It’s all good, especially the Elvis Costello-like angry man vitriol on “When the Sun Goes Down” so this is most a worthy addition to your “have a drink and dance in the bar” music collection. Unlike the band’s name, I hope the music isn’t over after one album.

My Space | CDBaby | Itunes

Listen to “To Be In Love”