Instead of making this a segment of one-hit wonders, I also felt “forgotten” hits could be featured. And Todd Rundgren’s songs fit right into that category. By the 1980s Todd and Utopia joined the New Wave bandwagon and while mainstream chart success eluded the group, they were a primary influence on many 90s bands and helped bring synths into power pop during the 80s. Always with a cult following, the masses might remember him from a minor hit called “Bang the Drum All Day” (peaked at #63 on the charts). “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” peaked at #82 and “Crybaby” and “Something To Fall Back On” did not chart.
Here is a small sampling of Utopia tracks from the 80s. Enjoy!
These albums will be coming out later this month, but after hearing some advanced tracks on MySpace — it looks like these will be tough to beat for best power pop album of the year. Prepare to be blown away by these when they arrive:
Also coming soon will be the Powerpopaholic Album of the Year Poll. YOU, viewer will get to vote on the best Power Pop album of the year! Winners will get rankings on the final list.
There is a lot to love about Doug Bryan’s “Mad Love” — Bryan was leader of the Austin, TX based band Big Boss Groove and when it broke up, he concentrated on film editing. But after a meeting with Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook in 2005, Bryan got the creative juices flowing again. The result is this album. Bryan’s lyrics and storytelling ability are quite good and worth the repeat listening. “Long Gone” is a perfect example of this. It’s basically a scripted movie in under four minutes to a rock beat. Much like Tilbrook’s “Up The Junction” in storytelling, Doug has the goods. “Brand New Heartbeat” is chock full of cultural references. The production is DIY but very well done, much like The Breetles. “Hattie’s Coming Home” has a good low key guitar and a multi-tracked chorus that kicks butt. The sound is closest to other indie faves, Anton Barbeau and Johnathan Coulton. On some songs Doug is joined by his wife, Jill on backing vocals. “Corporation of Love” is a great Beatlesque pop tune with plenty of hooks and those great chord changes. A few songs here sometimes get a bit too sappy, “This Heart of Mine” has so much treacle, you could pour it over pancakes. “She’s in Love” is another winner, a fast paced guitar tune with energy, like a TV theme song…hmm. “These Final Hours” is a beautiful little Paul Simon-like lounge tune that ends the album. It’s a good outlet for Doug’s musical outpourings and you’d be missing out if you didn’t sample some of this. One last note, I love the album cover here, chock full of stuff I grew up with and loved (Doug and I show our age with that stuff).
The “The Greatest Living Englishman” Martin Newell talks about Andy Partridge, XTC and stuff. Read it here. Thanks Mark H. for the link
And a great article on Klaatu here. Here’s a teaser…
So what evidence was there that Klaatu was the Beatles? The clues were just so obvious: the lack of any credits on the album (except that the album was “written and performed by Klaatu”), the fact that the words Klaatu and Beatle have the same number of vowels and consonants, and—most especially—the observation that the cover of Ringo Starr’s 1974 album Goodnight Vienna was, in fact, a recreation of the famous scene from The Day the Earth Stood Still where the character Klaatu exits the UFO for the first time. Isn’t it obvious that we’re talking about the ever-so-cryptic Beatles here? Read the whole article here Thanks Michael M. for the link
This is the first in a series. I love obscure pop relics from the height of the late sixties to the start of the disco era (1967 – 1976) and finding out more about them. This was surely the golden era of novelty and bubblegum hits. Enjoy and let me know what you think.
In 1970, this was probably the silliest pop song to crack the top ten ever. Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood wrote this for a childrens show. Some other hit songs they wrote include “The Air That I Breathe,” “Free Electric Band” and “It Never Rains In Southern California,” which was a hit for Hammond. Later, it the became background tune used on The Benny Hill show. Also used on the Ally McBeal show, for John Cage (played by Peter MacNicol) to do his “Angry Dance.”
The lyrics are really dopey, but it’s the music that makes this song work. The Pipkins were not even a real group, but the song was recorded by producer Roger Greenaway and session singer Tony Burrows.
