Tag: Andrew Curry

White Lace and Promises: The Songs of Paul Williams

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White Lace and Promises: The Songs of Paul Williams

Assorted Artists “White Lace and Promises: The Songs of Paul Williams”

Producer Andrew Curry, who has a soft spot for soft rock (Drink a Toast To Innocence) is back with his sites now on ’70s singer-songwriter Paul Williams. While a recognizable musical performer and actor, Williams legacy as a celebrity often overshadows his formidable songwriting talents. After all, he’s won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and several Grammys. His work includes hits for Three Dog Night, Barbra Streisand and The Carpenters – all part of this covers collection by some talented indie power pop artists.

Several songs are given new life because many are deep cuts that won’t be instantly recognizable. I enjoyed the faster tempo of The Davenports take on “Evergreen” and Zach Jones faithful version of “Someday Man.” Lisa Mychols totally nails “You and Me Against The World” and Cliff Hillis turns the Carpenters epic “Rainy Days and Mondays” into an intimate personal ballad. Minky Starshine has a wicked version of “The Hell Of It” from the Brain DePalma cult film The Phantom of The Paradise.

But the ballads are where Williams songwriting is best known, and Chris Price’s “I Won’t Last A Day” and Andy Reed’s “Rainbow Connection” infuse Paul’s hopeful emotions perfectly. The Corner Laughers do their best to imitate singing muppets on “Movin’ Right Along” and The Test Pressings (John Borack, Robbie Rist and Karen Bassett) do a cheese-filled version of “The Love Boat,” in which Williams only wrote the lyrics. A few songs don’t quite work, but overall a fun compilation with a high batting average. And that’s highly recommended.

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Many years ago Paul Bertolino covered Paul Williams beautifully. It’s a FREE download that would fit nicely with the collection above. Enjoy!

Songs that are shakin’ not stirred. Coming soon!

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Andrew Curry of Curry Cuts is always willing to produce excellent compilations and tributes. This new one is no exception. Songs. Bond Songs: The Music of 007 is the latest Curry Cuts release, and it pays tribute to that great Bond music, with some of today’s best indie pop artists – including members of Drive-By Truckers, The New Pornographers, Fountains of Wayne, and Bowling For Soup – offering updated interpretations of every Bond theme ever. Lannie Flowers does the “007 Theme” so how cool is that! But he needs your help! Contribute to the album today!

Get the detailed track list on the Kickstarter page, and check out Lisa Mychols sample track “The Man With the Golden Gun.”

Here Comes The Reign Again and Ice Cream Man Power Pop

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Martin Carr

Here Comes The Reign Again “The Second British Invasion”

After last year’s Tribute to Lite Rock, producer Andrew Curry moved his attention to 1980’s British pop. You get updated takes on era-defining hits by Duran Duran, Human League, Culture Club, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and more. If there is one thing I remember about many of these songs, was a brashness and optimistic defiance that reflected the 1980’s “New Wave” ethos. In today’s era our collective anxiety yields some mixed results, as the mood of some songs tend to be wistful, if not downright melancholy.

Favorites here include Fountains of Wayne singer Chris Collingwood doing “Life In A Northern Town,” and Cliff Hillis improves on “Wouldn’t It Be Good.” I liked the subtleties of Mike Viola’s take on Tears For Fears “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” and Freedy Johnston’s version of Naked Eyes’s “Promises, Promises.” It didn’t quite work for me on Jim Boggia & Pete Donnelly’s “Goody Two Shoes” or Ken Stringfellows’ “Digging Your Scene.” But Rachael Yamagata’s piano ballad of “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?” is sung with more pain and emotion than Boy George ever could.

A lot of artists have deliberately gone “low-fi” in direct opposition to the slick production of the past, but there are some faithful approaches featured especially Bleu’s “Don’t You (Forget About Me) and “West End Girls” by Secret Friend. With 27 tracks there is a favorite for everyone, mine included “Dancin’ with Myself” by Taylor Locke and The Corner Laughers “Our House.” Even if some of these songs aren’t as familiar to you, this set is highly recommended.

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Ice Cream Man  “powerpop and more”

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Fellow power pop blogger Wayne Lundqvist Ford has been producing self-contained radio shows for a while now. He has more of a preference for English Mod, Northern Soul and Garage power pop, and he’s got a great ear for the stuff. After 50 shows he’s still going strong, and now he’s gathered samples from a ton of bands and with the help of our friends over at Futureman Records and has made a massive song collection a FREE downloadable treat.

We are talking 64 tracks of music. These are primarily artists who are criminally ignored by  main stream radio stations and deserve to be heard, including some of my favorites (Bryan Estepa, Tommy Lorente, Baby Scream, The Solicitors, The Legal Matters and The Turnback – just to name a few). Bravo Ice Cream Man!

Futureman Records

Here Comes The Reign Again: The Second British Invasion

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Andrew Curry is at it again! After doing a great job curating the Tribute To Lite Rock compilation, he’s taking on the ’80s British Invasion with an amazing roster of indie musicians – including Mike Doughty, Rachael Yamagata, Tracy Bonham, Freedy Johnston, Mike Viola, Bleu, David Mead, Ken Stringfellow of The Posies, and Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne. To see the full track list and sign up for an advance digital download click here.

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Drink A Toast To Innocence: A Tribute To Lite Rock

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I’ve been an advocate for Andrew Curry’s project “Drink A Toast To Innocence – A Tribute To Lite Rock” for a while now, and the time is here to get this huge 28 song collection performed by a “who’s who” of power pop artists. What is “Lite Rock?” Well if you’re over 30, I guarantee you’ve heard most of these songs which were big hits in the late ’70’s and early 80’s. These newly recorded versions definitely make them fresh and re-discoverable to younger audiences.

I wanted to highlight some of my favorite tracks, as this collection is packed with great material. Opening with the masterful Michael Carpenter he slowly builds up “We Don’t Talk Anymore” from a single bass line to a layered, lush chorus. Lisa Mychols digs deep to give us the obscure hit by David Soul (of Starsky & Hutch fame) “Don’t Give Up On Us Baby,” and she makes it her own. David Myhr (Merrymakers) pulls out all the stops on his version of 10cc’s “The Things We Do For Love” and Kelly Jones turns “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” into a top notch ballad that changes the song’s point of view.

Mike Viola’s version of “Steal Away” has that deceptively simple hook and The Sonic Executive Sessions imbue the Stephen Bishop tune “On and On” with  heartfelt vocal precision. Out of all the faithful song re-creations, Paul Bertolino’s version of  Firefall’s “Just Remember I Love You” even manages to outshine the original. A few tracks don’t hit the mark, but they are the exception here not the rule. This is so far the best music compilation of 2013, so don’t miss it.

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