Bob of The Pops! Vol.3 – Robyn Gibson (The Junipers) gets better with each group of covers he delivers. Love all this, and it’s a FREE download. Get it now!
Timmy Sean is back with a pure power pop single sure to stay on my playlist all year long.
Andy Reed gives us a slow ballad, and it’s his first solo work this year.
Jay Stansfield hasn’t had an LP ready in a long time, but this new single is a little like Jason Falkner.
Aussie Bryan Estepa delivers a very sweet power-pop tune. Can an album be far behind?
John Dunbar is back with his band The John Sally Ride and he offers some very sage advice. It’s a pep talk set to a catchy beat.
In 2015 Timmy Sean was one a few artists with a goal of producing a song each week. Subscribers got the first crack at these, and after all was said and done, you have a massive 21 tracks. Sean moves around the pop and rock landscape, the most commercial tune of the bunch “Everything I Want” sounds like a top 40 hit, but I like the exuberant piano theme “Seventeen,” a look back at youth; “We never know the best times” he sings. Sean takes liberally from classic rock styles, and it enhances his songs. “One Dimensional Man” heads into ELO territory and both “Way Too Long” and “Gimme Everything” are like a Lenny Kravitz outtakes. You even get Elvis influence on “Baby, She’s Better Than You” and a Smokey Robinson doo wop on “Til You’ll Be Mine.”
And it’s not all power pop, “Western Rodeo” and “Hold It Strong” are ballads with country, and contemporary pop approaches. A few tracks were recorded at Abbey Road Studios (“Lately Lacey”) and these are musically dense arrangements. Its hard to find to fault with any of the music, Sean’s careful “singles” approach make each tune a pleasant surprise. If anything there is too much to absorb in a single listen. Overall a highly recommended double album. Plus the limited edition two CD version contains a bonus disc of covers (including 8 Beatles classics) through Bandcamp.
I enjoyed the new Tom Baker and The Snakes album earlier this year, so I looked into his past and found a gem I missed. Tom was in a Boston band called The Dirty Truckers a few years back. As lead guitarist Baker growls through a half dozen songs starting with the barroom rocker “Stranger in Disguise,” but tone shifts slightly to the more refined “Human Contact.” This song is reminiscent of Lannie Flowers with its driving rhythm and catchy chorus.
Overall this band’s riff-centric approach is consistent with “Feedback” and “Arms Length” led by the dual guitar attack of Baker and John Brookhouse. It closes out the EP with a roots rocker “Just Run Away” which is closer to classic Wilco. If you enjoyed Baker’s new band, you will definitely like his old one.
I may rethink my policy of no single reviews when I hear something this good. Jared has produced a single so catchy I can loop it my player and not get tired of it. Not much to say except I hope an album follows this gem of a single. The B-side “And It’s Over” has a little Jeff Lynne in its DNA, with its casual strum over a repeated muti-tracked chorus. Get it at Bandcamp only.
The Davenports “Leanne”
A new single a month is the strategy from The Davenports. We are on month three and Scott Klass is a master of the guitar hook and proves it once again with “Leanne.” The band also has a free EP out there, a reworking of “Five Steps” from the A&E show Intervention, and a new track “Away From Me.” Its like Chinese water torture getting a song a month, but I’ll take it… Only on Bandcamp.
Timmy Sean “Gimme Everything”
Timmy Sean has a better idea: a single each week. You get immediate gratification from the talented musician. And stylistically he’s all over the place, but I like this very Lenny Kravitz-like rocker “Gimme Everything.” You do get a series of covers and some live tracks – so if you want originals you can pick and choose. Other gems I liked are “Everything I Want” and “One Dimensional Man.” Get all of them over at Bandcamp.
