The Knack - Time Time Time The Complete UK Singles(and more)

Taking their name from Richard Lester's swinging London classic The Knack and How to Get It and their sound from the Kinks, the Knack captured a certain vibe from mid-'60s Britain -- which isn't quite the same thing as making an impact at the time. One of the charms of the Knack is that they were so of their time that they don't quite transcend their time, yet they evoke it, which is why Time Time Time: The Complete UK Singles (And More) 1965-1967 is enjoyable even if it isn't quite memorable. What's striking is indeed how much they sound like the Kinks circa Something Else; unlike the equally Kinks-obsessed Turquoise, who delved deeply into The Village Green, there aren't many signs of wry whimsy here -- there's nothing but lean, hard-hitting, hooky pop. Which isn't to say that the Knack only reworked the driving rock & roll of "Who'll Be the Next in Line?," the Ray Davies song they covered and which opens this collection.
They could branch out, as on the terrific "Time Time Time," which glides along on swirling guitars and harmonies, a piece of pure '60s pop that still can thrill. They rarely reached this height, but they did nice covers of the Lovin' Spoonful (both "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?," which they pumped up with fuzz-toned guitar, and "Younger Girl"); "Save All My Love for Joey" is a pretty nice slice of soft, string-laced pop; "Take Your Love" is bright, crystalline pop; "(Man from The) Marriage Guidance and Advice Bureau" plays as if the Hollies tried to write a Dylan song instead of just singing them; and Paul Gurvitz's pair of originals, "Dolly Catcher Man" and "Lights on the Wall," are very good, propulsive British psychedelic pop, suggesting the potential of Gurvitz as a songwriter. These moments are a little fleeting on Time Time Time, as they're surrounded by perfectly fine but mildly forgettable period pieces, but they're the reason for '60s collectors to check out this likable band. (allmusic.com)

Wonderful '60s band.
Enjoy
         SB1  Flac

Bram Tchaikowsky - The Russians Are Coming (1980) 1998 Flac

Bram Tchaikovsky (born Peter Bramall) began playing in local pub rock bands in Lincolnshire, England, in the late '60s. He joined the Motors in 1977 and was relegated to mere sideman status by the nucleus of the band, songwriters Andy McMaster and Nick Garvey. While waiting on pre-production work for the second Motors album, Tchaikovsky took the opportunity to do some recording of his own. The resulting single, "Sarah Smiles," drew enough interest for him to leave the Motors and form his own band. In addition to its leader, the band Bram Tchaikovsky consisted of Mike Broadbent (bass, keyboards) and Keith Boyce (drums).

They signed to the new Radar label in 1978 along with Stiff expatriates Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello. The band showed a great deal of promise with their first album, Strange Man Changed Man, fitting in nicely with the growing power pop movement. The unforgettable "Girl of My Dreams," a true high point of the time, became a minor hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Tchaikovsky continued on through rapid personnel changes for two more albums, The Russians Are Coming (released in the U.S. as Pressure) in 1980 and Funland in 1981. A considerable drop in sales prompted Tchaikovsky to dissolve the band and retire from the music business.

This is the second album by Bram Tchaikovsky and in my opinion it is just a little bit weaker than 'Strange Man Changed Man'. Both are fie Power Pop albums. In the US 'Russians were released as ''Pressure'' and i think the reason was because of the political situation (the cold war). I will post some more stuff of Bram Tchaikovsky in the next days.
Enjoy
         SB1 Flac

Bun E. Carlos - Greetings From Bunezuela 2016 mp3

Bun E. Carlos (born Brad M. Carlson) is the amiable and adroit drummer, archivist, and set list writer for Rockford, Illinois' illustrious Cheap Trick. Leaving behind the oldies circuit, Carlos fine-tuned his avuncular charm and steady beat as Trick became local heroes and then mega-stars, rising to a brief plateau period in the late '70s. (Another obvious high point came working with John Lennon in 1980.) The band weathered some hard times during the '80s until 1988, when "The Flame" became Trick's only number one (all four members hated this factory ballad). Carlos held drum clinics, produced the Blues Hawks, and lent his talents (along with guitarist Rick Nielsen) to Jim Peterik's band World Stage. After a few quiet decades, Carlos returned to the spotlight in 2009 with a new band, Tinted Windows. Joined by Taylor Hanson (Hanson), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), and Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), the band released one album and toured briefly. Carlos formed another band in 2011 called Candy Golde, issuing just one EP. After being embroiled in lawsuits with his Cheap Trick bandmates, Carlos and the band eventually settled legal differences in time for their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, where the quartet performed together for the first time in years. Months later, Carlos released Greetings from Bunezuela!, a solo album comprised of covers from acts like the Bee Gees, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and Guided by Voices, whose Robert Pollard appeared on a cover of first single "Do Something Real." Tinted Windows bandmate Taylor Hanson also contributed to the album with his brothers, as well as Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum) and John Stirratt (Wilco).

Some really fine interpretations of the cover songs here. ''Tell me'' by the Stones for example is a wonderful version of the song. A lot of good songs are here. Sure, the album don't invent the Rock'n'Roll new but it makes fun.
Greetings
               Frank   mp3@320

Barry & The Remains - The Remains 1966 (Epic 1991) Flac

The Remains formed in 1964 at Boston University, where all four members were first-year students living in the same dorm in Kenmore Square. Singer-guitarist Barry Tashian and keyboardist Bill Briggs were from Westport, Connecticut, drummer Chip Damiani from Wolcott, Connecticut, and bassist Vern Miller from Livingston, New Jersey. They began playing r&b and rock'n'roll covers, as well as some Tashian originals, at The Rathskeller, a tavern across the square from their dorm. Soon, fans were lining up from Kenmore Square to Fenway Park to see them, and management had to clear out a disused basement to accommodate the crowds
The band became a popular live act throughout New England, and, after signing with Epic Records, enjoyed local hits with a catchy, swinging Tashian original, "Why Do I Cry", and their hard-driving version of the Bo Diddley/Willie Dixon classic "Diddy Wah Diddy". In 1965 the Remains relocated to New York City - where they appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' - and then, after about a year, moved on to California. They recorded an album, The Remains, appeared on NBC TV's 'Hullabaloo', and released the soulful, hard-rocking single "Don't Look Back".
In 1966 came the opportunity which might have broken the band nationally, but proved instead to be their last hurrah: they were offered a three-week stint as an opening act for the Beatles, on what would turn out to be the fab four's final tour. Immediately before the tour, drummer Chip Damiani quit the band, to be replaced by future Mountain drummer N.D. Smart. Said Tashian in a 2012 interview: "We had always been the four of us and we’d played hundreds and hundreds of gigs as the four of us and all of a sudden this big tour comes up and boom! We have to play it with a new drummer who didn’t have the same feel that Chip had. I mean he was a fine drummer but it wasn’t the same band. I just felt like the flame was burning down without our original drummer."

The Band broke up late 1966.(discogs)

Sixties Garage/Pop Rock band from the sixties. Who knows what had happened if they played the tour...
Have fun
               Frank   Flac
                                          Complete Artwork
The complete artwork is contributed by Javier. 

Psychedelic Pop from the late sixties: Octopus - Restless Night (1990)1970 Flac

Octopus' origins lay in Hatfield, 30 miles from London, and a mid-'60s quartet called the Cortinas (the name came from an English Ford compact car), made up of Paul Griggs (guitar), Nigel Griggs (bass), Brian Glassock (drums), and Rick Williams (guitar). By 1967, the Cortinas had moved from Brit beat into pop-psychedelia and cut one single ("Phoebe's Flower Shop") for Polydor without success. The following year, the quartet renamed and redirected itself and Octopus was born. The band earned a support spot to Yes which was, itself, an up-and-coming group at the time. They also appeared on stage with acts like Status Quo and Humble Pie, and were discovered by Troggs bassist Tony Murray, who helped get them a record deal with independent producer Larry Page, who was the Troggs' manager.
Octopus was signed to Penny Farthing and released a single, "Laugh at the Poor Man" b/w "Girl Friend," in 1969. Midway through the recording of their debut album, Restless Night, Glassock and Williams quit the band, and it was a re-formed Octopus, with John Cook on keyboards and Malcolm Green on the drums, that finished the record with Murray producing. The resulting LP was popular in Hatfield but never found an audience anywhere else.

Restless Night was a surprisingly pop-oriented affair considering Murray's regular gig. The music is on the smooth, commercial pop side, with the psychedelic elements mostly in the fuzztone guitar and organ flourishes, mixed with the music's general melodic nature. The band was good enough to get booked into the Marquee Club in London in 1969, but their career arc was far more shallow than that of heavier weight contemporaries such as King Crimson. The group pressed on for another two years, including tours of Europe, but disbanded in 1972. John Cook later joined Mungo Jerry, while Malcolm Green and Nigel Griggs later became members of Split Enz.

See for Miles reissued Restless Night with extra tracks off of their singles in the 1990s. This group has nothing to do with the band named Octopus that recorded for ESP at the end of the 1960s, or the more recent band of the same name.(allmusic.com)

This is an album where you can hear the sixties pop but also the upcoming sounds of early seventies pop prog bands. Take a listen

Frank     Flac

The Misunderstood - Before The Dream Faded (1965) Flac

Of the thousands of U.S. garage bands who struggled in the '60s without achieving international success, the Misunderstood were not only among the very best, but among the very few to progress beyond basic garage sounds to music that has been (belatedly) recognized as nearly as accomplished and innovative as that of the British Invasion bands who touched off the garage explosion in the first place. Formed in Riverside, CA, in 1963, the group began as a basic R&B rock combo in the tradition of the Stones and the Animals.

After the addition of steel guitarist Glenn Campbell, they rapidly moved toward a proto-psychedelic sound with guitar feedback, sustain, Middle Eastern influences, and exploratory song structures that strongly echoed the Yardbirds. With the encouragement of local expatriate British radio announcer John Ravenscroft (who would shortly become one of Britain's most influential DJs as John Peel, a designation he holds to this day), the band moved to England in 1966 in an attempt to find a sympathetic audience. The group cut six songs (a few of which were issued as extremely rare singles) that found them anticipating the early innovations of groups like Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. The group was praised by the British press and up-and-coming acts like Pink Floyd and the Move, but was hounded by U.S. draft authorities and internal problems, and disbanded in confusion around early 1967. Campbell kept the Misunderstood's name alive briefly with a couple unimpressive singles before forming Juicy Lucy, who had a small British hit with a cover of "Who Do You Love."

The group's other guitarist, Tony Hill (actually a Britishman who joined the band after they arrived in England), joined High Tide, who recorded some progressive rock albums. The Misunderstood finally gained some measure of the respect due to them with a well-packaged reissue of their best material in the early '80s.

This was really a strong '60s psychedelic garage band. It's a pity they don't exist not longer as a band.
Have fun
               SB1  Flac

World Party - Egyptology (1997) Flac

Karl Wallinger defined the ornate, Beatlesque World Party sound on their debut Private Revolution, and he never strayed from that blueprint over the next decade, even if he augmented it with other '60s and '70s pop flourishes.

Egyptology finds Wallinger at his most conservative, sticking to the basic late-'60s pop and psychedelia that distinguished Private Revolution and Goodbye Jumbo. As always, his production is tasteful and subtle, revealing new layers of sonic detail on each listen, and his songcraft is sturdy and tuneful, if not remarkable.

Few of the songs jump out upon the first few listens, yet there are no weak moments on the record, which makes Egyptology, of all things, a workmanlike release. It's not flashy or extravagant, and it may not have the inspiration of Goodbye Jumbo, but it does deliver a collection of fine pop tunes without pretension, and that alone makes it a better album than the overly ambitious Bang!.

More World Party will follow.
Enjoy!
           SB1  Flac

Karl Wallinger's World Party - Dumbing Up (2000) Flac

 Karl Wallinger's World Party - Dumbing Up (2000) Flac

After a three-year absence, Dumbing Up marks the return of leader Karl Wallinger, and he manages to recapture the magic of previous efforts such as Goodbye Jumbo and Bang! During Wallinger's hiatus, interest in the band had grown after their song "She's the One" became a hit for British pop star Robbie Williams.

For the most part, Wallinger delivers, ably demonstrating his considerable strengths as a writer, arranger, and lyricist. The album is a mix of influences, but chief among them is Bob Dylan. Several songs, such as "Who Are You," feature bare-boned guitar arrangements that let the wordplay stand out. Other '60s influences abound. The lead single, "Here Comes the Future," is an intriguing bit of retro-soul while "Another 1000 Years" plays like a Beatles ballad.

After a lackluster 1997 release, Egyptology, Wallinger redeems himself with an agreeable album that is more comforting than it is groundbreaking.(allmusic.com)

Karl Wallinger and World Party is another band or project that's a favourite of me. Wallinger was also a big part in the story of success for the Waterboys. I love nearly all what World Party had released. If you don't know World Party do yourself a favour and give it a listen.
Cheers
           SB1  New Flac link

Powerpop by David Grahame: Supergenius The Best Of David Grahame 2005 (mp3@320)

Great Power Pop by a great musician. 28 songs full of wonderful music. If you like Power Pop and you don't know David Grahame grab this songs. And if you know David Grahame and like Power Pop you will already have it. Wish you all a good night and we meet again tomorrow here if you like :-) Kind regards
                         Frank   link removed!

The Hollies - Butterfly 1967/2014 from the ''British Beat 50th Paper Sleeve Collection'' Flac

This late 1967 album found the Hollies making some modest adjustments to the psychedelic era: occasionally trippy studio effects, a sitar on their most psychedelic track ("Maker"), songs that didn't always deal with boy-girl relationships. In fact, however, the group's focus remained where it usually was: modest but pleasing, similar-sounding catchy tunes with high harmonies and strumming guitars.
It's not remarkable or essential, but it's certainly pleasant enough, and a bit better than their earlier 1967 LP, Evolution, with some of their better album-only cuts ("Postcard," "Pegasus," "Butterfly," "Away Away Away"). With some track alterations, the record was issued in the U.S. as Dear Eloise/King Midas in Reverse; the U.K. edition, as collectors should note, has a few songs that were never released in the States ("Pegasus," "Elevated Observations?," "Try It"). (allmusic.com)

Hello Friends, i had a busy 'Family Day' today so i had no time to post some music. I want to post here now the ''Butterfly'' album of the Hollies original released in '67 (as mentioned in the review in the US it was called ''Dear Eloise/King Midas In Reverse''). This is from a series called  ''British Beat 50th Paper Sleeve Collection'' from 2014 and it is in original mono, stereo and two bonus tracks.
The ''British Beat'' edition is a series of 14 Hollies albums. You can get more infos from discogs  here.  If you are interested in an other album please comment. I don't have all but nearly all. The albums are mono/stereo and with bonus tracks.
Okay i hope you had a nice weekend and you enjoy the Hollies   Flac
Cheers
           Frank 

Hoodoo Gurus - Electric Soup- The Singles Collection(1992) Flac

Electric Soup is a 19-track Australian-only collection of the band's best singles. And although the Hoodoo Gurus made several fine albums, this collection shows the band in the best light, with their catchiest and best-loved songs. An excellent distillation and the best introduction to this sorely underrated brand of Aussie-pop.

This is the singles collection of the gurus from 1992 and all their finest songs until '92 are here gathered. You will have a lot of fun :-)!
 

Enjoy
          Frank  Flac

Nick Heyward - Rollerblade (A Hard Days' Nick Single) 4 Track single mp3

This is a wonderful Power Pop four track single by Nick Heyward from Haircut 100 fame.

Tracklist:
1 Rollerblade
2 If I Needed Someone
3 Nowhere Man
4 All My Lovin'

Viel Spass
                 Frank   mp3@320

Sheer Agony - Masterpiece (2015)

The Montreal trio Sheer Agony debuted in 2011 with a promising single, but unlike most bands who release every last note they've recorded, they declined to flood the market with recordings. Only a couple more releases surfaced before their debut album Masterpiece arrived in 2015. A track record like that suggests that the group may comprise slackers or perfectionists -- a spin through the album leads one to the opinion that they are definitely the latter. From the opening "Anthony Ivy," a wobbly chamber pop gem that would have fit easily on the Bee Gees' first album, through to the swooning ballad "A Flight," which ends the album in a fluffy cloud of ennui and second-hand smoke, they demonstrate complete mastery of the rock & roll form in its many guises. Whether bopping along merrily on power pop gems, digging deep into nocturnal balladry, kicking up some dust on scrappy rockers, or conjuring up the ghost of Mink DeVille or half the Stiff lineup (Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric), the boys never take a wrong step. The simple guitar-bass-drums lineup is augmented by the occasional keys and some production trickery (Joe Meek style, nothing modern), topped off by the note-perfect, sometime sneering, sometimes pleading vocals of Jackson MacIntosh. It's a template used by loads of bands, but most of them don't do it quite as well as Sheer Agony. Every song on Masterpiece is a finely honed example of how to do things the right way -- write lyrics that are funny and true, record your guitars with a minimum of fuss, leave some space for the tunes to breathe, mix up the tempos and moods to create a nice flow. Spoon are probably the best example of this in the modern age; Sheer Agony could get to that level if they keep making albums as tough, smart, and hooky as this. Even if they crap out before they do anything else at all, they will have left behind a record that very nearly lives up to its title.(allmusic.com)

Canada seems to be the country where very good pop musicians grows on trees. Sheer Agony is a further innovative pop band from the land of the maple leafs. This is no pop with too much sugar on it but with a lot of good ideas in the songs and the songwriting. Maybe here comes the next...
Enjoy
         Frank   Flac

Andy Kim - Andy Kim 1974 & 2 bonus tracks mp3@320

Andy Kim enjoyed major success on the pop charts as a singer, songwriter, and producer in the 1960s and '70s before experiencing a career resurgence in the new millennium. Born Andrew Youakim, he was the son of Lebanese expatriates who had settled in Montreal, Canada and run a grocery store. As a youngster, Youakim developed a passion for music, and when he turned 16, he left home with just $40 to his name, heading to New York City with a dream of breaking into the music business. He cut a few singles for several labels with no particular success before he met the noted songwriter and producer Jeff Barry who, with Ellie Greenwich, had penned several major hits for Phil Spector.
Barry was impressed enough with a song the young man had written, "How'd We Ever Get This Way," to sign him to Steed Records, a label run by Barry. Youakim streamlined his name to Andy Kim and "How'd We Ever Get This Way" became a Top 20 hit in the United States and Canada in 1968. That same year, Barry was one of the writers and producers brought in to make music for the Archies, a fictive rock group appearing in an animated television series based on the popular comic book series. With Barry, Kim co-wrote two of the Archies' biggest hits, "Sugar Sugar" and "Jingle Jangle," and he also sang on some of the Archies' sessions, though Ron Dante was the primary lead vocalist for the "group." In 1969, Kim scored another solo hit, "So Good Together," and the following year he hit the Top Ten with a cover of "Baby I Love You," which Barry had co-written for the Ronettes. In 1974,, Kim rose to the top of the Billboard charts with the single "Rock Me Gently," but despite this success, his brand of simple, well-scrubbed pop, influenced both by bubblegum and the Brill Building songwriters, was falling out of favor; this would prove to be his last major hit in the United States.

Believing his image and reputation were holding him back, Kim released an album in 1980 under the name Baron Longfellow; it was a modest success, and a second Longfellow album, Prisoner by Design, followed in 1984. However, it was in 1995, when Kim appeared at the Kumbaya Festival in Toronto (an annual fundraising event for AIDS charities) that he met Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies and discovered that a member of Canada's biggest group was a longtime Andy Kim fan. It was through Robertson that Kim learned he was held in high esteem by many noted Canadian musicians, and Kim found himself writing songs with Robertson and Ron Sexsmith, as well as appearing on-stage with Canadian indie rockers Broken Social Scene. In 2005, Kim, who has long been involved in charity work, launched the Andy Kim Christmas Show, an annual fundraising concert held at Toronto's Mod Club, in which Kim is joined on-stage by a number of Canadian pop stars ranging from Luke Doucet to Alex Lifeson of Rush, to perform seasonable material.

I always loved what Andy Kim have done. Archies stuff and all his works under his name are really good pop music. I remember the first time i heard his versions of ''Baby, I Love You'' and ''Be My Baby'' i was totally blown away. I put this two tracks as bonus in the post.
Have fun
              Frank     mp3

Teenage Fanclub ‎– A Catholic Education (1990) Flac

Hard to believe now, but Teenage Fanclub first attracted critical attention for a record far removed from the sparkling power pop on which their fame largely rests -- with its gloriously sloppy and sludgy sound, their debut album A Catholic Education instead prefigures the emergence of grunge, its viscous melodies and squalling guitars owing far more to Neil Young than Big Star.

With not one but two songs dubbed "Heavy Metal," it's pretty obvious where A Catholic Education is coming from; the title track (also here in duplicate) is a surprisingly snarky attack on the church (at least for a band not exactly renowned for its political agenda), while the great "Everybody's Fool" is a merciless scenester put-down without any of the gentle sarcasm that characterizes similarly themed efforts like Bandwagonesque's "Metal Baby." Regardless, for all its glaring differences in attitude and approach, there's no mistaking the effortless melodicism that remains the hallmark of all Teenage Fanclub records -- in particular, the opening "Everything Flows," for all its meandering abrasiveness, is still as good as anything the band ever recorded, and that's saying something.

 Teenage Fanclub in 1990. It's a long time ago and to me that year was no good year, personally...but time goes by and everything can change...everyday, right?! Puuuh... enjoy that record!

Cheers                                                                                                                                                                   Frank  New Flac link

John Pantry “The Upside Down World Of John Pantry” 1967-1970(2009 Wooden Hill) Psychedelic Pop (Flac)

John Pantry is one of those artists that deserves to be heard by more people, especially those who value melodic British pop.  He released one decent solo disc in the early 70s (which has not been reissued as of this date) before delving into the world of Christian music.  Prior to that, he had been a talented studio engineer for IBC Studios (working with Eddie Tre-Vett), producing for the likes of Donovan, The Small Faces, The Bee Gees, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream.  He was also a member of Peter & The Wolves, an accomplished mid 60s pop group from Leigh-on-Sea/Southend and had a major hand with many other IBC studio projects of the time: the Factory, Sounds Around, Wolfe, The Bunch and Norman Conquest.
In 2009, Wooden Hill released a double disc set of Pantry’s late 60s/early 70s work.  It includes singles/tracks from all the above groups plus numerous outtakes and demos.  If anything, this set (53 tracks!) illustrates the depth of Pantry’s talents.  Besides being a savy studio technician, Pantry was a gifted songwriter and vocalist and an accomplished musician (he played the keyboards).  The earlier tracks stem from one of Pantry’s first groups, Sounds Around.  These guys played straight pop with slight soul and psych influences – they released two singles in 1966-1967.  Peter & The Wolves came shortly after Sounds Around’s demise (they were essentially the same group).  This is the group with which Pantry is most associated, along with The Factory.  Peter & The Wolves released several singles and lasted into the early 70s.  This group’s most productive period was probably the years of 1967-1969, where they released a string of pop gems:  a good, upbeat blue-eyed soul number titled “Still”, the superb Emitt Rhodes like “Woman On My Mind” and several tuneful psych pop creations, “Lantern Light,” “Birthday,” and “Little Girl Lost And Found” being the best in this style.
It was around this time that John Pantry was asked to write two tracks for The Factory, a legendary psychedelic group who had previously released the classic “Path Through The Forest” 45.  Pantry wrote and sang lead on the two Factory standouts, “Try A Little Sunshine” and the more folk-like “Red Chalk Hill.”  “Try A Little Sunshine” is the heaviest song on this comp, a classic that mixes Who power with Moody Blues spaciness.

During this period Pantry took advantage of free studio time and recorded a slew of demos.  While the sound quality is slightly below par, the power of popsike gems like “Battle Of Trafalgar,” “Pitsea Pub,” “Wash Myself Away,” and “Mississippi Paddleboat” cannot be denied.   Most of the material spanning these two discs strongly recalls Paul McCartney, Emitt Rhodes/The Merry-Go-Round and a more cheerful, punchy Bee Gees.  Wooden Hill exercised quality control (no duff tracks to be found) and should be commended for reissuing this great anthology.

This is just fantastic. John Pantry was one of the great guys in psychedelic pop in the sixties. This double disc shows a significant view of his work. You will love it if you are a fan of psychedelic/sunshine pop of the sixties. WOW!!!
 Have fun
                Frank   Flac

The I Don't Cares (Westerberg/Hatfield) - Wild Stab 2016 mp3

Like so many things Paul Westerberg touches, the Replacements reunion of the mid-2010s didn't end in explosion or tears: it merely faded away, coming to a conclusion somewhere in Europe sometime in the summer of 2015. The rumored album never materialized but Westerberg resurfaced swiftly, popping up at the start of 2016 with Wild Stab, an album he recorded with Juliana Hatfield under the name the I Don't Cares. The two Gen-X heroes harmonize and trade lines throughout but the scales are tipped ever so slightly in Westerberg's direction, supporting the story that Wild Stab's origins lie in demos Paul started but never finished. Then again, it's true that it never felt like Westerberg completed any of the digital EPs he knocked off in the 2000s; these were records that were intended to keep him dwelling on the margins where he feels most comfortable. Wild Stab is certainly not polished -- from its thin, tinny audio to the cheerful cacophony of shout-along vocals, it's proudly ragged -- but it feels unified, benefiting from the editing and instigation of Hatfield. Even when her voice isn't heard, her presence is felt in how Wild Stab emphasizes sharp hooks and smart songwriting, but the striking thing about the album is how it feels buoyant, an emotion that doesn't come easy to either member of the I Don't Cares. Operating as a team, Westerberg and Hatfield lighten each other's load, encouraging one another to tell corny jokes and make noise, tossing out the occasional fully formed tune along the way. Sometimes these songs take the shape of a bit of brooding but usually they're knockabout pop and old-time rock & roll running at the pace of an old Rockpile record. All the mess, from its demo-quality fidelity to its throwaways, is intentional and the album is better for it: it's two old pros having a good time, so it's hard not to have a good time too.

A fine relaxed effort and an album that makes really fun. I often listen to it in my car because it just makes fun and driving in my car is fun, too :-).
Enjoy
         Frank   mp3

The Jetz - The Anthology 1977 - 79 (2011) Flac

This is a further wonderful power pop band of the seventies who never rose to fame because there were no promotion at the time for the band by E.M.I. And the band is GREAT. You should give these guys a listen. I know you will enjoy!

Cheers
           Frank    Flac