Price And Walsh - Temptation Eyes: Price & Walsh Songbook 2006

The title of RevOla's 2006 disc Temptation Eyes: Price & Walsh Songbook implies that this collection rounds up the original hit versions of songs they wrote but that were recorded by other artists, such as Bobby "Blue" Bland, Lulu, Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods, Cher and the Grass Roots, whose hit version of "Temptation Eyes" brought Michael Price (aka Harvey Price, as he was initially credited) and Dan Walsh into the consciousness of the music mainstream after years of toiling away behind the scenes. That's not the case. Temptation Eyes offers a chronicle of those days behind the scenes via a selection of 25 songs, almost all previously unreleased, recorded between 1966 and 1969.
The story begins here with a handful of demos Price and Walsh recorded after the disbandment of their first group the Motleys, music co-written with their collaborator Mitchell Bottler, that finds them firmly within the breezy, precious California sunshine pop sound, yet it was accomplished enough to earn the interest of record producer Gary Zekley, who had the trio pen a tune for the Visions ("Small Town Commotion," included here) before Price and Walsh embarked on a Sgt. Pepper-inspired album in 1967. This record was teased with a single -- "Love Is the Order of the Day" backed by "The House of Ilene Castle" -- but was never finished due to a falling-out between Zekley and the duo, with the surviving tracks finally seeing the light of day here. They are thoroughly ambitious, melodic psychedelic pop, clearly and proudly wearing the inspiration of McCartney's work for Sgt. Pepper, but presented through an L.A. filter so it has a studio polish and a commercial sensibility -- both evident beneath the somewhat shaky audio of the surviving recordings -- that made it akin to the sunny pop released on White Whale.

Following that aborted project, Price and Walsh parted ways with both Zekley and Bottler (the latter pair would later become a songwriting team) and after a year of work they wound up at Dunhill/ABC publishing, largely on the strength of their demo "The Publisher and the Poet," also heard here. While at Dunhill, they wrote for many artists on the label's roster, including Cass Elliot and eventually the Grass Roots, and the great majority of the rest of Temptation Eyes consists of their original, fully produced demos from this time. The Dunhill era begins with "Billy," a single released by Cotton Candy, and immediately it's clear that Price and Walsh had made a leap forward from their sunshine/pych pop. The precious layers have fallen away and their melodies, which have always been strong, are placed at the forefront, as they are for all their work on Dunhill. They still delved into this territory during the late '60s, but their work became more versatile and soulful, with even bubblegum-styled pop songs benefiting from propulsive rhythms and urgent melodies: the kind of music that became the backbone of AM pop as the '60s turned into the '70s, thanks to the likes of the Grass Roots and Three Dog Night.

This is undoubtedly commercial mainstream music -- it was designed as such, after all -- but Price and Walsh were experts at this music, which is why it retains its appeal years after it was recorded. The very fact that there is only one big tune here -- the title track, of course -- but that the entire second half of the album still feels as effervescent and energetic as the late-'60s and early-'70s standards speaks volumes to their strengths as writers: even when they didn't make the charts, they were writing with the charts in mind, and at their best they came up with music that felt like hits even if they never were. Nowhere is that talent better heard than on this pretty irresistible (and long overdue) collection of the duo's formative years.

These guys were fantastic pop songwriters and if i listen to this songbook i often can't believe why only a couple of people knows this guys. For people with love for commercial pop of the mid to late sixties a must. A lot of beautiful songs here. Pop music written on a top notch level.
Grab it
          Frank
Flac

The Toms - The Toms 1979 (2005 Not Lame) 2 CD edition Flac

This is a power pop classic from the late seventies, exactly 1979. ''The Toms'' was a project of Thomas Marolda. A project in that sense that he had some free time between the work for other artists in his studio (recording, playing, songwriting). I think he made the whole recordings ( playing, recording, producing, all by himself ) in three days what became ''The Toms''. And a power pop  legend was born. At the time he did the recordings he was already a well engaged musician with his skills and the recording studio. ''The Toms'' was for sure a good publicity for his further life as a successful musician. He worked on gold and platinum albums for many world known artists, soundtracks, TV specials and has written numerous award winning television commercials, radio jingles and other songs. He was nominated as writer and producer for best album of original score written for the motion picture ''Stayin' alive''. And there was and is a lot more. Just a great musician.

In 1997 ''Not Lame'' released the album on CD for the first time and 2005 once again with seven bonus tracks and twelve (then) unreleased songs ( and i think for making that possible we, who love this gem, owe also Bruce Brodeen a debt of gratitude).
Tom Marolda created a real power pop treasure with ''The Toms'' and everyone who loves this kind of pop music should hear it.

If you love what you hear you can buy ''The Toms'' and a lot more here

Wish you a lot of fun
                                 SB1(Frank)
 New Link Flac

The Three O'Clock - Arrive Without Travelling '85 & Ever After '87 (2002 EMI Records)Flac

The Three O'Clock were the quintessential L.A. Paisley Underground band. Lead singer and bassist

Michael Quercio in fact coined the term to describe the set of bands, including the Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, Green on Red, and the Bangles, who incorporated the chiming guitars of the Byrds and the Beatles into their pop songs with a psychedelic bent, and the clothes to match. Beginning as the Salvation Army in 1982 as a three-piece and forsaking the name due to a conflict with the actual organization, the Three O'Clock originally included Quercio and guitarist Louis (formerly Gregg) Gutierrez. The band plied a garagey sound on its self-titled debut in 1982. When ex-Weirdos drummer Danny Benair and keyboardist Mickey Mariano joined for the follow-up EP Baroque Hoedown and the LP Sixteen Tambourines in 1983 (both released by Frontier Records), the band found a more polished, perfect pop sound.

In 1985 they released Arrive Without Travelling for I.R.S., followed by Ever After. Gutierrez departed in 1986. For their Warner Bros./Paisley Park debut (Prince was a fan), Vermillion, Jason Falkner was added on guitar. Sadly, it proved to be their undoing, as they never really fulfilled the label's expectations and Quercio refused to be pigeonholed as a pretty-boy pop star or spokesperson for the premature retro revival. Quercio continues to play in L.A. pop bands, while Gutierrez became a principal member of Mary's Danish, and Falkner is a solo recording artist. After years of turning down offers to reunite, the original lineup of the band (minus Mariano, who was replaced by Adam Merrin of the 88) re-formed to play the 2013 Coachella Festival. Soon after, Omnivore Records released The Hidden World Revealed, a collection of album tracks and rarities from the years with Frontier.

This is a release of E.M.I. records in 2002 with two albums on one disc. The first two releases for the band on a major label. For many critics ''Arrive Without Travelling'' is the most complete album of the band. For me personally the first three releases (Baroque Hoedown (ep), Sixteen Tambourines and Arrive...) are their best. But also later albums was quite good. A disappointment for sure was ''Vermillion'' from 1988. I think i will post later more from the band. Below is a review from allmusic.
I hope you enjoy the double album edition.

Cheers
           SB1

Review by allmusic.com:

The Three O'Clock's first major label album, after the superb Sixteen Tambourines and Baroque Hoedown, is a bit slicker and less specifically psychedelic than their earlier releases. Recorded in Berlin with British producer Mike Hedges, Arrive Without Travelling (the title, complete with U.K. spelling, comes from George Harrison's "The Inner Light") has a big, brash sound, from the blaring opener "Her Head's Revolving" to the multiply overdubbed choral vocals and hypnotic drum patterns of the droning closer "Spun Gold." The arrangements are slick, but they don't have the sterile, computerized feel of many mid-'80s pop records; Mike Mariano's keyboards are at the center of the sound, but Louis Gutierrez's guitar is prominent enough to recall the group's '60s roots. As always, Michael Quercio's inimitable voice and puckish lyrics are the album's love it or hate it factor, but song by song, this album probably features his strongest songwriting. "Her Head's Revolving" is a lost classic of a single, arguably the band's finest three minutes, and the gloriously hooky "Underwater" is nearly as good. "Mrs. Green," which shifts from a church organ-based verse to a swooning chorus, and the tenderly acoustic "The Girl With the Guitar (Says Oh Yeah)," co-written by Game Theory's Scott Miller, vary the otherwise power-poppy album. Later albums would continue Arrive Without Travelling's move away from the band's early paisley underground days with less impressive results, but this album rivals Sixteen Tambourines as the Three O'Clock's artistic peak.

FLAC
                          

Future Cloud And Radar (2007)

Masterminded in 2006 by former Cotton Mather frontman Robert Harrison, Future Clouds & Radar formulated a kind of eclectic, ecstatic indie pop sound that nodded to the psychedelic swirliness of XTC and the Beatles, the punchy soulfulness of Elvis Costello, and the good-natured brass and sparkle of the Starlight Mints. Rounded out by bassist Josh Gravelin, keyboardist Hollie Thomas, drummer Nina Singh, and vibraphonist/trumpeter Kullen Fuchs, the Austin-based group released its self-titled double-disc debut full-length in the spring of 2007. They followed it up with a more modest EP titled Peoria in the autumn of 2008.

 Since Cotton Mather released their third (and apparently final) album, The Big Picture, in 2001, not much has been heard from the group's leader and principal songwriter, Robert Harrison, but he's certainly making up for lost time with the first release from his new project, Future Clouds & Radar. A hefty two-disc set, Future Clouds & Radar features 27 tunes which demonstrate Harrison's gift for crafting gorgeous psychedelic-tinged pop songs has only grown stronger during his lay-off from recording, and his band of compatriots who helped him commit this to tape navigate his stylistic twists and turns with the élan of a Formula One racing team. While Harrison's voice splits the

difference between John Lennon and Glenn Tilbrook, melodically Future Clouds & Radar hops from one approach to another throughout its playing time, from the acid-drenched electronic meandering of "This Is Really a Book" and the stripped-bare blues figures of "Devil No More" to the high-spirited rock & roll of "Holy Janet Comes on Waves" and the bittersweet simplicity of "Christmas Day 1923," with plenty of solid hook-infused power pop and up-tempo rock along the way, all presented with just the right degree of polish and played with skill and spark throughout. It's telling that the more relaxed numbers such as "Build Havana" and "Green Mountain Clover" are as effective as the high-energy tunes, and Harrison can play goofy and sincere with equal impact. As strong as Cotton Mather's best work was, Future Clouds & Radar suggests Robert Harrison's best music still lies ahead of him, and this is an accomplished and thoroughly enjoyable calling card for his new enterprise that discerning fans of smart pop will want to hear.allmusic.com

Haven't heard for a long time, i listened today to the Cottons and thought i could post The ''Future Clouds And Radar''. So here it is. 27 songs of Pop/Power Pop from 2007. Have fun!
A quite tired
                   Frank
New mp3@320 link