Sloan - Navy Blues 1998 (flac)

Having weathered the demise of its most recent American label, Sloan forges on, battered but unbroken and still delivering perfect pop records; Navy Blues might just be the band's best yet, with the sheer consistency of its infectious melodies, clever lyrics, and exuberant performances pushing the group toward new creative peaks. Moving away from the ornately Beatlesesque production of the previous One Chord to Another, the sound on Navy Blues is more down and dirty, indicating a heavy Big Star influence; a track like "Iggy & Angus" certainly isn't as raw as the homages implicit in its title would suggest, but its fuzzed-out guitars and lumbering drums are nevertheless emblematic of the sonic shifts that characterize the entire record.

Truth be told, there's not a weak track here, but "C'mon C'mon (We're Gonna Get It Started)," "Keep On Thinkin,'" "Chester the Molester," and "I Wanna Thank You" all go above and beyond the call of duty, each undeniably catchy and instantly memorable.(allmusic.com)

Navy Blues and ''One chord to another'' are my favourite albums by Sloan and i will post ''One chord...'' also in the next days.When there is more interesting in Sloan let me know and i can post more of the band.
Cheers
          SB1  Flac
                           The link is limited till 2017-03-27

Canadian Power Pop Part 2 - Sloan - Twice Removed 1994 (Flac)

A far superior effort to Sloan's scattershot debut, 1994's Twice Removed is a clever and varied collection of smart and catchy pop songs. Without the grunge-era production that smothered some of the best songs on Smeared, the sparkling wit of the lyrics and catchy directness of the melodies shine through. All four members write and sing, which accounts for the variation between songs like the punkish opener, "Penpals," and the chiming guitars and "ba-ba-ba" chorus of the sublime "People of the Sky," the highest of the album's high points.

Other goodies include the puckish media slam "I Hate My Generation" and the dreamy, largely acoustic closer, "I Can Feel It," with its harmonies by Jale's Jennifer Pierce. Not everything works quite so well -- the seven-minute "Before I Do" is at least two and a half minutes too long -- but Twice Removed was the first indication that Sloan was more than Canada's answer to the Lemonheads.(allmusic.com)

I always loved Sloan since the first song and if i listen to Sloan here and now it's still the same.
If you like drivin' guitars and a special kind of nineties power pop/alternative you are right here.
Enjoy,
          SB1  Flac Link is limited till 2017-03-28

Marvelous '60s UK pop from The Secrets feat. Clifford T.Ward: Infatuation; Singles & Demos 1966-1968 Flac

The Secrets feat. Clifford T Ward - Infatuation: Singles & Demos 1966-1968

"Infatuation: Singles & Demos 1966-1968" by the Secrets, a young UK combo largely relegated to footnotes and factual tidbits that mention Clifford T. Ward's involvement as leader, and the fact that he wrote future UK psych masterpiece "Path Through The Forest" (popularised by The Factory) whilst a member of this group. Little that has been previously written would suggest that further investigation was necessary, yet this packed to the gills 28 track collection is a compelling document of exceptionally well written sixties pop, which on occasion suggests a poppier UK counterpoint to Arthur Lee's early material, minus the political commentary. Ward's vocals are often a dead-ringer for Lee's, and there are similarities in the minor key jangle that can't be shaken off, once noticed.

Psych influences are mild here, but the flavour of the era is inescapible and those with a thing for extremely melodic, well crafted sixties guitar pop will swoon over this collection, which includes both sides of each of their five singles, as well as a raft of unusually worthy demos and studio outtakes, including two quite different takes of Ward's classic "Path Through the Forest", which, despite its legendary status, can't compete with the earworm immediacy of "Keeping My Head Above Water" and "Naughty Boy". Exceptional.(review then back by active listener.com)


I don't understand why this guys didn't climb the charts back in the days of british pop psychedelia mid till end of the sixties. The songs got all a successful song must have but maybe they was not ''psychedelic'' enough. However this is a collection of really great british sixties pop music. 28 songs here and only little  filler. You will have a lot of fun.
Cheers
           SB1   new link
Link expire 2017-04-06

   alternative link

T.REX - Electric Warrior (1971) (Japan Release 1994) Flac

The album that essentially kick-started the U.K. glam rock craze, Electric Warrior completes T. Rex's transformation from hippie folk-rockers into flamboyant avatars of trashy rock & roll. There are a few vestiges of those early days remaining in the acoustic-driven ballads, but Electric Warrior spends most of its time in a swinging, hip-shaking groove powered by Marc Bolan's warm electric guitar. The music recalls not just the catchy simplicity of early rock & roll, but also the implicit sexuality -- except that here, Bolan gleefully hauls it to the surface, singing out loud what was once only communicated through the shimmying beat. He takes obvious delight in turning teenage bubblegum rock into campy sleaze, not to mention filling it with pseudo-psychedelic hippie poetry.

In fact, Bolan sounds just as obsessed with the heavens as he does with sex, whether he's singing about spiritual mysticism or begging a flying saucer to take him away. It's all done with the same theatrical flair, but Tony Visconti's spacious, echoing production makes it surprisingly convincing. Still, the real reason Electric Warrior stands the test of time so well -- despite its intended disposability -- is that it revels so freely in its own absurdity and willful lack of substance. Not taking himself at all seriously, Bolan is free to pursue whatever silly wordplay, cosmic fantasies, or non sequitur imagery he feels like; his abandonment of any pretense to art becomes, ironically, a statement in itself. Bolan's lack of pomposity, back-to-basics songwriting, and elaborate theatrics went on to influence everything from hard rock to punk to new wave. But in the end, it's that sense of playfulness, combined with a raft of irresistible hooks, that keeps Electric Warrior such an infectious, invigorating listen today.

Have fun
               Frank    Flac
                                    

Folk Rock by Susan Christie - Paint a Lady (1969) Flac

The material on this album, heard by few until it was issued on CD in the early 21st century, might have been built up as a little weirder than it is by some of the collectors who've raved about it. While it's not the most uplifting stuff in the world, much of it is haunting but not all that out-there pop-folk. Susan Christie's fairly strong, strident vocals and moody melodies, occasionally embellished by strings, aren't the most uncommercial mixture that could have been concocted, though apparently they were too uncommercial to find release when they were originally recorded. What is unusual -- and what sets it most apart from some singers she might bear the vaguest of resemblance to at times, like Melanie, Tim Buckley, Sandy Denny, and Bobbie Gentry -- are the unexpectedly forceful distorted guitars, near-hard rock organ, and angular rhythms and mild dissonance used in some of the arrangements.

In addition, for an eight-song, half-hour album, it's certainly unpredictable in the wide territory it covers -- "No One Can Hear You Cry," unlike anything else on the record, is close to sounding like a fine lost Dionne Warwick outtake, though even that gets set aside from the usual Bacharach/David production by the insertion of off-the-wall exotic tinkles of descending instrumental glissandos. If that's not odd enough in this company, there's also a cut, "When Love Comes," that's not too far off early Marianne Faithfull at her best. In contrast, "Yesterday, Where's My Mind?" is freaky at the outset, with its pummeling, tumbling drum breaks, creepy organ, and trippy ominous whisper-to-a-scream recitation, but even that track settles back into a relatively conventional song after three minutes. "For the Love of a Soldier" is another standout, managing to mix affecting antiwar folk-rock with a funky hard rock chorus quite effectively. Though Christie's not quite a major talent based on these relics, this is nicely dreamy and varied folk-rock for the most part that shows a lot of sadly unfulfilled potential, and if it's more downbeat than the norm for the genre, it's hardly gloomy.


This is a fine album with some unusual sounds for a ''folk album'. To me it's not really a pure folk album because there are a lot other influences who gives the album a very good sound. Give it a try, it's really worth it.
Cheers
           Frank  Flac