The Cowsills - 20th Century Masters - The Millenium Collection (2001) Flac

The Cowsills' volume of 20th Century Masters -- The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Cowsills contains nearly all of the group's biggest hits and best songs, including "The Rain, The Park, & Other Things," "Hair," and "Love American Style." Over the course of 12 songs, almost all of their hits are presented, along with Bill Cowsill's "When Everybody's Here," which means this will satisfy nearly all of their casual fans. Some diehards could use a longer collection, but the rest will find this to be a fine, entertaining collection.(allmusic.com)

Not much to say about this pop family. Finest sunshine pop from the mid sixties until to the seventies.

Have fun
              SB1  Link 1     Link 2   You need both links!

A Passing Fancy - A Passing Fancy (1968) 2008 Flac

A Passing Fancy was born out of Toronto's Yorkville Village scene in the mid-'60s. In 1967 the band released its debut single, "I'm Losing Tonight," which immediately became a hit and scored high on the east coast charts. In 1968, A Passing Fancy released a self-titled album on the independent Boo Records label that was well received and garnered good reviews. The Boo label, formed by two record store owners, only released the album in the Toronto area, so national fame and exposure eluded the band. A Passing Fancy was British-influenced pop with elements of psychedelia and an American garage sound. The band went through a couple of lineup changes while recording the album, but all musicians were credited in the album liner notes. The main songwriters in the band were Jay Telfer and brothers Fergus and Greg Hambleton. The songs were well written and the music was well played. Shortly after the release of the album, one more single followed, "I Believe in Sunshine," which was also a hit.

This single broke out across Canada and attracted interest south of the border, as well as with some major labels, but unfortunately it was too late and the band folded. Telfer and the Hambletons, in particular Fergus (as he went by for a time) went on to write more songs and record with other bands in the '70s. They also made a couple of solo albums that were well received and are still active today on the Canadian music scene. Greg Hambleton went on to form Axe Records while Fergus Hambleton continued to perform with his reggae band the Satellites. This reissue of the original Boo Records album by Pacemaker Records in association with the U.S. reissue label Timothy's Brain, is housed in a beautiful digipack case with original album artwork. Although this album contains no bonus tracks (as none were available) or additional liner notes, the sound quality is superb and is taken from the original master tapes. An exciting and long-lost piece of the early Canadian music scene that has thankfully been restored and made available once again for all to hear and a new generation to discover.

A fine album of british pop psychedelia with a light garage sound.
Have fun
               SB1  Link 1
                        Link 2
                                        You need both links! 

Fastball - All The Pain Money Can Buy 1998 (Flac)

When compared to their previous album (the 1996 debut Make Your Mama Proud), Fastball's All the Pain Money Can Buy shows that the group was steadily improving and honing its AAA/roots rock sound. The biggest difference between All the Pain Money Can Buy and their debut is that by spicing up their songs with horns and classic synthesizer sounds, Fastball created an album with greater musical variety. Produced by Julian Raymond and the band, the disc recalls the sound and approach of classic '70s rock, with the group stressing feel over precision.

That doesn't stop the band from updating its vintage rock with '90s technology and sounds, however, as proven by the presence of a beatbox in the album's opener, "The Way." One of the best tracks, the laid-back and groovy "Which Way to the Top?," is a duet between Fastball's Miles Zuniga and female solo artist Poe. The horn section featured on the upbeat "G.O.D. (Good Old Days)" recalls early-period Chicago, while the band tackles the singer/songwriter genre of days past on "Out of My Head" with a mellow organ sound and introspective lyrics. If you like your classic rock with a little more grit and experimentation, Fastball are wholeheartedly recommended.

Everywhere i go in 1998 all the pubs played Fastball's ''The Way''. All the radio stations played Fastball. On every tv channel you could see the faces of Fastball and then suddenly...nothing. All the hype was gone (i come from a pop musical developing country). Some years later i heard for the first time the album and i liked it. For that reason i post it now here. Sometimes it just needs a little, lol.
Enjoy
          Frank  Link 1
                     new 2nd link

Lannie Flowers - Circles 2010 (Flac)

Lannie Flowers – Circles

I will readily admit it: I’m a slave to the jangle. Give me a dose of high-energy, upbeat powerpop and I’m yours (musically speaking). And that’s precisely what happened when I popped Circles — the latest CD from Lannie Flowers – into my CD player. Double-tracked lead vocals, trebly Rickenbacker-toned bass lines, Revolver-era musical arrangement and a grab bag (in the best sense of the phrase) of sonic elements make Circles a fun, engaging listen.
Melodically Circles doesn’t trade in a groundbreaking approach, but then that aesthetic is one best left to progressive rock. The melodies on this album all have a whiff of familiarity, and that’s not a bad thing. Shades of 70s powerpop (The Nerves, Van Duren, Shoes) are all over the disc, but the more classic antecedents (the too-oft mentioned early 70s triumvirate) are clear influences too. At times Flowers sounds a tiny bit like a delightful cross between the late (Will) Owsley and fellow Texans Fastball, too.

Lyrical messages like “Turn Up Your Radio” generally force listeners into one of to camps. Either they groan and roll their eyes, or they agree and comply with the sentiment. When it’s delivered as well as Lannie Flowers does here, I fall happily into the latter category. Anybody who enjoys the Spongetones or Tommy Keene (to name two) will find themselves nodding along with these songs.
If you dig this style, by the fourth track (“Not in Love”) you might well wonder if this is a best-of collection; the exuberant tracks are that consistently infectious. Throughout the disc Flowers shows that he understands that the right amount of repetition is an essential component of pop. So while his songs never once beat a melody or hook into the ground, the do sink that hook into the listener’s psyche. And that’s a neat trick that’s harder to pull off than it might seem. On Circles, Lannie Flowers makes it sound easy.

With the exception of drums and a bit of background vocal work, every sound you’ll hear on Circles comes from Flowers himself. Yet the songs have that elusive live-in-the-studio feel, tempered with a careful (yet never fussy) attention to detail. “Around the World” deserves hit status, but then so do most of the tracks on the disc. It’s not all upbeat pop; “Just Like You” is more of a moody midtempo ballad, but it’s on less catchy than the poppier stuff. But more typical is the very Beatlesque “Looking For You,” which sounds like a John Lennon spotlight number. And for equal time, the disc closes with the early 70-Stonesy “Rusty Circles.”(Bill Kopp from musoscribe.com)

Lannie Flowers, power pop legend here with his 2010 album ''Circles'' will not disappoint you with this work. And i adopt two sentences from Bill Kopp about this album: For power pop connoisseurs, Lannie Flowers’ Circles is recommended in the strongest terms. The rest of you simply have no idea what you’re missing.
Have fun, Folks
                          Frank  New Flac Link  

The Sevens - The Sevens 1965/66 (2005)

The Sevens, a Swiss quintet that formed in Basel in 1964 and worked on into 1968, cast themselves firmly in the mold of the then ongoing British Invasion -- the Animals, the Kinks, and the Pretty Things all take a bow in their sound, while their eponymous 1965 debut album included covers of the Newcastle band's "I'm Crying" and Ray Davies' "Don't You Fret." There, however, comparisons run into a brick wall, as the Sevens reveal themselves to be several steps removed from even the craziest import beat boomer. In bassist Michael Boway, the band boasted a songwriter who was at least the equal of his Anglo counterparts, and in vocalist Pierre Aeblascher was a frontman of almost breathtaking style.

Together, they collide with an electricity that is as eccentric as it is spellbinding -- there are moments, most notably "The Love of a Bird," where Aeblascher slurs so heavily and bellows so loudly that you wonder whether he was even in the studio when the record was recorded. He could easily have been singing drunkenly along later. But that is a part of this remarkable album's charm. "Seven," the band's first single, clashes brooding organ with metallic crashes, beneath Aeblascher's foreboding recitation of the things that happened "on the seventh day of the seventh month...." In contrast, "You Should Know" is a brutal R&B stomp, wherein the singer sounds almost completely removed from the band (and some bizarre stereo separation adds to the dislocation), while a brokenhearted drawl through "I'm Gonna Dress in Black" could be a lost Doors demo, as vocals and organ melt together into one slurring liquid blob.

This compilation rounds up the Sevens' full 1965 output -- their 12-track LP along with seven non-album A- and B-sides, and it's safe to say there's not a clunker in sight. The gatefold packaging, meanwhile, rounds up 11 picture sleeve singles, a crop of band and hysterical fan photographs, and an all-too-brief band history. All told, the whole package explodes with a freakbeat craziness that is irresistible.

This is a very impressive and intensive garage band from Swiss. If you don't know the band give it a try.

Have fun  SB1   Flac