More mp3! A little more of mp3 files

Hello Friends and Folks , first i wish all of you a good morning and a relaxed free weekend.
I want to announce that i will post a little more of mp3 files in the future because a lot people wrote me they would love to see more mp3 here on the blog. Also i see there are a big number of downloads at the mp3's i posted in the past. I am very surprised by myself about that. I thought always people like more the ''lossless'' files. I know there are a lot of arguments and reasons 'pro' Flac and 'against' mp3 and reverse. I think we don't must discuss it here once again. But if it possible for me i don't want to ignore a part of the blog audience. I  share music for the reason of spreading this music that we all love.
It won't change a lot and i will post the Flac files furthermore. But the amount of mp3 postings will get a little more. In some cases it will make it a little easier for me because it is no fun to make two or three archives for one album. I love what i do here with the blog and i hope you like it, too. Because this only can be functional with you, the listeners. Okay, no panic because just a little will change and i hope you all understand it.

Kind regards
                     Frank

Classic Power Pop From Ohio: Blue Ash - No More No Less 1973 (2008 Collector's Choice) Flac

Hailing from Ohio just like the Raspberries, Blue Ash are the great forgotten power pop band of the early '70s. Actually, "forgotten" may be too strong a word, for any power pop fan worth their salt knows of Blue Ash even if they've never to score either of their two LPs, whether in their original pressing or traded on cassette or CD-R. They were known as one of the key early power pop bands, standing alongside the Raspberries and Badfinger in how they drew equally from the Beatles and the Who. If anything, Blue Ash leaned on that Who influence harder than the Raspberries, rocking a vigor rarely heard in power pop and also opening themselves up to the lyrical vistas of Bob Dylan by covering the rarity "Dusty Old Fairgrounds," a move rarely made by power poppers. All this indicates that Blue Ash were a rock band first and foremost, placing the sheer rush of sound over hooks, something that a lot of their progeny never did. That's what gives their debut No More No Less -- finally reissued by Collectors Choice in 2008, a full 35 years after its release -- such a punch: they are one of the few groups that truly put some power in their pop.

This much is evident by the raucous album-opener "Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her)," a song with all the melodic rush of "Go All the Way" but leaner and meaner. Not all of the album keeps up at this same furious pace, as the guitars jangle as much as they roar and the group occasionally dips into a loping country-rock groove -- not on the Dylan cover, which again sounds a bit like the Who, but on "Just Another Game" -- and they do get sunbleached and mellow on "What More Can I Do." But most of No More No Less filters old-time rock & roll (the big-time boogie "Let There Be Rock") and '60s guitar pop ("Plain to See" evokes the Searchers, "I Remember a Time" the Byrds, and "Anytime at All" is a Beatles cover) through the outsized amplification of '70s hard rock. It's an addictive sound -- and one that hinted at the power pop that was to come even if it didn't directly influence it -- and it still carries a mighty punch all these years later.

I think most of you know the album and the band. The reason why i post it is to show it people that don't know the band. It is for sure an important album for the development of Power Pop in the first half of the seventies. Hope you like it and wish you a lot fun
Cheers
           Frank  Link 1   You need both links!  Link 2

The Dandy Warhols - Thirteen Tales From Urban Suburbia (2000) Flac

Though they still tend towards pastiche, the Dandy Warhols' third full-length, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, presents a bakers' dozen of their most focused and cohesive songs. Where their earlier albums were eclectic to the point of being scattershot, this release manages to limit the band's style-switching to dreamy, sweeping epics like "Godless" and "Nietzsche," sussed, sleazy power pop like "Horse Pills" and "Cool Scene," and country and gospel ventures like "Country Leaver" and "The Gospel."

The group's increasingly strong songwriting makes most of these experiments successful and distinctive, though the Dandys fall into their old habit of appropriating sounds they like wholesale with "Shakin'," a "tribute" to Elastica's uptight yet sexy riffs and rhythms. Not surprisingly, the most successful songs on Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia are the least derivative ones, such as anxious pop songs like "Solid," "Get Off," and the delicate, lovelorn ballad "Sleep."

On those tracks, as well as the satirical single "Bohemian Like You" -- this year's model of their hit "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth" -- the Dandys reveal themselves as a savvy pop band with a voice of their own. Though they're not all the way there yet, Tales From Urban Bohemia is a worthwhile step in their developing creativity.

I'm a fan of these guys and girl since i saw them on her first german visit. Great band !
Enjoy
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Tom Robinson Band - Power In The Darkness (1978) 2004 EMI Remastered (mp3)

This is the album by which Tom Robinson's works have been measured; its consistency is all the more remarkable, since he'd written several keynote tracks while toiling in the go-nowhere folk trio Café Society (such as Robinson's defining anthem, "Glad to Be Gay"). Power in the Darkness is proudly defiant as the era that inspired "Up Against the Wall," "Ain't Gonna Take It," "Long Hot Summer," or "The Winter of '79," which level fierce disdain for social hypocrisy. So does the nearly five-minute title track and funk-rock tour de force, while Chris Thomas' production is as razor sharp as the band itself. Guitarist Danny Kustow's go-for-the-throat style is the driving force; it's storming on the rockers yet suitably restrained on quieter fare like "Too Good to Be True," Robinson's lament for oft-delayed social change. Keyboardist Mark Ambler is equally assertive on colorful Hammond organ swashes, while Robinson plunks down simple, legato basslines, and Brian "Dolpin" Taylor keeps the beat pouncing, where others might let it loiter.

The live/studio bonus EP, Rising Free, demonstrates the band's explosive nature. The Ambler-Kustow interplay works to thunderous effect on "Don't Take No for an Answer," Robinson's bittersweet account of a soured publishing deal with the Kinks' Ray Davies; the hit "2-4-6-8 Motorway," one of rock's great drive-all-night numbers; and a searing rearrangement of Bob Dylan's plea for a wrongly accused inmate, "I Shall Be Released." The forceful tone is sometimes undermined by a strident sloganeering streak, as typified by "Right On Sister" or "Better Decide Which Side You're On," but that's a minor complaint amid the music's unflagging strength. Think music and politics don't mix? Listen to this album, and then decide.(allmusic.com)

Definitely the strongest album by Tom Robinson and he never reached musically the power of this album. Highly recommended!
Enjoy
         Frank   mp3@320

Colours - Love Heals The Complete Recordings (1968- 1969) 2008 Flac & mp3

Among the many unmemorable late '60s psychedelic bands that put out a record or two, Colours do stand out from the pack a bit for a couple of reasons. One is that they were among the relatively few American bands to adopt a very British orchestrated pop-psychedelic style, which must have been honed by incessant listening to every track the Beatles did in 1967. The other is that their bassist was Carl Radle, who soon went on to play in Delaney & Bonnie and, shortly afterward, Derek & the Dominoes, as well as with J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton the solo artist. Colours drummer Chuck Blackwell also achieved some renown in the early '70s by playing with Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Taj Mahal, Freddie King, and other artists.

However, the prime architects of Colours' sound were songwriters Jack Dalton and Gary Montgomery. They wrote all of the material on Colours' 1968 self-titled debut album on Dot, a competent if unexciting derivation of the sort of florid, bouncy, multi-textured songs the Beatles did on their 1967 LPs and singles. The problems? The songs weren't one-tenth as memorable, and the arrangements not nearly as clever or intricate, even if there was obvious attention paid to detail, with full harmonies and varying overlays of horns, strings, and even a sitar. Colours did make one further album, 1969's Atmosphere, on which no musicians other than Dalton and Montgomery are credited.

I post this in both, Flac and mp3@320.

A very strong piece of psychedelic pop here. All is very heavy influenced by the Fab Four but very tasteful. Maybe the songs are not as memorable as that what the Beatles had done but if you listen to it it's a lot of fun.And that's no contradiction. If you don't know the band and you like british pop psychedelia you should grab this.

Viel Spass wünscht
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                                       Link 2 mp3@320     You need both mp3 links!
This is the link for Flac NEW Flac link  The Flac link expire 2017-03-31

Andrew Gold - Whirlwind (1980) 2005 Collector's Choice - Flac

Best remembered for his mid-'70s smashes "Lonely Boy" and "Thank You for Being a Friend," pop singer/songwriter Andrew Gold was born in Burbank, California on August 2, 1951. The son of composer Ernest Gold (who won an Academy Award for his score to the film Exodus) and vocalist Marni Nixon (the singing voice of Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady), he first attracted attention as a member of the Los Angeles band Bryndle alongside Kenny Edwards, Wendy Waldman, and Karla Bonoff; in 1973, both Gold and Edwards joined Linda Ronstadt, appearing on classic albums including 1974's Heart Like a Wheel and 1975's Prisoner in Disguise. A noted arranger as well as a skilled multi-instrumentalist, Gold swiftly emerged as one of the most sought-after session musicians on the West Coast scene, and his résumé -- including dates with James Taylor, Carly Simon, Loudon Wainwright III, and J.D. Souther -- reads like a who's-who of the singer/songwriter movement.

In 1975, Gold released his self-titled solo debut; its follow-up, What's Wrong with This Picture?, was his commercial breakthrough, notching an international hit with "Lonely Boy." "Never Let Her Slip Away, " from 1978's All This and Heaven Too, also reached the British Top Five, but the album's most enduring moment remains "Thank You for Being a Friend, " the blockbuster ballad later remade as the theme song for the hit sitcom The Golden Girls.

However, 1980's Whirlwind stiffed, and Gold was cut loose from his contract with Asylum. After spending the early part of the decade touring with Ronstadt, he teamed with 10cc alumnus Graham Gouldman to form Common Knowledge, recording a self-titled LP in 1984. Gold and Goldman then rechristened their duo project Wax UK, notching a minor hit in 1986 with "Right Between the Eyes." "Bridge to Your Heart" was a British smash in 1987, but after 1989's A Hundred Thousand in Fresh Notes, Wax UK disbanded.

Returning to his solo career in 1991, Gold issued his first effort in over a decade, Home Is Where the Heart Is, before immersing himself in production work for artists ranging from Nicolette Larsen to Stephen Bishop to Eikichi Yazawa. In 1995, he reunited with Bonoff, Edwards, and Waldman in a new incarnation of Bryndle, releasing an eponymous LP before Gold's move to Connecticut forced him to leave the group soon after.

1996 saw the release of a new solo effort, ...Since 1951, as well as Halloween Howls, a record for children. Leftovers, a collection of unreleased material, followed in 1998. After producing country singer Lisa Angelle's self-titled debut in 2000, Gold released his own collection of country songs, The Spence Manor Suite. 2003's Wax Bikini collected rare material from Gold's days in Wax, and in 2005, Collectors' Choice Music reissued his first four solo albums with bonus tracks. The 2008 album Copy Cat was a new recording but heavy on covers (especially Lennon/McCartney). Copy Cat would be the last solo album released during his lifetime. After battling cancer. Andrew Gold died in his sleep at his home in Encino, California on June 3, 2011. He was 59 years old.

Andrew Gold was a very gifted musician and he's also one of my favourite songwriters. I post this album because it got no good reviews after it's release. I really don't no why. Sure he had stronger albums but nevertheless this is a good pop album with some strong songs (i.e. Stranded on the edge, Gambler - a fine Blues Rock rocker).
I hope you will like it too
Greetz
           SB1   Link 1  You need both links!  Link 2

New Wave Power Pop from Australia 1980 - The Radiators

The Radiators - Feel The Heat (1980) Flac

The radiators debuted late 1978. Their first album "Feel the Heat" was released late 1979 and by march 1980 these aussie rock icons had achieved platinum status. Little did they then know they would go on to forge a unique sound and influence thousands of music lovers throughout Australia.

 This was one of my favourite albums during the early 80's and is still a blast to listen to today. This album forged the way for the Rads to be part of Australian muscic folk law. A fun party band with the powerful vocals of Brian Nichol and the musical influence of Geoff Turner and Fess Parker makes this one of there best. If you had to have one Rads album this would be one to have.(amazon customer)

I was to lazy for searching an review over the web. To me it is a nice new wave power pop album and the best of the band in my opinion. I listened yesterday evening after a very long time once again and thought i will post it here today. Hope you enjoy
Cheers
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The American Dream - The American Dream (1970) 2011 Kismet (Flac)

Todd Rundgren produced this lost Philadelphia band’s only album back in 1970 off the Ampex record label. The American Dream’s album blends power pop, lite psychedelia, blazing hard rockers, folk-rock and roots music effectively throughout its 12 songs (almost 50 minutes of good music!).
Key influences are not a surprise, as listeners may hear strands of Crosby Stills Nash and Young, the Nazz, and the Beatles. The playing is full of youthful energy and the band manages to balance out hard rockers with attractive folk-rock power ballads. Raspberries has a slight psychedelic hangover, as it begins with a phased drum intro and showcases some wigged out guitar playing. Other quality songs like the Other Side, Storm (full of great Beatles-like melodies), I Ain’t Searchin’ and I Am You are predominately acoustic, tastefully arranged and have some great hook laden CSNY harmonies.

Good News, a song that begins with a telephone conversation, eventually segues into some pretty country-rock harmonies. It’s a typical relationship hard rocker in which the band humorously shouts out “don’t be a jerkoff” at the end of the chorus. The third track of the original lp is the real highlight of this very solid collection. Big Brother has classic late 60’s psych lyrics (“listen to the words he is saying, conjuring the games he is playing”) and intense early Who power chords (it really sounds like an excellent Nazz outtake) that make it a real killer and a treat for fans of British rock.
The American Dream stood out from the local crowd with their strong, exciting songwriting and 3 guitar lineup. From this point, my knowledge of the American Dream ends. Can anyone provide further info on this great lost American band? Were there prior or post American Dream bands and did they release any singles or albums? (Jason of ''therisingstorm.net'')

I haven't known that Rundgren produced the album. Anyhow, fine blend of psychedelic pop, rock and other popular musical influences of the time back then.
Enjoy
         SB1  Link 1  You need both links!  Link 2

I used another Front cover because can't find the original Kismet scan on my machine.

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
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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
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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