Here comes a chef's suggestion!!! - The Floor Models - Floor Your Love & Letter From Liverpool

Hello Folks, today i want start the blog with a suggestion of a fine Jangle/Pop Rock/Power Pop band from New York City. For me the band was until yesterday unknown, i only had heard the name one or two times before and the song ''Letter From Liverpool''. Most of you people of the Blogosphere will know the band because a member of the Floor Models - that's the name of this fantastic gang of musicians - have a fine Blog who's called ''Power Pop'' and it's a very popular Blog. Steve Simels is the owner of the blog and plays bass and keyboards in the Floor Models. We came in contact some weeks ago due to a swiss band of the sixties... I want not tell the whole story here because this is a suggestion about Steve's band and the great album ''Floor Your Love'' (zerohourrecords).here.

The songs on the album are from the early eighties until '88 and i highly recommend it if you are a lover of very well done Jangle/Power Pop. What i think about the album detailed (and also the 5 Track Ep or single? ''Letter from Liverpool'' released 2016) you can read at the ''Power Pop'' Blog by Steve

More infos about the albums you will find here.
If you like what you hear (and i know you will :-) ) you can buy the album here and the ep/single here.

Kind regards
                     Frank

Sixties inspired Power Pop: The Red Button - She's About To Cross My Mind 2007 Flac

Here is the first The Red Button from 2007 and to me this is a little Power Pop masterpiece. I highly recommend it!

I will post the link for mp3  tomorrow.

The Red Button

Swirsky's album of pop songs, She's About to Cross My Mind recorded with Mike Ruekberg under the group name The Red Button, was released in February 2007. The first song from the CD, "Cruel Girl," charted No. 1 in Billboard Magazine as "Coolest Song In The World This Week" (July 22, 2007) on Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show. The song was chosen to be on The Coolest Songs in the World, Volume 4 CD on Wicked Cool Records in 2008. The Red Button has also been featured on The Loft's "In Spite Of All The Danger" program and on Sirius Radio's Idiot's Delight with Vin Scelsa.

On August 7, 2007, they gave their first performance at Spaceland in Los Angeles to a packed house, as part of David Bash's International Pop Overthrow pop music festival.
The CD was also ranked the "Top of the Pops - Overall Best of 2007" by VillageRecords.com.
In a year-end poll of the top pop records of the year, She's About to Cross My Mind was ranked No. 1 (out of 125) by Absolute Powerpop. Pop music journalist and author of "Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide," John Borack, ranked "She's About to Cross My Mind" No. 1 in his Top 20 Best Albums of 2007. Pop journalist and International Pop Overthrow founder David Bash ranked the album No. 8 (out of 125) in his year-end 2007.
Another song from the album, Cruel Girl, was named the 2nd Best Song of 2007 by Popbang Radio.
A second album by The Red Button, entitled "As Far As Yesterday Goes," was released on June 21, 2011. It was voted No. 7 (out of 748 entries) in the 2011 year-end poll taken by readers of the online music group Audities.

The first single on "As Far As Yesterday Goes" -- Caught in the Middle—was named "The Coolest Song in the World" (for the week of July 11, 2011) on "Little Steven" Van Zandt's syndicated radio show The Underground Garage.
The song Picture from The Red Button's second album was nominated for Best Pop Song at the 2011 Hollywood Music and Media Awards in Los Angeles on November 17, 2011.
The Red Button was named to Music Connection Magazine’s 2011 Hot 100 Unsigned Artist list.(wiki)

Have fun
               Frank     Flac part1   &    Flac part2 
                                                                             mp3@320

Seth Swirsky ‎– Instant Pleasure 2004 Flac & mp3

SethSwirsky seems to be a man that all the things - in this case songs - turn to gold. In the purest sense of the word. This guy wrote more songs who reached the Billboard Top 40 charts and in many countries all over the world the upper places f the charts that ten fingers aren't enough for counting all these songs. Maybe his biggest success were the hit songs for Taylor Dayne in 1988 i think. Howoever this guy is GIFTED with the things he do in music business. The album Instant pleasure is his first solo album and provide real fine Power Pop. Later he made two further solo albums. Watercolor Day in 2010 and 2016 Circles And Squares. All are wonderful Power Pop efforts. This guy seems to do only one thing in 24 hours a day and that's making music. I could count more and more things but for now only this. I will post The Red Button albums in the next dfays here. It's a collaboration with Mike Ruekberg and together they released two albums. First in 2007 and the second in 2011. Also very cool stuff.

Enjoy Instant Pleasure
Cheers   Frank                        Flac part1  &  Flac part2      - mp3@320

Gerry Beckley - Van Go Gan 1995 Flac & mp3

I don't begin the history here with his mega selling success band America because i think everyone of you know the band and their work.

Despite, or perhaps because of, his success with America, Beckley did not release any proper solo material until 1995's Van Go Gan. A cheeky conflation of the names of painters Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, the album featured Beckley backed by a bevy of longtime friends and collaborators, including Bunnell, trumpeter Mark Isham, the Eagles' Timothy B. Schmit, and others. The album was followed by the companion remix album Go Man Go. Away from America, Beckley next delivered 2000's Like a Brother, his collaboration with Chicago singer/keyboardist Robert Lamm and the Beach Boys' Carl Wilson, who died from lung cancer after completing the album in 1998. The album featured a mix of originals from each member, as well as a cover of Harry Nilsson's "Without Her."

In 2006, Beckley returned with his third solo album, Horizontal Fall. A year later, he was back with Bunnell for the America album Here & Now, which featured production from Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha. The compilation album Happy Hour appeared in 2009. Two years later, Beckley was back to his solo work with the studio album Unfortunate Casino. Also in 2011, he paired with Bunnell for another America album, Back Pages, which included guest appearances from Mark Knopfler and Van Dyke Parks. America's 18th studio album, Lost and Found, followed in 2013. In 2016, Beckley released his fourth full-length solo album, Carousel, featuring "No Way I'm Gonna Lose You," a collaboration with Semisonic's Dan Wilson.

"Tin Man"
Gerry Beckley's 360/12OS Jetglo

Some people here asked me for more from Gerry Beckley after i posted two albums by him. Van Go Gan is his first solo effort and it is really a great american Pop album and i hope you will enjoy.

Have fun
              Frank      Flac part1   &   Flac part2        -  mp3@320

mp3 links for Various Artists - Fairytales Can Come True Vol.1, 2, 3, 4 added!

Good evening, Good day or Good morning Folks. I am a little late but here are the promised mp3 links for the Popsike/British Psychedelia small 4 part series. You will find the links in the posts of the different volumes.

Enjoy
          Frank

Shape Of The Rain - Riley, Riley, Wood And Waggett 1971 (2006 radioactive) Flac & mp3

Shape of the Rain was a band from Sheffield , founded around 63/64 by Keith Riley, his brother Len, Brian Wood and Ian Waggett. They started out called The Gear and then The Reaction. ‘If we couldn’t get gigs because they didn’t like us, we’d just change the name, If they liked us we’d stick with the same name,’ says Keith Riley. The band’s first professional recordings were in Nottingham in 1966. They released an album called “Riley Riley Wood and Waggett” in 1971, which was produced by Tony Hall.

They were influenced by American West Coast music and the British psych/progressive scene as well as many other styles and came up with a sound that was all their own.Twelve string and slide guitars were used to create a different sound to what was then the norm. They played The Marquee, London, The Cavern, Liverpool and Manchesters Hard Rock and Magic Village. They supported bands such as Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Free, Fleetwood Mac, Love and Joe Cocker, as well as many others during their time as Sheffield University ‘House Band’!

This is  a very fine pop rock album from year 1971 and the whole record is very good.
If you don't know it give it a try.

Enjoy
         Frank     Flac part1         &     Flac part2
                                         mp3@320

British Sixties Pop - John Bromley - Songs: The complete ''Sing'' album plus singles, demos & out-takes - 2009 (Rev-Ola EU)

The principal attraction of John Bromley’s 1969 album, Sing…, has been the presence of backing band Les Fleur De Lys, who were something of an inhouse band from Atlantic’s Frank Fenter. Now Rev-Ola present a fresh perspective on Bromley’s music, offering the 12-track album recorded under the watchful eye of producer Graham Dee, plus an additional 16 recordings – mostly unissued demos, barring a non-album single or two. Beautifully designed and annotated, Songs is an exemplary example of re-presentation, from archive photos, track-by-track annotations from Bromley himself, and Mark A Johnston’s exhaustive sleevenotes.
Be warned, though: anyone expecting the wide-eyed melodies or six-string bite of Les Fleur De Lys’ 45s might be disappointed. Bromley was a singer-songwriter firmly rooted in the Macca tradition – and it’s possible to hear echoes of Beatles ballads such as Yesterday or Eleanor Rigby in many of his compositions. True, So Many Things opens with some acerbic guitar work and I’m Gonna Love You Till I Die boasts moody instrumentation and a tub-thumping melody akin to Traffic’s Feelin’ Alright. Vast tracts of Songs, however, are more Octopus’ Garden than, say, The Open Mind – pleasant pop without any angles or, for that matter, distinguishing characteristics.(record collector)

To me, John Bromley is a gifted songwriter of pop music and i love his work very much. Hope you will like his stuff.

Enjoy
          Frank       Flac part1   &  Flac part2  &  Flac part3
                                            mp3@320

VA - Psychedalia - Rare Blooms From The English Summer Of Love (1997 See For Miles Records) Flac & mp3

Hello Folks and friends, this compilation was send me from Geoff, a nice guy from the UK and i thought i post it here because the artists here are not that often seen on comps like the usual suspects. And some interesting songs of psychedelic pop/rock/british psychedelia are presented here. I hope you will enjoy.

Cheers
           Frank       Flac part1  &   Flac part2   &   Flac part3
                                                                     mp3@320

Sixties Pop- The Buckinghams - In One Ear Gone Tomorrow 1968 (1999 Sundazed) Flac & mp3

An all-too-apt title for their fourth album, not just commercially but, alas, aesthetically. The group split from producer-manager James William Guercio before the recording (although Guercio did produce one cut, "What Is Love"). As on their third LP, Portraits, the band wrote most of the songs, Marty Grebb being the dominant force in that department, and proved that they simply weren't up to making memorable album-oriented rock.

It's obvious at points that they're straining to be heavier and more relevant in the psychedelic rock scene of 1968. However, it usually just sounds like mediocre pop/rock with some desperately eclectic contemporary production sheen and occasional semi-deep lyrics. The CD reissue on Sundazed improves matters, though not a whole lot, by adding nine bonus tracks, most taken from 1968-1969 singles. All but two of these (the B-side "I Got a Feelin'" and the previously unreleased "I Just Don't Know How to Say Goodbye"), however, appear on the Columbia/Legacy best-of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. (allmusic.com)

To me this is a quite good  release by Sundazed. Together with the bonus tracks it's really strong.
Some very good songs here.

Enjoy
          Frank         Flac part1   &   Flac part2
                                              mp3@320

American Power Pop by Public T.V. - Never Enough 2016 Flac & mp3

After a dalliance with Polydor that ended with the band signing with Cinematic Music Group, power pop aces Public Access T.V. make their full-length debut with Never Enough. It follows a significant amount of hype for the quartet beginning with legendary U.K. music mag NME declaring them "New York's Hottest New Band" before they'd even released an EP. They sold out their first show in the City in 2014, and soon booked tour dates supporting big-name acts including Weezer, Gang of Four, and a show at London's Hyde Park with the Strokes. The group's lead singer and main songwriter is John Eatherly, onetime member of Nashville indie rock group Be Your Own Pet. He and his bandmates bring a heaping spoonful of American power pop à la "My Sharona" and the Cars, mix it with a shot of the 2000s Brit-pop of the Libertines and the Kooks, and top it off with a heavy dose of New York swagger on Never Enough. It proves to be a fitting title for 12 tunes that clock in at under four minutes each with no real duds in the set. Adrenalized hooks are often offset by vocals that snarl and grouse but are happy to jump aboard melodies in the (often harmonized) choruses, such as on the opener, "In Our Blood." Later, "Summertime" drops a bit of glam into the mix, and "Patti Peru" struts out some loose-feeling garage. "Careful" offers the album's most enthusiastic vocal performance, in which Eatherly captures the spirit of Lennon and Gallagher. The record also extends a new anthem for New Yorkers in "I Don't Wanna Live in California." Though Never Enough certainly succeeds in providing classic infectious rock that sidesteps the often formulaic glaze of contemporary pop, above all else, it's just great fun.

Real great american Power Pop gang from New York. Don't miss it and listen VERY LOUD.
RealGreatFun!

Enjoy
         Frank     Flac part1  &   Flac part2
                                        mp3@320

Gerry Goffin & Carole King - A Gerry Goffin & Carole King Song Collection 1961 - 1967 (2007 Ace Records) Flac & mp3

Like songwriter team-oriented compilations that Ace has produced for Doc Pomus-Mort Shuman and Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller, this anthology of 26 tracks penned by Gerry Goffin and Carole King mixes a few famous hits with a bunch of items that are much more off the beaten path. It's a mixed, if overall worthwhile, blessing. For it's not the place to start if you want the best and most famous work in the Goffin-King catalog, missing the biggest covers of their compositions by the Shirelles, Little Eva, Bobby Vee, Herman's Hermits, Manfred Mann, the Chiffons, the Everly Brothers, and others.

On the other hand, for those who already have those hits several times over in their collections, it's a good place to pick up '60s recordings of many of their lesser-known songs, with a few smashes (particularly Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and the Animals' "Don't Bring Me Down") sprinkled in. The downside is that most of the songs, with some exceptions like the aforementioned pair, simply aren't as good or memorable as Goffin-King's most famous classics. But there are some very good tunes here, including a few that were small hits, like Tony Orlando's "Halfway to Paradise," Betty Everett's rousing soul-popper "I Can't Hear You," and the Tokens' "He's in Town" (which the Rockin' Berries made a much bigger hit in Britain).

Also of note are oddities like the Crickets' "Don't Ever Change," a hit only in the U.K. (where the Beatles covered it in 1963 on the BBC), Bobby Vee's rare "The Idol" (a theme song for a 1962 TV documentary), and Dusty Springfield's version of "Wasn't Born to Follow" (a song much more renowned as done by the Byrds). Skeeter Davis' wonderful "Let Me Get Close to You" sounds like it should have been a big hit, but to be honest, most of the

relatively unfamiliar tracks here simply aren't in the same league, though many have excellent period '60s pop/rock production.

That's even the case when stars like the Drifters, the Chiffons, Lenny Welch, Bobby Rydell, the Righteous Brothers, and the Everly Brothers take a crack at something, though Jackie DeShannon's girl group-flavored "Heaven Is Being with You" and P.J. Proby's Righteous Brothers-like "I Can't Make It Alone" are well worth hearing. Still, the CD's a smartly chosen sampling of material for those who want to hear more Goffin-King compositions than what's most commonly available, with excellent liner notes covering both the composers' early careers and these specific recordings. (allmusic.com)

There are more song collections of Goffin - King released by Ace and all are very very good. Not the place to start with???  Sorry i can't agree with that. This is no '20 Greatest Hits of...' thing. Goffin King have done so much of great stuff and just because not all were chart toppers, that say nothing about the quality of a good song. :-)

Enjoy
          Frank      Flac part1  &    Flac part2
                                          mp3@320
 

Artwork For Mike Viola & The Candy Butchers!!!

Hello Folks, i added the missing artwork for the yesterday post  'Mike Viola & The Candy Butchers - Falling Into Place'. Reader acresofbears provided the link for the artwork. Thanks for your kind efforts acresofbears. And to all the others enjoy the artwork and the music. By the way: The mp3 link is corrected! Have a nice day

Cheers
           Frank