The Chesterfield Kings - Where The Action Is! (1999 Sundazed) Flac & mp3

In 1999, the Chesterfield Kings were still doing pretty much the same thing they were 15-20 years earlier: an album comprised mostly of covers of '60s garage classics, with a few originals in the same style. In fact, just four of the 17 tracks here are group compositions, the covers spanning nuggets relatively obscure (the Spiders' "Don't Blow Your Mind," the Electric Prunes' "Ain't It Hard"), hits (by the Syndicate Sound, Blues Magoos, and Hollies), and kinda cultish cuts (the Yardbirds' "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago," the Kinks' "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," the Standells' "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White").

By this time, it should be clear to everybody that the CKs are not innovators but popularizers of the form, just as some contemporary blues band would be popularizing B.B. King and Muddy Waters on a mostly covers disc, or a Scottish folk singer would be popularizing reels and jigs. It might seem strange to think of '60s garage rock as an authentic folk form, but keep in mind that the style's heyday passed more than 30 years before this album was made. It is, of course, not nearly as good as hearing a mixtape of the original versions, not only because the original versions are better, but also because here all of the material is delivered by one singer (Greg Prevost), which makes the experience much less varied. Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders co-wrote, and adds guest vocals to, the too-aptly-named "Where Do We Go from Here."(R. Unterberger)

Well done cover work by TCK. I always liked the band because i never expected a lot more as...well done covers.
Enjoy
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Sunshine/Baroque/Psychedelic Pop: The Peppermint Trolley - Beautiful Sun 1965 - 1968 (2009 Now Sounds Records) Flac & mp3@320

The Peppermint Trolley Company are quintessentially '60s Southern Californian, capturing the soft fallout of folk-rock and psychedelia, all wrapped up in the studio gleam of Hollywood. Tinsel Town played a large role in the group's existence as they became best-known as the singers of the theme songs for the Brady Bunch and Love, American Style, gigs they received because they had a sweet commercial sound that should have hit the Top 40 even if it never did (the closest they came is with the minor hit "Baby You Come Rollin' 'Cross My Mind," a bubblegum spin on Glen Campbell).

The Peppermint Trolley Company's problem wasn't a lack of good collaborators -- on their eponymous 1968 debut, Chad Stuart of Chad & Jeremy, provided arrangements, Roger Nichols appears on his song "Trust" -- or a dearth of material but that they lacked a strong identity, too easily moving from lite psychedelia to gently rolling folk-pop to slightly tougher rock, always falling back on splashy Hollywood pop whenever things threatened to get too loud.

Their professional facility gave them a cheerful anonymity which may have hurt their career, but does make their recordings, collected here on a generous 27-track collection, a pleasing pop artifact of the late '60s, their anonymity letting the era shine through. This is even true of their earlier recordings dredged up by the compilers, who, including singles, the group recorded under the names the Mark Five, the C Minors, and the Intercoms, sides that find the group tackling all manners of mid-'60s pop/rock.

These earlier singles are generally livelier, recalling the Beau Brummels, the Beatles, the Byrds and the Monkees, but that only bolsters the impression that no matter what name they chose, the Peppermint Trolley Company were L.A. soft pop pros easily adapting to the times. But that's the paradox of the studio pop of this era -- the names of the group don't matter, the sounds do, and the Peppermint Trolley Company produced enough breezy, easy sounds to make Beautiful Sun more than worthwhile for aficionados of this style and sound.(allmusic.com)

Classic Sunshine/Baroque pop album by the Faragher brothers. The guys and all who are involved in the making of the album delivered top notch work. The disc have 16 bonus tracks with different pre Peppermint bands like The Mark V, The C-Minors, The Intercoms and songs who are not released on the album.
Don't miss it.

Enjoy
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Ringo Starr - Choose Love 2005 (Koch Records) Flac

There's nothing surprising, or even all that different, about Choose Love, Ringo Starr's 13th studio album: it's firmly in the tradition of his 1992 return to recording, Time Takes Time, which itself was an attempt to recreate the breezy, good-natured vibe of Starr's biggest and best album, 1973's Ringo. But where that album and the two records that followed it -- 1998's Vertical Man and 2003's Ringorama -- were star-studded affairs, the only guests here are Robert Randolph and Chrissie Hynde, who stops in for a duet on "Don't Hang Up."

That means Ringo relies on his longtime collaborators Mark Hudson (who is also the record's co-producer), Gary Burr, and Steve Dudas, who form the core of his touring and recording band, as well as function as his co-writers, and by this point, they've been together nearly a decade. This is a relaxed, comfortable group, but that familiarity pays off here.

Instead of sounding lazy, Starr sounds assured and confident, and he has a strong set of tunes that know how to make the best of his endearingly limited vocal range and lovable personality. The music here is well within his comfort zone -- partway between the amiable yet splashy Richard Perry productions of the early '70s and classic mid-period Beatles (the title track has plenty of direct allusions, from the "Taxman"-styled riff to a quote from "Dizzy Miss Lizzy") -- but it all works, largely because it never sounds like Ringo and the lads are straining to capture that vibe: it just seems to come naturally to them now.

It also helps that Choose Love has a warm, rich sound that is far removed from the digital brightness of its two predecessors: it helps give the album a friendly aura that's hard to resist if you've ever loved Ringo. And if you've ever loved Ringo, take comfort that this album will be one of the few records of his that you can play without guilt and enjoy from start to finish. It's not just a good record for Ringo, it's just a flat-out good record.(allmusic.com)

''...but it all works, largely because it never sounds like Ringo...''   i have no words for things like that.

In my eyes a good album by Ringo Starr with over average much strong songs on one album. That is really sometimes a weakness with his albums. There are for instance six or seven real strong songs and often a lot of average stuff in my mind. That is really a pity because he have done very very strong songs in his career. This album assure me 100 %. What i really like here are the little reminiscences to the Beatles in the songs sometimes lyrically and often with short harmonies or a  melody line.

Enjoy
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Australia's & New Zealand's GaragePopModBeatRock Of The '60s: Various - Sixties Downunder 1988-2000 Vol 3 (1998 Raven Records) Flac & mp3@320

The third volume of this series of highlights from Australian and New Zealand 1960s rock collects 28 above-average to fine tracks from 1964-1969. True, many of these previously appeared on LP reissue compilations (often on the Raven label), but here you get 76 minutes of music on one CD, with a higher level of consistency than many of those Raven anthologies sported. The Easybeats are the only artists here likely to already be familiar to the North American and European audience, though many of the others, like the Master's Apprentices, Normie Rowe, Ray Brown & the Whispers, the Twilights, the La De Das, and Larry's Rebels, had a lot of chart success in Australia and/or New Zealand.

The strength of this comp is that there are a good number of fine songs here that most non-Australasian listeners won't have heard before, like the Easybeats' 1965 hits "She's So Fine" and "Wedding Ring" (which are the group at their most raucous), Throb's hair-raising garage rock cover of the folk song "Black," and the very good Merseybeat-ish numbers by Bobby & Laurie, the Cicadas, and M.P.D. Limited.

Its weakness is that it's pretty derivative of better British and (less frequently) American groups of the time, and includes too many covers of well-known songs from overseas by the likes of the Hollies, the Creations, and Bruce Channel that aren't in anything like the lofty league of the originals. It's also weaker the later it goes into the 1960s, with the psychedelic pop and heavy rock numbers less enjoyable than the British Invasion imitations.

Even in this corner there are some good cuts, though, like the mod-psych-pop of the Playboys' "Sad" with its swirling guitar and harmonies; Procession's "Listen," which sounds much like the late Small Faces; Dave Miller Set's "Mr. Guy Fawkes," a grandstanding cover of an apocalyptic psychedelic album track by the Irish band Eire Apparent; and Russell Morris' weird, six-minute "The Real Thing," which stretches an average pop-soul song out of shape into a psychedelic suite (and was a number one Australian single in 1969).(allmusic.com)

Third part of the four volume series by Raven Records. There is not much to say, my opinion is often different from the allmusic reviews and i see the volume a little better but all in all it meets the point.

Have fun
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The Parade - Sunshine Girl 1967 - 1968 (2009 Now Sounds Records) Flac & mp3@320

Although the Parade had planned to release an LP titled Sunshine Girl in 1968, that record failed to appear when A&M shelved it. This 23-song 2009 CD compilation is a kind of belated substitute for the record, including both sides of all six of the singles they issued in 1967 and 1968; a couple other tracks, "Lovers," and "Kinda Wasted Without You"; some demos and alternate/mono/45 mixes; recordings by the Roger Nichols Trio and Smokey Roberds in which some members were involved; and even a 1965 acetate by Connie Austin of a soul-pop song written by Paraders Murray MacLeod and Smokey Roberds.

The crucial half of the disc are the dozen tracks from those 1967-1968 singles, starting with the 1967 Top 20 hit "Sunshine Girl," which is now regarded as one of the core anthems of the sunshine pop genre. While nothing else has the obvious hit singalong appeal of "Sunshine Girl," the other 45 tracks are well-crafted, cleanly produced exponents of late-'60s Southern Californian harmony pop/rock that are generally a bit more mature, and not as ornate or cheerily bouncy, as much other sunshine pop of the era.

There's still some of that whitebread stuff, to be sure, like the vaudeville-edged "Frog Prince." But there are also cuts with echoes of moody flamenco ("She Sleeps Alone" and "The Old Melody") and dreamy Baroque psychedelia ("Lullaby"), as well as ones that resemble the Monkees in a particularly upbeat frame of mind ("She's Got the Magic" and "I Can See Love"). "A.C./D.C.," meanwhile, is one of the most accurate mid- to late-'60s Donovan soundalikes ever cut, to the point where it's hard to tell if it's an imitation or a parody.

"Hallelujah Rocket" has some of the scatting pizzazz and wit you might associate with a Nilsson track; "everyone can have their own guided missile if no one blows the whistle" is surely one of the phrases most apt to be trotted out as proof that not all sunshine pop lyrics were piffle. While the non-45 tracks are as expected not quite up to the level of the rest of the material, they're good complements to the main body of the CD that will please anyone interested in hearing what the Parade were up to beyond "Sunshine Girl."

All such listeners will also be interested in the very thorough liner notes, which do a lot to clarify the slightly confusing Parade story, with interview quotes from everyone in the group.(allmusic, R. Unterberger)

Definitely one of the strongest so called sunshine pop bands of the mid sixties. It was enigmatic to me the album wasn't released back then. Not just the single tracks convince also the other tracks presented here are fine stuff. Like i said in my opinion one of the strongest works from the mid sixtiesin sunshine/baroque pop.

Enjoy
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The New Seekers - We'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (2003 Collector's Choice Music) Flac & mp3

We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing by New Seekers is actually their earlier New Colors album with the fifth track on side one, "Move Me Lord," moved off in favor of the group's remake of their Coca Cola commercial. In one of the most interesting moments in pop music, both the Hillside Singers on Metromedia Records and New Seekers on Elektra got into the Top 40 at the same point in time with the exact same song. As commercials keep infiltrating movies, this Top Ten hit for New Seekers was actually a harbinger of things to come three decades after. It also beat out the Hillside Singers, who brought the same tune to the Top 15 the week before.

But there's a certain genius to it all, come to think of it. Inundated with the melody via incessant ads, one almost can hear "Coca Cola" in the song, or strain to think the group is singing, "It's the real thing." In Britain, Ray Davies had to remove the name "Coca Cola" and replace it with "cherry cola" in the Kinks' song "Lola" for airplay on the BBC, but no such problem exists here. The marketers made the persistence of memory so overwhelming that the listener knew this wasn't a Pepsi jingle. Side one of the disc is not as solid as the flip, though things start strong with R. Wood's "Tonight" and a nice reading of Richard Kerr's "Evergreen." Peter Doyle's labored vocal and song "Boom-Town" might've served this project better by getting the axe rather than the song that did, "Move Me Lord," though the songwriting royalties on an album with a monster hit may have been what gave this little doggy the nod.

Here was an opportunity to fill out half of side one with an extended remake of one of singer Buzzy Linhart's favorite titles, the original Seekers' "I'll Never Find Another You." Now that would have put this effort over the top and Linhart could have guest starred as well, because Doyle, Paul Martin Layton, and Marty Kristian, along with Lyn Paul and Eve Graham, don't get much help from the other material on this side of the disc. Melanie Safka's "The Nickel Song" leads off side two and it is one of the highlights, the group having hit with Safka's "Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma" the year before. Peter Doyle's "Lay Me Down" isn't a bad tune either, with Lyn Paul taking the lead vocal and the group showing that they can compose as well. Eve Graham and Peter Doyle take the leads on the country-ish "Good Old Fashioned Music" and the very pretty album-closer "Child of Mine." This latter-day New Christy Minstrels was more of a middle-of-the-road vocal pop group in the style of the original Seekers than folksingers, and the impeccable voices sweep in and out with the strings and perfect instrumentation. It was also during the time that the hit record ruled, so all in all, We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing is an acceptable and respectable outing.(allmusic.com)

To me are stronger songs here as the soft drink hit, lol. I like this sound from time to time. ''Sweet Louise, No Man's Land, Tonight, Too Many Trips To Nowhere,  just for example are fine pop songs.
Take it or...

Enjoy
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Australian ModPowerpopGarageRock by: Happy Hate Me Nots - Time And The State (2011 Hate Mail Records) Flac & mp3

Never thought we'd see a sophomore Happy Hate Me Nots album, let alone one this good from the get-go. First they re-formed in 2006 after 15 years missing, while compiling an exhaustive 41-track, double-CD Aussie anthology The Good That's Been Done (every track from their two great EPs, seven singles, lone LP -- 1988's Rob Younger of Radio Birdman and New Christs-produced Out -- plus tons of unreleased goodies.

Now the zippy Sydney rockers come back strong on Time; their first record in two decades, it's a triumphant, true follow-up to their last, best, 1991 mini-LP A Place to Live. Frontman Paul Berwick always had the big time, stick-to-the-ribs tunes -- as he really had to, given his terra firma in a 1979-1980 All Mod Cons (the Jam), "What Do You Know" (Buzzcocks), and Jeopardy (the Sound) style, albeit crispy/crunchy, open-ended, driving, and infectious. Nothing has changed: from the opening "Son of a Star," Berwick tests his upper range á la old joys like "Don't Move Too Far" showing no wear. The ringing guitars pulsing in "Today" and closing "Foggy River," striking "Find the Time," and Birdman/Lime Spiders-slamming "Wait," and "I Want to Go" similarly rip-roar anew through a familiar, biting, post-Saints post-punk pop pulse they helped establish Down Under with God, Trilobites, Stems, and Eastern Dark, etc.

And for balance, Berwick's bunch try hyper funk and spacey folk tracks while evoking Blue Öyster Cult razzle-dazzle on the classic rock-nodding "Our Space." Absolutely gripping.

These guys sound on this album as if they are yet five years younger as on their debut around 25 years ago. Absolutely powerful, melodic, straight through the wall forward. No fillers here. Wonderful songs, great production, wonderful album.

Enjoy
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Power Pop from New York City: Frank Bango - Touchy Feely (2013 Sincere Recording Co) mp3@320 only

New York City-based singer and songwriter Frank Bango's accessible, classic-sounding pop songs sound refreshingly familiar, almost as if they came out of another less frantic and noisy era. All of this is by design, since Bango and his longtime co-writer, Richy Vesecky, have always aimed for a kind of Brill Building approach in their songs. Handling all steps of the process D.I.Y., from writing, producing, and recording to distribution and marketing, Bango has released four albums on his own Sincere Recordings imprint since 1994, I Set Myself on Fire Today, Fugitive Girls, The Unstudied Sea, and The Sweet Songs of Decay.(allmusic.com)

Frank Bango is a quirky but melodically inventive sole power-pop proprietor with a knack for memorable riffs.  He casts a wide net and pulls in a lot of fish.  You can hear the George Martin influence on “Defensless'” horns and the lovely loopy keyboards, and a touch of Beatles on the lovely “Not a Word” with its ingenious melody and quivering guitar.  “Too Lazy To Love You” is a wistful, sunny-day top-down anthem and “Kissing Bugs” features in an indelible guitar riff.  Hint of Byrds on the chiming “What Kind of Saturday Is This?” and “Astronaut I’m Not.” While not as memorable as Fugitive Girls this is a damn fine album. (Mike Baron in popgeekheaven.com)

If you don't know Frank Bango you should give him a try.

Have fun
    
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Beatlemania(c)? Ringo Starr - Ringo Rama (2003 Koch Records) Flac

At first: I will post this only in Flac. Please don't ask me for mp3. It's a lot of software all over the web you can use for converting. Thanks for understanding.

As i said yesterday i want to post the albums Ringo Starr released over the years (and decades) in his career. I won't do that chronologic but how it comes in my heart and soul. I asked in the headline ''Beatlemania(c)?'' and i answer the question by myself: Beatlemania? Definitely YES because there are a lot people from the first generation of fans and Beatlemaniacs who are still alive.

And all the following generations of fans all around the world who love the music. You see, enough people for a Beatlemania if we all would be a little younger, lol. Beatlemaniac? A definitely YES because the Beatles are my all time forever and ever favourite band. And the  Beatles changed the developement of popular music completely. Pop music would sound different today without the influence of the fab four.

And most important to me, it changed my musical way in my life. There were and are moments in my life where i feel that and it touched and still touch my soul so ''hard''. I have no better words for that.  Just another Beatles maniac :-).

Okay, enough love stories i start with the Ringo album ''Ringo Rama'' released in 2003. The album have very strong songs and different emotions and to me it is a very good album and makes a lot of fun. Listen yourself.

Enjoy
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Australia's & New Zealand's GaragePopModBeatRock Of The '60s: Various - Sixties Downunder 1988-2000 Vol2 (1990 Raven Records) Flac & mp3@320

Good morning, Ladies and Gentleman here we go with the second volume and some very well known artists we can find here like The Easybeats, Normie Rowe, The Groop, The Masters Apprentices and some more and a lot of fine artists with very strong songs. Hope you will enjoy it.

Have fun
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