Sixties pop, easy listening and an album that never existed

First album is from 1968 and it is from Rainbow Ffolly (spelling is correct :-) ) It is calling ''Sallies Fforth'' . Next one is an sunshine album that was never released as a proper album. I think that's the reason why some people called it the ''lost'' album. It is from a band called ''Fountain Of Youth''. The band had released four singles on Colgem (It was the Monkees' label) and one single from earlier on the Tower label as ''The Crossfires''.  All this songs are on the ''lost'' album & two stereo single mixes from 'Liza Jane' and 'Witness people'.
Fountain of Youth was made up of four guys from Fredericksburg, Texas:
Jimmy Panza (lead vocals & drums)
Gary Itri (bass & vocals)
Gary Jenschke (lead guitar & vocals)
Ken Molberg (rhythm guitar & vocals)

And the third and last one for today is 'Roger Nichols And  The Small Circle Of Friends

A true sleeper in the context of California pop. As a songwriter, Roger Nichols wrote with such luminaries as Paul Williams and Tony Asher (fresh from his collaboration with Brian Wilson on Pet Sounds, who co-wrote several of the selections here). The album is a lot of things at once. Soft pop, a smattering of rock, and a heavy dose of easy listening. The group itself has a great vocal blend. Nichols is joined by Murray MacLeod and his sister, Melinda. The three voices combined create a wonderful, soft sheen, equally effective on the ballads (Bacharach's "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart") and uptempo numbers ("Don't Take Your Time"). There is an extremely gorgeous version of the Goffen&King song "Snow Queen," which is a graceful waltz, underpinned by the groups' superb vocals. The credits on the album are a virtual who's who of California pop at the time. Among those who helped out on the project on one way or another are Lenny Waronker, Van Dyke Parks, Bruce Botnick, and Randy Newman. Superbly produced by Tommy LaPuma, the album unfortunately didn't do very well at the time of its release, which is an incredible injustice. The music, though, holds up extremely well today, and is an authentic slice of California pop. Delicious.Thanks to
Matthew Greenwald from allmusic.

links in two minutes in the comments

Wish you all a nice day or evening
see you
            SB1

Back to '67 - The Alan Bown- Outward Bown(with 14 Bonus Tracks)

A lot Bubblegum here, sunshine pop, blue eyed soul, british psychedelia. And a lot of fun. Music from 1967... DEFINITELY!!!




link in the comments

Bleu im Doppelpack

Headroom established Bleu as a Boston sensation, but his "Somebody Else" on the blockbuster Spiderman soundtrack introduced him to more mainstream audiences and paved the way for his second record, Redhead. While it is the proper follow-up to Headroom, Redhead also includes re-recorded versions of four cuts from that album, along with "Somebody Else" and nine new tracks. The most noticeable change from the debut is evident in the execution: The subtle electronic elements on Headroom, along with some of that disc's charming quirkiness, have been replaced with a muscular, straightforward mainstream rock sound. At first this can be a little disconcerting, since Redhead feels like a slightly more anonymous work, but the quality of the new cuts saves the entire affair. The Andy Sturmer co-penned cut "Could Be Worse" sounds exactly like you'd imagine -- Bleu and Jellyfish mixed together, with an end product something like Supertramp. Storming power pop like "Ursula Major, Ursula Minor" sits comfortably next to gorgeous ballads like "We'll Do It All Again." Bleu does occasionally let his more maudlin, dramatic vocal sensibilities run wild here, making him at times sound like a rockier Rufus Wainwright, but even the biggest departures aren't shockingly different from Headroom. Redhead is just a pop record, but it feels like a manifesto, playing smoothly from end to end. Fans of modern guitar pop and singer/songwriters can't miss with this. [The 2003 Columbia re-release of Redhead adds two songs to the track listing (the crashing album opener "Get Up" and "That's When I Crash") and deletes three songs: "Sayonara," "Feet Don't Fail" and "Ursula Major, Ursula Minor". The addition of "Get Up" makes Redhead a stronger album but it is too bad the decision to cut "Sayonara" was made as the track (which features the girls of Puffy on background vocals) was one of the album's highlights.]

 Six years after songwriter and popmeister Bleu briefly flirted with mainstream success -- a song on the soundtrack to Spiderman and a distribution deal with Columbia for his album Redhead -- he's finally gotten around to releasing a follow-up, A Watched Pot , and while the title seems to hint at the record's extended gestation period, the results sound polished and professional without suggesting  Bleu has been worrying this material during his downtime. Bleu's music is smart and laden with hooks, and the production by John Fields makes the most of the melodies, adding a solid crunch when the tunes are supposed to rock, a solid old-school R&B groove when he feels like dancing, and a swooning vulnerability when Bleu is wearing his heart on his sleeve. Or rather, when he acts like he's wearing his heart on his sleeve -- many of the songs on A Watched Pot walk a fine line between a true romantic's sincerity and a snarky air of sarcasm, summed up in "No Such Thing as Love" and "I Won't Fuck You Over (This Time)." While over in the country singer/songwriters section Lyle Lovett has built a career around characters who embody this sort of duality, Lovett can negotiate the balance in a way that makes his characters sound dastardly but interesting, while Bleu generally just seems shallow when he tries the same trick. This failing is all the more frustrating since A Watched Pot is a great-sounding pop album, with just enough contemporary sheen to make it a clear product of the present day while revealing the ear of a classicist who has learned from a lot of great records of the '70s and '80s. Ultimately, A Watched Pot is the work of an artist who writes great tunes but could use some help with the words -- anyone know a good lyricist who likes to write about guys who are a little on the shifty side? Thanks Jason Damas & Mark Deming for the reviews

See you
             SB1

Links in the comments

Atlantic Thrills once again...shit happens!

link in comments !

Billy Nicholls - Would You Believe 1968 Deluxe Edition

Billy Nicholls - Would You Believe '68  Deluxe Edition (2006)

Erst als Antwort auf ''Pet Sounds'' von den Beach Boys und Brian Wilson hinter vorgehaltener Hand gehypt, wurde das Album 1968 letztlich doch nicht veröffentlicht (bis auf einige hundert Kopien die
in Schweden auftauchten), aufgrund von finanziellen Schwierigkeiten des damaligen Labels von
Nicholls. 1998 veröffentlichte Billy Nicholls es dann doch auf seinem eigenen ''Southwest'' Label.
Diese Doppel CD ist die 2006 Deluxe Edition. Ich habe irgendwo noch das komplette Werk von Nicholls und werde es später auch mal reinstellen. So wie immer viel Spaß
Bis später
                SB1

link in the comments

The Jupiter Affect - The Jupiter Affect (1998)@320

The Jupiter Affect truly lives up to the definition of the term "rock & roll band." On one hand, it's a guitar-driven project (Jason Shapiro and Dan Epstein are your culprits here), and indeed, one of the finest twin-guitar groups in the pop field playing in Los Angeles today. It's also led by vocalist/bass guitarist/songwriter Michael Quercio, the former guiding light of such popular aggregations as the Salvation Army, the Three O'clock and Permanent Green Light. Both of these elements meet and create a rock & roll attitude that's infectious - they do it together, as a band, and that's the most obvious factor of this party. The music itself is pop scraping against metal scraping against psychedelia; Sell Out-era Who comes to mind as a reference point. The songs themselves are a mixed lot, and are not necessarily the stars of the show here -- aside from "Angela Davis Hair," which sports one of Quercio's finest melodies ever. One of the songs' secret ingredients is a lovely Mellotron-esque keyboard courtesy of guest Phil Parlapiano. "#17 Dream" sports the same effect, along with a delicious (and tastefully short) backwards guitar solo. It's a fine debut, and a lot of fun.(allmusic)

I forget to mention this is an Ep. 5 Tracks full of magic music. I hope you will enjoy

See you
             SB1


mp3@320

Andy Kim - How'd We Ever Get This Way (1968) @320

Absolutely underrated Topnotch Pop-Bubblegum album from 1968. Let's hear what Thomas Stephen Erlewine says about it:
Andy Kim's 1968 debut How'd We Ever Get This Way showcased his knack for commercial pop music, pitched partway between bubblegum and Brill Building tradition, often recalling both the effervescence and moodiness that marked Neil Diamond's '60s work for Bang. Brill Building mainstays Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich produced those recordings, and after their partnership soured, Barry started writing with Kim on a regular basis, eventually signing him to his fledgling label, Steed. How'd We Ever Get This Way was Kim's debut, consisting entirely with material he co-wrote with Barry, and it's an excellent example of hooky mainstream pop from the late '60s: bright, melodic and well-constructed, from its composition to its productions. At times, it may sound strikingly like Diamond -- "Just Like Your Shadow" recalls "Solitary Man," right down to the mournful horns that come in on the second verse; "Love That Little Woman" bounces along on handclaps and maracas just like "You Got to Me" -- it does so without ever sounding imitative; it sounds like the work of a singer/songwriter with similar gifts, sharpened and honed by Diamond's producer. That producer also happened to be a producer for the Monkees, and there are echoes of that group as well; it's easy to imagine "Circus" as sung by Micky Dolenz and the skipping "Shoot 'Em Up Baby" is just gimmicky enough to work well on TV. At times, the music edges toward the middle-of-the-road (the swelling strings on "Pretty Thing") and sometimes it bears traces of psych-pop, but it never goes too far in either direction. With the exception of the dreamy, dramatic closer "Resurrection," which is notable and excellent in its own way, this is late-'60s pop at its lightest and brightest, and cut for cut it's one of the strongest records of its kind, thanks to songs as irrepressibly catchy as "How'd We Ever Get This Way" and sweetly understated as the McCartney-esque "Ordinary Kind of Girl."
I hope you'll enjoy it
See you
             SB1

link in the comments

Bill Lloyd - Feeling The Elephant (1987) @320

Power pop from the mid eighties. Bill Lloyd is a real master of pop. Here is what Stewart Mason from allmusic.com says: Bill Lloyd's first solo album was actually released in 1987, predating the Nashville native's association with Radney Foster in the mainstream country act Foster and Lloyd. However, at that time, it appeared on the tiny Boston indie Throbbing Lobster, just as that label was breathing its last. Thoughtfully, Atlanta's DB Records picked up Feeling the Elephant after Foster and Lloyd's commercial breakthrough and reissued it in a new cover with slightly improved sound. Good thing, too, because Feeling the Elephant beats the pants off of Foster and Lloyd's fine but annoyingly slick albums. Recorded as (mostly) one-man band demos between 1983 and 1986, the ten songs on Feeling the Elephant range from Big Star wistful jangle ("This Very Second") to Marshall Crenshaw roots pop ("Lisa Anne"), with side trips into the funky rock of "I Wanna Sit and Watch the Credits Roll" and the ghostly psychedelia of "Everything's Closing Down." It's hard to believe that this wasn't originally recorded as an album, because there's a flow and organic unity to these well-sequenced songs that makes Feeling the Elephant a more satisfying listen than most power pop albums. The slightly new wavish, Let's Active-like title track and the ultra-catchy jangle popper "Nothing Comes Close" are particular highlights, but this is a power pop joy from start to finish.

Have fun and enjoy this great piece of pop music!

link in comments

The School - Loveless Unbeliever (2010) mp3 & Loveless Unbeliever (2016 25th Elefant Anniversary Reissue) Flac

This band is best medicine against rainy days, homesick blues, loneliness, lover's grief and a lot of other bad gifts from life. It's fun fun fun! In my opinion no filler here.
The band is from Wales and formed in 2007. They signed a contract with spanish label Elephant records and after a series of singles they released the album ''Loveless Unbeliever'' in 2010. Second album was ''Reading too much into things like everything'' in year 2012. Latest album is ''Wasting away and wondering'' which was released in autumn 2015. All three records are really lovely ''fun music'' And i like them much. Hope you have fun too.

The mp3 link is in the comments!             Flac part1 & Flac part 2

Comments are very welcome!!!

Open Up The Gates...

So, hier ist er endlich. Mein erster eigener Blog. Lange hat's gedauert, aber letztendlich habe ich's dann doch gemacht. Die Idee selber war schon vor ca einem Jahr geboren...aber bis ich dann auf die Bahn gekommen bin..naja!
Was wird euch und mich erwarten ? Wie der Header ja schon sagt viel Power pop, Sechziger Sachen, Popsike, Garagenpop, eigentlich alles mit geilen Melodien und feinen Arrangements. Was es nicht geben wird, ist der Kirmesklamaukpop der einem aus den Mainstream Medien entgegenjammert.

Ich habe lange überlegt, ob ich die Seite in deutscher Sprache mache oder doch eher in meinem gebrochenen Englisch. Ich werde es erstmal mit beidem versuchen und schauen wie's läuft.
Das meiste, dass ich posten werde, habe ich selber aus dem Internet. Ich halte das für legitim, auch wenn da sicher die Meinungen auseinandergehen. Ich denke, letztendlich geht es darum auf gute Musik aufmerksam zu machen. Natürlich werde ich auch eigene Sachen posten, aber wie gesagt das ist der wesentlich kleinere Teil. Ich hoffe wir werden Spass haben, also lassen wir die Spiele beginnen. Ich habe zum Einstieg drei verschiedene Sachen rausgesucht, die ich morgen im Laufe des Tages online stelle und hoffe das ein oder andere wird euch gefallen.
Bis demnächst
                       SB1


So here it is at long last...my first own blog.It took ages but in the end i did it.The idea was born around one year ago but i needed time 'cause my ass won't come up faster.
What will you and me expect? Like the header say a lot of Power pop, sixties stuff, popsike, garage pop, actually all with a lot melodies and great arrangements. You won't find here silly mother...... pop (sorry can't find a good translation for the german word).
I have well-thought-out for a long time if i do the blog in german or in my broken english language cause there are not a lot music pages in german. I think i will do it in both languages. Let's see what time will bring.
Most of my posts i will do i get myself from the internet. For me that's okay but i know that there are different positions about it. My opinion is that good music should be shared to let the people know what(which ?) great music is around. Sorry about my english...
Of course i will post my own CD's too. But from all i want post it will be just a small amount. Okay that's just for information. I hope we will have fun so let the games begin. For the beginning i have three different pieces of music that i upload tomorrow during the course of the day and i hope you will enjoy.
See you
             SB1