Mikal Cronin - MCll (2013) Flac

If you only know Mikal Cronin as a member of Ty Segall's band, you might be in for a shock on his debut album for Merge, 2013's MC II. If you picked up Cronin's self-titled 2011 album on Trouble in Mind, you might also be in for a bit of a surprise. See, Cronin doesn't go in for noise freakouts or skuzzy garage rock -- he's more of a power popper with an ear for a pretty melody. He's also cleaned up his sound quite a bit on this record with far less reverb and surface noise scuffing up his songs. Cronin and producer Eric Bauer go for a very layered approach that mixes acoustic and electric guitars and features Cronin's nice falsetto harmonies over the top. It makes for a very adaptable sound, perfect for uptempo rockers (like "Shout It Out" or "Turn Away"), midtempo janglers ("Weight," "Am I Wrong"), or introspective ballads ("Peace of Mind.") And despite Cronin playing all the instruments (save the occasional guitar solo by Segall, some drums, and occasional violin), it's a very live and direct feeling record with none of the sterility you often find with one-man band projects.

Much of the rest of the album looks to the '90s for inspiration, touching on Matthew Sweet's punchy power pop or gently biting Sloan's rambunctious, but keenly melodic, sound. Check "Am I Wrong" for something that a track that could have been on One Chord to Another, "Peace of Mind, too, has very Sloan-sounding vocal harmonies. "See It My Way" is a little close to being generically '90s though and tips too far in the grunge-lite direction. It's a minor stumble on an album made up of super hooky, really fun tracks and it's not enough to wreck the good-time vibe. Indeed, Cronin's second album is a step forward from his debut and shows off a guy with enough talent to step out from behind Segall's shadow and make it on his own. (Tim Sendra)
Enjoy
         Frank

p.s.: Tomorrow i want to post some glam and bubblegum music and i hope some of you will like it.
Wish you all a nice day/evening.     New Link

The Junipers - Cut Your Key (2008)

Leicester-based psychedelic pop band the Junipers were formed as a recording project in 2000 by founding members Joe Wiltshire, Marc Johnston, Pete Gough, Liam Riley, and Stuart Pratt. Following in the footsteps of seminal '60s groups like the Zombies and the Left Banke, the group has a strong focus on vocal harmonies and employs instruments like mellotron, banjo, and heavily effected pianos and guitars, creating a lush, neo-psychedelic sound. They released their self-produced debut LP Cut Your Key in 2008 receiving favorable attention from the BBC and several influential publications like Uncut and Record Collector. A couple of singles followed and in 2009, lead singer Marc Johnston left the band and was replaced by Robyn Gibson, a friend of the band. The line-up shifts continued in 2011 and 2012 with the departure of bassist Liam Riley and drummer Stuart Pratt who were replaced by Ash Seldon and Ben Marshall, respectively. In 2012, the new line-up recorded and released the band's follow-up LP Paint the Ground. A four-song EP by the band's side project, the Junipers' Euphonious Trolley, appeared in 2013.(allmusic.com)
In 2016 the band released the album ''Red Bouquet Fair''.

Take a listen. This is the debut album from 2008.

Cheers
          Frank
320

The Lovin' Spoonful - Daydream (1966) 2002 Flac

Hier wie schon angekündigt ''Daydream'', die zweite Scheibe aus der Lovin' Spoonful 5er Box.

Here is as earlier announced ''Daydream'', the second album of the Lovin' Spoonful 5 piece box.

 The band's second LP was very strong; this time, most of the tunes are originals, with the exception of a cover of "Bald Headed Lena." Joe Butler and Yanovsky are featured on some lead vocals, and the album includes two more hits, "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" and "Didn't Want to Have to Do It." [The 2002 reissue includes instrumental versions of "Jug Band Music" and "Fishin' Blues," demo versions of "Daydream" and "Didn't Want to Have to Do It," an alternate version of "Night Owl Blues" and an extra track, "Big Noise From Speonk."]

I spare the biography here because it's in the post of the first LS album.And i think most people know the band and the history. Okay, othing more to say except: Enjoy the music!

Greetings
                Frank

Flac

Redd Kross - Trance - Australian Tour '92 (Flac)

Here are the primary rocks of punk/power pop band Redd Kross. This is not the Trance ep but the whole album. I don't think i must introduce the band. The album is very ''Rock'' like the live concerts of the band. But they never forget to add the pop melodies to the songs.
You know the ''english settings'' of  Marshall amps (for guitars)?  Set all controls of the amp up to level 11 (highest possible level 10) and start rockin'. That's the way listen to the record: All controls up to 11! Have fun.
Cheers
           Frank

Flac

The Early Hours - Evolution 1998

The Early Hours second album, Evolution, is a more refined and polished record than their debut , with more prominence given to the lead and backing vocals. However, the album still manages to retain a live and garagey feel thanks to the simple recording and production. Songs like She's Where It's At, I Wonder If You'll Ever Be Mine, Christianne and an infectious re-recording of The Girl I Haven't Met are all the sixties inspired pop songs that the Early Hours are renowned for. Elsewhere, Step Back In Time, Hard Feelings and Adult Attraction have a darker, more garage punk sound while Happening Kid Today and Soon Be Back have an upbeat, rocking beat. The highlight of the album though is the heartbreaking, Lonely With You. Clocking in at exactly 30 minutes, The Early Hours prove with Evolution that when it comes to pop and beat music, quite often less is indeed more.(tripod.com)
After the quite calm power pop sounds of today here comes something for your dancin' shoes. Garage power pop at its best.

Bio
 
The Early Hours began in January 1995 when brothers Kirk and Chet Pohl decided to join forces with school friends Matt Davis and Sean Carthew and form a garage band with the express purposes of writing and recording their favourite style of 60’s influenced pop. The band never intended to perform live and in fact recorded their first album with Tom Thorpe at Bonsai Studio’s before they had ever played a gig together. They were influenced by The Sunnyboys, The Hoodoo Guru’s, Redd Kross, The Stems, The Plimsouls, and The Barracudas.
After pressing 500 copies of their self titled debut album, the band decided that gigging was necessary in order to sell and promote their music. Kirk and Chet were working in the mines in Kalgoorlie Western Australia while Sean and Matt were studying and living in Perth some 350 miles away. The band began alternating gigs between Perth and Kalgoorlie and rehearsing whenever Kirk and Chet could make it to Perth.
The band sent some copies of their album to Spinning Top Records who solicited the album to their contacts in Europe. After a good response from many pop labels in that region of the world, a deal was struck with the Berlin label ‘Twang’ who released the album on vinyl as The Early Hours Greatest Hits Volume 1.
This limited release has become a sought after collectable through out the world and is actually selling second hand at a higher market driven price than it was new.
Just prior to signing the deal with Twang, The Early Hours were unearthed in Kalgoorlie by Radio Station Triple J. This lead the band to some high rotation airplay and a much higher profile in Perth and the east coast. All of a sudden they had gig offers coming in from everywhere but Twang had invited them to tour Europe so they set their sights in that direction rather than the east coast.
The Early Hours set out to play 16 shows in Spain, Germany and France but this snowballed to 31 when they arrived. Gigs varied from playing to 800 people with The Bluetones at the loft in Berlin, (where signatures from Nirvana, the Hoodoo Guru’s, Pearl Jam and Lenny Kravitz were seen back stage), to an underground club in Spain called Kristall, with no PA one power point and a crowd of 20, in a room no bigger than the average Australian lounge room.
After returning from Europe the band was extremely tight, but emotionally and financially drained. They took about two weeks off to ponder did they want to keep playing. The chance of a You Am I support came up and after that gig moral was high and supports for The Hoodoo Guru’s, Powderfinger, and The Stems reunion show followed. By this time the band had recorded a new album again with Tom Thorpe and began taking to Phantom Music about the possibilities of releasing and developing the band. The Early Hours are now signed to Phantom Music and released their second full length CD, tilted 'Evolution', on the West Australian sub label Rocket, and a vinyl version on Melbourne’s Corduroy label. They head back to Europe in October 1998 with over 40 gigs confirmed, a limited edition double vinyl release in France and a strong following in the region. The band is also beginning to establish a strong following on the East coast of Australia and have toured there twice.
So far, so good. And now...put on your dancin' shoes
Cheers
         Frank
link 

p.s.: it's mp3 320

The Electric Soft Parade - Idiots 2013

It’s a beautifully sunny, unashamedly melodic tour de force which pitches up somewhere between a fevered Beatles obsession and a well-loved pile of Go-Betweens records. Just as Teenage Fanclub possess the rare knack of sweetening their songs without making them sickly, ESP happily go through the gears every time, throwing out key changes and layered harmonies like they've got an expiry date.

Lyrically, the themes are well worn; but you have to wonder if this is part of the conscious aping of those who have inspired them. “The sun never shined on me until you came around,” may not be a new sentiment, but played out at the heart of a glistening chorus it can subdue the most miserly cynic.
Some records make you think, some records redefine whole genres. And some, like ‘IDIOTS’, just make you very happy.
9/10 (Gareth James)

Wonderful band and i hope you feelin' fine with this album.
Cheers
           Frank 
link

Baby Scream - Greatest Failures

 Baby Scream is a project of argentinian musician Juan Pablo Mazzola.

Back in January, Juan Pablo Mazzola(the man behind B.S.) told me: "I'm a huge ELO/Beatles fan, and what I do is basically classic Power Pop!" and his new compilation "Greatest Failures" really is a tremendous showcase of the Baby Scream decade long recording career, basically from 2002 up until 2013. Fifteen great songs are squeezed into less than 45 minutes as this swift overview showcases an artiste who I summarised previously as being the result of crossing "... T.Rex with David Bowie and [throwing] in a little Tom Petty".

From the lyrically shocking opening of the first lines of "Slut" [a song of remorse written around the death of his father] through to the most recent track "Aching Eyes", Juan Pablo Mazzola writes and performs near perfect Power Pop gems which please upon hearing and will appeal to any T.Rex, Bowie, Dylan, Petty, Van Morrison and Jeff Lynne fan. There are no weak tracks included in this compilation with the Bowiesque "Mars" impressing as well as the raucous "Every Day [I Die A Little Bit]", the sublime "Morning Light", the string-laden ELO influenced "Nicole", the anthemic "Jekyll & Hyde" with the Van Morrison inspired "Secret Place" bringing up the rear with the superb Bolanesque "Aching Eyes".

"Greatest Failures" - ironically - is of tremendous credit and testimony to the talent of Juan Pablo Mazzola. There is a great range of tempo and style within this release to quickly impress the listener and it makes for a worthy addition to the collection of any Power Pop addict. (k.j.sinclair,elobeatlesforever)

                                                                                           You can buy it here: Bandcamp
 Enjoy!
           Frank
mp3 320
 

Dwight Twilley - Rarities (7 discs)

He's dipped into the vaults to present this series of totally awesome, high quality, career-spanning studio and live recordings that every hardcore Twilley fan will want to own! (amazon.com)

Hmm...there is not a lot to find about this ''Twilley rarities''. And i can't remember from where i get this copy. Anyway, this is for sure a fine collection of songs on seven discs. I guess there are around 100 songs in this package (haven't count). The quality is mp3@vbr~200 average value. But it sounds really good in my opinion. If anybody of you have a better copy please send me a pm and i will post  it here. Hope you will enjoy it.
Cheers
          Frank

link

Australia Power Pop The Richies - Forever And Today 2003 (FLAC)

The Richies are a fine little pop underground band from down under. A smooth mix of Teenage Fanclub's laid-back melodicism, Matthew Sweet's classic songwriting, and too many groups too mention's love of '60s pop, the band's Forever and Today should be a hit with fans of the bands just mentioned along with anyone who likes intelligent, melodic, and sweet guitar pop. If you like surprises you might be out of luck. If you want your pop delivered as predictably as the U.S. mail, then you are in luck. You also have to imagine that the mail has no bills in it, only postcards from loved ones and dividend checks. There was more sweat in that last line then there is on all of Forever and Today. Charley Davis delivers the lyrics in a gentle croon backed by the rest of the band's sweet harmonies and their smooth and simple mix of ringing guitars, tambourines, and Ringo-solid drums.

There are no weak tracks, no standouts really either. Listening to the record is like hanging out with really mellow friends, just shooting the breeze on a summer night. So much of the current power pop revival scene is slavish to a fault and therefore barely worth listening to. For that reason, hearing a record that is derivative for sure but also imbued with a sense of the band's personality and charm can only be described a breath of fresh air. Forever and Today may not be the kind of record that you would go to extremes to hunt down, but if you run across it, it's certainly worth investigating.(allmusic.com)

Michael Carpenter is the producer of this record and maybe you have a little idea how the record sounds. But i think that's only the half truth. The band sounds very Beatles influenced but more in a way ''before Sgt.Pepper''(here and there just a little reference). Surely this is not the ''invention of the wheel'' in Power Pop but it's  a record full of songs on a really high level. Good songwriting and tasteful arrangements with  a production which let the record sounds all of a piece. Real good power pop music.
Aaawright, that's just my two cents. Take yourself a listen and enjoy.
Greetz
           Frank
Flac

The Lovin Spoonful - Do You Believe In Magic 1965 CD (FLAC)

The Album:
"Do You Believe in Magic" was the first hit for the Lovin' Spoonful, reaching the Top Ten in 1965. Not only did that establish them as one of the first and most important folk-rock groups, but the song itself has also lasted as one of the very best rock songs to celebrate rock'n'roll itself. Although it, and the Lovin' Spoonful, have been classified as folk-rock, "Do You Believe in Magic" also owed a lot to pop, soul, and the British Invasion in its magical blend. The folk elements, perhaps, were in the jug band sense of fun that was a Lovin' Spoonful specialty, as well as singer and composer John Sebastian's autoharp, an instrument mostly associated with folk music.

The autoharp could be heard on the catchy opening series of chords, which owed something to the British Invasion in its cheery mix of cheery major and minor chords. Sebastian has said, though, that the chord progressions of the song were largely based on some of the ones being used by Motown in the mid-1960s. It was a catchy tune, as many mid-1960s hits were, but it was different from much else in the hit parade in its veneration of rock'n'roll as an almost spiritual healing force. This reflected, of course, the joy of dancing to rock'n'roll experienced by the teenagers that were the group's primary fan base. But it also, if only indirectly, also reflected the joy that folkies such as those in the Lovin' Spoonful were discovering when they were led back to rock'n'roll by the Beatles and other British groups. That's not to diminish the quality of the music itself, highlighted by almost countryish flecks of electric guitar responding to the lyrics throughout; a brief but memorable low, almost growling guitar solo; and hauntingly bittersweet backup harmonies by the group during the last parts of the verses.

Biography
 
Right on the tails of the Beau Brummels and the Byrds, the Lovin' Spoonful were among the first American groups to challenge the domination of the British Invasion bands in the mid-'60s. Between mid-1965 and the end of 1967, the group was astonishingly successful, issuing one classic hit single after another, including "Do You Believe in Magic?," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," "Daydream," "Summer in the City," "Rain on the Roof," "Nashville Cats," and "Six O'Clock."
Like most of the folk-rockers, the Lovin' Spoonful were more pop and rock than folk, which didn't detract from their music at all. Much more than the Byrds, and even more than the Mamas & the Papas, the Spoonful exhibited a brand of unabashedly melodic, cheery, and good-time music, though their best single, "Summer in the City," was uncharacteristically riff-driven and hard-driving. More influenced by blues and jug bands than other folk-rock acts, their albums were spotty and their covers at times downright weak. As glorious as their singles were, they lacked the depth and innovation of the Byrds, their chief competitors for the crown of best folk-rock band, and their legacy hasn't been canonized with nearly as much reverence as their West Coast counterparts.
Leader and principal songwriter John Sebastian was a young veteran of the Greenwich Village folk scene when he formed the band in 1965 with Zal Yanovsky, who'd already played primitive folk-rock of a sort with future members of the Mamas & the Papas in the Mugwumps. Sebastian already had some recording experience under his belt, playing harmonica (his father was a virtuoso classical harmonica player) on sessions by folkies like Tom Rush and Fred Neil. The Spoonful were rounded out by Steve Boone on bass and Joe Butler on drums. After some tentative interest from Phil Spector (who considered producing them), they ended up signing with Kama Sutra. Sebastian's autoharp (which would also decorate several subsequent tracks) helped propel "Do You Believe in Magic?" into the Top Ten in late 1965.
The Lovin' Spoonful were torn asunder by a drug bust in 1967. Boone and Yanovsky were arrested in California for marijuana possession, and evidently got out of trouble by turning in their source. This didn't sit well with the burgeoning counterculture, which called for a boycott of Spoonful product, although the effect on their sales may have been overestimated; most of the people who bought Spoonful records were average teenage Americans, not hippies. Yanovsky left the band in mid-1967, to be replaced by Jerry Yester, former producer of the Association. (allmusic.com, Richie Unterberger)

I will loosely post this five disc box in the next time between other posts. They are all in flac.This just for information. The first Spoonful album in my opinion is a real 60's classic and they had more. Okay hope you like it and...
Cheers!
            Frank
link

Dear Blog Readers!!! Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, for not published all of your comments.

I am the biggest nimrod which ever walked the earth. Today i received a pm from Mr Qwerty and he asked me why i don't publish comments. And i was surprised about that because i never see a comment coming in (I'm a DUMB-ASS). I think about it and then the light goes on. Something must be wrong with my settings. WOW... i feeled like Albert Einstein when i found the comments in my blog settings and a second later like a nimrod. How i could overseen this? Anyway, maybe too old to rock'n'roll...
I hope it work well now with the comments in the future and please folks, forgive me for that.I really love it when people comment the music and the things that happen on the blog. All of the comments are really appreciated. Thanks for every individual contribution in the comments and please keep it up.
I believe that's all what i can say about it and THANKS!!!

Cheers
           Frank

My express request...

URGENT...

 Hello folks, all of you friends and lovers of music. My concern is the urgent request not to post links from this blog to other sites or blogs. I love to share music and you can do with the music i post naturally whatever you want, but i want to ask you not using the links from here. If you want share it, feel free but if you do use your own links please. That's all i want to ask. I hope you all can give me your sympathy. Okay that's it. Wish you all a nice sunday/sunday evening

Greetings
                Frank