Tinkerbells Fairydust - Tinkerbells Fairydust (1965-1969) 2009 Flac

The name of the band and the naked nymph on the cover marshal an appetite for sounds far more psychedelic than you actually get on Tinkerbell's Fairydust's self-titled album (realized in test-pressing form only by Decca in 1969, though issued on CD in 1998). The leadoff cut, "Twenty Ten," is also deceptive -- it's pretty respectable, atmospheric late-'60s British psych with a slightly classical feel and some cool wah-wah guitar and distorted organ. But not only does nothing else on the album match it, not much on the album even sounds like the work of the same band. Covers of the Brooklyn Bridge's "The Worst That Could Happen," the Association's "Never My Love," and Spanky & Our Gang's "Lazy Day" are not only psychedelic, they're not very good, sounding like attempts to closely cover American hits for the British market. Other tracks sound like similar British equivalents to the Happenings and the Tokens -- not exactly among the more exciting American '60s bands to begin with -- but not even doing harmony pop/rock as well as those groups did. "In My Garden" is a half-decent track a step above their other sunshine pop-oid songs. Yet it's not nearly enough to save a record that lurches to a close with a note-for-note cover of the Yardbirds' blues-rock instrumental "Jeff's Boogie," indicating that the group might have had some trouble deciding what kind of stuff they wanted to imitate.

The name of this late-'60s British band might unwittingly lead some collectors to believe they were another in the hordes of dainty U.K. psychedelic pop groups. However, though a few of their tracks did indeed fall into that category, for the most part they recorded equivalents to American sunshine pop. In fact, they filled out their repertoire with some close, unimaginative covers of late-'60s, lightweight, U.S. harmony pop/rock hits. The group's more psychedelic offerings attract the most interest, although there weren't too many of those to choose from since the band only issued three singles. All of them appeared on Decca in 1967-69, the highlight being the 1968, 45 rpm "Twenty Ten," a nice minor-keyed piece of harmony-laden light psych, with soft wah-wah guitars and foggy organ. The B-side of their first single, "In My Magic Garden," was slightly more middle-of-the-road psychedelia-influenced harmony pop, and not bad.
In 1969, a self-titled Tinkerbells Fairydust album was assembled at Decca, and included four of the six songs that had appeared on their singles, as well as nine other tracks. Although this got as far as the test pressing stage, it never did get released.

It did get issued on CD in the late 1990s, and though it does include "Twenty Ten" and "In My Magic Garden," the majority of it's a disappointment, emphasizing light harmony pop-psych numbers that make them out to be the British equivalent of American groups such as the Happenings.(Richie Unterberger)

Anyway, here is a collection of pop songs from the mid sixties to the late sixties. And what we have is psychedelic pop, sunshine pop, a little baroque pop, british psychedelia. And here are a lot of real good songs for a good collection. What's missing is a little of an ''album feel''. That's right. But the record got a bunch of great songs and that's enough for me. Lol, you see i'm a BIG fan of that sixties sound !
Hope you enjoy the band and three cheers for Mr.Unterberger
Best regards
                  Frank
Flac

 

World Of Oz - The World Of Oz 1969 (2007) Flac

The World of Oz were a British psychedelic pop band that enjoyed a short string of successful singles in Europe. Between those major charting records in Holland and a lot of good press at home, the release of an album was planned -- yet they managed to throw it all away with an unexplained split. All four original members -- Tony Clarkson (bass, vocals), David "Kubie" Kubinec (organ), Christopher Robin (guitar, piano, vocals), and David Reay (drums) -- hailed from Birmingham, and had been parts of that city's burgeoning pop/rock culture for varying amounts of time. Clarkson had several years' experience playing in various bands, and had also performed on the European continent. Kubinec had spent two years working mostly in Germany as a member of the Pieces of Mind, doing a mixture of R&B and soul. Reay and Robin (real name Christopher Evans) had played in a band called the Mayfair Set, working in Germany for a year before returning to Birmingham late in 1967, where they broke up. The pair decided to form a new band, and Kubinec and Clarkson were recruited through advertisements in musician magazines. In January of 1968 they formed the group, the "Oz" name and imagery fitting in with the trippy ambience of the late '60s.

They decided that while Birmingham's club scene could provide work, it didn't offer the kind of prospects for a recording career that they had in mind, and so they headed to London. Their songwriting ability got them snatched up by Sparta Music. And for a manager, they had no less a figure than Barry Class, who was best known for his most successful client, the Foundations (of "Build Me Up Buttercup" fame). Class lived up to his last name by setting the group up in a luxury apartment on Park Lane, in London's exclusive Mayfair district, long a fashionable locale for movie stars and theater performers seeking to put on a big front in their lives. It made for a fair amount of press access and good press, as well as impressing various record company executives, accustomed to dealing with up-and-coming bands living in near squalor. Between the quality of their songs, played at impromptu auditions or the gigs Class was able to get them, and the gimmick of their high-profile digs, the band received serious overtures from several record companies, including Pye. But in the spring of 1968 they signed with Deram Records, the progressive pop imprint of English Decca. Wayne Bickerton, who headed Deram, thought enough of them to personally produce this new act, and his enthusiasm was more than enough to seal the deal. He even approved and budgeted the use of a 33-piece orchestra accompanying them on one of Kubinec's songs, "Muffin Man," at their first recording session.

"Muffin Man" was issued as a single in England and on the Continent in May of 1968 (and a little later in the United States). A catchy tune with great hooks, instrumental as well as vocal, and a trippy, nursery-rhyme-like ambience, it somehow managed never to chart in England. According to Kubinec in an interview on the psychedelic site Marmalade Skies, things began coming apart when Class accompanied the Foundations on a tour of America and left the World of Oz in the hands of a deputy who immediately cut back on the promotion budget for the group and the single. In trying to save a few shillings, he cost them the momentum they'd been working for months to build up, and the single just lay there. The key moment, in his view, was missing a chance to do the single on Top of the Pops. However, the record did reach the Top Ten in Holland, sold reasonably well across Western Europe, and also managed to get some positive response in the form of radio play in the United States. Three months later came their second single, "King Croesus," which also made the Top Ten in Holland, and got to number 126 in the Cashbox charts late that fall in America. Additionally, despite the fact that they hadn't charted a single in England, the group's sound -- a light, harmony-based psychedelia similar to the Bee Gees and records like "Barker of the UFO" -- and Class' clout got them as much work as they could handle and more. The band lasted through two more rounds of recording sessions in 1968, through November of that year, and even got a third U.S. release, for "The Hum-Gum Tree" b/w "Mandy-Ann."
An album seemed a next easy step, but things weren't right within the band, and Kubinec and Reay were already gone -- for reasons no one has ever explained -- by that last set of recording sessions, replaced by Geoff Nicholls (guitar, organ) and Bob Moore (drums), respectively. The group soldiered on, under a rather awkward shadow -- Deram Records already had a finished album in the can and a February release date, and that record was coming out, despite the fact that it featured two key members who were already gone from the lineup. Meanwhile, the World of Oz had another modest hit in Holland, "Willow's Harp" b/w "Like a Tear," early in 1969. The new lineup made it as far as appearing on the televised rock & roll showcase Beat Club in Germany and other, similar programs in Holland, and on the cover of pop magazines in the Netherlands. Finally, another U.K. single, of "The Hum-Gum Tree," was due out, but then was canceled. That, apparently, was the final straw for the reconstituted band, which broke up in May of 1969, a year after the group's recording career had begun.

The World of Oz LP was released on schedule and disappeared without creating a ripple on the charts, on either side of the Atlantic. The album cover was a very strange one -- it featured visual representations of the last lineup of the group, which was understandable but also strange, as they were hardly heard on the record inside. The cover design was an especially ornate affair, utilizing characters from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz universe, which, according to Kubinec, also included representations of their manager, and even annotator Jonathan King, while the back cover had images of Bickerton and arranger Mike Vickers. As a psychedelic artifact, musical and visual, that LP and the cover were serious collectors' items for many years. It was bootlegged on CD sometime in the late '90s, before a legitimate re-release from Repertoire Records showed up in 2007, concurrent with a mini-LP-packaged CD in Japan.

Given relatively easy availability at last, the album reveals a prodigiously talented pop/rock band, nothing earth-shattering given what they and Class and Bickerton were aiming at, but with a lot of unrealized potential residing in those songs. And the singles "Muffin Man" and, better still, "Like a Tear" reflect a tuneful, trippy psychedelic pop sensibility, somewhat similar to the early Bee Gees -- in addition to appearing on The World of Oz, they have been anthologized on various psychedelic collections. In the years following the World of Oz's demise, David Kubinec did a solo album on A&M Records about a decade after the original group's signing, while Reay became a recording executive. Both Kubinec and Clarkson have since enjoyed long careers in music, right up to the present day. Nicholls, though a later member of the group, did rather better in music than any of the others in the band, however; after a stint with Quartz, he joined Black Sabbath for a long stint as their keyboard player.(allmusic.com, Bruce Eder)
This is a marvelous album of British Psychedelia, Psychedelic and Baroque pop. Don't miss it, imho it's a real gem.
Cheers
          Frank
Flac

Great Buildings Power Pop from early of the eighties!

GREAT BUILDINGS - Extra Epic Everything  (recorded  '80-'82) 2010

Bio:
Great Buildings were a power pop/new wave group formed in the early '80s by Danny Wilde (vocal/guitar), Richard Sanford (drums), Philip Solem (guitar/vocals), and Ian Ainsworth (bass/keyboard/vocals). They recorded one album for Columbia in 1981 before breaking up a short time later. Wilde went on to release one solo album in 1989 for Geffen before teaming up again with Solem to form the Rembrandts the following year. The Rembrandts released three albums between 1991 and 1995 and found moderate success with "Just the Way It Is, Baby" in 1990 and "I'll Be There for You" (the theme to the television show Friends) in 1995.

The Album:

Great Buildings only released one album, their debut, Apart from the Crowd, in 1981, but they did wind up recording a second album toward the end of that year, an LP that featured the slightly expanded band with keyboardist Mickey Mariano. This album, called Extra Epic Everything, lay unreleased for almost three decades before Wounded Bird finally released it in 2010, fulfilling the wishes of a small, dedicated legion of power poppers who loved Apart from the Crowd along with Danny Wilde and Philip Solem’s subsequent band the Rembrandts. Listening to Extra Epic Everything years later, it’s clear why this record developed something of a cult following, being bootlegged in various forms over the years, and why it wasn’t released at the time. In its favor, the album often crackles with coiled energy, with its best moments snapping with ‘60s guitar hooks and glassy new wave synths.

Counting against it is how it’s clear that the album was made knowing that it was a last-ditch effort for the band to make it, so there are times where it’s clear that the band’s eye was on a radio playlist, whether it’s pushing the synths and rhythms a little too hard (“Your Eyes” winds up in a nowhereland between AOR and new wave), dabbling in drippy ballads, or covering “Cherry Cherry.” All these little detours -- which are never bad, just misdirected -- paradoxically wind up diluting Extra Epic Everything enough to not be especially sellable by 1981-1982 standards, but the melodic strengths of the best material do endure, which is why it’s certainly worth hearing after all these years later…and hearing more than once, too.(S.T. Erlewine)

These guys deserved the success they got later with the Rembrandts. Hope you like it!
Cheers
          Frank
mp3@320

Dot Dash - 555 ep 2017 (Pop, Power pop, Indie)

Wow, the guys from Washington DC pay for a round of five song ep 555. Five songs out of five albums in a period of five years. And it's all for free. It's highly recommended! I think most of you guys and gals know the band so that is not required to introduce the band. I let it do the crew of allmusic.com (lol)

When Washington, D.C.'s punky power pop act Julie Ocean split up, guitarist/singer Terry Banks and bassist Hunter Bennett gathered together a cast of highly pedigreed area players to form Dot Dash. Enlisting Danny Ingram on drums (formerly of projects as varied as teenage hardcore upstarts Youth Brigade and guitar manipulators Swervedriver) and Bill Crandall (formerly with the mod-pop band Modest Proposal) on guitar, the band began working on songs and playing sporadically around the D.C. area in the summer of 2010. The band took its name from a Wire song, but rather than leaning toward Wire's jagged, art-damaged punk, Dot Dash bore more similarities to the jangly, mod-inflected sounds of unofficial ringleader Terry Banks' former groups Glo-Worm and the Saturday People. The group continued to play out regularly around D.C., opening shows for Urge Overkill, the Trash Can Sinatras, and Chameleons Vox. The summer of 2011 saw the release of the band's first full-length endeavor, Spark>Flame>Ember>Ash, a 14-song collection recorded in three afternoons. They followed in 2012 with second album Winter Garden Light, and in 2013 with Half-Remembered Dream, their sound edging more and more toward polished indie pop with each release. Crandall departed the band sometime after the album surfaced, to be replaced soon after by former Government Issue and onetime Minor Threat member Steve Hansgen. The new lineup traveled to North Carolina for the recording of fourth album Earthquakes & Tidal Waves, working with former R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter. Their next album introduced a heavier, almost metallic sound as the band stripped away some studio sheen in favor of a more insistent approach. Produced by Missy Thangs, who also worked with Ex Hex, Searchlights was released in mid-2016.(Fred Thomas)

Here is the link for the ep: mp3vbr 
Okay folks, all the albums without exception are just great. You can find them on bandcamp here: Dot Dash

Cheers
           Frank

Bubblegum With Sugar, Sugar And A Whole Lot More Sweet Candy Music!!!

 The Archies - Sugar, Sugar-The Complete Albums Collection (5 Disc Box)

BIOGRAPHY
Most '60s bubblegum groups were faceless studio concoctions, made up of hired professionals and given nominal group identities after the fact. The Archies made no pretense of being a real band in the first place -- their music, including the smash hit "Sugar, Sugar," was "performed" by the animated TV cartoon characters spun off from Archie comics. In reality, of course, they were a studio concoction made up of hired professionals (most notably lead singer Ron Dante), but in this case, they weren't technically faceless.
The Archies were created by promoter Don Kirshner, who was coming off a major success as the creator of the Monkees. In late 1967, Kirshner was hired as music supervisor for CBS' new Saturday morning cartoon The Archie Show, which was to feature a new original song every week. He immediately brought on producer Jeff Barry, who with Ellie Greenwich had formed one of the preeminent songwriting teams of the girl-group era (Greenwich also sang on several Archies records).

Kirshner's original choice for lead singer was Kenny Karen, but Barry brought in Ron Dante, an experienced session singer who'd fronted the Detergents' novelty parody "Leader of the Laundromat"; Dante had met Barry at a Neil Diamond session, and had previously cut promos for Kirshner. Dante won the job, and Barry hired Jeannie Thomas as the group's female vocalist. When the TV show debuted, it was a hit, and the first Archies single, "Bang Shang-a-Lang," nearly made the Top 20 in late 1968.
Shortly thereafter, Barry hired songwriter/backing vocalist Andy Kim, and replaced Thomas with Toni Wine. Barry and Kim co-wrote "Sugar, Sugar," which became a breakout smash in 1969; it topped the charts for four weeks, sold over three million copies in the U.S. alone, and wound up as Billboard's number one song of the year. Meanwhile, the TV show was expanded to a full hour, and Dante enjoyed a simultaneous Top Ten hit during "Sugar, Sugar"'s run, thanks to his lead vocal on the Cufflinks' "Tracy." The follow-up, "Jingle Jangle," reached the Top Ten, but from there the Archies' chart success tailed off quickly. Their last Top 40 hit came in the spring of 1970 with "Who's Your Baby?"; the same year, Donna Marie replaced Toni Wine.

However, by the end of 1970 Barry left the Archies to pursue other projects, and stories detailing the group's breakup named their primary personnel for the first time. Their final Barry-produced single was released in early 1971, although "A Summer Prayer for Peace" became a hit in South Africa later that summer.
Ron Dante embarked on a short-lived solo career before moving into record production, and found substantial success as Barry Manilow's producer throughout the '70s; he also returned to singing on commercial jingles. Andy Kim went on to score a substantial solo hit in 1974 with "Rock Me Gently."

In 2008, Ron Dante revived the Archies name, brought in two vocalists to play Betty and Veronica (Danielle van Zyl and Kelly-Lynn), and released The Archies Christmas Party album on the Fuel 2000 label. Right around that time, Dante, who by now owned the rights to the original recordings, oversaw the reissue on CD of all the band's original albums. In 2016, Goldenlane Records reissued all five Archies albums under the title Sugar, Sugar: The Complete Albums Collection.

THE BOX
 The Archies were perhaps the most popular animated band in the late '60s, with a cartoon that aired every Saturday morning and one chart-topping single, "Sugar, Sugar." With songs written by big shots like Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, the smooth vocals of Ron Dante, and a cadre of talented studio musicians helping guide the way, the Archies weren't only popular, they made a lot of good records too. While most of the albums are probably easy to find in thrift stores around the U.S., Goldentone did people who want all the albums in one handy place a favor with the release of 2016's Sugar, Sugar: The Complete Albums Collection. Housed in a heavy-duty box with the original album covers reproduced, there are none of the skips and smells associated with beat-up old albums. Just great bubblegum mixed with the occasional weird moment and even, as the decade wore on, a little bit of social commentary. Released in 1968, The Archies is the purest expression of the simple, fun sound Jeff Barry was aiming for, with songs about teen love, dancing, grooving, and having a good time. The following year's Everything's Archie contains "Sugar, Sugar," plus "Feelin' So Good (S.K.O.O.B.Y.-D.O.O.)," a hard-to-type song, but one that is almost the equal of their big hit in the hooks department.

It's also where Barry and company really capture the balance of silly pop and insistent soul that drove the group's best songs that came after. Also arriving in 1969, Jingle Jangle is the strongest-sounding album of the bunch, with some gnarly distorted guitar, a real rhythmic punch, and great songs like "She's Putting Me Through Changes," the title track, and "Get on the Line." This album is where Ron Dante really comes into his own as a vocalist; he puts lots of soul into some really silly lyrics. Sunshine was released in 1970, and it suffers by comparison to the preceding Jingle Jangle. Featuring stilted songs about ecology and religion, it had no real hits, and the tough sound is cast aside in favor of an ultra-clipped, inoffensive approach. That album marked the end of Jeff Barry's involvement with the project, and Dante took over for 1971's This Is Love. The album features lots of good bubblegum, especially the title track, some almost country ballads, and more care given to the arrangements, not to mention the songs themselves. The increased effort didn't yield any hits, and no more albums were released under the Archies' name. While the packaging and sound could have been better -- a little remastering would have gone a long way -- the set is still a vital document of one of the most important bands of the '60s. Well, maybe not exactly important, but almost always fun and that's pretty important in its own way. allmusic.com)

Hello friends of pop music here is a project of bubblegum music and it had a lot of success then. But what more can i say...except maybe that here was extraordinary musicians at work and with the project/band The Archies (besides others like the monkees e.g.) they are responsible for a higher worldwide acceptance for bubblegum music and not only music for ten years old kids. But also naturally!lol
Listen to it, have a candy bar and enjoy!
Frank
new link

The Yellow Balloon - Yellow Balloon 1967 mp3 320

The Yellow Balloon was Don Grady's (Robbie on TV's My Three Sons) rock & roll group, but even more important, the brainchild of California producer Gary Zekley. Not unlike a Gary Usher, Zekley could grab a bunch of musicians and -- filling in the needed holes with his own talent -- produce sessions that rivaled Phil Spector or Brian Wilson for big sound and teen spirit. Grady had already been recording for the same label with his own group, the Windupwatch Band, when Zekley started climbing the charts with "Yellow Balloon," creating a need for a new group to go with the hit. Grady became the drummer and other members were recruited from various bands around the country, but in the studio, it was still Zekley's show all the way. This 20-track compilation brings together the 11 tracks from the Yellow Balloon's 1967 album, along with the Don Grady with the Windupwatch Band singles (also released on the same Canterbury label), a couple of unreleased demos, and an interview with the late Gary Zekley putting it all in perspective.

Classical sunhine pop album. The whole album is a gathering of  bubblegum songs with top notch production. If you love sunshine pop you can't escape this album. Good day sunshine...
Have fun
              Frank
mp3@32o

United Travel Service - Wind And Stone 1966 - 1970 marvelous psych pop

Dateline 1966 - the Pacific North West of the USA - a hotbed for numerous local and regional bands following the tradition of the renowned North West Fratrock of the Kingsmen or the uncompromising Rock & Roll of The Sonics and Wailers. Not so the United Travel Service. They were sadly overlooked at the time but are now revered for their two brilliant, killer folkadelic 45 releases 'Wind And Stone' b/w 'Drummer Of Your Mind' and 'Gypsy Eyes' b/w 'Echo Of You'. The UTS were mainly influenced by the San Francisco scene, Garage Rock and the Byrds. Their high quality repertoire written by guitarist Ben Hoff and produced by New Tweedy Brothers producer Rick Keefer would have made a classic local psychedelic album if released back then. But it was not to be.

Break-A-Way presents for the first time, a collection of the bands rare 45s, along with four more, until now unreleased studio recordings, plus five home demos, of which four were not part of the LP version. Additionally there is an excellent 2009 re-recording of an old track capturing again the old magic and authenticity of the group. The CD comes with a 12 page booklet including a detailed history of the band with photos from the members scrapbook. At last, here is the long overdue legacy of one of the Northwest's finest psychedelic bands.

This is released in 2010 and it's a collection of marvelous psychedelic pop songs. The sound quality varied because of different sources. Enjoy!
Regards
            Frank
mp3 320               

Radio Days - Midnight Cemetary Rendezvous ep (2008) Flac

This guys from Italy knows how to do great power pop. They never disappointed with any of her releases. This ep is an older one from 2008 and every song is fun on the highest level. This ep gets six stars from possible five! Enjoy!
Cheers
           Frank
Flac

The Resonars (Matt Rendon) - That Evil Drone 2008 Flac

The Resonars started out in 1992 as the brainchild of guitarist and chief songwriter Matt Rendon of Tucson, Arizona. Rendon, in fact, had adopted the "group" name as a tribute to a '60s Tucson band of the same name, which had featured his older brother, John Rendon. Rendon's four-track recordings -- made at his own Coma Cave home studio -- were a blend of moody, introspective psychedelic pop, folk-rock harmonies, and garage rock. Rendon continued to record on his own, and in 1998, released the first Resonars album, on which he had four-tracked himself on all instruments and vocals. This cassette-only release was issued on the Tucson-based Star Time Records (not to be confused with StarTime International Records of Brooklyn). After a lengthy period, Rendon added additional musicians -- guitarist Eric Royer, drummer Dustin "OJ" Moyer, and bassist Mick Huxley (later bassist Forest Dunn) -- to his Resonars' lineup for live shows and for additional recordings. Two 7" singles and numerous homemade cassette releases (including Tripping in Your Coffin) were made available to fans at their shows. Their second album, the critically acclaimed Bright & Dark, was issued by Get Hip in 1999, with Rendon again playing all of the instruments himself.

Rendon had always intended to get a new band together to play live shows, but eventually retired the Resonars moniker in October 2000. By then he had accumulated scores of collected homemade recordings, some of which he began to release as Kilgore Trouts. He also continued playing shows with Al Perry & the Cattle. After moving to the Seattle area, Rendon joined the Vultures (he plays the drums under the name "Mickey Finch"). The group also featured Heath Heemsbergen, who had known Rendon when he was a member of the Tucson band the Fells. Rendon later returned to the Tucson area and joined the Knockout Pills, a garage punk band featuring members of the Weird Lovemakers and Los Federales. Royer, meanwhile, returned to his hometown, near Boston, and turned away from rock as his love of the banjo increased. He'd begun playing on the streets of Tucson, and eventually designed a "guitar machine" to play his one-man band shows, accompanying himself on the Dobro and harmonica. Royer has recorded several albums.

In 2002, Rendon resurrected the Resonars name for a new release on Get Hip called Lunar Kit, which featured both sides of the 2000 released "Floor Lamp Eyes" b/w "She's in Love with Her" (Star Time Records) 7". In June of 2002, a new Resonars album was released on Get Hip Records. Titled Lunar Kit, it recalled the last album and even included the single released between the two albums.

After a long break from the Resonars, Rendon returned in 2008 with the band's last album for Get Hip, Nonetheless Blue. Jumping over to the influential California label Burger Records, the band continued cranking out great records, with That Evil Drone in 2008 and Crummy Desert Sound in 2011. After recording an EP for Trouble in Mind (Long, Long Thoughts) in 2012, the label released The Greatest Hits of the Resonars, a career spanning sampler of Rendon's genius, in 2013.
Wow, i love ''The Resonars''. All i ever listened from this guy(s) is just great. The sound is very 60's
style. Great power pop. Hope you will enjoy!
Regards
             SB1
Flac

The Rubinoos - The Rubinoos (1977) 1997 Flac

For a brief moment, the Rubinoos seemed to be the last hope for pure pop music, carrying on the tradition of the Raspberries with an engaging blend of innocent bubblegum and power pop. The band was formed in 1973 by teenage friends Jon Rubin (vocals, guitar) and Tommy Dunbar (guitar, keyboards, vocals) along with Royse Adler (bass) and Donn Spindt (drums), but it wasn't until 1977 that they made their recording debut for Beserkley Records. The single, a cover of Tommy James' "I Think We're Alone Now," made an appearance in the lower reaches of the U.S. charts, giving the indie label their first hit. The same year, their self-titled debut LP received rave reviews all-around but failed commercially. Back to the Drawing Board (1979), another solid collection of bouncy pop songs, again went ignored despite its classic single "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." The band effectively broke up the following year. Rubin and Dunbar returned in 1983, contributing a pair of songs for the Revenge of the Nerds soundtrack and then teaming with producer Todd Rundgren for the Party of Two EP. "If I Had You Back" from the EP saw some airplay on MTV but it failed to ignite enough interest for the band to go on. In 1989, Tommy Dunbar formed a new band, Vox Pop, with former-Rubinoos Al Chan and Donn Spindt, along with John Seabury, formerly of Psychotic Pineapple. The band's self-titled release arrived in 1998 on Sandbox Records. Two collections of lost Rubinoos recordings were released in the early '90s. The group returned in 2000 with Paleophonic, which was originally a fan club-only release, and headlined that year's International Pop Overthrow festival. Coming back like they had never left in the first place, the band chose to release an all-covers album (Crimes Against Music, Vol. 1) in the fall of 2002.

This little gem is a celebration of pop music. There's no other way to describe this record. Catchy tunes with a touch of tongue-in-cheek, mixed with exuberance and joy make this record as much fun as when it was first released. (allmusic.com)
Enjoy
         Frank
Flac

Blue Ash - Around...Again: A Collection of Rarities from the Vault 1972-79 mp3@320

Blue Ash's fate mirrored that of fellow power poppers like Big Star -- not enough sales to back up all those critical hosannas. Youngstown, Ohio residents Bill Bartolin (vocals, guitar), David Evans (drums, vocals), Jim Kendzor (vocals), and Frank Secich (bass, vocals) formed in 1969, and soon won comparisons to the usual suspects associated with the tag: the Beatles and the Who.

Strong regional interest secured a deal in 1973 with Mercury Records, home of the New York Dolls. Both bands even had the same champion in A&R man Paul Nelson, who plucked Blue Ash's demo from an unsolicited tape pile. No More No Less appeared that year, and is best remembered for its raucously melodic leadoff track, "Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)." Critics fell all over themselves, but sparse sales dashed hopes of continuing with Mercury.

Evans was long gone when Front Page News finally appeared on Playboy's ill-fated label in 1977. The group's talent burned as brightly as ever -- though snowed under horns and strings -- but failed to improve its fortunes. There the story ended, although Blue Ash won a brief burst of notoriety when Anglo-poppers the Records covered "Abracadabra" for a 12" single in 1979. (The original version is also on Rhino's Poptopia! 70s Power Pop Classics compilation.) (allmusic.com)

– A collection of rarities from the vault 1972-1979 –
I am sorry to admit that I’ve never had a chance to hear Blue Ash’s two studio albums (No More, No Less, 1973 & Front Page News, 1979), even though I did want to, after reading power-pop fairytales about them.
Now, after hearing this collection of unreleased demos and rarities, the fairytale becomes a pretty real one, for me AND for the band too! According to the last count, there are “no more, no less” than 219 unreleased recordings in the vaults, of which we get to hear 44, most of them firm proofs that the “B-bands” list should be extended.
Sharing the destiny of their soulmates Raspberries or Big Star, the critical acclaim towards Blue Ash was not really proportional to the thickness of their wallets, so let’s hope that this late hype will contribute to the matter at least some.
The sound itself, is divided between glammy (the vocals sometimes reminding of Noddy Holder) power-pop crunch (highlighted by the Slade-ish Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?), Badfinger-ed Halloween Girl, T-Rex-tured Lover Boy, the Raspberry-flavoured Baby Baby, the imaginary Tommy-outtake The Boy Won’t Listen, the Eastern-tinged Magic Words.
Or Mind Reader, kinda showing off the buzz that Supergrass were caught by at their beginning), mid-sixties jangle (It Won’t Be Long Now, having much more in common with the early Beatles besides the similar title, and the same Mersey moisture can be felt in Plain To See, With You On My Mind, She’s So Nice, I’m Your Man, Baby I Just Want You and Things Have Changed Now.
While the Byrdsy folk rock jangle is featured through I Remember A Time and also When You Rock, taken to the ‘70s Smokier-feel) and a bit of more traditional Americana (as shown in the countrified folk of I’m A Bad Actor and Oh No, Not Again! or another Raspberry-flavoured one, by way of Wally Bryson, called When I Come Home).
The one that is a bit surprising compared to the rest of the album, and among the highlights at the same time, is the string-leaden baroque popsike Silver Horses.
This should be more than enough a reason for us not make them come “around… again” for the third time, because they should really stick around.
Released by Not Lame 2004

The album is on amazon in ''used'' condition between 80 and 250 dollar. For a new copy the price is 366 dollar. What the f...?! Sorry that's just crazy and if i see things like that i love to share the music here one million times all the more.
Great music here. If you haven't this and love seventies pop rock music and power pop this is a must.
Regards
             Frank
 mp320

The Exploding Hearts - Shattered (2006) Flac

Punkish Portland, OR, power pop quartet the Exploding Hearts had been playing together for over two years before their debut recording, Guitar Romantic, was released by Seattle-based indie Dirtnap Records in spring of 2003. Taking influence from bands like the Clash, the Undertones, and the Only Ones, the group comprised bassist Matt "Lock" Fitzgerald, drummer Jeremy "Kid Killer" Gage, vocalist/guitarist Adam "Baby" Cox, and guitarist Terry Six; early on, the band also included keyboardist "King" Louie Bankston and original bassist Jim Evans, but they both left prior to Guitar Romantic's release. The album won the guys (all in their early twenties) a well-deserved buzz among music fans, scribes, and labels, and the band was in high demand on the West Coast touring circuit. Tragically, though, just as the group was gearing up for a nationwide tour and rumored to be signing with Lookout! Records, their van veered out of control while returning home on July 20, 2003, from a San Francisco concert, killing Gage, Cox, and Fitzgerald. Six managed to escape with only minor injuries.

Dirtnap released the LP Shattered in the fall of 2006, compiling singles from the band's much-too-brief career, including alternative versions and mixes, as well as their unreleased final recordings; the album also featured five songs of live footage from (what became) the Exploding Hearts' final show at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill.

The van accident that claimed the lives of three of the Exploding Hearts was tragic on many levels; musically, it wiped out the future of possibly the best punk band since 1977. They were one of the few bands to transcend their obvious influences (the Clash, Johnny Thunders, the Only Ones, the Real Kids to name a few) and come up with something worthy of being rated right alongside the originators of the sound. Their album Guitar Romantic is simply thrilling from beginning to end and the thought that there will never be a follow-up leaves a huge hole in the hearts of their fans. Luckily, Dirtnap realized this and put together Shattered, a wonderful and melancholy collection of rare single tracks, unreleased songs, their original demo form 2001, and alternate versions of tracks from Guitar Romantic.-Tim Sendra (Dirtnap)

What left to say? I don't know really. I had bought the ''Guitar Romantic'' album as it was released. And it was a very strange feeling as i read later the news then. I think it is a tragedy because these guys was so damned young. Music journalists often lament the loss of great musicians and that is also true. But hey, in first line they were young kids. I know it's no nice theme but that was my thoughts when i remembered this tragedy. Okay Folks, normally i wanted post the debut album but can't find it at the moment. And i have only a 320 on my HD drive. I will keep searching... ''Shattered is full of energy and fine power pop/punkrockin' songs. Hey ho let's go! Have fun

Cheers
           Frank
Flac