PowerPop: Sorrows - Teenage Heartbreak (1980) Flac & mp3

Over the course of their short two-album career, Sorrows did absolutely nothing that was startlingly new or original. But what they did, they did really well, especially on their 1980 debut, Teenage Heartbreak. More than just another entry in the post-Knack skinny-tie brigade, Teenage Heartbreak is a first-class power pop album of its era, up there with the debuts by the Rubinoos and the Plimsouls. The title track sets the tone immediately, with a killer stuttering hook and appropriately rough-edged harmonies. All four members write, but most of the best songs belong to guitarist Arthur Alexander (not the '60s R&B guy who sang "Anna [Go to Him]" and "Soldier of Love," obviously), whose Roy Loney-style voice adds a nice garage rock element to songs that might otherwise be a little too bubblegummy.

The best of the non-Alexander songs is "Can't Go Back," a winsome little sweet 'n' jangly rocker written and sung by Joey Cola, Alexander's former bandmate in the short-lived but much admired Poppees. Bassist Ricky Street's "I Don't Like It Like That" is pretty terrific too, with a stomping break that makes it sound like a classic early Sweet single. Not every song is up to those standards, but even the two or three weaker tracks are performed with enough infectious enthusiasm to get by on attitude. Teenage Heartbreak is probably for power pop fans only, but those fans will find themselves richly rewarded.(allmusic.com)

All said in the review and everything is true. Great album. Great Power Pop band.
Enjoy it
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The Five Americans - Western Union 1967 (Sundazed 2006) Flac & mp3

In 1966-1967, this Dallas group enjoyed some modest national success with the number five hit "Western Union," as well as a few other Top 40 entries, "I See the Light," "Zip Code," and "Sound of Love." Dominated by high bubbling organ lines and clean harmony vocals, the group favored high-energy pop/rock far more than British Invasion or R&B-inspired sounds, although a bit of garage/frat rock raunch could be detected in their stomping rhythms -- and their guitar-dominated tracks offered something else again, the harmonies and texture of "The Train" (which was very nearly their debut single) recalling the punchier work of Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers from the same period. Recording prolifically throughout the last half of the '60s (often with ex-rockabilly star Dale Hawkins as producer) and writing much of their own material, they were ultimately too lightweight and bubblegum-ish to measure up to either the era's better pop/rock or garage bands. Their 1966 hit "I See the Light" is their toughest and best performance.

Though they officially hailed from Dallas, the Five Americans had their origins in Oklahoma. Mike Rabon grew up in Hugo, the county seat of Choctaw County, in southeastern Oklahoma, founded in 1902 (and named after Victor Hugo, the novelist), 25 miles north of Paris, Texas, and 15 miles west of Fort Towson, site of the last Confederate surrender of the Civil War. He became interested in playing the guitar when he was eight years old, and saved up to buy a homemade instrument at a local pawn shop. He got a start on a few chords learned from his grandmother and quickly got the hang of the instrument. When rock & roll broke nationally, he was swept right in, and became a big fan of Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, and later added singers such as Frankie Ford to his list of influences. He joined a local high-school band called the Rhythm Rebels, who played mostly instrumentals and whose gigs included some local radio appearances.

While Rabon was honing his guitar skills and learning what he could from the playing of Carl Perkins, Scotty Moore, et al., John Durrill, who was a few years older, was living Bartlesville, OK -- near the Kansas border, originally part of Indian Territory, and the birthplace of Phillips Petroleum -- and already learning a lot by listening to Jerry Lee Lewis, whose playing inspired him to dress up his already freewheeling approach to the piano even more flamboyantly. Durrill entered Southeastern Oklahoma State College in the early '60s as an English major, and played frat parties and the like in his spare time. It was at one such event, playing for Sigma Tau Gamma, that he crossed paths with Rabon, who had started attending the school in 1962.
By that time, Rabon had in his mind the idea of putting together a group, and he approached Durrill. The others -- Norman Ezell (guitar), Johnny Coble (drums), and Jim Grant (maracas and later bass) -- fell into place quickly. The quintet, named the Mutineers, had a repertory built on the music of Duane Eddy and Bo Diddley, and played events around campus, including a regular Monday night gig at the student union. They were good enough to take a chance on recording, cutting their debut in Dallas in 1963 with "Jackin' Around," an instrumental that got some play on their college station. The British Invasion caused them to add some Beatles numbers to their set list and change their look slightly, as well as emphasize their singing a little bit more. Durrill also added a Wurlitzer electric piano -- purchased by Rabon's father, Smiley (who had also financed their first recording sessions) -- to their sound, though the big change came later, when he acquired a Vox organ, which became part of the group's signature sound when the band started recording.
By the summer of 1964, they felt ready to try competing in Dallas, but Coble backed out at the last minute, and they recruited drummer Jimmy Wright on a couple of hours' notice. The bandmembers spent a few weeks crashing at the pad of Durrill's girlfriend, and picked up their first serious gig -- appropriately enough, for a band called the Mutineers -- at a club called The Pirates' Nook, where they bumped an established band out of their spot there, mostly with their stage antics. They did well enough so that they decided to stick it out for a while longer, past the end of the summer. The Mutineers were booked into a club called Lou Ann's, where they chanced to be heard by John Abdnor, Jr., whose multimillionaire father owned a record label. He invited them to audition, and they were duly signed up to his Abnak label. The latter also involved a name change, and that was how the Five Americans got their new name, at Abdnor's insistence.

Their first single, "I See the Light," cut in late 1965 in Dallas, showed just how powerful a performing unit they'd become in the previous year, their instrumental attack resembling the best elements of such much-vaunted British bands as the Yardbirds and the Nashville Teens, with Durrill's singing supported by Rabon and Ezell. The single, which was leased to the HBR label -- a unit of Hanna-Barbera Studios, the cartoon producers -- reached number 26 nationally, and the group got the go-ahead to work on a debut LP. Equally important, the licensing deal got the Five Americans a trip to Los Angeles to meet the executives of the national label. That in itself was highly instructive to five Oklahoma boys who hadn't been anywhere more sophisticated than Dallas -- where their "long hair" (not nearly to the shoulders) made them "freaks" -- and their musical ambitions as well as the quintet's visual presentation advanced by leaps and bounds across early 1966, even as they made the rounds of venues such as the Whisky a Go Go and various TV music showcases such as Shivaree and The Woody Woodbury Show, turning into a national-level act in a matter of weeks. Oddly enough, at the time of its release, the band and its label hadn't been certain of "I See the Light"'s appeal, especially as its other side, "The Train," had some merit of its own.
Not too many bands coming off the college circuit by scarcely a year could have led with that kind of strength. There were similarly high expectations for their follow-up single, "Evol -- Not Love," a harmony-based rocker that seemed to carry them to the next step. Alas, it didn't do nearly as well, essentially dying in the womb in Dallas, owing to a local business-related "political" dispute involving Abdnor. But their next single, "Western Union," soared from the moment it reached the public, reaching the Top Ten. It also marked the beginning of Dale Hawkins, the guitarist/singer/composer of "Susie Q" fame, working as their producer. This should have been the beginning of a new phase in the group's history, and a leap in their fortunes and prospects, but differences with Abdnor and the limitations inherent in not being signed to a major label combined to sap whatever momentum the song generated. This was all especially tragic, as the Five Americans were generating music that was not only superb AM bubblegum pop, but also credible garage rock on occasion, and excellent pop/rock overall, with killer harmonies and excellent playing, filled with the kinds of hooks that most bands would kill for on their records.
Indeed, there are moments on "Now That It's Over" and "If I Could" where their mix of nicely woven harmonies and clean, sophisticated playing recall the work of the Beatles or the Searchers. "Sound of Love" and "Zip Code" -- issued in 1967 -- charted far lower than the records that had preceded them, despite hooks and harmonies that made them eminently hummable and memorable (especially "Zip Code"). They were doing work of at least the caliber of the Monkees without the Screen Gems publishing/arranging/producing factory backing them up, and if some of it was a bit derivative -- "Sympathy" did seem to recall the Beatles' "You Like Me Too Much" at times -- the music was presented with enough fresh twists to easily justify the purchase and the listening time.

The differences with Abdnor were worsening, however, and the members felt he was now compromising the music and any chance for growth by his insistence that they continue to record in Dallas. By 1968 Durrill and Ezell were both gone, replaced by Lenny Goldsmith and Bobby Rambo. The group continued on through 1969, but by then even their name was starting to sound quaintly out of date amid the burgeoning influence of the counterculture; they could probably have gone on indefinitely in Dallas, but their chances for national exposure were receding by the week. Among their last efforts was a double LP (credited to "Michael Rabon & the Five Americans"), before the remaining members went their separate ways. The band has mostly been remembered across the decades for its two biggest hits, "Western Union" and "I See the Light." In the 21st century, however, Sundazed Records reissued a big chunk of their catalog, giving the Five Americans their biggest exposure in decades, and revealing an astonishingly fine legacy, far beyond their best-known hits and all well worth hearing(allmusic.com)

Very good american pop band with bubblegum style. They had some good albums. Here, Western Union was a strong one with a row of nice pop songs on it. Sound of love, Big Cities, Western Union, just to name a few.

Enjoy it
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Psychedelic Pop: Paul Revere & The Raiders - Something Happening 1968 2006 Fruitgum (Flac & mp3)

Having previously scored big through their association with the Dick Clark TV show Where The Action Is, Paul Revere & the Raiders seemed a good bet -- from the point of view of Columbia Records -- to hit again in Clark's new series, Happening '68 (later renamed It's Happening). Unfortunately, 1968 wasn't 1965, and the group had neither the command of the most relevant rock sounds of the later era nor the ear of younger teen listeners in the same way. Something Happening showcased this problem: something was, indeed, happening to the group's sound, and it wasn't good. Paul Revere & the Raiders had abandoned the sneering garage band sound that had fueled their earlier success, taken one detour to a white soul sound through Chips Moman's studio on Goin' to Memphis (essentially a Mark Lindsay solo record), then tried to come back with this album, the first produced entirely by Lindsay.

This time out, the group delivers some melodic but very tepid psychedelia ("Happens Every Day," "Free," "The Good Times") and lightweight pop/rock ("Love Makes the World Go Round") interspersed with tracks that do manifest a sharper edge, such as "Get Out of My Head," where the mix of punk defiance, light textured string section, and horn backup is genuinely exciting and engaging (but to get to it, one has to listen through a minute of sound effects and a trippy fade-down); "Don't Take It So Hard," a punchy imitation "Paperback Writer"; and the extended punk-psychedelic jam "Communication." On the group's earlier records, songs like these would have been the tolerable flatter spots in between the moments of greatness, but on Something Happening they are the album's peaks. As to the semi-title track, "Happening '68," it does present some pleasant guitar and keyboard flourishes but is otherwise undistinguished. The 1996 Sundazed reissue sounds great, but the bonus tracks are mostly associated with the show Happening '68, all combining to make this one of the less compelling re-releases of the group's work. (allmusic.com)

To me this album was completely underrated. Very good pop songs here and the whole album have a very nice light psychedelic feel paired with catchy pop melodies (I talk about the album tracks). Four and a half smiles out of six! :-)

Have fun
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British Beat And French Pop: Fabienne Delsol - No Time For Sorrows (2004) Flac & mp3

Rock & roll chanteuse Fabienne Delsol had made a name for herself with music that combines one part French pop and two parts classic British Beat. Delsol was born and raised in Limoges, a city in central France best known from producing porcelain and oak barrels; she was more interested in music, particularly rock & roll and Serge Gainsbourg, so in 1996 she moved to London. Delsol soon struck up a friendship with Liam Watson, a producer and engineer best known as one of the founders of Toe Rag Studios, an analog recording facility favored by many on the London garage and beat revival scenes. Watson was helping assemble a new U.K. garage group, and while Delsol didn’t have much experience as a vocalist, he persuaded her to audition. Watson liked what he heard, and Delsol quickly became the lead singer with the Bristols, alongside drummer Bruce Brand, guitarist Owen Thomas, and bassist Parsley; they earned an estimable reputation on the U.K. garage scene and released three singles and two LPs before splitting up in 2003. Delsol wasted no time establishing a solo career after the breakup; with Watson producing, she released her first solo album, No Time For Sorrows, in the fall of 2004.

The album was dominated by a more polished pop/rock sound than the Bristols, with hints of psychedelia and one tune in French. The album was successful enough to prompt the release of The Best of Fabienne Delsol and the Bristols, which featured material from her old band along with a smattering of her solo work. Delsol followed the lead of her first solo effort on second LP, 2007’s Between You and Me, which included three songs en français and more lively, sophisticated retro-pop and garage rock. The psychedelic side of Delsol's pop influences became a bit more prominent on her third solo effort, On My Mind, which was released in the fall of 2010.

Nice Garage Pop album,
 have fun
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Fotomaker - Transfer Station 1979 (Flac & mp3)

Sometimes referred to as power pop's first supergroup, Fotomaker was founded by former Rascals members Gene Cornish (bass) and Dino Danelli (drums), who had played together in a previous post-Rascals band called Bulldog. The two contacted ex-Raspberries guitarist Wally Bryson, then playing in his native Cleveland with a band called Tattoo. Bryson agreed to join them in Long Island, and the Fotomaker lineup was subsequently completed with guitarist Lex Marchesi and keyboardist Frankie Vinci (lead vocal duties were split between several members).

The group quickly landed a deal with Atlantic and released their self-titled debut in 1978, which produced the chart single "Where Have You Been All My Life." Before the year was out, they'd released another LP, this one titled Vis-a-Vis; it featured another minor hit in "Miles Away." Still, Fotomaker was never quite able to break out beyond the power pop cult, and Bryson left the group to return to Cleveland in mid-1979. Vinci assumed lead vocal duties for the final Fotomaker album, 1979's Transfer Station, but faced with diminishing returns, the group elected to call it a day.

This is also a contribution from Javier, a friend of the blog. Thanks for that Javier! I will post tomorrow the Rascals anthology where Cornish and Danelli had played in their past.
Okay enjoy Fotomaker,
cheers
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1980 Power Pop: Sorrows - Bad Times Good Times 1980 (2010 Bomp) Flac & mp3

Biography

A tough but tuneful new wave pop band from New York City, Sorrows (no "the," please) were formed by guitarist and singer Arthur Alexander in 1977 a few months after the breakup of his influential power pop combo the Poppees. With tongue slightly in cheek, Alexander described his vision for Sorrows as "ABBA meets the Sex Pistols," and he recruited his former Poppees bandmate Jett Harris to play drums in the new group, along with guitarist Joey Cola and bassist Ricky Street. Sorrows soon made a name for themselves on the New York club scene, regularly playing CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, and other hip night spots, and in 1979, the band landed a record deal with Pavilion Records, a division of CBS. But while their debut album, 1980's Teenage Heartbreak, earned enthusiastic reviews and became a cult favorite among pop obsessives, the label's promotion was minimal and the record sold poorly. For their second album, 1981's Love Too Late, Sorrows were paired up with legendary producer Shel Talmy, who in the mid-'60s had worked with the Who, the Kinks, the Creation, and the Easybeats; unfortunately, the idea of working with Talmy was better than the results, and the album didn't fare as well with critics and sold no better than they debut. Sorrows broke up in the mid-'80s and the albums fell out of print, never appearing on CD as they became the stuff of legend among fans of '80s pop. In 2010, Bomp! Records released Bad Times Good Times, a collection of demos and alternate versions of material from Sorrows' debut album; Alexander also announced that Sorrows were playing a handful of reunion shows to support the new album's release, with the possibility of new recordings in the offing.

 The Album:
 After the breakup of Beatles-obsessed power poppers the Poppees, guitarist Arthur Alexander and drummer Jett Harris formed a new band, Sorrows, and while their earlier group struggled to get noticed after releasing a pair of singles for Bomp Records, Sorrows quickly caught the ear of an A&R man at Pavilion Records, an affiliate of CBS Records. Sorrows' debut album, Teenage Heartbreak, arrived in 1980. Unfortunately, the record and its follow-up, 1981's Love Too Late, sank without a trace, thanks to poor promotion by CBS, and while they earned a small cult following among obsessive fans of skinny-tie pop, Sorrows' music has been out of print for decades, making it all but impossible for pop mavens to rediscover them. Bad Times Good Times finally gives Sorrows the second chance they've long deserved; while the liner notes are coy about the source of this material, this appears to be a remixed and reworked version of Teenage Heartbreak, featuring the same 12 songs (with the album's original producer, Mark Milchman, credited with recording) as well as two unreleased demos and a pair of live recordings.

While Alexander's fascination with the Beatles had hardly worn off when he formed Sorrows, the new band boasted the sort of energy and attitude that gave their Merseybeat-influenced melodies a lot more life, and Harris, guitarist/singer Joey Cola, and bassist Ricky Street made for a much tighter and more imaginative band than the Poppees. Alexander and Harris wrote the bulk of the material on Bad Times Good Times, and they'd grown by leaps and bounds as tunesmiths since the Poppees breakup, and while that band's best songs recalled the Fab Four's middling efforts, Sorrows crafted tunes that tipped their hats to rock & roll's past while sounding fresh, lively, and original, and why "Lonely Girl," "Teenage Heartbreak," "I Want You Tonight," or "Bad Times, Good Times" didn't become hit singles can only be attributed to someone at CBS being very much asleep at the switch. The two demos confirm Sorrows had more good tunes left in them -- the rockabilly-flavored "That's Your Problem" and the arty, slightly psychedelic "Silver Cloud" should have made the cut on Love Too Late -- and the live covers of Rolling Stones and Carole King numbers confirm this band burned bright on-stage.

For folks who've been wondering when Sorrows' Teenage Heartbreak would ever arrive on CD, Bad Times Good Times isn't the next best thing, it's an actual improvement over the already fine original, and rescues one of the better pop bands of the '80s from oblivion; folks who like their rhythms peppy, their guitars ringing, and their harmonies tight will find lots to love on this collection.

Wonderful Power Pop from the early eighties.
Hope you will enjoy
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Squire - Something Old Something New Something Borrowed... The Official Squire Fan Club Album (1980) 2010 Flac

An incredibly hard to find relic of the mod revival years, Something Old Something New Something Borrowed... is a 13-track roundup of rarities that peaks, on side two, with a fiery live sequence that reminds listeners just how ill-suited many of these bands were to the studio environment -- and just how readily Squire bucked that trend. Their natural habitat remained the sweat- and beer-soaked atmosphere of a tiny club packed with parkas and Union Jacks, and the seven live songs here are delivered with a frenzy that can readily be compared to a maniacal cross between vintage Jam and classic Kinks. But the studio held no fears and, if you can image the first Beatles album slammed through the sound of classic Flamin' Groovies, with all the wide-eyed enthusiasm and tunefulness that that implies, you'll be close to capturing the sheer joy of Squire.

Alternate versions of band favorites "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (no relation to the Ramones number), "Teenage Girl," "Get Ready to Go," and "The Face of Youth Today" all highlight side one, while the concert sequence hits so many peaks that it's difficult to play favorites -- 19 minutes of nonstop mod mayhem whose only drawback (shared with the studio side) is its somewhat weedy sound quality. Crank up the volume and beat on the bass, however, and all of Squire's greatest qualities still come bleeding through. And you'll be "Walking Down the King's Road" in no time!(allmusic.com)

This is the Japan release from Vivid Sound 2010 with 21 songs. Great Mod Power Pop from the fantastic Squire.
Enjoy it!
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(Power) Pop: Chris Stamey - Travels In The South (2004) Flac & mp3

From his tenures with the Sneakers and the dB's on through to his subsequent solo projects, singer/songwriter Chris Stamey remained a linchpin of the jangle pop renaissance. Born December 6, 1954 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he was raised in the Winston-Salem area, and alongside longtime friend and collaborator Peter Holsapple, he first surfaced in 1972 in the short-lived Rittenhouse Square, which issued its sole LP the following year. While attending the University of North Carolina in 1975, Stamey teamed with drummer Will Rigby to form the cult favorite power pop combo Sneakers; the group was later joined by guitarist Mitch Easter, the future Let's Active frontman who would go on to emerge as one of the era's premier producers. The group traveled to New York City in 1976 to appear at the famed Max's Kansas City but dissolved soon after, at which time Stamey returned to the Big Apple to set up his own label, Car Records.

In addition to issuing the posthumous Sneakers collection In the Red in 1978, Car also issued the magnificent "I Am the Cosmos," the lone solo single of ex-Big Star mastermind Chris Bell; concurrently, Stamey played live with Bell's onetime Big Star partner Alex Chilton, and in 1977 issued a solo single, "The Summer Sun." When Rigby and bassist Gene Holder relocated to New York, Stamey joined them as the dB's, releasing the 1978 single "If and When" before expanding to a four-piece with the addition of Holsapple. Although the dB's quirky yet melodic approach anticipated the emergence of the southern jangle pop explosion, the band never earned the same attention afforded to acts like R.E.M. -- initially, they couldn't even land an American record deal, and their first two albums (the much-acclaimed 1981 efforts Stands for Decibels and Repercussion) appeared only in Britain.

Stamey left the dB's in 1983, issuing the solo LP It's a Wonderful Life later that same year; after issuing 1984's Instant Excitement EP, he recorded and toured with the Golden Palominos, squeezing in the Christmas Time mini-album in 1986. A year later, Stamey signed with A&M to make his long-awaited major-label debut with the superb It's Alright; despite uniformly solid reviews, the album made almost no commercial impact, and he spent the next several years as a producer and guest musician, completing an album which A&M reportedly rejected. The LP finally appeared on Rhino in 1991 under the title Fireworks; that same year, he reunited with Holsapple for Mavericks. For 1995's The Robust Beauty of Improper Models in Decision Making, Stamey made a radical shift away from his pop past, teaming with cornetist/guitarist Kirk Ross for an exercise in free improvisation. Stamey spent the remainder of the decade focusing on producing records for other artists at his Modern studio in Chapel Hill, but returned to his own recording career with 2004's Travels in the South. Less than a year later, Stamey had another new album ready for release, a collaboration with Yo La Tengo and Tyson Rogers credited to the Chris Stamey Experience and titled A Question of Temperature (2005).

A few years after A Question of Temperature, Stamey reunited with Peter Holsapple, releasing Here and Now in 2009 and supporting it with a tour.

Stamey then turned his attention to an ambitious live staging of Big Star's third album Sister Lovers, acting as the musical director for the star-studded concerts. The first of these debuted at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina in December of 2010 and over the next few years, Stamey brought Big Star's Third to London and to 2012's South by Southwest festival. That year also saw the reunion of the dB's, who played live and released the new album Falling Off the Sky that summer. Stamey continued with his busy workload in early 2013 with the release of the dreamy solo album Lovesick Blues. Two years later, he released Euphoria, an album which touched upon many of his pop obsessions. (allmusic.com)

The 2004 album by Chris Stamey is for sure not the common Power Pop album. It was his first real pop album since a few years. It sounds thougtful and i don't mean the lyrics. It's the music. What's attract my attention is the mood and the vibe of the songs through the whole album. Best songs so far There's A Love, Alive, Ride, In Spanish Harlem, but the whole album is a goodie. It's a quiet album in a very good way.
Love it or hate it
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We The People - Mirror Of Our Minds (1998 Sundazed) Flac

One of the most versatile mid-'60s garage groups -- indeed, they were for the most part too accomplished and pop-savvy to truly merit the garage band tag -- We the People had some big hits in Florida, but never broke out nationally, despite releases on the large RCA and Challenge labels. Veterans of Orlando garage combos the Trademarks, the Offbeets, and the Nonchalants all found their way into We the People, who made their first single for the local Hotline label, "My Brother the Man," in early 1966. "My Brother the Man" was a smoking, almost-crazed, hard garage-punk number, a path the band continued to follow on their early Challenge singles "Mirror of Your Mind" and "You Burn Me Up and Down."

Grinding guitar chords, organ, aggressive vocals, and crazed guitar distortion (particularly on the swooping noises and feedback that introduce "You Burn Me Up and Down") were their initial trademarks. Yet at the same time they could throw in gentler and more lyrically and melodically subtle originals, like the beautiful, tremolo-laden ballad "(You Are) the Color of Love," on the B-side of "Mirror of Your Mind." Unusual for a garage band, they boasted two prolific and talented songwriters in Tommy Talton and Wayne Proctor. Proctor was the more interesting of the pair, penning one of the great raga rock tunes (the gutsy "In the Past," covered by the Chocolate Watch Band), the Baroque-psychedelic "St. John's Shop," and "(You Are) the Color of Love." All had uncommonly elusive, vague, but evocative lyrics for a young regional band of the time; Proctor even wrote a love song to a nun ("Love Wears Black (None)"), although that wasn't issued until more than 30 years later.

We the People had a good share of chart success in Florida, but suffered a major setback when Proctor left the band in early 1967. The music recorded subsequent to his departure had its moments: the nasty "When I Arrive" made its way onto a Pebbles compilation, and "The Day She Dies," although written by Talton, recalled Proctor's work with its harmonic pop, melodic base and odd lyrical slant.

Some of the last numbers they cut in the studio were derivative soul-rock tunes, though, and Talton's departure at the end of the '60s, as well as the expiration of their recording deal, sealed the death of the group, although they continued for a bit longer. As part of the Southern rock group Cowboy, Talton was the only We the People member with a visible music career after the '60s.(allmusic.com)

Wonderful band from the mid to late sixties. The band developed from a garage punk band of the earlier days to a very good psychedelic pop band. This 40 track edition by Sundazed is a very well package to present a band who had more success deserved.Give it a try if you don't know the band.

Have fun
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. The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee...Pretty Ballerina (Sundazed 2011)Flac & mp3

Based in New York, the Left Banke pioneered "baroque & roll" in the '60s with a mix of pop/rock and grand, quasi-classical arrangements and melodies. Featuring teenage prodigy Michael Brown as keyboardist and chief songwriter, the group scored two quick hits with "Walk Away Renee" (number five) and "Pretty Ballerina" (number 15). Chamber-like string arrangements, the soaring, near-falsetto lead vocals of Steve Martin (aka Steve Martin Caro), and tight harmonies that borrowed from British Invasion bands like the Beatles and the Zombies were also key elements of the Left Banke sound. Though their two hits are their only well-remembered efforts, their debut album (Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina) was a strong, near-classic work that matched the quality of their hit singles in songwriting and production.

Unfortunately, the Left Banke's internal dynamic wasn't nearly as harmonious as their sound, and their history goes some way toward explaining their short career. Initially, the group made some recordings that were produced by Brown's father, Harry Lookofsky. When these recordings failed to interest companies in signing the band, the Left Banke broke up, Brown moving to California with the group's original drummer. A backing track for "Walk Away Renee" had already been completed, and the other members overdubbed vocals in Brown's absence. The song was released on Smash and became a hit, and the musicians reunited to tour and continue recording.
Despite popular success, the group, which showed such tremendous promise, was quickly torn asunder by dissension. Due to the nature of their music (which often employed session musicians), the Left Banke's sound was difficult to reproduce on the road, and one could sympathize with Brown's wishes to become a Brian Wilson-like figure, concentrating on writing and recording while the rest of the musicians took to the road.

A variety of guitarists, as both session musicians and ostensible group members, flitted in and out of the lineup; Rick Brand, credited as the guitarist on the first LP, actually plays on only one of the album's songs. Adding fuel to the fire, Brown's bandmates wanted to oust Brown's father as the act's manager. In early 1967, Brown went as far as to record a Left Banke single without them, using vocalist Bert Sommer.

That single ("And Suddenly") flopped, and for a brief time in September 1967 the original members were recording together again. After just one single ("Desiree"), though, Brown left for good. Most of the group's second and final album, The Left Banke Too, was recorded without him. While it still sported baroque arrangements and contained some fine moments, Brown's presence was sorely missed, and the record pales in comparison to their debut. Brown went on to form a Left Banke-styled group, Montage, which released a fine and underappreciated album in the late '60s. He later teamed up to form Stories with vocalist Ian Lloyd.

There were some confusing son-of-Left Banke recordings over the next few years, although the band really came to a halt in 1969, after the second album. Brown, Martin, and unknown musicians made a few recordings in late 1969; then, oddly, the original group re-formed for a fine early-1971 single on Buddah ("Love Songs in the Night" b/w "Two by Two"), although the record itself was credited to Steve Martin. And the original group, minus its key visionary Michael Brown, made an album's worth of ill-advised reunion recordings in 1978, which surfaced under the title Strangers on a Train.

The Left Banke's cult following slowly but steadily grew over the passage of time, especially after the release of 1992's There's Gonna Be a Storm, which collected the group's entire Smash Records catalog on one CD. And the Left Banke's songs were covered by everyone from Rickie Lee Jones, Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweet, and Richard Thompson to Alice Cooper. In 2010, two of the original members of the group, Tom Finn and George Cameron, staged a pair of Left Banke reunion shows at Joe's Pub in New York City; joining them were vocalist Mike Fornatale, guitarist Paul Alves, bassist Charly Cazalet, drummer Rick Reil, and keyboardists Mickey Finn and Joe McGinty. The Joe's Pub shows were a critical and popular success, and the new edition of the Left Banke gigged periodically over the next few years, with McGinty replaced by John Spurney in 2012.

In 2011, Sundazed Records reissued Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina and The Left Banke Too on vinyl and CD, allowing the two albums to be heard in their original sequence since they fell out of print in the '60s. In April 2013, Michael Brown joined the new Left Banke on-stage in New York City to perform "Pretty Ballerina," and it was announced that Steve Martin had signed on to return as the group's lead vocalist on March 18, 2015. Martin's return was sadly overshadowed by the announcement the following day that Michael Brown died of heart failure at his home in Englewood, New Jersey; he was 65 years old.(allmusic.com)

Classic album of Baroque/Psychedelic Pop by The Left Banke. Hope you will enjoy it.
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The Association - Renaissance (1967) (2011 Cherry Red Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition) Flac & mp3

Renaissance was a difficult album for the Association to record. Coming in the wake of a serious hit album (And Then...Along Comes the Association) and two huge hit singles ("Along Comes Mary," "Cherish") and at a time when the group was experiencing more bookings than its members had ever dreamed possible, Renaissance was rushed out under pressure from the band's label. Alas, Renaissance bore little resemblance to its predecessor.

For starters, the Association had lost the services of producer Curt Boettcher, who was the architect of the earlier album's extraordinary sound. Additionally, Renaissance was comprised entirely of original material, much of which had been written while the group was touring. These songs were competent and showed some flashes of inspiration but, apart from "Come to Me," nothing here offered anything even remotely as catchy as either of the band's two previous singles. With Association rhythm guitarist Jim Yester's brother Jerry Yester producing, Renaissance has a more stripped-down, conventional folk-rock feel.

Apart from lead guitarist Gary Alexander and wind player Terry Kirkman, none of the other members played on this album, but Alexander is a delight, mixing melodic folk-rock picking and strumming, throwing in a few high-energy licks on one or two numbers, and even using a koto for the album's single, "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies." The latter, despite having a grotesque title when following up a single like "Cherish," is a prize piece of pop psychedelia, all gorgeous harmonies and spaced-out sensibilities backed by a bracing beat. Renaissance wasn't a bad album, but was a more routine, predictable recording than its predecessor and, without a hit single to help push sales, it never reached audiences in remotely the same numbers. (allmusic.com)

In my ears also a good effort by the Association with a lot of strong songs and in no way disappointing. Great vocal arrangements and also the different instruments was well deployed.
I hope you enjoy it like me
Cheers
           SB1   Flac 1     You need both flac links!  Flac 2
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mp3 links added! Nick Gilder - City Nights & Frequency (2006)

Hello Folks and Friends, as i yesterday mentioned, i have added the mp3 link to the flac post of yesterday.
Cheers
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