GarageSurfPower Pop by The Barracudas - Drop Out With The Barracudas 1981 (2005 EMI Gold Release, Remastered) Flac & mp3@320

Thematically, the Barracudas pushed hard a Southern California surf-rock image on their debut -- there's the cover photo, for one, and then there's a good chunk of the songs. Titles like the demi-hit singles "Summer Fun," "California Lament," "On the Strip," and "Surfers Are Back" are self-explanatory, while the deliciously campy "His Last Summer," detailing one dude's final big wave with Brit-accented asides, has got to win an award for being one of rock's best fake-tragedy stories. However, the Barracudas were more accurately a sharp balance between the harder-edge of new wave power pop and a freewheeling, mid-'60s L.A. revivalism. Rather than peeling off Dick Dale or Ventures-style riffs, or even trying much for the Beach Boys' early sound, the foursome combined some surf-tinged work with the Byrds' ringing exuberance, Love's more frazzled early garage stomps, and the kind of punk collected on Nuggets. When it all works, it rises from mere tribute status to being its own groovy kick, often resembling a more specifically '60-fixated version of the Church. Everything is original on Drop Out, though sources of inspiration aren't far off at any turn, however reused and remade. "Codeine" has a more epic swoop and cautionary feel than the Sonics gave to "Strychnine," and "I Saw My Death in a Dream Last Night" isn't quite the Electric Prunes, but the same sort of not-quite-borrowing crops up song for song, and not too badly at that. Some songs, such as "I Can't Pretend" and "This Ain't My Time," have just enough of a crisp kick to remind you that they were recorded in 1980 rather than 15 years earlier. Generally speaking, though, one song title sums up the entire fun spirit of Drop Out: "I Wish It Could Be 1965 Again." [EMI's 2005 reissue of the album adds five B-sides (including one of the band's signature songs "Surfers Are Back!") and seven songs recorded in 1981 but never released.](allmusic.com)

Greatest Garage Pop band of all times? At least one of the best if it's possible to assess things like that. However they were a great band!
Enjoy
          Frank     Flac part1  &  Flac part2 -  mp3@320

L.A. Power Pop: Arlo - Stab the Unstoppable Hero (2002 Sub Pop) mp3@320

Combining the aesthetics of power pop, grunge, and hard rock, Los Angeles' Arlo has spawned a big album with big hooks, big harmonies, and an even bigger guitar attack that should endear them to the vast American teenage wasteland. Classic rock influences abound, especially when the band barely stops short of cobbling the all-too-familiar octave riff of the Knack's seminal new wave anthem "My Sharona" in "Runaround." Cuts such as "Culture," "Little American," and "Working Title" all explode with the most unflappable characteristics of modern rock radio currency, namely adolescent angst meshed with raging hormones and wandering spirits.

The odd time signature in title track underpins a tale of despair that belies the infectious singalong chorus. Stab the Unstoppable Hero is an enjoyable and youthful romp that proves the kids are all right after all.(allmusic.com)

Real fine guitar pop with a lot melody
Have fun
              Frank              mp3@320

Kaleidoscope (UK) - Dive Into Yesterday 1967 - 1969 (1996 Fontana) Flac & mp3

In 1996 the British Fontana label issued a best-of for the U.K. band Kaleidoscope with the appropriate title of Dive Into Yesterday, after the first track. It is a wonderful journey containing a 12-page booklet chock full of photographs, extensive liner notes, and 23 original recordings from 1967 to 1969, all evolving over the course of the disc. The music is dramatically different from the box released in 2000, The Fairfield Parlour Years, on the Burning Airlines/NMC label, and helps put this important ensemble's work into perspective.

"Flight From Ashiya," "Dive Into Yesterday," and "The Murder of Lewis Tollani" are among those culled from the album Tangerine Dream, while "Poem" and other titles come from the follow-up, Faintly Blowing. With the music made during sessions for both albums combined on this single disc, it's a generous helping of a band whose sound lives up to their name. "Snapdragon" oozes that fusion of folk music and psychedelic rock which probably had a great impact on the Move.

It certainly sounds like Chumbawamba borrowed heavily from this particular song for their 1997 hit "Tubthumping." The innovative "(Love Song) For Annie" also displays sounds that would work their way into influencing future records by other groups. These are the compositions of guitarist Eddie Pumer and vocalist Peter Daltrey (singer Daltrey also coordinated this reissue) performed with their comrades, bassist Steve Clark and drummer Dan Bridgman. Dick Leahy produced the music, which was digitally remastered by Roger Wake. Everything is in pretty much chronological order, starting with the title track, one of seven songs from 1967.

Three performances are from 1968 -- "A Dream for Julie," "Jenny Artichoke," and "Just How Much You Are" -- though they are tracked at eight, 16, and 17 inside the flow of the 13 songs from 1969. Track five, "(Further Reflections) In the Room of Percussion," is outstanding, and according to the liner notes it is a remix by Dick Leahy of "In the Room of Percussion" made for the B-side of the Dutch release of "Flight of Ashiya." Seventy-six and a half minutes is a generous helping of music on this release, music which goes through different moods and flavors, demanding repeated listening. As it may be the first introduction to the band for many, Phil Smee's liners could be a little more helpful and precise. He discusses the final single, "Balloon," but it is not included here or on The Fairfield Parlour Years.

Daltrey sounds a bit like Dylan on "The Feathered Tiger" -- Dylan surrounded by cosmic sounds, the music complex, creative, and always interesting. "Do It Again for Jeffrey," from the March 1969 sessions which produced the album Faintly Blowing, along with over six minutes of the song "Music," conclude the album with melody and innovation. The presentation is powerful and impressive, with period-piece color photos on the front and back of the booklet.(allmusic)

The british band Kaleidoscope was in my ears completely underrated.
Dive Into Yesterday is a real strong compilation and shows the band from their nearly best side.
5 'yellow sunshines' from 6 possible 'yellow sunshines' :-)

Enjoy it
             Frank   mp3 part1   &  mp3 part2       - Flac

Keith - The Adventures Of Keith 1969 (2008 RPM) Flac & mp3

"Alone on the Shore" opens the third album by Keith, the one name handle for James Barry Keefer. The shimmering pop that was created by Bobby Hebb producer Jerry Ross and arranger Joe Renzetti on the first two Mercury discs is replaced by original compositions and the arrangement of the meticulous Larry Fallon. Fallon is credited for arranging The Looking Glass hit "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl," however, he is the actual producer on that disc.

He is one of the industry's underrated talents, and he allows Keith's band of David Jiminez (guitar), Joe Coyle (ryhthm guitar), Dave Fiebert (bass), and Rick Fox (drums) to experiment in ways that are admirable. This LP plays more like latter day Donovan, another one-name pop maestro. "Alone on the Shore" and "Trixon's Election" are heady pop tunes, maybe too deep for Top 40 at the time. Even Buffalo Springfield knew enough to temper their politics with radio friendly music. The sounds here are an intriguing mixture of '60s garage rock with British pop, flavors of The Beatles, The Small Faces, Kaleidoscope UK, and other psychedelic rockers.

The production by Ted Daryll allows this group to stretch out. "Waiting to Be" is five minutes and thirty eight seconds of psychedelic jam. Keith wrote only one song on his second album, none on his first, so RCA Records showed some kind of faith in the artist allowing him to compose/co-write all ten titles on The Adventures of Keith. These are adventurous tunes, and worth listening to. It's a natural progression from the second album's Jimmy "Wiz" Wisner's (yes, the one and the same from Tommy James & the Shondells sessions), arrangement of the Spanky & Our Gang hit "Making Every Minute Count" to the short one minute and fifty six second "Melody," which begins like a track from one of the first two Keith albums, diving into the progressive nature of this recording, and back to the pop sensibilities of the first two LPs.

"The Problem," which is the last song on side one, was issued as a single with the excellent "Marstrand," the first track of side two. "Elea-Elea" is another five minute plus track, and one of the album's standouts. Great melody and all the indications that Keith should have been a major, major pop star. Where Donovan had Led Zeppelin performing on "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and the Jeff Beck Group behind him on "Goo Goo Barabajagal" helping churn out the hits, Keith and his band crafted an album perfect for FM radio, perhaps a bit ahead of its time for an artist known for covering the Hollies. But Keith's musical direction here is impressive and reiterates how clever his three Top 40 hits prior to this release really were.

Great british sixties psychedelic pop . In my opinion a little underrated.
I recommend Keith if you are in british pop/pop psychedelia of the sixties.

Have fun
               Frank    Flac p1  &  Flac p2       -  mp3@320

Jackie DeShannon - What the World Needs Now Is...The Definitive Collection (1994 EMI Remastered) Flac & mp3

Jackie DeShannon's work is actually too diverse to be satisfactorily captured on an anthology, even one that includes 28 tracks, as this one does. Still, considering how hard the one DeShannon anthology that might be better than this one is to find (the Australian import Pop Princess), this has to be cited as the recommended first purchase. Focusing on her output for Liberty between 1959 and 1970, it has all the essentials: her two Top Ten hits, the minor hits like "A Lifetime of Loneliness," and the original versions of "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room," and a host of fine girl group, ballad, folk-rock, and singer/songwriter flop singles.

From the collector's viewpoint, the most interesting songs are the rarities. The six previously unreleased tracks include the exuberant "Breakaway," a hit for Irma Thomas; the rocker "Dream Boy," cut in 1964 in Britain with Jimmy Page on guitar; and a cover of Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe." A couple of interesting rarities are "For Granted" (from the little-seen movie C'mon, Let's Live a Little) and the 45 version of "Splendor in the Grass," a somewhat sloppy folk-rock performance on which DeShannon was backed by the Byrds.(allmusic.com)

A fantastic collection, maybe the best till now.
Have fun
               Frank   mp3@320 P1 & mp3@320 P2            - Flac

Rachel Sweet - Fool Around 1978 + Extra Tracks (2007 Stiff Records) Flac & mp3

If Stiff Records wanted to market Rachel Sweet as an ironic sex symbol, they succeeded only at the irony of forbidden fruit; the picture of her on the back of this disc in a rugby shirt and jeans, head cocked, hands on hips, could grace the cover of Lolita's next edition.

Sweet was fully sweet 16 in 1978, though, and pictures aside, "the little girl with the big voice," as the bosses billed her, lived up to that description. Belting, whooping, pleading, and near-weeping through the speakers, she rides the crest of Liam Sternberg and his Spector-ized production (that feel of a marching brass band keeping warm on a snowy morning), embodying the tough, rowdy sides of Brenda Lee and Wanda Jackson, though not so genre-bound as the latter. Sternberg's "Wildwood Saloon" and Elvis Costello's letter-perfect "Stranger in My House" hearken back to Sweet's childhood country records, but Carla Thomas' gleeful "B-A-B-Y," Del Shannon's mournfully up-tempo "I Go to Pieces," and Dusty Springfield's desperate "Stay Awhile" pulsate into new life through her throat, a crackerjack band including Brinsley Schwartz and Lene Lovich swirling faithfully along.

Another Sternberg original, "Who Does Lisa Like?," opens with, "Sittin' around in the Firestone parking lot/It's alright!," and climaxes by insisting on the primacy of the title question over starvation in India and war in Baghdad. Only a true believer touched with the power of imputing her true belief could run that one back for a touchdown.

Great pop album and highly recommend.
Enjoy
         Frank     Flac p1  &  Flac p2           - mp3@320

@ Request: Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas (2009 Elephants On Parade) mp3@vbr

Elephant Stone is a neo-psychedelic outfit led by Rishi Dhir, formerly of the High Dials. Its music incorporates the influence of British Invasion bands like the Kinks and the Beatles, as well as Indian classical music, which Dhir was paying particular attention to when he formed the band in Montreal in 2008.

With Dhir singing lead and handling nearly a dozen instruments, help from several guests including producer Jace Lasek, and no shortage of breezy melodies, Elephant Stone released its debut album, The Seven Seas, in 2009 on Dhir's own Elephants on Parade label (with Fontana Distribution). The Glass Box EP followed in 2010 via Elephants on Parade and 360 Degree. The group signed with Canada's Hidden Pony for 2013's self-titled Elephant Stone. Settling into a regular lineup of Dhir, Gabriel Lambert on guitar, and Miles Dupire-Gagnon on drums, Three Poisons arrived in 2014, also on Hidden Pony. The trio released Elephant Stone's fourth LP, Ship of Fools, with Burger Records in 2016.(allmusic.com)

I will post more of ES in the next days.
Have fun
              Frank         mp3@vbr 

p.s.: All of you feel free to upgrade if you have a better audio file!

Even - Even (2007 Rubber Records) Flac & mp3

Even are exactly what they are and what Ashley Naylor wants them to be -- a band whose members love their Beatles, their ELO, their power pop, their hints of roots music appreciation. It's all in there and they're not only not hiding it; they revel in it. It would be pointless to criticize something that they're precisely aiming for, no less so than any number of acts exploring their own favorite genres almost to a fault. Even the song titles hit the trick moment for moment -- "I Am the Light," "Keep on Burning," "The Fool Who Makes You Sad" -- and are all spot-on.Even is going to be a treat, but there's still something to be said for trying to push oneself creatively -- and, ultimately, that's just not in evidence here.

Naylor's yearning vocals, the tuneful guitar crunches, the flanged vocals and buried string swells on "Only One" -- it's all designed to slot them in alongside bands ranging from the Shoes to Cheap Trick to Redd Kross to Teenage Fanclub to Jellyfish, and it's well in line with what he's been doing leading Even all these years. But so perfected is this approach now that there's almost little to say; Even as an album is such a flawless example of what Naylor aims for that it's almost something to admire and regard with appreciation more than anything else.

When a song like "Superstition Blues" is exactly the kind of stylishly formal exercise one might guess, down to the twang in the vocals as much as the guitars and mouth harp, what more can be done but to acknowledge it for what it is? So if any of this sounds like it would appeal, then Even is going to be a treat, but there's still something to be said for trying to push oneself creatively -- and, ultimately, that's just not in evidence here.

Enjoy Even
                  Frank      Flac p1 &  Flac p2           - mp3@320

Eurovox - This Is Eurovox (2004 Rusty Metal Records) mp3

The evidence is undeniable: Eurovox equip themselves with borrowed parts: chunks of guitar shrapnel left behind the Mohawk hordes from London’s Class of ’77. Although they have a ferocious enough drum kick and the guitars speed with the ferocity of passing asteroids, Eurovox are definitely not punk. Rather, this is working-class British rock, closer in sound, if not spirit, to vintage Who, the Kinks, and David Bowie. Their Bowie fixation is fairly obvious on “The World Won’t Wait,” but it’s not a pale imitation a la Spacehog or Babylon Zoo (remember them?). The group captures the drag years of Bowie quite well and, while vocalist Mat Hammond is nowhere near as flamboyant as Ziggy Stardust, he offers a solid, charismatic performance.

With artists such as Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, and Franz Ferdinand taking off in the U.S., there seems to be another British Invasion underway, one that has the potential of topping the last U.K. infiltration of this country in the mid-‘90s. However, many of these groups are flashing back to the ‘80s. Eurovox, on the other hand, refuse to settle for a single era. The band plumbs the English rock & roll encyclopedia for definitions of kick-ass music from the ‘60s to the ‘80s. Don’t expect any modern touches here; this is classic British rock with an irresistibly stubborn commitment of remaining true to its royal blue origins.(Karla Ash, thewigfitsall.com)

This is great british mod rock. But the best is that you can hear hundreds of Mod bands and you will Eurovox immediately recognize. Listen loud...better LOUDER!

Enjoy
         Frank                mp3@320

The School - Wasting Away And Wondering (2015 Elephant Records) Flac & mp3

Since their first single, 2008's "All I Wanna Do," the School have been a band that indie pop fans can't help but love, with sticky-sweet, lush, and lovely songs about love and lost love, equal parts girl group and C-86, impeccably played by the band and sung perfectly by leader Liz Hunt. After two albums that won the hearts and minds of all but the coldest and cruelest indie kids, their third, 2015's Wasting Away and Wondering, is another beauty. Made up of bouncy Northern soul-inflected love songs that are designed to make feet happy, girl group-y love-lost songs made to bend hearts, and late-night ballads sure to break them all the way, Wasting was made by a band at the top of its game. Not a wasted note or a wrong foot forward, with a nonstop parade of potential singles, the album doesn't top their previous work as much as it adds another layer of goodness to the recipe. Hunt and her crew lay on the horn section a bit heavier this time, with songs like "Til You Belong to Me" and the "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"-quoting title track reaching near Dexys-level excitement.

The strings are more prominent too, giving songs like the weepy "Don't Worry Baby (I Don't Love You Any More)" an extra ounce of swoon. It's an assured and powerful sound that gives Hunt's vocals a strong foundation, even more than on previous albums. She responds by turning in a performance that's the equal of anything she's done yet, and there are a couple times when she even belts it out a little. One of those times is on the album highlight, "Do I Love You?," where the song, the arrangement, and the performance all come together in a big punch that equals their finest moments of the past ("Let It Slip," "Stop That Boy"). Another is on one of the album's few surprises, the almost noisy, guitar-led minor-key ballad "He's Gonna Break Your Heart One Day," which comes off like one of the saddest mascara-streaked songs the Shangri-Las ever did, only tougher.

It's a nice addition to their repertoire and something they could explore more on the next album. Not that they need to change anything much, since Wasting Away and Wondering is another classic slice of indie pop. The School could keep releasing albums just like this forever and it would be just fine. Better than that, it would be simply lovely.(allmusic.com)

The School make pop music with an early - mid sixties girls pop feel.
Wonderful!!!

Enjoy
         Frank                     Flac p1   & Flac p2       - mp3@320

The Scruffs - Pop Manifesto (2007 Scruffsville) mp3@320

Thirty years after Stephen Burns made his first bid for cult hero status with the Scruffs' debut album, Wanna Meet the Scruffs?, the man stubbornly refuses to give up the power pop ghost, and Pop Manifesto is the third Scruffs album since Burns decamped to Scotland in 1999 and assembled a new version of the band. Those who haven't checked in with Burns since checking out Wanna Meet the Scruffs? years ago may be a bit surprised with the group's latest work; in many respects, Pop Manifesto recalls Burns's short-lived Messenger 45 project, revealing a more baroque tone in the arrangements and a less aggressive attack than in the nervy tone of the group's early sides. The delicate piano, strings, and horn accents on "September's Lost" are a far cry from "You're No Fun," and "What Can I Do for You" almost makes the Left Banke sound like the Nerves. But Burns is still writing terrific songs with glorious melodies and superb hooks, which is the real link between this music and his past, and for good or ill he's still trying to figure out the opposite sex, as "There's a Girl I Know" and "She's Got It for You" amply demonstrate. "Situation Critical" shows he hasn't entirely let his more rollicking side go fallow, either. Pop Manifesto isn't quite the Scruffs as you remember them, but it's a fine and well-crafted visit to smart pop heaven that proves Stephen Burns isn't running out of interesting ideas.(allmusic.com)

I was quite surprised when i heard back then in 2007 or 2008 The Scruffs had released a new album. But it was a positive surprise. That's not the Scruffs from the eighties that's the Scruffs of 2007. 4 and a half star out of 6.

Have fun
              Frank                mp3@320

mp3 flac mp3 flac mp3 flac...

Good Morning Folks, hope all started well into the weekend. In the last weeks a lot of requests come in and a lot who asked for power pop artists. I think i have a quite good amount of power pop music on my external HDDs. But i think  around 90% in mp3 only. Usually i prefer to post albums in Flac & mp3. The original idea, as i started the blog, was to post only in Flac. But after a while i perceived that a lot of the readers (two-thirds) of this blog would love to download in mp3.

Mostly i posted since then in both formats (if possible). But time goes on and i get a lot of requests for albums i only have in mp3. I have decided now also post files that i only have in mp3. This concern mainly power pop music. I hope everyone understand the decision. And for no one anything get lost due to this.
I would be glad to see your opinions in the comments.
Enjoy your lazy Sunday afternoon
                                                      Frank