Post-New Year's Day Weekend Listomania: Special "Big Noise From Across the Pond" Edition

Blah blah blah I hope you're all completely recovered from yesterday's holiday festivities blah blah blah.

So let's get immediately to the first new business of 2026. To wit:

Best or Favorite Hit Singles (in America) of the British Invasion NOT Recorded by the Holy Trinity of Beatles/Stones/Kinks!!!

No arbitrary rules, you're welcome very much, but let's stipulate that for purposes of our discussion we're defining the Brit Invasion as lasting from the years 1964 through mid-1966. And, come to think of it, let's reiterate that your nominees have to have been played on the radio here in the US of A. So don't try to sneak anything in by otherwise estimable Brit bands or artists like The Fourmost or The Creation, who never charted in the States.

Oh, and no -- the songs don't have to been written by the artists in question, as the following list will demonstrate.

Okay then -- and my totally Top of My Head Top 12 is...

12. Sandie Shaw -- Girl Don't Come

It's a two-fer -- she's a total cutie, and I just love the vibrato.

11. The Who -- Can't Explain

It's funny how nobody really thinks about the 'Oo as a singles band anymore. No larger point, I just think it's funny.

10. The Animals -- Boom Boom

God, I wanted to be able to play that Alan Price organ solo.

9. The Zombies -- Tell Her No

The echoed handclap at the end. Words fail me.

8. The Troggs -- With a Girl Like You

I had completely forgotten how cool this song is until I heard it last weekend in a Farmer's Dog tv commercial. If you had told me this would be true back in 1966, swear to god I would have taken a hostage.

7. The Dave Clark 5 -- Glad all Over...

...and -- it's a tie -- Because

At this point it's not exactly a secret, but was Mike Smith the most underrated singer of the Invasion or what?

6. The Searchers -- When You Walk in the Room

Written by the great Jackie DeShannon -- Byrdsian folk-rock begins here.

5. Unit 4 Plus 2 -- Concrete and Clay

Kind of unclassifiable genre-wise -- is it funky? vaguely Latin? -- but damn it's pretty, and the band (featuring future members of Argent) kills. BTW, the b-side of this -- a vaguely doo-wop-ish cover of the pop standard "When I Fall in Love -- is absolutely to die for, and you need to hear it. Trust me.

4. The Moody Blues -- Go Now

Have I mentioned I really really don't like the post-Denny Laine mellotron incarnation of the Moodies? But that's a subject for another posting. I should also add that I could (and still can) do the piano solo from this one.

3. The Hollies -- Look Through Any Window

Uh -- those harmonies? That 12-string riff? Like you didn't see that one coming.

2. The Yardbirds -- For Your Love

The official beginning of my life-long love affair with Graham Gouldman.

And the Number 1 it-totally-slays-me record of the era that kind of surprised me when I compiled this list is...

1. Dusty Springfield -- Wishin' and Hopin'

Jeebus, what a voice. And don't think I don't tend to compare it to the contemporary girl singers currently selling in the squillions and find theirs wanting by comparison. (I'm looking at YOU, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter!) 😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

It's New Years Day: Special "Oh No, Not This Stupid Story Again!!!" Edition

[I first posted this one on January 1, 2013, and, while I'm not trying to turn it in into some kind of internet tradition, I do find it amusing enough to give it the old "One More Time!". So sue me. I should add that I'm wishing all you kids the happiest of happy 2026's; please, Flying Spaghetti Monster, make it an improvement on the hell year we've all just lived through. -- S.S.]

This is, as I have been wont to say here on many previous occasions, a very sad story, so please try not to laugh.

It also has a certain relevance to today's festivities, which will be revealed later in the narrative. Please be patient.

Anyway, so the other day I was in a cab heading down the West Side Highway in a snowstorm, and the driver had the radio tuned to whatever soft-rock Lite FM station they inevitably have on when they don't have WINS News Radio blasting or some guy from Queens yelling about sports.

I wasn't particularly paying attention, but suddenly some soft-rock Lite FM staple song came on, and immediately I knew three things.

1. I had definitely heard it before.

2. It was probably from the 70s or the 80s, although I couldn't rule out the possibility that it might have been more recent, and it had that whole California soft-rock vibe, which I usually detest, in spades.

3. I had no idea who the guy or the group singing it was, although I was painfully aware that when and if I found out I was gonna kick myself. Because pretty much everybody in the world, at least of a certain age, would have been able to recognize it instantly.

The truly insidious part was that there was something about the damn thing that grabbed me. Yes, the vocals had that laid-back L.A. Mr. Sensitive shtick that usually makes my gorge rise. But the tune was charming, the voicings of the harmony parts in the chorus were really quite lovely, and -- try as I might to deny it -- it was getting under my skin.

Fortunately, because of the roar of traffic, I couldn't really hear the lyrics, although one word -- "architect" -- jumped out. "Hmm," I thought. "There's a word you don't hear in a pop song everyday."

Anyway, I then went about the rest of my weekend, but I knew with an absolutely dread certainty that I was gonna break down sooner or later and look the song up on the Intertubes.

So, late on Monday, I googled "Soft Rock song with the word architect in it" and up it popped.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...and my fingers are shaking as I type these words....Dan Fogelberg (the horror, the horror!) and his 1980 smash (which I had apparently put out of my mind, probably deliberately, ever since its original vogue) "Same Old Lang Syne."

Well. In case you're wondering, no -- I have no interest in revisiting the rest of Fogelberg's body of work, and yes, I still basically can't stand the whole genre he represents, but goddamn it -- this damn song works and it gets to me. Like I said, it's melodically quite charming, and now that I've actually deciphered the lyrics, it turns out that -- despite a certain smugness that kind of rankles -- they actually make a pretty good little literary narrative vignette.

Sticks in my craw a bit, though.

As I said, this was a very sad story, so please try not to laugh.

I should add that Fogelberg departed this sad vale of tears during the holiday season in 2017. That doesn't excuse him for any of this stuff, but I just thought I'd mention it. 😎

And again, Happy New Year everybody!!! Oh -- and a guaranteed to be fun Weekend Listomania arrives tomorrow. 😎😎

If It Isn't Scottish, It's Crap: Special "PowerPop's Traditional Beach Boys New Year's Eve" Edition

From November 1964, please enjoy the incomparable Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, Al Jardine and the humongous dickitude that is Mike Love and an alternte take of their incomparable a cappella rendition (the original's on their Christmas album) of that Scottish New Year's Eve song whose title escapes me.

How they were able to do that without auto-tuning is beyond me. 😎

Coming tomorrow: We revisit a PowerPop New Years Day classic. Okay, perhaps "classic" is too strong a word. 😎😎

Coming Friday: A sure to be entertaining new Weekend Listomania. Okay, perhaps "sure to be" is... 😎😎😎

Tuesday's Cartoon and Photo Chuckles

That's Art Gecko, in case you were wondering. 😎

As seems to be a tradition around here, the classical one is my favorite. 😎 😎

Tales From the Crypt (An Occasional Series): Special "You Know, Some Days I Kinda Miss Seeing XXX Movies in Theaters On the Big Screen" Edition

The short version: I rediscovered this interesting (I think) essay the other day, after a friend remarked on having stumbled across a virgin vinyl copy of the soundtrack album in question. Hadn't thought about either the film or the review in years. (If you have trouble reading, just click on the image to embiggen it.)

And in case you're wondering, the critique originally ran in the December 1980 issue of the Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review, and IMHO it holds up pretty well. My memory is that the movie itself really sucked, but I think I nonetheless made a not implausible case for the soundtrack album being at least meh. 😎

I should add that the vinyl edition is long out of print, although if you're among the curious and the kooky, Amazon has some reasonably priced copies available over HERE. To my surprise, the album seems never to have been reissued on CD, which hardly seems a cultural tragedy, however. 😎😎

[h/t Pat Thomas]

La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "Your Post-Christmas Lump of Coal" Edition

Okay, while we're all recovering from yesterday's over-eating and drinking, let's get right to business. To wit:

...and the one, single, stand-alone post-Elvis pop/rock/folk/country/r&b/jazz album you dislike (okay, hate) most intensely compared to all others and have since its original release and it's your story and you're sticking with it is...???

Discuss.

Wow -- peace on earth, good will to men, and all that stuff, right? 😎

Long time readers (by which I mean folks who've been around here since 2009, when I originally published the screed excerpted and slightly rewritten in the following paragraphs) will doubtless be able to guess my candidate.

But don't mince words, Steve -- tell us what you really think (thought).

It's official -- I consider David Bowie's Pin Ups to be not only one of the Three All-Time Worst Albums of Rock Cover Versions Ever Made, but also to be among the worst sets of interpretations of any kind of music -- including classical -- in the history of recorded sound.

Okay, that last may be an overstatement, but I stand by the Three Worst Covers Album thing.

(In case you're wondering, the other two are Bryan Ferry's 1973 These Foolish Things and Duran Duran's 1995 Thank You. The former, I think, is an utterly appalling concept record in which Ferry, nitwit that he was, advances the idea that Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" has something in common artistically with Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" other than the fact that both were originally recorded by sentient mammals. The latter, on the other hand, is merely a sloppy mess in which one of the world's most useless bands pays tribute to its non-roots and tries, unsuccessfully, to convince the world that Simon Le Bon has any business performing a Public Enemy song.)

Anyway, the main reason I so utterly loathe the Bowie album is that the entire attitude it exudes (reeks of, might be a more accurate phrase) is a "Look at Me I'm Wonderful!!!" contempt for the source material. The album, IMHO, is the work of a guy who's convinced that these silly little songs, AND the people who recorded them, are ever so trivial and ridiculous, so thank god that he -- The Greatest Star -- is deigning to give them a little undeserved, reflected, acclaim in his trademark bullshit campy ironic way. Not to mention that the singing is flatout awful; the affectless, emotionless, pretentious pseudo-operatic croon Bowie subjects the songs to is light years removed from the punkish snarl and passion that most of them (with the possible exception of The Mersey's "Sorrow") require.

And just to spread the blame around, let us not forget (actually PLEASE let us forget) Aynsley Dunbar's drumming. Everything he does on the record is overplayed, underlined, and generally reduces the songs to sludge.

Have I mentioned that I hate the goddamn album?

I should add that, believe it or not, I've actually kinda mellowed on Bowie, generally, in my old age. I still can't think of another single album I dislike as much, however. 😎😎

But okay then -- what would YOUR choice be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Hey -- It's Christmas Day!!!

[I've posted a slightly different version of this on several previous Christmases; consider it one of those internet traditions you've heard so much about. -- S.S.]

Ahem. So. Way back in December of 2007 -- when the world, myself and this here blog were young -- I found myself, quite improbably, falling in love.

And the Christmas song I kept hearing in at least two TV commercials at the time was the ineffably touching "All That I Want" by The Weepies.

Which, as it turned out, was, improbably, about the improbability of somehow finding the right person to fall in love with.

Above the rooftops
The full moon dips its golden spoon
I wait on clip clops
Deer might fly
Why not? I met you

All these years later, I still can't hear the thing without getting a little misty, sentimental old fluff that I am. So I thought I'd share it once again...as sort of a Christmas card to you all.

And to a certain Shady Dame,let me just say, and for the record -- I love you, babe. You're the best thing that ever happened to me. 😎

It's Xmas Eve: How Do You Say "An Oldie But a Goodie" in Yiddish?

This is, of course, the traditional holiday music here at Casa Simels.

But please -- don't even ask about the mistletoe. 😎

[h/t George Cullinan]

Tuesday's Cartoon and Photo Chuckles

The Willie and Keith one is sheer genius. 😎

Well, Apparently It's True, God DIDN'T Make The Little Green Apples. Actually, It Was This Guy!

From Australian power pop auteur Dom Mariani, please enjoy the title song of his just released new album -- the wildly infectious ear candy that is "Apple of Life."

Mariani's apparently been doing stuff like the above since the '80s, but I must confess to having been unaware of him until this past weekend, when friend of PowerPop Mark Rosenblatt played the song (after two by the Floor Models -- thanks Mark!) on his radio program, which airs (and streams) every Saturday morning (betwee 10am and Noon) on WPKN-FM 89.5, from Bridgeport Connecticut. You can find out more over at the station's website HERE, and come to think of it they have a very good archive, so you can listen to the most recent show in its entirety.

In any case, that song just slays me, so I'm going to be doing the research on this Mariani guy. I'll keep you posted on what I unearth.