Weekend Listomania: Special "Album? What the F**k is an Album?" Edition

[This was one of the very first Listomanias I posted -- back in 2007 (yipes)-- and to be honest, I had totally forgotten about it until the other day, when the subject of the Jefferson Airplane came up in casual conversation. In any case, I think that thematically it's pretty cool; as per usual, I've done some rewriting and made a couple of substitute nominations, just to keep my hand in. -- S.S.]

Okay, I have a birthday coming up (next Wednesday) and although I'm still younger than the demented vulgarian sitting in the People's now gilded White House, my work ethic just ain't what it used to be.

That being the case, I'm disinclined to write a long lead to today's post.

So let's get immediately to the business at hand.

To wit:

Sophomore Albums That Surpassed (Artistically) The Really Good Debut Albums That Preceded Them!!!

You know the cliche -- you have your entire life to write your first record, and then you have six months to write your second, which is why a lot of followup albums disappoint.

Perhaps the most obvious example is Pretenders II; an estimable work with some terrific songs, but small beer compared to the epochal first one.

More absurdly, think of the second Hootie and the Blowfish album.

Or rather, please don't think of it, as Hootie sucked right out of the gate, IMHO.

Although Fairweather Johnson was a really great album title. 😎

In any event, what do YOU think are the post-Elvis (Presley) rock/pop/folk/country/soul albums that best avoided the usual sequel slump?

Arbitrary rule: Nothing by The Beatles, or any other Brit invasion band is allowed, due to the fact that the difference between Brit and American album releases of the period is too obvious and confusing.

Okay -- submitted for your approval, my top of my head Top Eight would be......

8. Jefferson Airplane -- Surrealistic Pillow

I happen to be a fan of Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, which features work by their original drummer (and one of my all time musical heroes) the late great Skip Spence. That said -- c'mon. If you don't know that Pillow is a better album on every level, you probably shouldn't be allowed to take cash machine money out of your own account.

7. MC5 -- Back in the USA

The 5's debut -- recorded live -- was often impressive as a political and musical template, but the songwriting was inconsistent and the whole thing ultimately devolved into aural sludge at some point. However, the followup -- despite the fact that future Springsteen guru Jon Landau's production sucked hippo root -- featured short concise songs that totally rocked and got the band's revolutionary message over with a surprising level of wit and irony.

6. The Byrds -- Turn! Turn! Turn!

Not perhaps so staggeringly innovative as the first album -- which, after all, invented an entire new genre and sound -- but some of the songwriting and performances (the above Gene Clark masterpiece, for example) clearly surpassed the debut.

5. Marah -- Kids in Philly

Their indie debut was promising, but this is one of the great records of the 90s -- an all but perfect mashup of Bruce Springsteen and The Replacements. They never even come close to equaling it, alas. I should add that it is one of my longtime dreams to play the song above live at very high volume in a band onstage somewhere. Which won't happen, but still.

4. Buffalo Springfield -- Buffalo Springfield Again

Not a dud song in the bunch, and production-wise it makes their first album sound like it was recorded on Edison cylinders.

3. Amy Winehouse -- Back to Black

Because we like to have something recorded in this century.

But seriously, folks -- Winehouse's debut album was the work of a talented journeyman with a lot of great influences. The followup, however, was the work of a fully formed artist.

I should add that special bonus points will be awarded to any reader who credibly posits a superior sophomore album by any artist SINCE Back in Black (which came out in 2006). I mean hell -- I'm hard pressed to think of a really good DEBUT record by ANYBODY in that time span. 😎😎

2. Bruce Springsteen -- The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle

The Boss's first album had its moments and changed a lot of lives, my own included. But this one? It sounds, still, like the kind of music that contains multitudes, the kind of rock-and-roll you only vaguely remember from the best dream you ever had.

And last but definitely not least....

1. Elvis Costello and the Attractions -- This Year's Model

Inarguable, I think, and thus further exegesis on my part would be superfluous.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

An Early Clue to the New Direction: Special "Today or Tomorrow in Rock History" Edition

So -- 59(!) years ago this evening, the incomparable Grace Slick made her official stage debut with Jefferson Airplane. Who amongst us does not recall where we were at the time? 😎

In any case, for want of a more appropriate clip to commemorate the occasion, here she is waxing highly amusing with Dick Cavett a couple of years later.

Wotta cutie. And I particularly like the stuff about Finch College. 😎😎

In the meantime, as if you haven't guessed, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize© will in fact be awarded to the first reader who gleans the relevance of today's post to the subject of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.

Okay, I Still Love this Woman, Even If Some Limey Doesn't

From the other night at the London Palladium, please enjoy The Patti Smith Group (with original members Jay Dee Daugherty and Lenny Kaye, plus two of Patti's kids) and a terrific version of her anthemic (and still desperately pertinent) "People Have the Power."

Oh -- and with some special guest movie actor who apparently is somewhat controversial these days, and who ruined the show for at least one Brit critic.

The occasion was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Patti's debut album Horses; the song in question, of course, is from her fifth (1988) album Dream of Life, but what the heck -- who's counting? 😎

In any case, and speaking of that critic: It was Uncut's Sam Richards.

Take it away, Sam!

...But then Patti risks undoing all the goodwill she’s accrued over the previous two hours by bringing out auxiliary guitarist Johnny Depp. It’s a baffling misjudgement.

For a start, he adds nothing musically – and dressed ostentatiously in a fedora and an assortment of tie-dye rags, he inevitably serves to draw attention away from the show’s real star. But Depp is also a hugely divisive character, for obvious reasons. Smith’s traditional set-closer “People Have The Power” is always likely to lack its usual unifying qualities when there is a woman stood behind you shouting “Fuck off, Johnny!” throughout the song.

You can read the complete review, which is considerably more enthusiastic than that excerpt, over at the Uncut web page HERE. You're welcome very much.

Today's Cartoon and/or Photoshopped Chuckles: Special "Those John Cage Jokes Get 'em Every Time" Edition

Heh. 😎

And may I just say, and for the record, that if you find that Airplane/Mike Lindell thing a little unsettling, rest assured that so do I. 😎😎

In any case, actual music posting resumes on the morrow.

OK, These Lemon Twig Kids Are Just Getting Ridiculous!

From his just released album Only Fools Fall In Love Again, please enjoy Twigs touring bass player Danny Ayala and the utterly adorable hook laden pop confection that is his "I Don't Like Her."

Sounds very Twigs-ish, which is both a compliment and not a huge surprise, to be sure. I should add that the way the chorus takes off instrumentally, in particular, just slays me. 😎

I should also add that the album is co-produced -- wonderfully, as you can hear from the above -- by the incomparable Fernando Perdomo, the L.A. session stalwart who attentive readers will recall I first became aware of through his work with Friend of PowerPop© Cait Brennan in 2016.

In any event, you can (and should) order Danny's album as a download or on gatefold(!) vinyl over at Danny's Bandcamp page HERE.

La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Obsequiousness" Edition

From the guitarist's finished basement in (I think) 2020, please enjoy Middle Aged Dad Jam Band (MADJB) and the damndest version of "Born to Run" you'll ever hear.

Okay, I stumbled across that clip by total accident over at YouTube the other day, and I lack the words to convey just how charming I think it is, the sax player's deficiency in the Clarence Clemons department notwithstanding. (And BTW, he's the drummer's kid. 😎)

In any case, if you were wondering, those guys are a bunch of previously/highly successful actors and comedians who -- in the wake of the COVID epidemic -- got together to play music and found that they had stumbled on to an alternate career.

You can find out more about them over at their Wiki entry HERE.

And more usefully at their official website over HERE.

Hey -- I think you'll find the backstory fascinating. Not to mention the video links. 😎 😎

Meanwhile, all of the above leads us inexorably to the subject of our up to date business. To wit:

If you wandered into a local bar and there was a tribute band playing there (for free) -- what band (artist) would be you be most or least hopeful it would in tribute of?

Discuss!!!

Okay, no arbitrary rules whatsoever, but let's leave The Beatles out of it.

I mean, what could be more cliched than some Beatlemania shit?

Alrighty then -- forgetting the Fab Fauxs thing, what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Today's Cartoon Chuckle(s)

Heh. 😎 😎 😎

A really cool Weekend Essay question on the morrow.

Closed For Monkey Business

Actually, closed because yours truly came back from Edinburgh (or, more likely, the plane I flew home on) with a really epic cold.

No, not Covid!!! I had my booster shot just BEFORE the vacation!!!

Anyway, as a result my work ethic has been shot to shit.

Regular cool music posting resumes on the morrow, immune system permitting. 😎

Coelacanth Discovered in Edinburgh!!!

Okay, I've used that title joke on numerous occasions here previously, but you'll get the point.

And now the short version. As perceptive readers may have already intuited, a certain Shady Dame and I have (lately) made it a sort of tradition, upon our vacation trips to various European cities, to discover at least one indigenous indie record store per town. As the aforementioned readers should recall, the most recent of these excursions was during our end of April vacay to Amsterdam, where we discovered a a fabulous little shop called Record Mania, chatted with the charming proprietor and came home with a virgin copy of a re-mastered early 70's Shocking Blue LP that I'd wanted forever.

During our just completed sojourn to Edinburgh, however, we found the proverbial horse of a different color. More specifically, a remarkable place called Avalanche Records.

Which turned out (surprisingly) to be located, a few blocks from our rather upscale hotel, in a fashionable/trendy underground shopping mall called the Waverly Market.

We shot the breeze with the store's droll proprietor, the irrepressible Kevin Buckle...

...who's been running the place (in a variety of venues) for nearly 40 years (five in its current digs) and who has an impressibly encyclopedic knowledge of all things pop. And in general we had an absolutely fabulous afternoon at the place.

Here's the aforementioned Shady Dame of my aquaintance looking through the merchandise...

...and here she is (back in the States) with the incredible Yardbirds b-sides comp -- Psycho Daisies -- she scored after scouring the store's LP racks.

I should add that we also bought a vinyl copy of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, and I grabbed a really cool black hoodie that has the store's logo on the back (which I wore for pretty much the rest of our time in the Scottish capitol). I also gave Kevin a couple of CD copies of The Floor Models' Esprit de Floor (oh right -- you didn't see THAT coming) -- and he has since informed me that it is in heavy rotation on the the Avalanche in-store playlist.

Anyway, just a terrific afternoon; if you find yourself in Edinburgh (which I highly recommend in general -- it's a helluva town) be sure to check it out. And when you do, tell Kevin that PowerPop sent you.

Meanwhile, you can find out more about the place at their informative website over HERE; their physical address is Waverly Market, 3 Waverly Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1BQ.

Fathers and Sons (Plus the Occasional Famous Non-Relatives)

Okay, this is like the coolest thing ever.

And the vinyl version drops, as today's kids say, on Record Store day, i.e. November 25.

What exactly is it? From the official Omnivore Records press release:

Growing up, I always loved my dad’s music. The recordings he made at that time were never properly released and only came out in limited quantities. We had the idea of re-recording some of his more recent songs with some guest artists to shed more light on his great back catalogue. Over the years we met a lot of the amazing musicians who lent their voices to this project and gave the songs new life. I’m happy with how the record turned out, and I hope it’ll turn more people onto his records and beautiful songwriting.
—Brian D’Addario (The Lemon Twigs)

The Lemon Twigs are not the phenomenon they are by accident. Brian & Michael D’Addario's father is a brilliant songwriter and musician in his own right. The Lemon Twigs pay tribute to him by producing and performing on a collection of their father’s music (with Ronnie involved every step of the way).

Written By Ronnie D’Addario features 13 tracks written by Ronnie with special guests and collaborators: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Todd Rundgren adds his layered lead and backing vocals to “I See The Patterns” and Canada’s Mac DeMarco leads “Love’s Won Me Over.” Sean Ono Lennon, Darian Sahanaja & Probyn Gregory (The Wondermints, The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson’s band), and Matt Jardine contribute vocals and accompaniment to others—all while The Lemon Twigs and Ronnie himself hold down the performances on these stellar tracks.

While not a “classic tribute album,” Written By Ronnie D’Addario is a testament to incredible songwriting and interpretation from artists from across the musical spectrum.

As attentive PP readers are aware, Ronnie is a wildly talented old friend and occasional bandmate of mine going back 40-plus years to our days on the Greenwich Village folk and New Wave scene, so I am tickled to death that this album (which I had no idea was in the making) is about to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world (in both CD and streaming form on December 5; I'll keep you posted on where).

Also alas, none of the tracks are yet available for preview -- I haven't heard 'em, although I know for a fact anyway that they're great (😎) -- but because I love you all more than food, here's a recent (2015) Ronnie-only original version of one of them.

Have I mentioned that this album is like the coolest thing ever?