Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Number One Hits in an Alternate Universe We're Not Lucky Enough to Actually Live In (An Occasional Series)

From his 1993 debut solo album, please enjoy Cheap Trick's great lead singer Robin Zander and his cover of friend of PowerPop Rob Laufer's gorgeous "Reactionary Girl."

That Zander album, BTW, is one of the genuine lost classics of its decade; why it wasn't a humongous smash is one of those mysteries that may never be solved, along with the Roswell UFO crash and the secret formula that makes Orange Julius so devilishly delicious.

In any cause, Laufer -- who first came to prominence as the original Paul McCartney in the Los Angeles company of Beatlemania -- also recorded that song on his criminally overlooked 1996 album Wonderwood, which I have (deservedly) written about here on a number of previous occasions, most recently HERE IN 2019.

He's currently part of The Wild Honey Orchestra, a loose aggregation of (mostly) LA musicians that does all those fabulous live charity tribute concerts you may have heard about over the years (the most recent being a pre-pandemic 2020 salute to The Lovin'Spoonful).

I bring Rob up -- you just knew this was coming, right? -- because he also sings lead on a song on that forthcoming Floor Models tribute to The Byrds that I've been bugging you about of late.

I'll keep you posted about that, obviously.

6 comments:

Sal Nunziato said...

I couldn't agree more about this Zander record. Imago went bust around the timne of release, so they had bigger fish to fry than to promote a CT solo record.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip. It's an excellent song. I like Zander's more recent Countryside Blvd album which is strong throughout, but shows another side of the singer.

- Paul in DK

pete said...

great song

elroy said...

Great Bill Lloyd vibe. Album is Wonderwood though I think? Which I purchased due to this here blog...

steve simels said...

Elroy — I regret the error; title now fixed.

elroy said...

Wonderwall, Wonderwood, Wondermints...all good!