It's with great sadness that we note the passing of blogger Steve Gilliard. He's been sick for a while, and a week or so ago, the family declared a news blackout, so we figured it wasn't good. Gilliard was a smart guy, particularly on issues of military history and strategy (and, err, macaroni and cheese), and his blog was the first "other" place I checked often.
Peace, Steve. We'll keep fighting in your stead.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Looking to Your Left....
you'll see that the blogroll has been cleaned, corrected, sorted, and tidied. If any errors remain, note them in the comments and I'll fix them.
(I *told* you I'd do it once I was on vacation!)
(I *told* you I'd do it once I was on vacation!)
A Splendid Time is Guaranteed For All
As you may have heard, it was 40 years ago yesterday that the Beatles unleashed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on an unsuspecting world.
And yes, I think it's a great record, and yes, I remember exactly where I was the first time I encountered it.
That's all I'm gonna say.
Over to you, kids.
As said kid, I'm almost blushing to tell you how old I was when this record came out: less than one. So I never really lived in a world without Sgt. Pepper. Despite the fact that it, in many ways, was the end of the Beatles' power pop period, it's just a mighty record.
And a short documentary.
Best line (from Ringo, natch): "It's a fine album, but I did learn to play chess on it."
--NYMary
And yes, I think it's a great record, and yes, I remember exactly where I was the first time I encountered it.
That's all I'm gonna say.
Over to you, kids.
As said kid, I'm almost blushing to tell you how old I was when this record came out: less than one. So I never really lived in a world without Sgt. Pepper. Despite the fact that it, in many ways, was the end of the Beatles' power pop period, it's just a mighty record.
And a short documentary.
Best line (from Ringo, natch): "It's a fine album, but I did learn to play chess on it."
--NYMary
Friday, June 01, 2007
Saturday Songcrush
Myracle Brah, "I'd Rather Be." Listen here.
I've been obsessing over this song the last week or so, thinking abut how much they do with single notes--it's really quite interesting.
Gee, why would that appeal to me? Anyway, great song: Enjoy!
I've been obsessing over this song the last week or so, thinking abut how much they do with single notes--it's really quite interesting.
Myracle Brah is the brainchild of Andy Bopp – front-man and songwriter for Interscope Records’ Lovenut. With the mega merger of Seagram’s, Polygram, and Universal, Andy dove into the Myracle Brah project full-time. Myracle Brah is now the primary vehicle for Andy’s expressive brand of guitar pop.
Hailing from Baltimore, MD, Myracle Brah churns out pristine pop with plenty of jangly psychedelic references. Critics have compared the band to a broad spectrum of 60’s artists: from the Byrds and the Beatles to Badfinger and the 70’s Raspberries. The blistering melodic jangle of subsequent releases has been compared to such acts as Teenage Fanclub, T-Rex, and David Bowie.
Gee, why would that appeal to me? Anyway, great song: Enjoy!
(Girlscream, Faint)
The always delightful Mike of Powerpopulist (Best. Blog. Name. Ever.) has posted the new single from The New Pornographers upcoming CD. We here at PowerPop are beyond excited. Thanks for the heads-up, Mike!
Also, it looks like they're playing Battery Park on July 4. Ah, just another excellent by-product of last fall's elections: "We have just accepted an offer to headline at Battery Park on the 4th of July in New York. We figured that America has finally come to their senses and are having Canadians help them celebrate their independence day."
Anyone want to babysit so a couple of poor pasty music bloggers can get unfortunate sunburns?
Weekend Listomania
Well, it's Friday and you know what that means.
Yes, my Oriental houseboy Kato and I will be off for the weekend to Saratoga, where my horse will naturally win (and Carly will write another song about me).
So posting by moi will be necessarily sporadic for a few days.
But in the meantime, here's a fun project for you to enjoy in my absence:
Best Pop/Rock Song That Namechecks an Actual Celebrity (Musical or Otherwise) Either in the Title or the Song Itself!!!!
My totally top of my head Top Three:
1. Brian Wilson -- Barenaked Ladies
2. David Duchovny -- Bree Sharp
3. Who Killed Bobby Fuller? -- Black 47
Join in, won't you?
[h/t Eschaton regular Jay C.]
Yes, my Oriental houseboy Kato and I will be off for the weekend to Saratoga, where my horse will naturally win (and Carly will write another song about me).
So posting by moi will be necessarily sporadic for a few days.
But in the meantime, here's a fun project for you to enjoy in my absence:
Best Pop/Rock Song That Namechecks an Actual Celebrity (Musical or Otherwise) Either in the Title or the Song Itself!!!!
My totally top of my head Top Three:
1. Brian Wilson -- Barenaked Ladies
2. David Duchovny -- Bree Sharp
3. Who Killed Bobby Fuller? -- Black 47
Join in, won't you?
[h/t Eschaton regular Jay C.]
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Guided By Voices
To paraphrase Frank Zappa quoting Edgard Varese -- the present day a capella group refuses to die.
And if you doubt it, I refer you to this fabulous video of Hide and Seek by the charmingly yclept post-modern songstress Imogen Heap.
Okay, she's not an a capella group except through the miracle of overdubbing, but you know what I mean.
This song apparently first became a hit when it was used on THE OC or one of those other dopey teen soap operas. I, however, discovered it in the fall of '06, when it was featured in a montage at the end of the debut episode of Ray Liotta's ill-fated TV crime drama SMITH. (Ill-fated in this case means actually being cancelled while its second episode was in the process of being broadcast. The TV equivalent of a Broadway bound show closing out of town during the first act.)
In any case, I doubt a more haunting four minutes and thirty-three seconds of vocalese has been heard anywhere recently, let alone on a bad TV show.
Food for thought: Heap's little android doo-wop ditty is also the first big a cappela hit since...yipes...Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy" (and if you think I'm gonna link to that piece of offal, you've got another think coming).
BTW -- I know I promised to post about this swell new Tim Buckley video comp DVD but I just can't get my brain in gear today.
Later this weekend, I swear.
And if you doubt it, I refer you to this fabulous video of Hide and Seek by the charmingly yclept post-modern songstress Imogen Heap.
Okay, she's not an a capella group except through the miracle of overdubbing, but you know what I mean.
This song apparently first became a hit when it was used on THE OC or one of those other dopey teen soap operas. I, however, discovered it in the fall of '06, when it was featured in a montage at the end of the debut episode of Ray Liotta's ill-fated TV crime drama SMITH. (Ill-fated in this case means actually being cancelled while its second episode was in the process of being broadcast. The TV equivalent of a Broadway bound show closing out of town during the first act.)
In any case, I doubt a more haunting four minutes and thirty-three seconds of vocalese has been heard anywhere recently, let alone on a bad TV show.
Food for thought: Heap's little android doo-wop ditty is also the first big a cappela hit since...yipes...Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy" (and if you think I'm gonna link to that piece of offal, you've got another think coming).
BTW -- I know I promised to post about this swell new Tim Buckley video comp DVD but I just can't get my brain in gear today.
Later this weekend, I swear.
Let Us Now Praise Famous Midgets
Working on a serious post about Tim Buckley, but while we're waiting enjoy this fabulous 1965 clip of the McCoys -- featuring Suzi Quatro lookalike and future Weird Al Yankovic producer Rick Derringer -- laughing their way through Ritchie Valens' C'mon Let's Go.
High school kids having more fun than human beings should be allowed.
And kind of pretty much a perfect rock record, don't you think? The pause before the last round of choruses is just genius...
High school kids having more fun than human beings should be allowed.
And kind of pretty much a perfect rock record, don't you think? The pause before the last round of choruses is just genius...
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
It's an all Records Wednesday!
Steve's last post got me thinking about other artists who have performed Birch/Wicks compositions and fellow Ohioan Rachel Sweet immediately came to mind. Rachel was all of 16 when Stiff Records released her first longplayer Fool Around in 1978. That record included the Birch/Wicks tune Pin a Medal On Mary that told a tragic tale of teenage heartbreak ala It's My Party that perfectly suited the "little girl with the big voice" as she was billed by her record label.
Of course, the Records were also her backing band on the 1978 Be Stiff tour, and here's a very cool clip of Rachel and the boys on Top of the Pops running through another track from that LP, the 1966 Carla Thomas chestnut B-A-B-Y.
Rachel went on to cut three more discs in the early 80s and probably is best known for her top 40 hit duet with Rex Smith Everlasting Love and for singing the title tracks to John Waters' Hairspray and Cry Baby.
Hmmm... now that I think about it, perhaps I've found the inspiration for the Records' Teenarama!
Of course, the Records were also her backing band on the 1978 Be Stiff tour, and here's a very cool clip of Rachel and the boys on Top of the Pops running through another track from that LP, the 1966 Carla Thomas chestnut B-A-B-Y.
Rachel went on to cut three more discs in the early 80s and probably is best known for her top 40 hit duet with Rex Smith Everlasting Love and for singing the title tracks to John Waters' Hairspray and Cry Baby.
Hmmm... now that I think about it, perhaps I've found the inspiration for the Records' Teenarama!
She Loves All the Boys
Ah, this one really takes me back.
The geezers in this recent (2004) video are what's left of 60s power pop gods The Searchers doing "Hearts in Her Eyes" -- a cover of the classic song by 70s power pop gods The Records.
The Searchers originally recorded it on the first of two brilliant "comeback" albums they did at Dave Edmunds' Rockfield studios at the dawn of the New Wave era; if you've never heard them, your life is the poorer for it and you should order them here immediately.
The Searchers, of course, were the group responsible for such classics as the Sonny Bono penned "Needles and Pins"; back in the day, they were the only important Liverpool band who weren't managed by Beatles empresario Brian Epstein -- all of whose acts were in awe of the Searchers' musicianship, the Fabs included.
As for "Hearts in Her Eyes," faithful readers know that its auteur, John Wicks, is a big fave around these parts and that our blogmate Kid Charlemagne alerted you to his most recent album just a few weeks ago.
What you may not know is that in the late 70s/early 80s I was in a skinny-tie band that played the Greenwich Village/CBGBs scene a lot and that we used to open our sets with the song. In fact, we and it were so ubiquitous downtown that people thought we wrote the damn thing. Needless to say, when fans told us how much they loved it, we rarely, if ever, gave credit where credit was due.
I've actually got a very high quality video of us doing it somewhere in my vaults; one of these days I'll post it to YouTube and we can all have a hearty chortle at the folly of my youth.
The geezers in this recent (2004) video are what's left of 60s power pop gods The Searchers doing "Hearts in Her Eyes" -- a cover of the classic song by 70s power pop gods The Records.
The Searchers originally recorded it on the first of two brilliant "comeback" albums they did at Dave Edmunds' Rockfield studios at the dawn of the New Wave era; if you've never heard them, your life is the poorer for it and you should order them here immediately.
The Searchers, of course, were the group responsible for such classics as the Sonny Bono penned "Needles and Pins"; back in the day, they were the only important Liverpool band who weren't managed by Beatles empresario Brian Epstein -- all of whose acts were in awe of the Searchers' musicianship, the Fabs included.
As for "Hearts in Her Eyes," faithful readers know that its auteur, John Wicks, is a big fave around these parts and that our blogmate Kid Charlemagne alerted you to his most recent album just a few weeks ago.
What you may not know is that in the late 70s/early 80s I was in a skinny-tie band that played the Greenwich Village/CBGBs scene a lot and that we used to open our sets with the song. In fact, we and it were so ubiquitous downtown that people thought we wrote the damn thing. Needless to say, when fans told us how much they loved it, we rarely, if ever, gave credit where credit was due.
I've actually got a very high quality video of us doing it somewhere in my vaults; one of these days I'll post it to YouTube and we can all have a hearty chortle at the folly of my youth.
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