How Do You Say Rock Star in French?

From 2018, and his album Stupefaction, please enjoy the pride of Biarritz, the incomparable Tommy Lorente, and his infernally infectious "Arthur."



Damn this kid is good -- not only is that a brilliant slice of the music that provides the mission statement of this here blog, but he's doing it with the handicap of having to sing in French, which I heretofore had thought impossible.

You can find out more about Tommy -- who has a new album ready to drop momentarily -- and purchase his other stuff over at his website HERE.

Hey -- what are you waiting for? Go buy something! And when you do, tell him PowerPop sent you!

Have a great weekend, everybody!!!

God Save the Queen

Okay, so as I mentioned yesterday, I am not a Queen fan (for reasons that I'll get into in depth at a later date).

That said, I would like to go on record as agreeing with Dave Grohl, who famously observed that "Brian May is an awesome guitarist."

And I would like to offer, as proof, this little snippet of Mr. May's work. He comes in at the 1:24 point in the video below.



Like the man said -- an awesome guitarist.

As John Lennon Said in A HARD DAYS NIGHT: Queen -- It's an In-Joke

Well, this looks interesting.



I should add that I am not now and have never been a Queen fan. The reasons why are probably a subject for another longer and more thoughtful post, but I will note that I saw them in a small venue when they were touring their debut album and they were appallingly awful.

That said, if the movie is as good as the trailer, which I suspect it is, I might actually change my mind.

Two Jews' Blues

And speaking as we were yesterday of the great Gerry Goffin and Carole King -- and in honor of Rosh Hashanah -- please enjoy, from 1964, the great Maxine Brown and the original version of Goffin and King's exquisite "Oh No, Not My Baby."



For some reason -- incipient senility, perhaps -- I was convinced King herself had a version of this on the radio in the pre-Tapestry Sixties.

Wrong! She didn't release her own performance of the song until 1980.

In any case, Good Yontiff, everybody!

POSTCRIPT: Here's Rod Stewart (with Faces) covering it in 1973.



Believe it or not, kids, there actually was a time that Rod Stewart wasn't an embarrassing asshole.

The Magic of the Theatre

So as I may have mentioned, a few weeks ago a certain Shady Dame and I bit the bullet and went to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

As a rule, I'm not a big fan of jukebox shows (although I will confess to rather enjoying Clint's film version of Jersey Boys). On the other hand, like all right-thinking Americans, I'm a huge fan of Goffin-King's songwriting; I mean, if they had been responsible for nothing more than "Porpoise Song" for The Monkees, they would deserve immortality. Plus, I was pleased to discover that the show is as much the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weill story as it is Goffin and King's, and I was kinda curious about seeing Maria Benoist, aka TV's Supergirl, as Carole.

Unfortunately, turned out she had left the show a week before the performance we saw. Aaaarrrggghhhh.

In any case, Beautiful was at best...wildly uneven. Forget the book, which was shall we say historically dubious (the words Phil and Spector were never uttered) although on balance I could live with that. And on the plus side, the musical performances that are supposed to be King solo, primarily from the Tapestry-era (in the case of the show we saw, performed by Broadway singer/actress Abby Mueller) were right on the money.

On the other hand, the performances that channeled other acts that had 60s hits with Goffin-King songs (The Shirelles, The Chiffons, The Cookies, et al) were uniformly ghastly -- pure Vegas bullshit, soullessly sung and with some of the worst choreography I've ever seen.

Okay, all that said -- there are two Goffin-King songs I dearly love that weren't in the show, and I thought I'd share them now.

So, please enjoy -- from 1963 -- the ineffable Skeeter Davis and the cute as a bug's ear "I Can't Stay Mad at You." Perhaps the greatest teen-pop/sort of doo-wop hit by a stone country singer ever.



And from 1964, please enjoy The Tokens and "He's in Town." Perhaps the greatest proto-Bruce Springsteen slice of urban romanticism ever recorded by a sort of teen doo-wop group.



I'm not saying the inclusion of those two songs in Beautiful would have made it a better show, but on the other hand -- could be, could be.

I Bet You Really Miss the Reagan Years. John Hughes Movies and Tears For Fears (Part Deux)

From 1993, and their self-titled album on John Prine's Oh Boy label, please enjoy incredible alt-rockers The Bis-Quits and their brilliant ode to Those Fabulous 80s.



Have a great weekend, everybody!!!!

I Bet You Really Miss Those Reagan Years. John Hughes Movies and Tears for Fears.

From 1991, please enjoy pride of New Jersey alt-rockers Dramarama and an absolutely sensational cover of the Not Really a Stones Song Even Though Mick and Keith Wrote it "Memo From Turner."



I bring all this up because we had brunch over the weekend with some friends who had just attended a Those Fabulous 80s nostalgia concert, and it sounded like fun.

Here's the line-up.

I will confess at this point that most of those groups never did it for me, although I have a sneaking affection for A Flock of Seagulls; I have been saying for years that some smart country band could have a huge hit covering their "Wishing," which is a ravishingly beautiful song that, when stripped of the New Wave synths and guitars, could pass for Buddy Holly. And I loved Dramamara, and always regretted not seeing them live back in the day.

I should add that you should rent this obscure but very funny 1999 Will Ferrell film...



...about a fictional 80s one hit wonder band that gets back together and winds up opening for -- you guessed it -- a reunited A Flock of Seagulls (playing themselves).

Also: a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded to the first reader who identifies the song the title of today's post derives from.

Where's Marcel Carné When You Need Him?

From his terrific new album Children of Paradise, about which I will have more to say later in the week, please enjoy the great Willie Nile and the official video for "Earth Blues."


Have I mentioned that the new album is flat out terrific?

Tuesday Encounter With Greatness: Special "Letter From Liverpool" Edition

So I've told part of this story before, but hang on -- there's a new epilogue that justifies my recycling it.

Okay, the short version. Back in March of 1981, a think piece I had written about John and Yoko's Double Fantasy album appeared in The Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review. This was the most difficult thing I ever wrote, for obvious reasons, so I was actually rather pleased to find upon re-reading it a few years ago that the only thing that embarrassed me about it were some dire predictions that (mercifully) didn't come true.

In any case, a few weeks after the piece originally appeared, I got a very nice hand-written note from a woman (the now famous Freda Kelly) who had worked as a personal assistant to Brian Epstein at the height of Beatlemania. She told me that of all the reviews of the album she had seen, mine was the one that most resonated for her. That meant a lot to me, also for obvious reasons, but because I'm an idiot, I didn't save her letter.

Cut to earlier this year, when a certain Shady Dame and I were about to go to Liverpool and take a Beatles tour (which we did, and I highly recommend it. You can find more info about it over HERE). And we were in touch with a woman who runs another of those Fabs tours, the special guest of which was the aforementioned Freda, who you could meet. As it turned out, we couldn't work it out logistically, but we asked the tour lady if she could give Freda a printed copy of the Double Fantasy review and have her autograph it. When we got to town, she (the tour lady) e-mailed me and said for whatever reason she wasn't able to get Freda the print-out, but she had told her the story and said that she (Freda) would leave something personal for me behind the desk at The Hard Days Night Hotel (yes, there is such an establishment).

Anyhowever, on the afternoon we were leaving town, we stopped at said hotel to pick up the package.

Which turned out to be a photo of the Fabs back in the day...

...with a little handwritten note from Freda on the back.

If you can't read it, it says "Sorry. Cannot remember. Long time ago."

Words fail me.

POSTSCRIPT:

Sorry...

...but I just had to.

It's Labor Day!!!

And as you know...



...starting tomorrow, you can't wear white again until after Memorial Day.