Here is a new single from Holly P, who happens to be the daughter of Andy Partridge.
I think this track is great fun. Holly wrote some great lyrics, which you should read as the song plays. She has a great delivery and many things about it remind me of something her dad's band might have recorded for "Drums & Wires."
Midwest powerpoppers The Legal Matters are back with album number four. It's called "Lost At Sea," and I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to this, as albums one through three had sadly eluded me. But while taking my morning scroll of the internet's good and bad, I noticed a quick blurb about the just released new record that intrigued me and so I went in. I am not disappointed.
There's more here than your usual power pop, a label that often gets under my skin. Actually, I don't mind the term "power pop" as much as I mind "the cult of power pop" and the relentless comparisons to Big Star, the Raspberries and Jellyfish in every press release. "Lost At Sea" sounds like none of that holy trinity. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't call this record "power pop" any more than I would call Crowded House or The Beach Boys or Cheap Trick or Andrew Gold power pop. Instead, "Lost At Sea" evokes the great lost days of brilliant record making. There are more hooks and goosebump inducing melodies to be found on "Lost At Sea" than in most bands' entire oeuvre.
From the ingenious chord changes of the opener "Everybody Knows" and the dreamy, Laurel Canyon harmonies on "Shake This Feeling," to the irresistible melody of "Stuck With Me" and the pure Brian Wilson bliss of "The Exit Signs," "Lost At Sea" continues to reward right into the deadwax of Side Two.
I don't want to deny the band their druthers if they want to be called power pop. Maybe the first three records owe more to Big Star and the Raspberries than the new one. I will find out soon, as I make my way backward. But I can now say, I am absolutely looking forward to hearing "Lost At Sea" again and again and again.
Something Strange Is Going On- Roddie Joy
Comin' Home Baby- Dee Dee Sharp
Tell It Like It Is- The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Little Herb Spliff- Visionaires
Accidentally Like A Martyr- Warren Zevon
Streets of Baltimore- Gram Parsons
I Won't Do You No Dirt- William Bell
Some great ones this week.
I had been putting together a mix of lesser known tracks by girl group acts but then got distracted. Roddie Joy and Dee Dee Sharp started things off before I quit.
The William Bell track is a demo that runs less than two minutes, but there's more grease in that 1:40 than most full length R&B albums.
Enjoy.
Along with my Beatles and Beach Boys records were two records that my grandfather loved and played constantly, The Drifters' Golden Hits and Neil Sedaka's Greatest Hits. Dinner on a summer Sunday would be a din of screaming Italians, Phil Rizzuto calling the Yankees game on the living room television, and my grandfather's stereo turned up to eleven, years before Spinal Tap, blasting "Oh Carol" and "Run Samson Run" from his den.
The man could write a hit, that's for sure.
Neil was still very active on social media. Did not expect this. More good news.
(Don't worry, it's almost over.)
The Nice's Lee Jackson with Michael Giles on drums.
