Review: Cotton Mather - Kontiki (Deluxe Edition)

I'll set the scene:

It's December, 1997 and I'm living in the Washington, D.C. area. The daily mail has brought into my greedy possession the new Cotton Mather album Kontiki, and I take it, sound unheard, over to my buddy Tony's place. Tony, a sometimes Austin resident, had introduced me to the Cotton Is King album a couple years earlier and I decided to pay back that kindness by listening to the new album with him over a few beers.

We slip the disc into the player and press the little green triangle... and are transported.

So, it is safe to say when it comes to Cotton Mather I was an "early adopter." The success the album enjoyed, at least in Britain, was heartening to see, though I don't think I appreciated the cult status the band and particularly Kontiki was developing. It only dawned on me years later just how few people had actually bought the thing when it was available, and, if the prices copies were commanding on Ebay were any indication, plenty of people were lamenting that fact.

Well, now they have the chance to get it right, because 15 years after its first release Kontiki is available again, this time in a Deluxe 2-Disc edition. It is hard to think of an album from that era more deserving of such a classy rebirth. And, classy is exactly what this package is. It starts with an attractive and informative 24-page booklet, which contains not only an overview of the recording process, with remembrances from most of those involved, but also notes on all the original tracks as well as the bonus material.

The album itself sounds as fresh as the day it was released proving, as if it needed it, its status as a seminal 1990's power pop classic is well deserved. I cannot say if the sound quality has been improved on this release as I'm not really an audiophile. Rest assured, it still kicks ass.

The bonus material is well worth the purchase price for those who already owned a copy of the original release. The demo versions of Kontiki songs are sufficiently different to make for engaging listening. Tracks like "Little Star" and an amped up version of "Altar Boy" (a track from their wonderful Hotel Baltimore EP) shine here. The inclusion of the wistful "Innocent Street" is a perfect gift for those who preferred the mostly Squeeze-ish sounds of their first record. Indeed, the bonus material is so good the disc will be listened to in its own right and not just as a curiosity.

Do yourself a favor. Buy this album.

Grade: A+

Review: The Well Wishers - Dreaming Of The West Coast

Consistency is a great thing, especially when it comes to artistic endeavors. Musicians so often are afflicted with wild swings in mood, temperament, interest level or even taste that their work can be a roller coaster of thrilling highs and disappointing lows. As a result the artist that puts out consistently good work is something to appreciate.

Jeff Shelton's project The Well Wishers was a prototypical example of such consistency.

Until now.

Dreaming of the West Coast is not a solid body of good work consistent with the rest of The Well Wishers' catalog. No, its way better than that.

From the first note of the jaunty opener "Escape the Light" to the fade out (and fade back in) of the wonderful Sugar-esque album ender "Mother Nature" Shelton is firing on all creative cylinders here. The result is the first Well Wishers album that really doesn't lend itself to the easy comparisons (for example The Posies) that would have sufficed when reviewing the earlier albums. The influences are so organic here it winds up sounding most like itself.

Thus you can hear the glam rock beat in the track "Tonight" but the song itself is something entirely different. This high quality in the songwriting stands out throughout the album. The introspective tunes "Nothing Ever Changes Around Here" and "Truth Is Coming Home," as well as the blistering "All I Got" deserve special mention in this regard. Add a fab cover of Smoke's "Have Some More Tea" and you are in "more fun than a barrel full of monkeys" territory.

Grade: A

Speaking Of Kickstarter...

...I recently supported a project called Jarinus, made up of Jarret Reddick of Bowling For Soup fame and Linus Doton of Linus of Hollywood fame. (Which reminds me I forgot to put a widget for Jarinus up on here. Oh well, they made their goal with room to spare without it.) As part of the package the guys answered a question via mp3 that I had put to them. It's fun.



Linus has always been a good friend to the station, going out of his way to make nice promos/bumpers for the Pub, which I still use because they are awesome.

Keep your ears open for Jarinus. It promises to be hugely entertaining.

Don't Get Me Wrong...

...I love what Kickstarter does, as shown by the fact I've contributed to a couple of successful projects - and one unsuccessful project, the sadly under supported Smith Bros. album.

However, whenever I peruse the site I begin to feel like I've stumbled into a Portlandia sketch.

"P.S. I Love You"

My Beatles criticism project continued:

From the first 5 seconds of "P.S. I Love You" it is clear that we are not in the realm of rock music. There is no steady back beat, there is no hint of a blues sensibility in the music, and there is no energy behind the vocals. What if left is a rather watery pop stew that leaves this listener unsatisfied, and hungry for something else.

Paul's lead vocals have center stage here, filled out by George and John's backing vocals. The lyric carries the conceit of a love letter written by an absent lover throughout. The basic idea has been good fodder for rock artists right from the start, but here it is pap. There is nothing of the uncertainty and anguish that fuel a great rocker like "Please Mr. Postman" or "The Letter." Instead, we have the most dutiful of boyfriends telling his girl (presumably) exactly what she wants to hear. ("Remember that I'll always, Be in love with you") ("I'll be coming home again to you love, Until the day I do Love, P.S. I Love You, you, you, you!") I know we have all come to expect Paul to be a little spineless, but here it is extreme.

The instrumentation gives the song nothing but the lightest of touches. Ringo (or Andy White) hits nary a snare, and the guitar sound is safe enough for the Lawrence Welk Orchestra.

After about 1 minute and 20 seconds of this, Paul seemingly remembers "Hey! I'm in a rock and roll band!" and begins to add totally incongruous vocal flourishes. The background vocals coo "As I write this letter", Paul yells "Oh!" (Although this could be John's voice....it's hard to tell.) "Oh!"????? Gee, letter writing isn't usually considered so sensual an experience. The cooing continues "Send my love to you" to which Paul answers with a guttural "You know I want you to remember!" which sounds phoned in from another song all together. But after these moments the song resumes its lackluster character to its "You! You! You! - You! You! You! I Love You!" finish.

Ouch.

The Pure Pop Pub's Top 15 For 2011

I know, 15 is a weird number. In any case here they go:

1. Wild Bores - Welldone & Charred
2. The Smithereens - 2011
3. The Red Button - As Far As Yesterday Goes
4. Bic Runga - Belle
5. Scott Gagner - Rhapsode in Blonde
6. Meyerman - Who Do You Think You Are?
7. Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full of Holes
8. Peter Baldrachi - Tomorrow Never Knows
9. Wiretree - Make Up
10. Secret Powers - What Every Rose Grower Should Know
11. Tim Butler - All The Rest
12. The Wellingtons - In Transit
13. Buffalo Tom - Skins
14. Gary Ritchie - Hum, Sing....Repeat
15. PopFilter - Pop This!

Some of these I've not had a chance to do a full on review for. I hope to change that at some point in the future.

Review: Fountains Of Wayne - Sky Full Of Holes

This is a power pop blog. Did you really think I could not review the latest Fountains of Wayne album? Its inevitable, just like death, taxes and Beatles re-releases.

Luckily, for us, Sky Full Of Holes is inevitably good.

If you have heard any of the previous FoW albums, nothing here should surprise you. For all of the talk of "new found" maturity and "serious subject matter" you could read about in the mainstream music press, FoW fans will see more continuity than change. This is fine with me as Collingwood and Schlesinger are about as consistent a pair of tunesmiths as are working today.

OK, to say the album is good is no great surprise either. The question is how good is it? For my money, pretty damn good. I would certainly rate it higher than their previous effort Traffic & Weather. In fact, there are a couple of songs here (namely "A Dip in the Ocean" and "Acela") that come off as "improved" versions of tracks off that earlier effort. It is almost as if they weren't quite satisfied with what they had done, and they wanted to nail it this time.

Mission accomplished.

There is probably a solid half dozen songs here that can rank with the best of their career output. "Action Hero" and "Hate to See you Like This" cranks up the pathos to eleven, but work beautifully. "Richie and Reuben" and "A Road Song" display their customary wit, with the latter's reference to Steve Perry generating a guffaw from your truly. "Cemetery Guns" continues FoW's run of interesting and lovely album enders.

My advice is to enjoy the hell out of this.

Grade: B+/A-

Review: Buffalo Tom - Skins

It's funny what one song can do. I'll admit, Buffalo Tom was completely new to me when I got a compilation disc from a buddy that contained a perfect little pop song entitled "She's Not Your Thing."

After listening to the song twice in a row I said aloud (to myself), "OK I need more of that."

"What was that?" asked my wife.

"Oh, nothing," I replied, ashamed my inner dialogue had leaked out... again.

In any event, it happily turns out I really did need more Buffalo Tom. Skins is a fine pop/rock album. It may not have been exactly what I was expecting based upon the tight Teenage Fanclub-esque "Thing" but the album delivers a boat load of memorable of slightly rootsy rock numbers which often evoke a Toad The Wet Sprocket quality.

"Arise, Watch" probably exemplifies the Toad qualities most explicitly. though the pretty "Don't Forget Me" and straight forward (and classy) "Here I Come" hail from the same zip code.

"Lost Weekend" is a great little rocker in a Blue Rodeo vein, while "Paper Knife" is a nice slice (see what I did there?) of John Hiatt style balladry. "The Kids Just Sleep" pops out late to give "She's Not Your Thing" a run for its money in the competition for best song on the album.

This is a solid album.

Grade: B+

"Love Me Do"

My Beatles criticism project continued:

The song begins with a healthy dose of John's harmonica, with studio session man Andy White's drums and Ringo's tambourine playing the next most obvious presence. Paul's bass is right there but he isn't doing much to make it distinctive.

"Love Me Do" is simplicity itself. The song contains four verses, one bridge and they fit in an harmonica solo as well. Paul handles the solo vocals, but there is a heavy backing vocal to help fill out the sound. It is a mid-tempo shuffle that doesn't have a strong "rock and roll" feel to it. In many ways the song feels like the last stand of the Quarrymen, the skiffle group that grew into the Beatles.

The lyrics couldn't be simpler. "Love, love me do. You know I love you. I'll always be true. So please, love me do." That covers all of the lyrics for all four verses. The bridge adds "Someone to love, somebody new. Someone to love, someone like you." The chord progression also follows a simple G & C chord structure, with a D chord being thrown in on the bridge. Hardly the stuff of virtuoso performances.

Yet, somehow, the song manages to add to more than the sum of its parts. The group vocals are particularly strong. The harmony used on the elongated "please" in the verses is quite gorgeous. They also layer the vocal effectively. When Paul's voice alone sings "Love me do" it contrasts nicely with the fuller vocal sound on the rest of the record. The harmonica also provides a sort of commentary throughout the song. It adds musical interest to a song that might otherwise have gotten monotonous.

Review: Meyerman - Who Do You Think You Are?

The way the whole music review thing usually works is I give you a sense of whether or not I like an album along with some sense of what the music sounds like. The latter is accomplished by making comparisons with other artist's music with which folks may be familiar. The point isn't really to say the music being reviewed could be mistaken in any way with that of the other artists mentioned. It usually just means the general approach to their material is akin to things the comparison artist has done. It doesn't mean if you like the artists employed in the comparison you will necessarily like this reviewed work.

This isn't the usual review. I can say it straight out. If you like the fantastic English band The Candyskins you will dig Meyerman's Who Do You Think You Are? A lot.

I have no idea if the similarities represent an intentional choice or if it is a happy accident, but the parallels are unmistakable. The album begins with the track "Tonight," a great tune which would have easily been at home had it appeared on The Candyskins Death Of A Minor TV Celebrity. There is simply something about the way many of these songs are put together, from phrasing to instrumentation to production, you could sometimes swear you are listening to a band from Oxfordshire and not New Jersey. The groovy "Xrayspex" is another great tune where the Candyskin-esque qualities shine.

This is not to say this material is simply derivative. It isn't. It stands on its own two feet, and kicks ass on its own terms.

"Immaculate Mansions" and "New Direction" cover old power pop subject matters, life in the burbs and the drive for music industry success, but does so with venom and irony as needed. "Bitter End" is a driving rocker that may just be the best thing on the album.

The best quality of this album is the way some tunes are unabashed goodtime sing-alongs (the uber-power poppy "Permission to Rock You" leaps to mind), while others are much more ambitious (the great album ender "Elephants"). This leaves this listener really wanting to hear where Meyerman goes from here.

Grade: B+/A-

"Please Please Me"

My Beatles criticism project continued:

With guitar and drum announcing "da-DUM" we are thrown straight into a quick intro with a prominent theme played on harmonica twice. The first verse enters with John providing the lead vocals and Paul offering harmony vocals in a higher register.

The lyric beings with "Last night I said these words to my girl,' which immediately puts us into a specific frame of reference. Presumably we are to think that the protagonist is telling his buddies about his experiences of the night before. Also one might suppose that he would be telling his buddies not to just inform them of the complaints he had to make ("I know you never even try, girl") but to let them know of his ultimate success. There is no doubt that the singer is a braggart and engaging in some male "locker room" talk.

A lovely guitar riff introduces the chorus, which follows quickly after the short two line verses, with four sets of call and answer "Come On"s. As each call "Come On" is sung the answer rises in pitch and the tension increases. The resulting "Please please me oh yeah like I please you" acts as something of a release.

Throughout the verses and choruses Paul's bass thumps along merrily, Ringo's drums offer killer fills (particularly leading into the bridge) and the guitars offer what I can only call chunky chords...there seems to be a real weight behind them.

After the second verse and chorus, the bridge follows. In it our protagonist offers more of an explanation ("I dont mean to sound complaining...") for his bitching. The man gives and gives (or so he says) and he get's nothing but grief ("Oh yeah, why do you make me blue?") in return. When the song careens back into the verse/chorus structure you are left in little doubt that his little scene will produce the desired results.

Taken as a whole "Please Please Me" is something of a little miracle. The sheer energy and pure joy of it all is undeniable. Even 40+ years later it sounds like the start of something new. Each of the elements, from instrumentation and vocal arrangement, to the memorable melody line and harmonies, work perfectly. Just like the guy's complaining.

Review: Scott Gagner - Rhapsody In Blonde

We all require different things from our music from time to time. Sometimes we need it raw and ready, other times we need it soft and comfortable... hmm... sort of sounds like like something else we all need from time to time.... but I digress.

There are times my ears ache for something highly polished and downright slick. Scott Gagner's "Rhapsody In Blonde" is about as slick as it gets. This is achieved not only through the full round sound - though the production values are top notch here - but also through Gagner's songwriting which comes across as effortless and silky smooth.

"I Hate To Say" begins things with a Lenny Kravitz vibe placed atop a lyric filled with slightly twisted maxims and cliches. The juxtaposition is a clever one and just ironic enough to not become too jokey. "Laura No. 1" is a joyous pop tune with echoes of Kristian Hoffman's best work. "Houdini" is a pretty song with a deep sonic texture reminiscent of the softer side of Jason Falkner.

Kravitz... Hoffman... Falkner... those names should give you some idea of the terrain being covered here, though Gagner definitely has his own voice even on his cover of the GnR classic "Sweet Child o' Mine," which actually comes across as sticky sweet... in a good way.

I must say, however, I'm not sold on the sequencing of the disc. The flow of the album is dominated by stretches of slower songs one after another, only really broken up in the second half of the album by the back-to-back up-tempo numbers "Take Two" and "Ride." The softer material can wash out a little as a result... though when there is a gem like "Houdini" in there it is worthwhile to pull them out of context so each can shine on its own.

Grade: A-