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-