Review: Parthenon Huxley - Thank You Bethesda

Parthenon Huxley and I go way back.

Okay, maybe he doesn't know that, but I still remember being a young man starving for new sounds and first hearing his music on the late lamented WMRY in St. Louis way back in the late 1980's. When I picked up and chowed down on that album (Sunny Nights) I remember thinking to myself, "Why aren't there more albums like this?" So, in a very real way, coming across Parthenon Huxley's music led me towards the music I've spent the better part of 30 years devouring. I'm still ravenously hungry. But that is alright, because Mr. Huxley has recently been obliging with a new tasty pop morsel. (And thus endeth the extended food analogy.)

 If you are already familiar with Huxley, Thank You Bethesda will provide you with everything you expect from one of his records: melodic tune follows melodic tune and Huxley's unique guitar work crackles from your speakers. Add unexpected quirky twists and sharp insightful lyrics that keep you singing along and the result is a top notch effort.

"Angeleno" follows in the footsteps of earlier Huxley tracks ("Compromise" off of Sunny Nights and "California" off of the P. Hux release Deluxe) in offering a take on the show business world of the West Coast, though this time around its a bit more sardonic and sounds conspicuously like a goodbye. "Beautiful" is a tune that lives up to its title. "Luckiest Man" is a classic Huxley ballad filled with pop hooks that grips a listener in the first three seconds and doesn't let go.

"Love is the Greatest Thing" is a terrific slice of 1980's style pop/rock anthem songwriting and recording, and a wonderful reminder of why an artist may want to go that route every once in awhile. Besides, I'm always likely to go along with a song that begins with the lyric, "I wanna believe The Beatles, they mean so much to me." Yes. Hell, yes.

Add in a super fun revisiting of the Huxley classic "Buddha, Buddha" and you've got an album which will cause anyone to go back for seconds.

Grade: A-/A

Just Because

I know I've been real quiet of late. Once again real life is making totally outrageous demands on me. Luckily I've been able to accumulate a sizable stack of new (or new-ish) power pop CDs, and plenty on new stuff is popping up on The Pub. Hopefully, I will get new reviews up here in a week or so.

In the meantime I want to share a new release from Jarinus (aka Jaret Reddick and, friend of the Pub, Linus of Hollywood.) I supported their Kickstarter campaign for this record and it promises to be hilarious. My inner 11 year old cannot wait.

Clear Your Browser History by Jarinus - watch more funny videos

The Pure Pop Pub's Top 15 For 2012

On the Pub "15" is the new "20".

I didn't get around to writing full fledged reviews for all of these, so I will append little capsule reviews as needed.

1. Cliff Hillis - Dream Good

2. The Well Wishers - Dreaming of the West Coast

3. Bryan Scary - Daffy's Elixir

4. David Myhr - Soundshine

5. Secret Powers - More Songs About Her

6. Kurt Baker - Brand New Beat: Second verse, same as the first. Baker's solo punched up Costello/Jackson/Beat sound still delivers the goods in this too too short ten song spinner. Fun first note to last. Grade: A-

7. Bill Lloyd - Boy King of Tokyo

8. Redd Kross - Researching the Blues

9. dB's - Falling off the Sky: As warm and comforting as a favorite sweater, this is a polished and self-assured disc that compares favorably to anything in their catalog. So what if it isn't sexy as shit. Sometimes all you need is a good ol' timey sing-a-long. Grade: B+/A-

10. Lannie Flowers - New Songs Old Stories: OK, this may be a bit of an appetizer - a re-working of older tunes into more fully fleshed out versions - but it is undeniably tasty. "Another Weekend" can make a solid claim to being the best power pop song of the whole year. Grade: B+

11. P. Hux - Tracks and Treasures Vol. I

12. The Condors - Three Item Combo: Pop rock with a purpose; to kick some ass. At times power poppy, at other times rootsy, this offers plenty of listeners to chew on. Grade: B+

13. Gavin Guss - On High: This is a pop album with the emphasis on the pop. And being an album. It reminds one of the best Michael Penn material. (Very high praise in my book.) "Riga in the Fall" is a simply gorgeous tune. Grade: B+

14. Hi Electric - Hi Electric: Its gotta be hard to be a power pop band from Memphis. And damn it all if they don't evoke Big Star in their approach to boot. Talk about inviting the inevitable smack down. Still, the song writing is more than engaging enough to make this a fine first effort, and to hint there could be better to come. Grade: B/B+

15. The JAC - Faux Pas

Honorable Mentions:

I have to mention two releases which also graded out at the B/B+ level and can make the claim to deserving a spot in the Top 15 list as well:

16. Ex Norwegian - House Music
17. Shoes - Ignition

All in all, this was one fine year for new music. Here's hoping 2013 tops it!

Review: Bryan Scary - Daffy's Elixir

No one asked for this album.

I mean, no one ever said, "I sure do hope someone somewhere will record a glam'd-out steampunk pop/rock western."

Luckily, for us, Bryan Scary did it anyway.

As unusual as this album is in some ways, it is easily accessible for those well versed in the last forty-plus years of pop music. The list of "influences" one could detect here would be nearly endless. Off the top of my head I hear nods to ELO, Queen, Elton John, Supertramp, Jellyfish, 10CC, Yes, Mott the Hoople,  Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, The Sweet, The Beach Boys, etc. The result is an album that will be too prog for pop hounds and too pop for prog die-hards, but should hit a sweet spot for those ear candy/sound sluts among us.

The opening track "The Wicked Frontier" sets the stage with some beautiful Beach Boys style harmonies playing over a landscape of rolling tumbleweeds and dusty plains, though the album doesn't beat you over the head with jokey western cliches. Indeed, the album is too busy covering a vast expanse of pop music styles to get pigeonholed for too long. The next three tracks ("Ziegfield Station," "Cable Through Your Heart," and "The Silver Lake Mining Company") are so different from each other that you would think the incongruous nature of it all would drag the whole thing down. However, the theme running through the album is so strong the listener is happy to play along. It doesn't hurt that each track is so damn tuneful and inviting.

"Ballroom Kid" sounds exactly the way a pop fan would want it to sound; big, brassy and rollicking. "Day-Glo Waterfalls" visits 1970's pop/soul in a way that reminds me of Hot Chocolate.... kinda.... sorta... whatever its doing it works beautifully. "You Might be Caught in Tarantella" is a spooky piece of Gothic horror that draws as much from cinema as anything else.

There really is something cinematic about the whole thing. It's as if it were an album as produced by David Lean. Fittingly, the 15-track, 70 minute affair may go on a smidge too long. (How Leanian.) However, there is no doubt in its ambition and execution Daffy's Elixir is something of a small classic.

Grade: A-/A

Review: Redd Kross - Researching The Blues

The very short quiz version of this review: Did you like the Redd Kross albums Phaseshifter or Show World? If you answered "yes," you will like Researching The Blues. If you answered "no," what the hell is wrong with you?

Redd Kross are the owners of a hard rocking crazily melodic form of power pop in a Cheap Trick meets The Shazam style, and if you are somehow unfamiliar with their output, wow, do you have a treat in store for you. The title track and the great single "Stay Away From Downtown" kick the album off in a blistering style, though no matter how loud they get they can still find room to fit in the odd "Sha la la la, la la la la la" when they need to.

Other standouts include the hard edged "Uglier," and the short and snappy "Meet Frankenstein." My favorite tune on the album is the poppy "One Of The Good Ones" replete with hand claps, a terrific bass line, and chiming guitars which are only matched by the chiming backing vocals. Sublime pop music making.

My only complaints about the album are 1) Its so damn short: It has been awhile since the last album, and ten songs doesn't exactly provide the fix fanatics have been longing for, and 2) I missed a top notch anthemic ballad along the lines of Show World's "Girl God."

Basically, I'm saying "more please." I don't think anyone should be too pissed about that.

Grade: B+/A-

Review: Secret Powers - More Songs About Her

Alright, I'm playing catch-up here... but there is something fitting about that fact. When I heard my first Secret Powers tune (the delightful "Tangerine" featured on 2011's International Pop Overthrow: Volume 14) they were already on album #4 with album #5 on the near horizon.

However, in the world of power pop "better late than never" is a motto which is certainly operational, and when it comes to More Songs About Her you will definitely will not want to be in the "never" camp. You've been warned.

The work of Jeff Lynne has been the common sonic touchstone running through all of the previous Secret Powers records, and you can certainly detect that influence here though it might be a little subdued compared to those earlier efforts. Indeed, when I am tempted to make comparisons with other material I find I'm more often comparing subject matter as opposed to how the song sounds. For example, "Dragon Slide" is Secret Powers doing their own personal version of "Helter Skelter." Or, there is "Suburban Fascination," a classy rocker casting a jaundiced eye over McMansion-land ala "Pleasant Valley Sunday." And, let's face it, when you write a jaunty pop song about Joseph Merrick ("Elephant Man") I'm gonna compare it to the only other pop song about Merrick I know (Webb Wilder's "Olde Elephant Man").

This album is filled with great up-tempo tracks, from the frenetic "Running at this Pace," to the marvelous "Not That Kind of Girl." Throw in the wonderfully tuneful "Telepathic" and the gloriously snappy "Drip Drop Drip," which somehow manages to be a non-creepy stalker song, and you have an album that will leaving you humming even after the last note fades.

Grade: A-

Book Review: Power Pop Prime by Bruce Brodeen

I am such a dork.

Thank goodness.

There comes a point in the life of every power pop fanatic when he or she just has to face the fact that the cool world has passed them by and they will never be a part of the "in-crowd" ever again. If you are a guy in your early 20's when this happens there may be a momentary bout of panic as you start to worry this means you'll never get laid again, but, in the main, this is a liberating moment. Never again need you feign interest in a passing fad you always detested anyway. You could instead immerse yourself in the sounds that truly moved you.

If you had the good fortune to "come of age" in the 1990's there was a small ocean of power pop to get lost in, as well as a cottage industry of indie labels and fan-zines that tickled your musical fancy while they taxed your wallet. And all the while your friends wasted their money on luxuries like food and shelter. Talk about your screwed up priorities.

The eclectic series of books labelled Power Pop Prime are something of a cross between a time capsule and a scrapbook of power pop in the years 1995 to 2010. The time period of the books is defined by the years of operation of the late lamented and seminal record label/retailer Not Lame, which should come as no surprise as the author/compiler of the volumes is none other than Not Lame founder and pop savant Bruce Brodeen.

So what exactly makes these books eclectic? Well, for starters, of the four volumes of the proposed nine to be released so far there are three different formats. Volume One and Two, covering the years 1995 to 1999, offer up Brodeen's Top 100 (well, 100-ish) power pop releases of the 1990's, interviews with some of the artists selected for that list, as well as reproductions of actual Not Lame mail catalogs of that era. Volume Seven, actually the first of the books to be published, covers the years 2007-08 by offering a more encyclopedic listing of notable releases and reissues that runs nearly 300 pages. Volume Nine covers 2010 with a smaller list of top releases from that year with accompanying interviews from some of those artists.

There is a "Hey! Let's put on a show in the barn!" feel to the series which, strangely enough, fits in with the subject matter perfectly. Those who remember the pre-internet triumphant days of hard copy mail catalogs and imperfectly edited zines will notice and appreciate the labor of love quality here. That D.I.Y. spirit can also be seen in the way the volumes have evolved over time. The interviews published in Volume Nine, the second book released, were heavily scripted affairs that basically asked everyone the exact same series of questions, and as a result they weren't always quite as informative or entertaining as they should have been. By comparison, the interviews in the most recently released volume (number Two) are tailored for each artist, and they are both informative and wonderfully fun to read, even if some of the stories are cringe worthy. From time to time you'll be wondering if you should laugh or cry, which is exactly how good power pop is supposed to affect you, right?

I'm not certain where the series will go from here. While the Best Of List plus interview format is coming together nicely there is something to be said for the Trouser Press guide style of Volume Seven. Who knows? Maybe they will go off in an entirely new direction. Wherever they go I'll follow along.... just like any good power pop dork would.

My advice is to pick these up while you can.

ADDING:

I forgot to mention each volume comes with at least one CD of  music from the time period of the book, which only helps the "bang for your buck" quotient. Enough said.