Category Archives: Free Download

Paul Collins: King of Power Pop!

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Paul Collins keeps the power pop flame blazing

It takes a great deal of self confidence to proclaim oneself “king of power pop,” but given Paul Collins’ seminal role in the Nerves, Breakaways and Beat, and his subsequent appearances solo and with the Paul Collins Band, his claim is as good as anyone’s. While fellow Nerve/Breakaway Peter Case founded the rock ‘n’ soul Plimsouls, Collins refined his AM radio pop craft with the Beat; and as Case created a post-Plimsouls career as a folk-blues troubadour, Collins’ dapplings of soul, blues and country always left his pop core highly visible. He returned to an even purer pop sound with 2004’s Flying High and added 70s influences for 2008’s Ribbon of Gold, developing more introspective material on each. And while the artistic maturity was quite welcome, his twenty-something exuberance had faded.

Or so it seemed. It turns out that Collins hasn’t let the shadows of middle-age black out the enthusiasms of youth. More importantly, he can still write a killer melodic hook and make it stick in two-minutes-thirty. Recording in Detroit with Jim Diamond producing, Collins sounds as if he’s fresh off the end of a tour with the Beat – his voice a tad ragged but still thrilled by the glories of power pop. He charges hard into the bluesy “Do You Wanna Love Me?” and cuts the difference between the Beatles and Everly Brothers on the opening “C’mon Let’s Go!” His lyrics haven’t yearned so dearly and his voice hasn’t sounded this unbridled since he sang “Rock ‘n’ Roll Girl” and “Walking Out on Love” thirty years ago. Collins and Eric Blakely’s guitars rumble and sting, Jim Diamond’s bass and Dave Shettler’s drums propel, and the vocal harmonies and backings capture the joy of a summer’s night cruise with the windows down and the radio up.

Shettler adds tympani to “Many Roads to Follow,” and with the duet harmony sung at the top of Collins’ and Blakely’s ranges, they conjure the deep teen emotions of the Brill Building. Given his track record, it’s not really surprising that Collins still has great albums in him, but that he so effortlessly reaches back to the sounds he helped coin in the mid-70s (and whose invention he details in “Kings of Power Pop”), and it’s inspiring that he finds such satisfying ways to use the wear in his voice. Particularly noteworthy is how easily he matches Alex Chilton’s gravelly tone on a cover of the Box Tops’ 1967 hit “The Letter,” and how beautifully he covers the Flamin’ Groovies’ “You Tore Me Down.” The heartbreak of his original “Hurting’s on My Side” is rendered in the sort of ragged-voiced emotion John Lennon shouted out in 1964. Anyone who loves the Nerves EP and the Beat’s albums (particularly the debut) should grab a copy of this one ASAP. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Do You Wanna Love Me
Paul Collins’ Home Page
Paul Collins Beat’s MySpace Page
Paul Collins Band’s Home Page

Devotionals: Devotionals

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Meditative acoustic-guitar solo from Two Gallants drummer

Two Gallants’ drummer Tyson Vogel shows off his skills as a guitarist with this mostly-instrumental solo debut. Unlike his group’s lo-fi electro-acoustic punk-folk, Vogel’s solo work is a great deal more meditative, shorn of Adam Stephens ragged, adrenaline-charged vocals and the crack and ringing of Vogel’s own drums and cymbals. His acoustic guitar, which suggests Will Ackerman and John Fahey, is joined by guest players on violin, cello and vibraphone, but it’s his own syncopated picking that gives the album its hypnotic core. The rare vocal of “Misericordia” arches into an anguished tone, but the words are stretched across the backing in exhaustion and listlessness. Vogel hangs the resonances of his guitar strings in the air, letting a note’s decay reveal textures not evident in the initial pluck. Anton Patzner does something similar with his violin on “Morning Due,” drawing the bow slowly and shading each note with the friction of horsehair rubbing steel. The album finds a few moments of discordance in its second half, with wordless voices giving way to a shouted crescendo on “Your Confused Beauty Upon My Cheek,” distorted piano and electric guitar chords on “Heart: The Inevitable Music Box,” and a sense of agitation opening “Buildings of Heart” that evolves into a more optimistic theme. If you have a favorite place to sit quietly and think, even if it’s just between your headphones while reclining on the couch, this album will provide interesting accompaniment to your brain’s pondering. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Morning Due
Devotionals’ MySpace Page

Drunk on Crutches: People. Places. Things.

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Rootsy California rock from transplanted Georgian

Transplanted Georgian Jennifer Whittenburg isn’t entirely comfortable with her adopted Los Angeles. Her music has the earthy country-tinged California rock sound of Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club, but her lyrics aren’t fully settled into the City of the Angels. She writes of harbored doubts and indecision in “Calif., You’ll Have to Wait,” and the city’s nocturnal lures nearly wear her out in “Using Me Up.” There are lights, music and bars in other cities, but the intensity of late-night Los Angeles threatens to unmoor and consume the singer. This contrasts with the opening “Tupelo,” in which Whittenburg seeks action in a “slow motion scene,” suggesting she’s not fully at-home at the other extreme, either. Having written these songs while she traversed Atlanta, Nashville and Los Angeles, the results do not naturally settle into any one place. The relationships of “Waitin’ on You” and “Oh Well” are in emotional limbo, and the seething anger of “Drink Up Buttercup” speaks to an ending that hasn’t been completed. Ironically, the album’s most decisive moment is found in the never-intended-to-be-kept promises of “One Night Stand.” The album’s lone cover is a relatively obscure Neil Young number, the fever-dream “L.A.,” from 1973’s Time Fades Away. Whittenburg’s voice suggests a rootsier version of Natalie Merchant, and with her band and producing partner Andrew Alekel, and friends like Wallflowers keyboardist Rami Jaffee, she’s waxed a solid rock album whose guitar, bass, drums and organ reach back to the early ‘70s, when rockers were exploring country and long-hairs were still frightening the Nashville establishment. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Waitin’ on You
Drunk on Crutches’ MySpace Page

Andy Kim: Happen Again

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Welcome return of talented 60s/70s singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter Andy Kim’s time in the spotlight of mass public acclaim was surprisingly short. In 1968 he co-wrote the song of the year (and national anthem of the bubblegum nation), “Sugar Sugar,” along with its follow-up, “Jingle Jangle” and other effervescent Archies’ album cuts. He edged onto the charts with his own “So Good Together” and “Rainbow Ride,” and cracked the Top 20 with covers of the Ronettes’ “Baby, I Love You” and “Be My Baby” in 1969 and 1970. Despite several fine albums for the Steed label [1 2], further commercial success eluded him until 1975’s chart-topping “Rock Me Gently.” Then, as the single’s run ended, so did Kim fade from public view. He resurfaced in the 1980s with a pair of albums under the name Baron Longfellow, but mostly stayed out of the spotlight.

In 1995 Kim connected with Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, and in 2005 was coaxed from retirement to record an EP and give sporadic public performances. Another five years further on – twenty years since his last full album – Kim returns in superb voice with a disc full of terrific new songs. His writing craft translates smoothly to modern production sounds, and his voice, lowered both by age and choice (his earlier hits were often sped up to sound younger), is more studied and reflective than the unbridled optimism of the 1970s. “Judy Garland” offers a note of support to the troubled star with a rolling rhythm, CS&N-styled harmonies and a killer chorus hook. His thoughtful contemplation of mortality, “Someday,” reaches back to the Brill Building for a baion beat, but dresses it minimally in riveting percussion and a moody organ.

Kim and his studio crew have gathered together instrumental elements across several decades, marrying power-, sunshine- and synth-pop sounds into a truly compelling whole. Kim’s clearly continued listening to new music during his time away from the limelight, as he incorporates the emotional grandeur and orchestral touches of Verve and Coldplay, but without surrendering his ‘70s roots. He writes of love and relationships, but his lyrics ask questions rather than proclaim answers.  On the album’s title track he wonders, “Do you feel connected / to sentimental times,” and laments innocence lost. He’s optimistic, but the tone hasn’t the brash certainty of someone in their 20s or 30s.

The exhilaration that Kim does find, such as the schoolboy love of “I Forgot to Mention,” only really busts out in the chorus, and even then its insular focus is nagged by the outside world. Ironically, his realization that “Love Has Never Been My Friend” is sung to a bouncy melody that playfully undermines the song’s plea for Cupid to keep his distance. If one were to mentally extrapolate Kim’s music from the ‘70s to today, you’d get exactly this album: a thoughtful, finely honed collection of songs that refract youthful enthusiasms through the grounding of adult living, expressed in melodies that linger in your ears. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Someday
Andy Kim’s Home Page
Andy Kim’s MySpace Page
Download Happen Again

Shinyribs: Well After Awhile

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Gourds’ lead vocalist sings country-soul

Kevin “Shinyribs” Russell has taken a break from his front-line duties with the Gourds to record his second solo album. The voice and obtuse lyrics will be familiar to fans, but the sound isn’t as driving or rough as the Gourds’ records, sitting instead in a deep country-soul groove that sports unusual production touches around the edges. The second-line rhythms that pop-up with the Gourds are still here, but relaxed from a march to a stroll, and electric piano is dominant on many tracks. Russell sings with the sort of choked vocals made famous by Boz Scaggs, and though this music is lighter with its blues, the vibe may remind you (those few of you who are remindable) of ‘70s concert stalwarts the Climax Blues Band.

The album opens with a lunar creation myth that manages to evoke both ancient times and space-age travel, and “Country Cool” essays Russell’s easy-going, unpretentious tastes. There’s a fever to “(If You Need the) 442,” though it’s not exactly clear what the testimony is about, and the unusual selection of goods at the “Poor People’s Store” will be familiar to those who know their city’s thrift store treasures. The band turns funky for “East TX Rust,” bringing to mind Dr. John’s Gumbo and Swamp Dogg’s Cuffed, Collared and Tagged. It’s a shame Russell didn’t cover “Sam Stone,” though he does close with a wailing solo version Sam Cooke’s “Change is Gonna Come,” and it’s a treat to finally hear him sing a straightforward lyric. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Shores of Galilee
Shinyribs’ MySpace Page
The Gourds’ Home Page
The Gourds’ MySpace Page

Joe Whyte: When the Day Breaks

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Singer-songwriter folk, country and Americana

East Coast Americana singer-songwriter Joe Whyte returns with an EP that strips down the band production of 2007’s Devil in the Details to acoustic folk-country. Whyte’s joined on a few tracks by Catherine Popper (bass and harmony vocals) and Dan Marcus (guitar, dobro and mandolin), and takes several with just his guitar and harmonica. The quieter arrangements allow Whyte to sing with more texture and nuance than with an electric band, leaving him to focus on his contemplative lyrics of leaving, hard living and uncertain futures. His protagonists are truckers and night owls whose problems are self-made, and soldiers and flood victims whose troubles are visited upon them. Whyte’s been playing out solo, and now brings that act to the studio with this latest EP, available for free download here. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Please Believe Me
Download When the Day Breaks for Free!
Joe Whyte’s Home Page
Joe Whyte’s MySpace Page

Stone River Boys: Love on the Dial

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Dave Gonzalez and Mike Barfield cook up country, rock, soul and funk

Out of tragedy, new opportunities sometimes spring. With the passing of vocalist Chris Gaffney, the Hacienda Brothers were shuttered, and Gaffney’s partner, Dave Gonzalez, was left to seek a new musical outlet. As a founding member of the California-based Paladins, Gonzalez had explored rockabilly and blues, and crafted a reputation as an ace electric guitarist. His work with Gafney on three Hacienda Brothers studio albums refined his playing with quieter country and southern soul flavors. His new partner, the Texas-based Mike Barfield, cut his teeth leading the Houston-based Hollisters, folding together country-rock hillbilly twang, tic-tac train rhythms, and deadpan baritone vocals that brought to mind Johnny Cash and John Doe. After two group albums, Barfield turned solo, issuing the superb Living Stereo in 2002.

Barfield’s second solo album, The Tyrant, was heavier on the funk rhythms than his debut, and though elements of that remain in this new collaboration, its his background in southern soul, blues and swamp rock that makes him a natural fit with Gonzalez. This isn’t Hacienda Brothers Mark II, as Barfield and Gaffney are very different singers and songwriters, but the songs, including a few well-selected covers, draw on similar sources. Barfield reprises his cover of Tyrone Davis’ “Can I Change My Mind,” which appeared on Living Stereo in more raw form. Here the earlier twin guitar leads are replaced by Dave Biller’s pedal steel and James Sweeny’s Hammond organ, and the entire track finds a deeper, smoother soul groove atop Scott Esbeck’s bass line. Barfield also revisits his own “Lovers Prison,” slowing it down slightly and adding more bottom end. It ends up sounding like a winning cross between the Buckaroos and the Lovin’ Spoonful.

The album’s most unusual cover is a take on Goffin & King’s “Take a Giant Step” that melds the psychedelic inflections of the Monkees’ original (the B-side of their first single) with the slow tempo of Taj Mahal’s 1969 cover. Barfield and Gozalez’s originals, written both separately and together, include southern-funk dance numbers, country rock, and most winningly, country-soul tunes that include the Gonzalez-sung “Still Feel the Feeling” and the co-written “Love’s Gonna Make It.” Barfield’s Texas sensibilities fit well with the Memphis influences Gonzalez picked up working with Dan Penn [1 2 3], and both fold perfectly into the duo’s country roots. Backed by a band that’s equally at home with twang and deep bass, the Stone River Boys are all set to burn it up on the road. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Boomerang
Stone River Boys’ MySpace Page
Mike Barfield’s Home Page
The Hacienda Brothers’ Home Page

Jud Norman: Apples, Oranges

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Early power-pop from Research Turtles singer/songwriter

Jud Norman is the songwriter, singer and bass player for the should-be-famous Lake Charles, LA power-pop quartet, Research Turtles. Before forming his current band (from the remnants of his cover band the Flame Throwers and his brother’s band, Plaid Carpets), he recorded this solo album in the transition between high school and college. You can hear the seeds of the Research Turtles in these charming pop songs, and also a stronger dose of influences like Matthew Sweet, Big Star, Badfinger and Weezer. Especially Weezer. The album doesn’t have the studio polish of Justin Tocket’s production on Research Turtles, but Norman was already clear on the sound he wanted to achieve.

Playing everything but drums (which were manned by the record’s producer/engineer Bam Arceneaux), Norman might have ended up sounding like a charmingly insular one-man band; and while there’s a hint of that in the self-harmonizing, the end result sounds surprisingly like a group rather than multiple layers of an individual. The lyrics are full of classic power-pop professions of love and longing, made vital by Norman’s then-proximity to his teenage years and the urgency they inspire. It’s rare for a teenage artist, even one heading into college, to have the self-awareness to write these sorts of lyrics, and even rarer to have the musical ear to produce something so melodically fetching.

It’s not perfect, but even the few moments that strain or come a bit too close to Norman’s influences, are more endearing than off-putting. Originally released independently in 2002, the album got little push (one release party, apparently) and no critical notice. Norman moved on to form Research Turtles with his brother Joe (who’s now leaving the band, so they’re looking for a guitarist) and two friends, and this debut was left behind. But through the magic of the Internet, you can now find this little-known, unpolished gem for free on the Research Turtles’ website linked below. Snap it up before the band signs with a label that realizes there’s money to be made in Norman’s catalog! [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Take Me Away
Download Apples, Oranges for Free!
Research Turtles’ Home Page

Shadwick Wilde: Unforgivable Things

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Depressed Americana from a punk-rock guitarist

Shadwick Wilde is a guitarist for the driving, electric punk rock bands Brassknuckle Boys and Iron Cross, but on this solo debut he’s relaxed the jackhammer tempos to more thoughtful folk strumming, but retained the intensity of his themes. There’s some angry young Dylan here, as well as some of Springsteen’s distress, but Wilde is less poetic (or, obtuse, if you prefer) than the former and less grand (or, grandiose, if you prefer) than the latter. Think of what Nebraska might have sounded like if it was Springsteen’s debut as a self-loathing country-folkie, rather than a respite from the overbearing success of the E Street Band.

Wilde doesn’t contemplate the broader plight of the world, he discovers the intimate realization that a grown-up’s life may suck every bit as much as he imagined in his rock songs. Having nearly drunk himself to death, he writes from inward feelings of depression rather than lashing out at the world in punk anger. It doesn’t always live down to the modified slogan stuck to his guitar, “This machine kills hope,” but it gets pretty dark, and by disc’s end you’ll be looking for some kind of emotional respite. The songs of broken relationships feel desperate, and even the few rays of hope are shaded by an infinite expanse of cloudy days. Anyone who’s been really depressed will know the feelings of helpless self abnegation that Wilde expresses.

The lyrics depict a world without upward momentum, of time spent drifting numbly by bromides that don’t apply, and the will to live getting ever more lean. The murder ballad “Die Alone” is particularly bitter, and though the mood improves momentarily with “Ride All Night,” Shadwick quickly returns to the darkness, undermined by habitual bad choices. His nostalgic moments are drunken reveries rather than wistful remembrances, locking into past failures rather than propelling towards new opportunities. Wilde seems to be in the middle steps of recovery, making a moral inventory, but not yet able to step past his realized shortcomings. It’s a harrowing place to be, loaded with the knowledge of his “unforgivable things” but not a map out. The emotions can be uncomfortably raw at times, but they make for interesting listening. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Girls Like You
Shadwick Wilde’s MySpace Page