Tag Archives: Pop

Eric Carmen: Eric Carmen

EricCarmen_EricCarmenCarmen’s only solo album of the 1980s, reissued with bonuses

For those who grew up with the transcendent guitar-pop that Eric Carmen made with the Raspberries in the 1970s, this 1984 solo album may be a bit of a surprise. The transition from power pop to power ballads was seeded on his earlier Arista solo albums, but this Bob Gaudio-produced set dials down the charging guitars in favor of keyboards, strings and slick studio drums. Carmen was still singing beautifully and writing catchy songs, but Gaudio draped them in sounds that have become dated. Whether that’s good or bad probably depends on how much you like the commercial sounds of the ‘80s, and whether you’re looking to spark a nostalgic memory.

“You Took Me All the Way” reaches back to the Raspberries’ “Go All the Way,” but its guitar is undercut by the modern rock production. “Maybe My Baby” opens with a great a cappella passage, but the synths sap the song’s charms. Only “As American as Apple Pie” provides the unalloyed guitar rock Carmen had wanted to deliver in the first place. The latter was produced by Don Gehman after Carmen and Gaudio fell out over the album’s direction. Carmen’s one and only album for Geffen spun off the hit “I Want to Hear It From Your Lips” and the lesser-charting followup, “I’m Through With Love,” both of which also found success on the adult contemporary chart.

Varese’s reissue, the first in more than twenty years, includes full-panel cover art and lengthy liner notes by Larry Watts that detail Carmen’s history before and after the Raspberries. Sure to find favor with fans are the bonus tracks that include the single mix and the Jellybean Benitez remixed 12” of “I Want to Hear It From Your Lips.” Carmen would strike chart gold with 1987’s “Hungry Eyes” and 1988’s “Make Me Lose Control,” but wouldn’t drop another full album until 1997’s Winter Dreams (and its 2000 reissue I Was Born To Love You). This 1984 tug-of-war with Bob Gaudio has many charms, and its reissue will be welcomed by Carmen’s fans. [©2016 Hyperbolium]

Eric Carmen’s Home Page

The Traveling Wilburys: Collection

TravelingWilburys_CollectionStandard, deluxe and vinyl re-reissues of the Wilburys catalog

Originally released in 2007, this 2 CD + 1 DVD set collects together the Wilbury’s two original albums, a quartet of bonus tracks, a 25-minute documentary, “The True History of the Traveling Wilburys,” and all five of the group’s music videos. It’s a testament to Rolling Stone’s assessment that the Wilbury’s were “one of the few rock supergroups actually deserving to be called either super or a group.” The group’s debut, Volume 1, shot up the charts to #3 in 1988, while the follow-up (which was recorded after Roy “Lefty Wilbury” Orbison’s passing), just missed the Top 10 two years later. With the original albums having gone out of print in 1995, the pent-up demand sent the original 2007 issue of this set to the top of the UK charts and into the U.S. Top 10.

From the group’s start, George Harrison was the ringleader, with close connections to Orbison, Dylan, Petty and Lynne. And it was Harrison’s need for a B-side that sparked the group’s genesis. But when the initial results proved too good for a B-side, and the time together proved so enjoyable, the quintet went back into the studio (actually Dave Stewart’s home studio) to fill out an album. The results had an off-the-cuff aliveness that exemplified music made by musicians who were friends first, and the singles, “Handle With Care,” the track originally intended as a B-side, and “End of the Line,” both rose to #2 on Billboard’s mainstream rock chart. Together with “Last Night” and “Heading for the Light,” the album spawned a quartet of Top 10 hits.

The group’s second album, humorously titled Volume 3, was recorded in 1990. Though not as surprising as the debut, and with Orbison’s passing having changed the group balance, the album still resounds with the informal chemistry of friends who also happen to be top-flight music pros. The singles “She’s My Baby,” “Inside Out” and “Wilbury Twist” all charted mainstream rock, and the album went platinum (though not the triple platinum of the debut) in the U.S. It was to be the last group Wilbury outing, though Harrison would use the Wilbury name for a producer’s credit on a 1992 live album. With Harrison’s passing in 2001, any hopes of a Wilburys tour was dashed, and it was another six years until official reissues of the two albums were released by Rhino.

The initial 2007 issue of this set came in four flavors, and the 2016 reissues replicate the standard, deluxe, vinyl and digital (standard and deluxe) editions. The standard CD+DVD edition comes in a four-panel digipack with a 16-page booklet that includes Mo Ostin’s 2007 liner notes, original album liner notes by Hugh Jampton (a/k/a Michael Palin) and Professor “Tiny” Hampton (a/k/a Eric Idle), album credits, and pictorial instructions for dancing the Wilbury Twist. The deluxe CD+DVD edition adds a linen-cloth slipcase, a 40-page booklet, souvenir postcards, photocards and a sticker, as well as a numbered letter of authenticity. The vinyl edition necessarily drops the video content, but adds a third LP of bonus tracks. The digital editions match the discs, and differ from one another by the inclusion of the video elements in the deluxe edition.

All of the reissue editions include the same bonus tracks as the 2007 CDs: the previously unreleased “Maxine” and “Like a Ship,” the benefit album title song “Nobody’s Child” and a remixed B-side cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway.” The vinyl edition, as in 2007, adds extended versions of “Handle With Care” and “End of the Line,” and the remixed version of “Not Alone Anymore.” You can scare up the extended versions on CD singles if you search, but they would have made a nice addition to complete the digital re-reissues. But that’s a nit, the music is terrific and the DVD showcases, in Tom Petty’s words, “a bunch of friends that just happened to be really good at making music.” If you didn’t pick this up in 2007, you now have a second chance! [©2016 Hyperbolium]

The Traveling Wilburys’ Home Page

The Bangles: Ladies and Gentlemen… The Bangles!

Bangles_LadiesAndGentlemenTheBangsThe Bangles’ Rosetta stone is their fans’ holy grail

For anyone who latched onto the Bangles before their major label makeover on Columbia, the first half of this CD remains the band’s Rosetta stone. Though hits and international fame would come later, the eight tracks released in 1981-2 remain the group’s purest statement of their 60s-tinged harmony rock. They never wrote, played or sang with more elan, and the youthful effervescence of this early work is as compelling today as it was thirty-five years ago. The group first appeared on vinyl as The Bangs with the fan club single “Getting Out of Hand” b/w “Call On Me.” Its local circulation left most listeners to meet the band, renamed as The Bangles, on the compilation Rodney on the ROQ, Vol. III, and then retroactively track down the single’s more widely circulated reissue.

In 1982, amid the the Salvation Army’s self-titled debut, Green on Red’s debut EP, the Dream Syndicate’s Days of Wine and Roses, the Three O’Clock’s Baroque Hoedown, and the Rain Parade’s first single, there was the Bangles’ self-titled five song EP on Faulty. The EP’s four original songs were the perfect lead-in to a scorching cover of the La De Da’s “How is the Air Up There?” Though reissued by IRS, the EP was mostly lost to fans the band picked up with their major label debut, All Over the Place, and even more so in the full rush of fame brought by Different Light. Bits and pieces of the EP reappeared as B-sides and on compilations, but the full EP remained unreissued until this collection was released as MP3s in 2014. Now on CD, the EP can be heard without compression.

Filling out this disc are four full-fidelity demos, a pair of 1984 live tracks, and a commercial for No Magazine. The demos include early takes of “Call On Me” and “The Real World,” a harmony-rich cover of the Turtles’ “Outside Chance” and a tough take on Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “Steppin’ Out.” The live cuts are “Tell Me” (from All Over the Place), and a cover of Love’s “7 & 7 Is.” The disc closes with 1982’s “The Rock & Roll Alternative Program Theme Song,” a tune the group recorded for George Gimarc’s pioneering radio show. The only thing missing is the promo-only 12” remix of “The Real World,” but that’s a nit. This is the holy grail for Bangles fans, especially those who never completely cottoned to the commercial polish of their Columbia years. [©2016 Hyperbolium]

The Bangles’ Home Page

Charlie Faye & The Fayettes: Charlie Faye & The Fayettes

CharlieFayeAndTheFayettes_STAustin singer-songwriter dives into early ‘60s girl-group sound

If the 1960s Playtone label wasn’t a fictional construct of That Thing You Do, the label’s A&R rep would surely have signed Charlie Faye. Her spin on soul-tinged girl-group pop echoes the pastiches of Diane Dane and the Chantrellines, and in turn tips a hat to the sources from which the film drew. Faye’s soulful roots can be heard in 2013’s You Were Fine, You Weren’t Even Lonely, but the complicated, contemporary posture of that outing is shed as she and the Fayettes explore the romantic travails of the early ‘60s. Faye’s traded her solo spotlight and singer-songwriter stool for vintage party dresses and harmony singers.

A New York native, there’s Bacharach-like sophistication in the melody of “Carelessly,” but her adopted Austin surfaces in the twang of “Loving Names.” The soul sound moves further south with the fluid bass line and Memphis-styled guitar of “Sweet Little Messages.” Faye’s songs are filled with the sort of elemental heartbreak that made the Brill Building famous and its songs so memorable. On the surface, this might seem pedestrian compared to the complex emotions of You Were Fine, but writing 100 universally affecting words is often more difficult than writing 1,000 that are more specific and personal.

Faye’s struck a rich vein of new love, broken hearts and second chances – the sort whose first discovery feels like the end of the world, and whose repetition turns out to be the harder lesson. “Coming Round the Bend” borrows the signature riff and optimistic flash of “Then He Kissed Me,” and the bouncy “Delayed Reaction” nods to Jackie DeShannon’s “Breakaway.” The album stretches beyond the coy boundaries of ‘60s girl groups with the opener “Green Light,” and though “Eastside” could usher dancers down a Soul Train line, its Stax-styled groove and horn chart service a serious look at social gentrification.

Faye’s previous albums didn’t exactly draw a line to this retro set, but the surprise is more in the landing spot than the journey. Faye’s repeatedly proved herself an adventurous artist who is committed to her muse. Her 2009 debut, Wilson Street, honored the Austin community into which she’d knit herself, and 2011’s Travels With Charlie was recorded over ten months of collaboration with artists in ten different cities. She follows her artistic desire, and when that led to the girl-group sound, she banded together with BettySoo and Akina Adderley, wrote a terrific batch of 60s-tinged originals, drew up some choreography, and dove in head first. [©2016 Hyperbolium]

Charlie Faye and the Fayettes’ Home Page

The Posies: Solid States

Posies_SolidStatesMelody-rich duo turns down the guitars, turns up the keyboards

To their credit, the Posies have never abandoned the DIY pop melodicism of their debut, Failure, but neither have they stood still. Their tours of duty with Big Star helped resurrect the iconic band as both a touring entity and recording outfit, and while it may have further informed the Posies, it didn’t turn them into a clone. The enduring chemistry between Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow has seen the Posies through more than three decades of changes, including divorces, relocations and the passing of bandmates. The duo’s melodic and harmonic connections draw a line through their catalog, even as their latest – their first album of original material since 2010’s Blood/Candy – lowers the guitar quotient for productions often driven by keyboards.

Thirty years in, the pair is more musically sophisticated and their studio technology is greatly advanced from the late-80s, but the enthusiasm and freedom of their debut repeats itself here. As the band has pointed out, in many ways this represents a return to the self-produced home studio recordings of their debut. And with the passing of their rhythm section, they are effectively a duo again. There’s a modern tone to the anthemic “Titanic,” as there is to much of the album, but with the warmth of a musician’s humanity that’s missing from most of today’s producer-helmed pop hits. The keyboards are ingratiating, and the percussion deftly mixes electronic and acoustic elements.

It’s a departure, but one that fans will easily take to, and one that’s papered over with the familiarity of the duo’s voices and hooks. The album opens with the call-to-arms “We Are Power,” exhorting collective action over individual passivity. Anti-authoritarianism pops up again in “Squirrel vs. Snake” and “The Plague,” and “M Doll” eviscerates the culture of celebrity marketing mannequins. But it’s not all social critique, as there are several songs of romantic rapprochement, cautiously seeking to engage, resurrect or simply support, and the easy synthpop soul of “Rollercoaster Zen” has a hook that’s hypnotic in its repetition.

Auer and Stringfellow play everything here but drums, which fall variously to Frankie Siragusa and Kliph Scurlock, and add a few guest voices to the backing choruses. Their melodies span from immediately hummable to complex, with several suggesting the minor-key sophistication of the Zombies. Those who have been enamored of the Posies melody-rich music will find it intact; it’s not a rehash of what they’ve done before, it’s a musical extension that breaks new ground while hanging on to the band’s essence. [©2016 Hyperbolium]

The Posies’ Home Page

The Muffs: Blonder and Blonder

Muffs_BlonderAndBlonder1995 sophomore summit, reissued with bonus tracks!

Two years after their self-titled 1993 debut, the Muffs stripped down to a trio with the departure of Melanie Vammen (less than a week before recording) and the arrival of new drummer Roy McDonald. The result is tighter, punchier and even more ferocious than the first outing, with Kim Shattuck’s songwriting sharpened and her vocals often escalating into howls. The album is a perfect example of pop-punk, marrying the catchy melodies of the former with the unrestrained energy of the latter. Shattuck’s rhythm guitar playing is tough, but her leads have the melodic winsomeness of Gary Lewis & The Playboys records. Even the suicide song, “End It All,” is hummable.

Shattuck notes in the liners that “On and On” was influenced by Freddie & The Dreamers, and indeed the opening riff is lifted from “I’m Telling You Now.” She also notes that “Laying on a Bed of Roses” borrows from the Creation’s “Biff Bang Pow,” and with the transvestite of “Oh, Nina” echoing the Kinks’ “Lola,” the British Invasion connection is strong. Her lyrics can be self-pitying (“Sad Tomorrow”) and bratty (“Won’t Come Out to Play”), but she’s nobody’s fool, easily kicking a cheater to the curb in “What You’ve Done.” The album closes with an unusual segue between the freakout “I’m Confused” and the spiffed-up acoustic demo “Just a Game,” ending in a couplet that encapsulates the yin and yang of punk-pop.

Omnivore’s 2016 reissue adds the UK B-sides “Become Undone” and “Goodnight Now,” and demos of “Red Eyed Troll,” “Won’t Come Out to Play” (with its Buddy Holly roots intact) and “Pennywhore” (which turned up on Happy Birthday to Me). Also featured are demos of “Born Today” and “Look at Me,” neither of which seem to have made it to final form. Unlike the guitar-and-voice demos on the debut album’s reissue, these tracks have basic bass and drums that indicate what they’d sound like as band songs. There’s a taste of Shattuck’s demo of “Become Undone” at the end of track twenty-one, and a hidden backwards CD bonus track at #22, but the demo of “I’m Confused” that Shattuck lauds in the liners is MIA.

The reissue’s 20-page booklet includes numerous photos, liner notes by Ronnie Barrett and Roy McDonald, the latter detailing his second chance at joining the band, and song notes by Shattuck. This is a good upgrade for fans who already have the original album, and the place to start for those who haven’t yet dived into the Muffs. [©2016 Hyperbolium]

The Muff’s Facebook Page

Chris Robley: The Great Make Believer

ChrisRobley_TheGreatMakeBelieverHanging on to hanging on

Whatever else he’s done, Chris Robley’s bi-coastal habitation of Portland, Oregon and Portland, Maine positions him as the answer to a singer-songwriter trivia question. It’s the sort of poetic, yet easily consumed detail that also threads through his songwriting. And though his poetry is filled with imagery and symbolism, his lyrics follow more traditional narratives, albeit with the observational details and sensitivity of a poet. Robley’s sixth album was written and recorded amid major life changes – including divorce, relocation and romantic renewal – and though the songs aren’t directly autobiographical, it’s easy to spot a very real path of anxiety, confusion, sadness, depression, weariness, relief and rebirth, sewn together by hints of optimism and a helping of catharsis.

Perhaps the most important musical change from previous releases is Robley’s choice to relinquish most of the instrumental duties to bandmates. Where his earlier albums had been insular, overdubbed studio productions, his latest relies not only on other players, but the dynamism of live recording and the shucking of orchestration and production tricks. Though much of the album draws its melodic tint from Robley’s long-time pop inspirations (i.e., the Beatles), several of the songs are stripped to country-tinged basics, with Paul Brainard’s steel and Bob Dunham’s guitar given prominent placement. Their twang pushes Robley to preach on “Lonely People” and underlines the sort of introspective reflections you’d rather not have staring back at you from the mirror.

The album opens with “Eden,” a moment of renewal spurred by the realization that mistakes are the fuel of improvement. The story then rewinds to follow the path of destruction that led to understanding. The betrayals are largely passive, with relationships quietly abandoned and allowed to disintegrate; but the wrong-doings nag the conscience and provoke the sleepless nights of “Evangeline.” The seemingly cheery recovery of “Lonely People” is turned back by self-doubt and apologies geared more to the sender than the recipient. “Silently” closes the album with the no-fault observation that even the brightest fires expire silently. The song’s old-timey vocal and kazoo solo are nice touches, and just two of the album’s many charms. [©2016 Hyperbolium]

Chris Robley’s Home Page

J.D. Souther: Home by Dawn

JDSouther_HomeByDawn2Souther’s sole 1980s album reissued with four bonus tracks

After breaking in as part of the Los Angeles scene of the 1970s, Souther retreated from the record racks, releasing only a pair of singles and this lone 1984 album between 1979 and 2008. These mid-80s sessions were helmed by Nashville songwriter and producer David Malloy, with a mid-80s studio sound that would soon establish itself on the country charts – though not for Souther, whose album only lightly brushed the bottom rung of Billboard’s Top 200. It’s not for want of good original material, touching vocals (including an appearance by Linda Ronstadt on “Say You Will”) and a timely popped-collar video. Apparently Warner Brothers didn’t know how to market the album, despite the title track having some resonance with the then-current hit “Footloose.”

That said, the album’s aged reasonably well, with songs and performances that outweigh the period sound. Souther had been listening to a lot of rockabilly prior to making this album, and you can hear the 50s influences beneath the layers of production and digital studio effects. Among the bonus tracks added to Omnivore’s 2016 reissue is a demo of “I’ll Take Care of You” whose vocal is more restrained, yet more impassioned than the album take. Also included is Souther’s duet with Linda Ronstadt on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack’s “Hearts Against the Wind,” and the unreleased session tracks “Little Girl Blue” and “Girls All Over the World.” The bonuses make for a nice upgrade, and sweeten an often overlooked Souther album. [©2016 Hyperbolium]

J.D. Souther’s Home Page