The Lemon Twigs A Dream Is All We Know 2024

Power Pop. It has lots of definitions, and lots of examples, some of which I don't always agree should be included in the category/genre. But these guys are Power Pop by just about any definition you can come up with. And they're darn good to boot.

And they're young, two Long Island brothers that write and play fun-filled pop/rock that sounds like the era from the British Invasion to New Wave. They benefit greatly from those wonderful brotherly harmonies that seem to come so easily to people with similar vocal cord DNA. You know, Everly Brothers, Cowsills, Proclaimers, etc. 

And they write catchy, sometimes quirky pop songs that sound just like... In fact, that game can be played, but it's really better to just bob your head or dance around and enjoy a smart band that's fun. The ones that sound like the Beach Boys are the most obvious references, but these guys have been raised on all the best pop-rock music from 1964-1977, and they have taken it all in and made something that's new, and old.

The high energy opener, My Golden Years could be the Searchers. They Don't Know How To Fall In Place is solid pop with glowing harmonies and a nice keyboard solo. The title track is a jangle pop gem with a great hook for a chorus. I Should Have Known Right From The Start is good, and Rock On that closes the record is a great pounding rocker that comes close to a Raspberries hit.

The Beach Boys sound shows up in In The Eyes Of The Girl, which sounds like Brian wrote it, but  Ember Days and Sweet Vibration are only OK, except for the harmonies, which are lovely. A couple of the other ones have an awkward lyrical way with too many syllables for the melody, but that doesn't really ruin them.

They've made five other records since 2015. I hope they're close to this good. That would be a gas.

St. Vincent All Born Screaming 2024

I want to like this record, really I do. I have enjoyed all of her previous work, although she pushes the envelope more than most artists I enjoy. Her fourth, the remarkable St. Vincent 2014 and the follow-up, Massseduction 2017 showed an artist that had matured into a serious force. Then Daddy's Home 2021 leaned just a little more accessible, and while it was good to see a different side of her, it wasn't quite the tour de force of the previous two.

This time out she produces the record herself, and it's hard to think that Jack Antonoff or John Congleton would have done a better job. It has a consistent sound, and lyrical depth, and it rocks hard. 

The opener, Hell Is Near, is a slow, pulsing, spacey, ethereal opening with big synthesizers. Reckless is spare, sparse, and slow until the industrial ending comes crashing down. Broken Man is an almost Gaga-like pop song with loud synth and guitar bursts that are an aural assault. The obsessive (creepy?) love song Flea is another good rocker, and again, is instrumentally brutal at times. Then the electronica/dance pop of Big Time Nothing shows off her ability with a melody. Violent Times has a synth-driven James Bond theme song sound. 

The armageddon of The Power's Out is another synth and guitar industrial rocker. Sweetest Fruit has a quality guitar break. So Many Planets has a strong melody and a choral chorus that is excellent. Then the record closes with the title track, a light pop, almost Tom Tom Club opening that morphs into a huge noisy chorus on the way out.

Like all of her work, it is challenging. She can turn a great lyrical phrase. She has a way with melody that is impressive even when she's making big loud noises. She is a hot guitarist even when she makes it sound like anything but a guitar. She plays a mean synth, and she can sing. And she produced a cohesive personal statement. But for me, it veers too close to a NIN industrial sound a bit too often. I'm sure it is what she intended, but I've got to go four stars instead of five. Your mileage may vary.

Stackridge The Man In The Bowler Hat (Pinifore Days in the US) 1974

Question: What do you get when you crossbreed Fairport Convention with early Yes and a little Genesis? Answer: Stackridge.

Stackridge released five records between 1971 and 1976. Prog mixed with British folk-rock sounds well nigh impossible, but that is what they sound like. The Man In The Bowler Hat was their third. You can hear much of it on YouTube, and there are streaming options as well as lots of CDs and LPs at Discogs.

The band sported an unusual line-up of guitar, bass, drums, flute and violin. And they still sound like a rock band, and one of the more unique ones you're likely to hear. They cited both the Beatles and Frank Zappa as influences, as well as Syd Barrett, Beach Boys and the Marx Brothers. And it all gets into the mix.

I think you'll find them to sound quite like nothing you've ever heard, and mostly in a good way.

David Wilcox Guitar Shopping from What You Whispered 2000

David Wilcox is a more folky artist than I am usually drawn to, but his guitar playing, his mellow voice, and especially his songwriting really shine. He has a way with words that is impressive: sometimes playful, sometimes romantic, frequently insightful, always well-constructed. In his younger days he wrote about vehicles quite a bit. This one's available for streaming, and there's a YouTube of it, so you can follow along if you'd like. 

Guitar Shopping

There's a guitar here in the window
I'd like to play before it's sold.
It's such a classic, mint condition,
Great shape for one this old.
Now all these axes have their stories,
Of the gigs that they have seen
But when this one sold the first time
I was seventeen.

'Course back then I didn't want it
It was way too new for me.
I needed something old and righteous
With its own authority.

So the first guitar I ever bought
Was twice as old as me
'Cause its life was full of music,
As I dreamed that mine might be.

And I played that thing a thousand nights
And traded it away
For something slightly newer
That was easier to play.

But now lately I buy new guitars
They're shiny as a hearse.
I still like the look of road wear,
But the roles have been reversed.
And now this thing is a classic
That I still don't need to buy.
Yeah, the old one's have their stories
But by now,
So do I.

Kelly Willis, Melissa Carper, Brennen Leigh Wonder Women of Country 2024

Three talented country singers, songwriters, and musicians team up to capitalize on their combined talents. And it came out really well. The EP has six songs, including two Kelly Willis lead vocals on songs she wrote, several co-writes by Carper and Leigh, and one John Prine song.

They can all sing, and they harmonize wonderfully. Brennen Leigh is a hot guitarist and Melissa Carper is solid on upright bass. Kelly Willis plays fine rhythm guitar. And they write good songs. I'm a big fan of Kelly Willis myself, but all three have successful solo careers and sound great. Leigh's Fly Ya To Hawaii is big fun, Willis' Another Broken Heart and A Thousand Ways stand with her best work, and Carper's Won't Be Worried Long is a lovely classic country weeper with a positive spin. John Prine's I Have Met My Love Today gets a spare production and beautiful harmonies.

They're touring the midwest, south and even Massachusetts this spring. I know you'll have a good time. CD, vinyl and downloads available.

Lance Cowen So Far, So Good 2024

Every once in a while, an artist arrives fully formed with a perfect debut. This is Lance Cowen.

Cowen has worked for years as a successful and respected Nashville publicist for a wide range of artists and songwriters. He's also written songs on his own and with writing partners, some of which have been recorded by others. And now, in his sixties, we get his first record.

And it is just beautiful. Cowen has a high tenor reminiscent of John Denver (without the treacle) and he is surrounded by a crew of great musicians: Sam Bush (mandolin), Pat Flynn and Mark Elliot (guitars), Andrea Zonn (violin), Pat McInerney (drums), Dave Pomeroy and Jay Turner (bass), Dan Dugmore (pedal steel, dobro, piano), Jim Hoke (accordion) and Julie Lee (vocals). No less than six seasoned producers would seem unlikely to produce a record with a unified sound, but that is exactly what we get.

The sound of the record recalls the late Guy Clark's records. Acoustic instruments, deceptively spare arrangements, clean recording, all with Cowen's expressive voice up front that makes these gems seem like the band is playing live in your living room.

And then there's the songs. Cowen combines the wit and insight of Guy Clark and John Prine, the ability to capture the emotional core like Jackson Browne, and the portraiture of a fine painter. The portraits are some of the highlights. Little Johnny Pierce captures a sixties peace lover that lawnmowers a peace sign into the front yard, Currently Red is a sweetly sentimental biography of a quirky journalist, and Mr. Ben McGhee follows a charming older man into his last chapter.

A trainman more at home on the tracks than anywhere else features in Sound Of My Home. A sweetly kind and humorous portrait of a hoarder is A Place For Everything. So Far, So Good sounds like an autobiography of the solo artist on the road.

And then he writes some beautiful songs of love, heartbreak, and loss. This Heart Of Mine is a perfect song of heartache, and For You is a sweet ballad that is just breathtaking and includes a reference to "the shade of the family tree" that only a great lyricist could write. The Letter (sung by Julie Lee in a fabulous cameo) is a sad lament for a fading long distance relationship.

Finally, Fields Of Freedom is one of the most poignant songs of war I have ever heard. The chorus goes like this: She said “Freedom I feel, It’s the flowers in the field, That no one marches over. Here in the sunlight of a German afternoon, I found a field of flowers in full bloom”.

Sam Bush and Dan Dugmore add color and beauty to everything they touch. They are clearly inspired by Cowen's melodies, which sometimes sound familiar (but not stolen), like a old worn coat. 

Every once in a while, an artist arrives fully formed with a perfect debut.

The Raspberries Pop Art Raspberries Live 2017

 

The Raspberries. Four solid records from 1972-1974, one great "Best Of" in 1976, not long after they called it quits. Over the years they gained respect and admiration as one of the original purveyors of the Power Pop genre, along with Big Star, Badfinger, and a few others. 

Eric Carmen went on to a successful, albeit schmaltzy, solo career, and had hits with All By Myself and several big movie soundtrack songs.

And then, thirty years after the break-up, they reformed in 2004 and continued for a brief tour in 2005. Live On Sunset Strip from 2007 documents that tour's Los Angeles shows, and was released as a single CD with 13 tracks as well as a 21 track 2 CD plus DVD version. It's a solid show, and if you have it, you might not need Pop Art. It's the same tour.

The first night of the reunion was in November 2004 at the opening of the House of Blues Cleveland, and it is that show in front of a rabid hometown crowd that Pop Art documents. Available as a 2 CD, 28 track version and a 3 LP, 30 track (Record Store Day) version that includes two encores, it holds some material not captured at the Sunset Strip shows. There's two songs from the pre-Raspberries band The Choir, including regional hit It's Cold Outside. There's also three well-chosen Beatles covers: Baby's In Black, Ticket To Ride, and No Reply. Of course all the hits are here, but the show also reminds you how many good album tracks filled out their records.

The band is super tight, and augmented by three guitarists/keyboardists/singers, they can do it all to perfection. Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson are in good voice, and the harmonies are spot on. Special mention to Jim Bonfanti, a killer drummer that lights up the set. The recording is good, and there's not too much crowd noise. I'm not a huge fan of band reunions, and many times they can be downright embarrassing, but not this one. They were always an excellent live band, and three decades after their heyday, they were still on top of their game.