The Turtles-All The Singles

In a span of 5 years (1965-1970), the Turtles effortlessly straddled the styles of the times, from stellar folk-rock through timeless top 40 pop to an eclectic smatterings of styles simply because they could.  They were the recipients of vast piles of first-rate songs from the high tide of ‘60s songwriters (e.g., Dylan, P.F. Sloan, Gene Clark David Gates, Warren Zevon and Bonner & Gordon). Many of their shifts and swerves were illuminated with sunburst harmonies and requisite humor needed to stave off the chicanery of the music industry.  They were also versatile enough to be a singles machine almost ready made for AM radio and as an album group who would garner airplay on the FM stereo side with their more theatrical & experimental excursions. “All The Singles” presents both an introduction to the band –say a child hearing “Happy Together” for the first time or second time (as it frequently appears in commercials and movies) and as the current definitive overview of the band. For long-time Turtles listeners, what’s especially exciting are some the rarely heard B-sides and previously unissued recordings like the haunting and brittle “So Goes Love,” one of my favorite Gerry Goffin & Carole King compositions. It was not until seeing Flo (Mark Volman) & Eddie (Howard Kayland) live in 2011 at Wild Horse Pass Casino did I realize their enormous vast talents and what a hoot they are as a “musical comedic" duo.  Buoyed by its underlying classical elements, the night became transcendent when the entire audience sang along to “Happy Together” with unbridled joy. Like their namesake, they were not the sleekest band, but their playful and oblique ‘60s sounds have continued to convey levity, express elation and endure over the long haul.

The Banjo Story-Vol.I

While this has been reissued endlessly, repackaged under several different titles, cover variations, track configurations, this is where it all began in 1963. This Tabula rasa is comprised of some of the major five-stringers of the folk revival-era including two who would subsequently go on make huge waves on popular culture, Roger McGuinn with the Byrds and Mason Williams with “Classical Gas.” While I previously unfamiliar with some of individual names (Dick Weissmann and Art Podell), I knew of the popular folk groups they were involved with (respectively the Journeymen and the New Christy Minstrels).  I have since learned they are considered consummate players and are still active to this day.  With remarkable finesse, Dick Weissmann celebrates the Colorado Rocky Mountains on his textured “Trail Ridge Road.”  Meanwhile with “Ragaputa," Art Podell’s takes the standard ringing banjo sound on a journey of exploration when he enmeshes it with the droning latticework of raga--all in one jet age minute. Mason Williams’s “Banjo Hello” is suffused with classical flourishes that would later become his trademark sound. The ol' stirring Irish traditional “Rakes of Mallow” is prominently echoed in Eric Darling’s “Banjo Tune.” Dick Rosmini’s “Fast and Loose” is a highly-evolved breakdown that is so speedy that it blurs into drones at moments.  Lastly, Jim (Roger) McGuinn’s rustic “Ramblin’ On” might be the roots of the Byrds, but it actually sounds like Charlie Chin’s banjo work with Buffalo Springfield. The Banjo Story-Vol. I has been influential for over a half century as it encapsulates 12 distinctive approaches to the banjo, while expressing the resounding & ramblin' spirit of this transitional time.

Berry-Poptune

My 5-year old daughter became instantly intrigued by this album’s sound when I was playing this on the laptop the other night at home. She also took to the front cover art which looks tailor-made to attract any girl with its Pippi Longstocking-like figure floating atop the backdrop imagery of whimsical kawaii. Like so many Japanese acts, the influence of the Ramones plays an integral role. The main riff of the Ramones’ “Do you Remember Rock & Roll Radio?" is employed throughout the song "3 Code." While the Ramones (and Shonen Knife) inspire the rocking parts, there is a predominant pure pop orientation on the whole (somewhere in the vicinity of Peach Kelli Pop, Japanese TV theme songs and Herman’s Hermits). The melodies are fittingly catchy and unencumbered as the song titles (e.g.“Life,” “Pop World,” “Green Guitar”) while the Windex-clear production vividly reveals the springy guitar tones slicing through the Japanese and English lyrics sung in that endearing chirpiness. From the choppy Google “translation” of the Japanese characters found on the artist’s website, I was able to piece together that Berry previously played in two outstanding girl groups from Osaka (the Milkees, the Bunnies). Both of those bands were heavily influenced by American girl group Spector-pop like the Ronettes and the Crystals embellished with a dash of Motown and the vibrancy of the Go-Go's. All of these underlying currents, from both sides of the Pacific, lead us back to this magnetic album, attracting the ears of the young and the youthful alike.

Lesley Gore-Ever Since

Released over a decade ago, Ever Since was Lesley Gore’s first new album in 30 years and would ultimately be her last due to her passing in February 2015. 68-years young at the time, she was in the midst of writing her memoirs of her challenging, unconventional and valiant artistic life. While she was continually overshadowed by her contemporaries (Carly Simon, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt), and under-recognized by the mainstream critics due to timing of her hits and the seismic shifts in popular culture during the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, this American original did retain an international audience (especially in France, Germany & Japan) along with a devoted domestic cult following throughout her career.

With Ever Since, Gore rewarded listeners with 10 sophisticated jazz-tinged pop songs which emanated her conviction, textured wisdom and her vast resilience. The stirring centerpiece is a revised rendition of her signature song “You Don’t Own Me” that is not perfunctory, but interpreted from a different stage and station in life. Overall, the songs are contemporary and forward moving, but without the padding of guest appearances, rehashes of the Great American Songbook and/or glossy production which plague so many of these affairs. While her dynamic range evokes jazz vocalists from Pat Suzuki to Anita Baker, she’s ultimately true to her own distinctive voice and heart’s orientation. “Not The First” features an arrangement where the playful show tune verses expand out into a chorus of classic girl group proportions. The fitting swan song “We Went So High” closes out the album and a recording career with elevated elegance. Resolutely unconventional, yet non-abrasive, Gore was a strong-willed proto-feminist who continually overcame personal adversity and persevered in the push of popular culture. In the end, her indomitable spirit and timeless music came out ahead.

BIGMAMA SHOCKIN' 3-I get tired of waiting… BUM'S MUSIC

Before the internet explosion, finding these Japanese releases were elusive searches like seeking rare shortwave signals bouncing off the earth's upper atmosphere in the middle of the night. While the treasure hunt with its magnetic poles of frustration and reward now mostly dropped from the process, listening and exploring the music itself can now take the lead.

With an album title that seems to be directly transferred off some night market t-shirt and an even wackier band name, their sound falls somewhere between The 5.6.7.8's and the Shonen Knife to cite some comparable Japanese trios with the widest name recognition here in North America. However, this Sendai band is on a wavelength that is closer to the rock 'n' roll frequencies of  THE PORTUGAL JAPAN, Supersnazz. KO and the Knockouts and why don't we throw in the Muffs while we are at it. I could see this being a SFTRI release, if the prolific record label was still in full operation and reviewed in Shredding Paper. It's refreshing to hear their straight ahead approach that is characterized by big hooks, serrated Voxx guitars, propulsive drumming (with the drummer on lead vocals- Karen Carpenter style) and berets.     

"Midnight Monster" would've probably been the band's first video and slotted last (1:55 am) if 120 Minutes was still around.  "Hate" actually skips along with a ska sound like "My Boy Lollipop" by Millie Small, and it's not until the kiss-off chorus that the folded up playground note reveals the h word before quickly doing an about face with a mention of love. With its sweet succinctness, the dashing "Highway" sounds like something from Momoko Yoshino's Sunnychar or Tiger Shovel Nose, while "Poker Face" delivers seemingly effortless roller coaster melodies over prominent girl-group backing vocals.  With their rhythm section motoring along like a dependable Honda engine, they pack more melodies in one song than many bands in their entire discography.

Starting with a "Black is Black" bass line copped from Los Bravos, "Look at Me" reveals their mod influence (early Who and Small Faces) they wear on the sleeves of their bar-stripe tees. This album features only one cover and they make the most of it covering the Zombies' "I'll Keep Trying" complete with a murky and whirling organ.  It should be interesting if they further explore this beat-pop direction as it could take them on a flight to international renown like Mama Guitar or the Pebbles. Regardless of future approaches, their debut transmits that unique Japanese knack for tapping into the essential elements of rock 'n' roll and making it all that more exciting.

Sea Wren

Musician, producer, arranger Matt Rendon has been setting things in major motion down in panoramic Tucson.  Not only is he the prime mover behind some of the best releases of this decade (Crummy Desert Sound by the Resonars and The Butterscotch Cathedral), he's also been directly involved, in both playing and production capacities, with stellar debut albums from The Freezing hands, Harsh Mistress and now Sea Wren.  In theory, Sea Wren has the great notion of what perhaps the Resonars would sound like tinted with female vocals. In actuality, Sea Wren is their own distinct entity along with combining all the wonderful elements you have come to expect with a release from Matt's Midtown Island Studio. The songs are mid-fidelity pop gems that are more fizzy than fuzzy (like say the Burnt Palms) and shamble and bounce over an infusion of post-punk/new wave angular energy.

"Lena," one of those perfect international girls names, starts with lyrics of questioning while the brisk and breathtaking music is a declaration of desert clarity over deliberate coastal murkiness.  It ends up in the same neighborhood, as "Definitely Crescent Ridge"-the lead-off track from the Resonars' 1998 debut.  "Lena" is also one of those songs that you will wake up with the chorus running through your head. "Birds of Slumber" winds up the Raspberries' "I Wanna Be With You" super-glued to a Guided by Voices-ish verse before fleeing the Ohio stickiness to explore now classic sunburst Resonars territory accompanied by percolating keys.  Along with dialing into the vibe of the the vastly unsung Sacramento band Baby Grand, "Wake Up Now" is overcoated with a "Lovelife" Lush or Primitives sparkle finish and propelled by rat-a-tat-tat drums. "Sarah's Cross" evokes the Zombies/Zumpano leaning up against Heavenly and Nosotrash with its pep, hooks galore, ringing guitars and bridge suspended by soaring harmonies.

Within the interchanging and intertwined guitars that clash and converge, "Riddle Lake" is an example or their pop-rock where the colossal and sprawling is contained within their overall concise and minimalist approach.  A Palomar/ Peach Kelli Pop-like chorus on "LA Stems" is supported by a Wendy & Bonnie layered arrangement where the Westward leading parallel and counterpart harmonies conjoin and blend to make for one of the highlights of this album. The song also reminded me of the seemingly long lost Japanese band kabochack.  Intended or not, "Helen Day," curves into the "Ventura Highway" with its reflected harmonies backlighting and glowing throughout the song that fills the space with possibilities. "The Latest Cage" is the song that immediately jumped out to me with its Lesley Gore-ish vocals gliding over Spector pop percussion and then proceeding in an unexpected direction with an ascent from River Deep to Mountain (Lemmon) High. 

Sea Wren brings the past and present together to create their own signature sound as well as sharing the compelling timeless pop sensibilities of the Midtown Island Sound.  With several exciting projects (Harsh Mistress II, The Freezing Hands II, new Resonars) said to be the works, I can only imagine what Matt and his overlapping circles of musicians have in store for the future on Tucson's wide-open horizon.  Without question, they will continue reaching for new heights "Under the Blazing Stars."

Robert Drasnin - Voodoo

The late ‘50s/early ‘60s were the halcyon era of exotica recordings partly due to the ascendancy of high fidelity, the popularity of easy listening & jazz, requisite post-war Polynesian escapism along with the universal human search for the indigenous. While not one of the genre giants (Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Yma Sumac) the adventurous sounds and intricate musicianship found on Robert Drasnin’s Voodoo has allowed his original compositions to endure and connect to ensuing generations. In its original vinyl incarnation, this is one of the most sought-after exotica albums due to the original minuscule print run and distant realms evoked within its grooves.  “Orinoco," flows and floats like lava over the continually shifting plates of pan–global percussion-sweeping the sound to overlooks of the vast Pacific. Interweaving harp, glockenspiel and wind chimes, “Enchantment” sways like a flourishing palm tree somewhere between the still spreading seafloor and the jet stream.  “Tambuku,” featuring a young John Williams on piano, takes on Far East motifs with an understated atmospheric approach free floating over a panorama of perpetual percussion. Voodoo frequently explores the rarefied space where exotica overlaps with Latin Jazz. Accordingly, it's the perfect soundtrack for an excursion to the famous Kon-Tiki in Tucson or on the back porch between drug store tiki torches and visions of Easter Island.

Thee Midniters-In Thee Midnite Hour!!!!

From 1964-1969, Thee Midniters were on the vanguard in their native East Los Angeles and throughout the Southern California region. There was a time in 1964-65, when Whittier Blvd. slicing through East Los Angeles, prefigured the Sunset Strip--lined with live music venues, record stores and 5 major clothing stores selling mod threads and Beatles boots, which Thee Midniters perfectly encapsulated with their propulsive instrumental "Whittier Blvd."  With their versatility and proficiency, Thee Midniters could go from unhinged proto-punk to solid soul, like the top 40 boss radio of the time, which allowed the 7-member combo to crossover with almost any audience of youth and even win over Casey Kasem.  Stirring up Beatles-like bedlam, they were just as popular with the Anglo audiences in Montebello and at the Rose Bowl as they were in their home turf of unincorporated East L.A.or filling El Monte's American Legion Stadium. They could also be said to be the progenitors of El Chicano (headliners of the upcoming 2016 Chandler Jazz Festival) while paving the paths for later bands ranging from the Zeros through Los Lobos to Chicano Batman. This compilation album is a revved-up lowdown of their tough, taut and hard as concrete early album sides & singles which aligns them with the paint peelin’ contingent of bands then ruling the Pacific Northwest like the Kingsmen, the Wailers and the Sonics. Especially, revelatory are some of their Latin soul instrumentals like the searing "Dragon-Fly" which is both horn and guitar driven and sounds like a perfect convergence of a taunting marching band with the Yardbirds.   Be sure to check out Youtube for some of their later songs like the festive and determined “Chicano Power” and “Walk on By” where they stretch out to display that their tastes were truly catholic as they were informed and inspired as much from traditional Mexican corrido, bolero, rumba and Bronx boogalo as the British Invasion, Southern California surf, James Brown, and Burt Bacharach.  In Thee Midnight Hour!!!!, it’s time to listen to yesterday’s sounds advancing into today. 

Top 15 or so of 2015

01. Harsh Mistress-S/T
02. Western Plaza-S/T
03. The Pen Friend Club-Spirit of the Pen Friend Club
04. The Butterscotch Cathedral-S/T
05. Susan James-Sea Glass
06. Glenn Mercer-Incidental Hum
07. The Mantles-All Odds End
08. Sir Lord Von Raven-Age of Machines
09. Yo La Tengo-Stuff Like That There
10. Miriam-Down Today
11. GospelbeacH-Surf Line
12. Chuck Perrin-The Yearn
13. Boss Fink-R.P.M.
14. Ultimate Painting-Green Lanes
15. Christina Quesada-You Are the One

Collections & Compilations

01.The Kitchen Cinq-When the Rainbow Disappears-1965-68
02. Martians, Demons And Fools Like Me-The MCI Records Story 1954-61

Live Recordings
01. The Britemores-WFMU Sessions
02. Ely Parker and the CIAs-1993 South Bend, IN

In Memory: Lesley Gore, P.F. Sloan

Ronnie Spector's Best Christmas Ever

Every year around this time, I go on the search to find “original” holiday music to complement the tried, true and tired sounds of the season.  If I can unbox at least one new-to-me classic from an album, it brings surprise and delight.  For 2015, Ronnie Spector’s “Light One Candle” is the shining song of this season found on her 2010 EP Best Christmas Ever.  The piano-driven verses convey the power of resilience in the face of adversity, the tick-tock childlike mantra chorus breaks through the dark fear like a night light for a child, while the bridges echo the lovely melody of the Byrds & Turtles’ “You Showed Me.” This song, written by Linda Sobo, crosses over to recognize the universal symbols of illumination encompassing Chanukah’s menorah, Christmas’ Advent candles, Diwali's lamps and the lights glowing all around.  Knowing Ronnie’s background story of surviving her years with Phil Spector makes the song all the more incandescent.

Chuck Perrin-The Yearn

When we last left off with his 2009 release "Down 2 Bone, Chuck Perrin's constantly shifting musical direction, along with the course of the country/world overflowing with looming uncertainty, could only be conjectured.  With "Down 2 Bone," Perrin employed his past musical styles ('60s folk) and ('70s country) in order address the upheaval of an overdrawn country in search of purpose.  The first three songs of his latest excursion "The Yearn," signal that we remain in rough waters and still searching through the wreckage as people and a society.  Between the tangles of Larry Mitchell's outsized blues guitar, "It's an Asshole World" reflects the grind that we all know too well along with the attendant hostile forces that threaten and attack from any angle.  Initially, "Blood" came across as reheated Cormac McCarthy. Later, I read that the song was not dark matter fiction, but a reminder about the 2011 tragedy that happened 80 miles away in a Tucson Safeway parking lot.... and goes on and on with the latest campus shooting in Flagstaff or the one in Santa Barbara we kinda forgot about.  The song rides out on "20 Feet from Stardom" gospel backing vocals that could have been supported Linda ("What a Man") Lyndell.  The Tropicalia Cubist "Living the Life" continues the cacophonous, agitated and protracted vibe that courses through a frequently confrontational country that has pretty much an abundance of everything, but understanding. These opening songs are not simple-minded knee jerk indictments against predictable forces and atmospheric turbulence, but a harder look on how we treat others. 

Touchstones

In spite of it all, Perrin maintains his indefatigable hope and declares in "Touchstones." that he's ready to scamper up metaphoric mountains like Gary Synder and Kerouac in The Dharma Bums. The song sent me back to a Firestone Car Care in 1996 Rochester Hills when I heard "Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys reflecting off the large plate glass window which opened up to the vibrant colors of main street. In that moment, Cap’n Bri’n steered away all doubt like his music so frequently does. In "Touchstones," Perrin channels the 1972 Brian who would listen incessantly to Randy Newman's "Sail Away" album.  The lyrics presents the fulcrum mantra where the wishful yearning "Feel like everything’s gonna be all right" tips overs to actuality  “Everything is all right."  The song bubbles upon a passage of Rob Whitlock's Hammond B3 to a place tinged with jukebox colors.

"Hiding in Plain Sight" brings back the sultry R&B we last softly heard on the heartfelt ":44 of Love." I could hear this duet with Steph Johnson playing in the Kohl's dressing rooms when buying a pair of Seals and Crofts pants...I meant Croft & Barrow trousers for work.  Seriously, this would not feel out of place piped in at a moonlight madness sale or on one of the many permutations of adult contemporary radio. Moreover, this number hints that all of life does not need to be analyzed or documented, life just needs to be life.

Encapsulating one of Perrin's ongoing themes, "Wasting Time" challenges us to stop going through the motions and squandering resources before the stretching out into a zen-dom chorus whipped into alignment by the tightrope bass and overlaid Doobie Brothers guitar decals. Perrin's forthright voice, finding the rhythm in and out of the routine, evokes the enduring hope for something better while echoing the "What's Going On" ecological consciousness advocated by Marvin Gaye and Pope Francis. Without a trace of weary resignation, Perrin conveys that life is about transformation and not haplessly flailing around proclaiming how we think it should be:   

the old ways no longer function/ 

we must explore some different paths/ 

poke around maybe take some chances/

what’s going on is not where it’s at

"Let This Be the Moment Now"

"Peace," spreads out with its sunrise flutes and enters the mystical realms once frequently visited with his sister Mary in his late '60s work cherished around the world. This musical era of the Perrins is slated to be re-released in the form of a lavish and extensive box set in Korea by Beatball Records that has been years in the making.  In summer of 2015, Spain's Mapache Records presented the "first ever vinyl reissue" of their 1968 debut album "Brother & Sister." Between guitars, bongos, the aforementioned flutes and a Thom Bell-like production, Perrin returns to his familiar folk leitmotiv of seeking the essence and appreciating radiance of life despite the trials and tribulations.  "Still Shaking My Head" is all about poetic execution and delivery.  This is where a freewheelin' '60s folk hootenanny meets the best barbed moments of a '90s poetry slam. Like the sloped and skittering topography of Perrin's Southern California, the song is slightly askew, but infinitely compelling. Here Perrin presents a coiled world that you don't want venture out in, however, moving forward is the only way to defeat the destabilizing influences.  Riding atop Dennis Caplinger's banjo, the song opens up like funny car and punches out a searing couplet of tragicomedy relief before spinning out of the measures to the sound of skronking and skidding sax.

If others in his generation are coasting it on out, he is headed in the other direction, wherever that may lead with a flipped odometer. "I am approaching 70 and still creating music with the same ferocity I did when I was 18." asserts Perrin on his web site.

Perrin rides this momentum, both self-created and reflected back by the San Diego jazz community he has helped foster at the jazz performance space dizzy's which is as much a state of mind as a location. From a showroom of a jet ski rentals operation by day, Perrin offers all-ages access, free parking and most of all--a heightened awareness.

"Dark on You Now"

In the succinct and impressionistic "Sorrow Comes," Perrin renders a sketch that refuses to stay content in representational musically holding patterns.   He acknowledges grief and sorrow like Poe's Raven, but then ascends the cello strings of the (beginner's) mind to Thoreauian "castles in the air" and the layered lights of the universe. The closer "Unplug" brings us crashing back to the digital dominant society we find ourselves in. Perrin, taking an existentialist perspective, questions if all this split attention will add up to anything enduring along with considering the long term effects on our senses, soul and spirit...zip, zap and stay somewhat tuned. 

"Both Sides Now"

Regardless of whatever may transpire, Perrin will continue nobly tilting at windmills, exploring conditions and acting as a catalyst for "better world" change through his songcraft and commitment to musical community. The Yearn presents his latest flourishing music sweeping in from different directions and making the necessary transformations before proceeding courageously outwards into the dimensions between dark and light.

Waylon Jennings-Love of the Common People

After overpowering a woodsy Beatles song (You've Got To Hide Your Love Away from their Help album),Waylon quickly follows up with the title song where it all comes together for him.  With Love of the Common People, his resonant baritone and larger than life persona perfectly match its ascending arrangement and overt theme of social justice --presaging Elvis Presley’s In the Ghetto by two long trying years in America.  This pivotal song reached #3 on the 1967 country charts and was said to have gone all the way to #1 in Navajo country.  On a popular culture level, Waylon would later go on receive more exposure and notoriety with his ‘70s “outlaw” work, his big screen appearance in the Sesame Street movie Follow that Bird and his "Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)" which played in millions of living rooms each Friday night in the early ‘80s.  However, on this relatively unheralded album centered on its aforementioned title song, Waylon is able to lovingly stir individual listeners while also raising their consciousness to the plight of others. 

New Directions of The Afro Blues Quintet Plus One by The Afro Blues Quintet Plus One

Don’t let the strange cover art or the unwieldy band name deter you from considering this instrumental soul, Latin jazz, and easy listening musical treasure from 1966.  Despite the band name, there is only a trace amount of blues in this act.  A prominent pop sensibility, propelled by the polyrhythmic percussion interwoven between the melody carrying vibes and flutes, illuminates this remastered long player. The pick hit is the buoyant “Mystic Mambo” which was also issued as a truncated single. This Los Angeles-based combo frequently played the famous Sunset Strip circuit and you can hear their musical cross-pollination as a refracted influence on the pop rock groups of that seminal area and era-namely the Doors and Love.

Western Plaza-Case of the Missing Guitarist

Being misleadingly described as “Party Garage Pop” in some quarters leads one to anticipate them slanting towards a deliberately shoddy and offhand sound that is all the rage with the cassette kids. Meanwhile, the band’s name conjures up everything from what used to be a telegram company (Western Union) to glowing “Stop & Shop” romantic notions evoked by the Modern Lovers in their declaration of “Roadrunner.” On another level, the band’s moniker reminds one of being young, with junior high friends and drinking Dr. Pepper in a strip mall at sunny noon without any acknowledged demands, responsibilities or expectations—even if all a mirage and never actual experience. Fittingly, “Thrift Store Girl” was chosen to be their first SoundCloud single. Vacuous, formulaic and shopworn were the initial "Apples to Apples" words when approaching a song entitled "Thrift Store Girl” in a power-pop, punk-pop or even a K Records context. Even when I was single, thrift tours or one-off detours took more gas and time than it was really worth, regardless of finding Sunshine Company long players for a buck or a Hawaiian-styled shirt with Century 21 logos emblazoned all over it. Still eternally swayed by the Ramones and Jonathan Richman, who both refined music and lyrics down to an enduring and elegant minimalism just when it needed it, gave me the impetus to proceed. Holding out hope against triteness, SoundCloud’s arrow revealed the sound of something significant sounding, quixotic and imbued with perfect pop sensibilities. The poetry-in-motion lyrics of an idealized girl and queen of cast-off treasure cascaded over an infectious song of all what life can be with or without all the entanglements and fault lines.

New Wave Vernacular 

With the band not taking the now standard Bandcamp route, some digital back roads needed to be explored. Amarillo’s Panhandle PBS featured some some high production footage of the band in their “Yellow City Sound” studio and provided the much needed visual. Their stampeding and taunt "Tornado Dream" presented a "wiry" guitarist gliding across the sound stage with a Yuna Kim-like focus, while looking like one of the students in “Dead Poets Society" in a snappy Western shirt. "Tornado Dream" revealed an alloyed band with the guitars clashing, converging and intertwined like Big Country or Chisel while the overall song is a catchy as a 20/20 single. This small sampling revealed something was happening here in the musicianship, lyrics and overall sound that was more than a sum of the parts. 

Backtracking 

Next, I tried to connect the geographic dots, while subscribing to the isolation theory of bands developing distinctive sounds away from the Lite-Bright cities. Amarillo, Texas was not some a place that I thought about on a yearly basis beyond knowing that it was somewhere out in the Country of Texas west of Austin, Houston, Dallas or San Antone. Wikipedia revealed Terry “Suspicion" Strafford and Jimmy "Sugar Shack" Gilmer were from Amarillo, while Buddy Holly's Lubbock is 120 miles to the south.  A sidetrack to the the Light in the Attic Records website reminded me that the Kitchen Cinq were kicking around Amarillo before connecting with Lee Hazlewood and recording an outstanding album in Los Angeles overflowing in reverb.  I then followed the map and saw that Amarillo was affixed to Route 66 and clasped in with old Southwestern favorites like Albuquerque and Flagstaff.

Case of the Missing Guitarist 

Later, I watched a YouTube video of the band playing live in Austin at Weinermania 2015 as part of SXSW, but the supporting guitars behind talented lead singer Michael Blackwell took on overt and unsubtle ex-metalhead tinge. I learned that the missing undercurrent of sound was the aforementioned slight country gentleman Hayden Pedigo, an acclaimed and accomplished guitarist on his own right. This Texas Monthly featured musician makes records that take an entirely different direction from Western Plaza, but are mightily impressive even if I'm not one in position to assess John Fahey-inspired American Primitive work. The sound of his debut "Seven Years Late" record is evocative of the lunar land between names on a Texas road map and could have been used on the “Boyhood” soundtrack--if the film continued through all of Mason’s college years. In Paste Magazine, Hayden states he admires the multi-leveled production work of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson and would like to take Western Plaza in that direction. The impressive arrangement of Western Plaza's “When It’s Over” already leans that way in the how it turns, shifts tiers and expands out in such a pleasing way.


For the Record 

Western Plaza has a head turning "where did that come from" sound despite being seemingly isolated in the ol' Republic of Texas. An expanded perspective reveals their distinctive regionalism while being connected to overall continuity of Route 66. Their debut album (somewhere between an EP and a LP) presents of an emerging band who have forged their own present pop sound while being in alignment with the long, glorious and always running American line led by Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys and late-'70s Power Pop. Along the way, they tunnel into the stomp 'n' snarl of 1966 Five Americans garage rock and span out to swirling psych pop of Strawberry Alarm Clock before arriving at the station of Hoodoo Gurus. Western Plaza is an apt name of a rock & roll band on the Southwest horizon who have a sound that is placing them on the map.

Top Sounds & Words of 2014

01- Paul Collins-Feel the Noise

02. The Pen Friend Club-Sound of the Pen Friend Club
03. Mystic Braves-Desert Island
04. Miriam-Nobody's Baby
05. The Ugly Beats-Brand New Day
06. Momo-Sei-Umareta
07. The Yearning-Dreamboats & Lemonade
08. The Flight Reaction-S/T
09. Outrageous Cherry-The Digital Age

10. The Real Kids-Shake...Outta Control
11. The Muffs-Whoop Dee Doo

Top Compilations (VARIOUS ARTISTS)
01.    Sha-Boom Bang:
         Vintage Arizona Doo Wop, R& B, Soul, Funk: 1956-71
02.   Desert Doo Wops 1956-1968

Top Books

01.  Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles' Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier-by Christopher Merritt , Domenic Priore , Brian Wilson (Foreword)
02. A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man by Holly George-Warren
03. Wounds to Bind: A Memoir of the Folk-Rock Revolution by Jerry Burgan, Alan Rifkin  
04. What's Exactly the Matter with Me?: Memoirs of a Life in Music-by P.F. Sloan, S.E. Feinberg 
05. Benson: The Autobiography by George Benson, Alan Goldsher 
06. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé by Bob Stanley 
07. Strat in the Attic: Thrilling Stories of Guitar Archaeology by Deke Dickerson
08. Buck 'Em! The Autobiography of Buck Owens by Randy Poe, Buck Owens 

Top Sounds of 2013

Top Albums and Singles

01- Peach Kelli Pop-Peach Kelli Pop II

02. The Hot Shots-Sample My Kissin'
03. The Beat-"Baby I'm In Love With You" 
04. The Last-Danger
05. The Higher State-s/t

06. The Jay Vons-Night (Was Stealing From the Sun)
07. The Woggles-The Big Beat
08. Wild Honey-Big Flash
09. Transistors-Is This Anything?
10. The Wrong Words-Everything is Free

Top Compilations (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

01.  Pop Yeh Yeh: Psychedelic Rock from Singapore & Malaysia 1964-1970 (Subliminal Sounds)

02.  The Mascot Records/Jack Curtis Story 1958-1973 
03.  Book A Trip 2: More Psych-Pop Sounds Of Capitol Records (Now Sounds)
04.  Eccentric Soul-The Dynamic Label (The Numero Group)
05. I'm Losing Tonight-30 moody,garage-Folkpunk gems from the Midsixties

Top Archival Releases  

01. Tandyn Almer – Along Comes Tandyn  

02. Alex Chilton-Electricity By Candlelight-NYC 2/13/97. 
03. Jonathan Richman-"Living Room Demos" aka "Solo Acetate" (1973/1974)

Top Shows

01. Benedict Arnold & the Traitors w/ Mark Lindsey (San Diego)
02. The Rising Ramrods/ Nashville Ramblers/Ty Wagner (San Diego)
03. The Beat/The Maxies (Phoenix)
04. The Yellow Payges (Phoenix)
05. El Chicano (Chandler, AZ)

Top Documentaries

01.The Undertones-Here Comes the Summer BBC4
02. Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

Top Books
01. The Rhino Records Story by Harold Bronson
02. Shell Shocked: My Life with the Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and Frank Zappa by Howard Kaylan
03. Everything's Coming Up Profits; The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals by Steve Young & Sport Murphy
04. Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir by Linda Ronstadt 
05. The Stone Roses: War and Peace by Simon Spence

Comeback of the Year
The Flamin' Groovies

Rest in T'ai chi ch'uan peace~Lou Reed
Rest in Hawaiian Spirit~Bob Jones (We Five)

Rest en La Paz~Paul Williams

Top Sounds of 2012

01. The Explorers Club-Grand Hotel
02. Yani Martinelli-Bubble Station
03. Veronica Falls-s/t
04. Various-Pop Punk Mania Japan (KOGA)
05. Palomar-Sense & Antisense
06. The Resonars-Long Long Thoughts EP
07. The Young Fresh Fellows-Tiempo de Lujo
08. Beachwood Sparks-The Tarnished Gold
09. Los Kahunas

Top Live/Reissues/Archival/Comps/Out-of-print/Books:
01. The Beach Boys-Phoenix-Grand Canyon University
02. "TeenBeat Mayhem!" by Mike Markesich
03. Evol (unassuming Nightcrawlers bent that is threadbare precious, but not rickety)
04. Spur-Spur Points

05. Various -It's Zimmerman's World...We Just Live In It

Top 11 of 2011

01. Dreamdate-Melody Walk
02. The Cynics-Spinning Wheel Motel
03. The Higher State-Freakout at the Gallery
04. The High Llamas-Talahomi Way
05. Bad Sports-Kings of the Weekend
06. Shonen Knife-Osaka Ramones
07. The Thunderchiefs-The Interstellar Sounds of
08. Chris Sprague-Miles Ahead
09. The Feelies-Here Before
10. The Baseball Project-Volume 2: High and Inside
11. Fleet Foxes-Helplessness Blues

Top Reissues/Archival/Comps/Out-of-print:
01. The Beach Boys-The Smile Sessions
02. News-Hot Off the Press
03. Various-Fading Yellow-Volume 13
04. 60s (mostly) uncomped-Hala Hala-a-Go-Go! (Volumes 1-4)
05. Vincent Bell-Airport Soundtrack

Surf Beat by Kent Crowley

Surf Beat does a commendable job of providing the cultural context for the three waves of surf music. One of the strong points is the author provides more than the usual coverage of the technical developments and innovations of the musical instruments and amplifiers with obvious nods to Fender. Crowley also seems to know and express the local history and color stretching from the beaches, through the valleys, to the near vicinity of the San Gabriel Mountains where "Pipeline" was recorded at Pal Recording Studio in now Rancho Cucamonga. (I seem to recall that he wrote of the 1839 Mexican land grant of Rancho Cucamonga in Great God Pan Magazine over a decade ago.) He's especially good at capturing the internecine feuds between musicians and regions and provides the space to operate under a sort of Fairness Doctrine. Other strengths of Crowley are his positive & insightful assessments of the early 70's Beach Boys albums that "embraced technology while making music about nature." The section on second wave of surf music (led in part by John Blair) which coincided and converged with the punk/new wave movement, is especially welcomed as history is scattered on this era beyond the primary source documents.

News: Hot Off The (Private) Press

From an overview perspective, Hot Off the Press is a wonderful 1974 anomaly fed from the mainstream tributaries/currents of the Lovin’ Spoonful and the ‘70s Beach Boys, along with some distant echoes of pop-era Don and the Goodtimes, New Colony Six, and from around the bend “Blew Mind” Hardtimes. Moving beyond the banks and inland, the City & Western harmonies of Moby Grape, Buffalo Springfield, Spur and the Everpresent Fullness stretch over the old territorial frontiers.

The extraordinary thing here is there was no particular reason for this extinct sound in the "lost years" of the early ‘70s. Whether you hold the perspective that that the floor suddenly came out from under 1968 world, along with concomitant music scene, due to the rough waters or if things just slowly sunk into the inevitable major slump, this record carries forth the Wilsonesque tradition of extending the sunshine dreams and healing music of the mid-‘60s into the harsh early ‘70s. The continuing story is that News with its convergence of steel guitar with harmonies created a distinctive American sound, once heard only in rarified circles, that has endured over the shifting currents of time.

Who Wants Yesterday's Papers?
Hot off the Press is not simply a nice, somewhat underrated, cul-de-sac into escapism like Flash Cadilac and The Continental Kids’ Sons Of The Beaches album. The album is not only suspended in time, but the unfolding music, at times, has a suspended in air quality. After spinning through the noise of the dial on “Radio Blahs,” the noise is cast aside and the signal is found in the song “Loser” with its interlocking parts driven by a steel guitar, propulsive percussion and ascendant melodies converging and diverging in unexpected, but magnificent directions. By the time of the call and response, new vistas and unification are reached and everything fits together like the design of a ‘67 Mercury Cougar. With their flourishing arrangements and melodic magnetism, were News holdovers or holdouts for the mid-sixties sounds? Or were they simply unabashed believers in that magic that the Lovin’ Spoonful once sang about. “Oh La La” is as sparkling and remarkable as spotting one of those Peter Max-ish Uncola signs still hanging in one of those out the way and trapped in another time rural towns. This is sound the Beach Boys were looking for throughout most of the ‘70s. Next, “Farmer’s Daughter” comes charging out of the gate in full force spurred by the big soaring spirit of Moby Grape blazing over some deep Grass Roots tangled under explosed sections of some pizzicato'ed “Pipeline.” They truly find the hidden door to 1967 on this one.

Who Loves the Sun…Not Everyone?
Overall, “Misty Day,” reminds me of leaving 1981 Daytona Beach at sunset, and looking down the beach as miles and miles of traffic was leaving the day. All seemed connected by the good vibes and active day not etched into redundant routines or divided up trying to get obligations done. It also reveals the path of working towards some notion of leisure that can be futile as scooping sand in face of the lapping tide. Further, the song serves as a reminder of the relinquished sense of wonder resulting from being removed from the experience of rising & setting sun and out being truly out of step with nature. The incandescent song floats and veers into realms evocative of the best Strawberry Alarm Clock. The steel guitar meander like the coastal 101 while the climbing harmonies cut through the marine layer and reveal the trinity of Mountains, Oceans and Sun. The fact that this unfolding song, full of contrast, leans more towards the ‘Clock than the “Ventura Highway” of America is probably the major reason News never made a breakthrough to 1974 mainstream listeners (who were only on the verge of reaccepting the “Endless Summer” packaged Beach Boys). Accordingly, the recording industry followed suite and the album only received nominal interest from Epic Records. The seagull sounds in the intro and fade are like flashes of ’60s lightning on the cluttered horizons of '70’s.

You Can Always Go Downtown?
“Easy Street” and the entire album for that matter contradict the academic origins of this band based around Yale University in New Haven. Frequently, albums emanating from Higher Education sound over-contrived in their “progressive” attempt to achieve high art. Actually, it sounds years and miles removed from the academic milieu (in its worst tied-down incarnations), The band’s sensibility, ingenuity and approach does not sound studied or measured, it just sounds right. The playful “Easy Street” has a West Coast vibe all over it that belies both their Ivy League and the Northeast origins while also transcending that dated “good-timey” sound. The CD format allows for “Easy Street” to flow smoothly into the more cerebral “Pine Tree Heaven.” In this jaunt out to the rural routes, the album hits its pinnacle and reaches the possible peace and clean air you get in a mountain town enwreathed in trees away from the heat reflecting sprawl of the flatlands. The topography evoked comes off more as the human scale Smokey Mountains than the towering Rockies. In a way, the song chronicles the move of seekers from the downtown to the downhome. Still, “Pine Tree Heaven” does not present a clean and easy break and laments when “Downtown” both as a locale and a song used mean something—something hopeful. This is just one of the many nods to a higher profile group or song from this low to no profile group. These references are kept in check and work in the context of the songs without being corny or hagiographic.

Postflyte
“One Night Stands” and “Angie” turn down the brain wattage and tries to out bar rock CCR, the Stones, Brownsville Station or even Ron Loney-era Flamin' Groovies, but it does not really work. These missteps present an entirely different sounding band, with "Angie" being the superior of the inferior songs. “New York City” ends the proper album on a subtle and jazzy note taking a low rent “Light My Fire” excursion. The song is proficient, but lacks the Byzantine vibrancy of the said comparison. However, the song is a true grower and one hears new aspects of it with each listen. Two previously unreleased songs are affixed to the proper album. The brief instrumental “Dynamic Radio Spot Bed” actually sounds somewhere between a 5D Byrds backing track and Index. A demo of “Misty Day” closes out the album. Characteristic of most demos, this doesn’t have the lift off or the dimensions of the full spectrum album version. Still it’s endearing to hear the brittle as stucco quality of this practice run.

Sunshine Dreams, Indeed
Yoga Records and Riverman Music (Korea) have been providing an important countercurrent in the reissue scene by opening artist-authorized doors to‘70s private press albums that listeners (without a fat wallet and surplus time) could only previously read about in The Acid Archives. With its distinctive overlay of steel guitar intertwined with majestic harmonies, News could have been forerunners of a new movement, but got lost in shuffle between the critically sanctioned Cosmic Americana of the Flying Burrito Brothers, the cult of Gram Parsons and the popular commercial radio friendly sounds of America and David Gates/Bread (who do have their pop moments). Aspects of Hot Off the Press could have been said to anticipated the desert boots/ Calming Seas scene led by the Beachwood Sparks, Brother Brian bands like the Heavy Blinkers, the earnest & plaintive and melodic Volebeats and most recently in the realized rustic Americana of Fleet Foxes. However, this album was buried very deep at the turn of the last century to make any type of correlation. Hearing this inspired album for the fist time is 2011 is like an Asian zig-zag bridge allowing for a new perspective on 1974, while expressing the timeless hope in something better.