Julie Ocean - Long Gone and Nearly There

 

The target audience for this Washington D.C. pop combo doesn't need to be told that Julie Ocean isn't a female solo artist: they already have the Undertones' classic 1981 single of the same name memorized. They're also well familiar with the quartet's previous work, particularly singer/guitarist Jim Spellman's stint in much-beloved alt-popsters Velocity Girl and fellow singer/guitarist Terry Banks' string of cult favorite twee pop acts, including Glo-Worm, the Saturday People and Tree Fort Angst. Happily, Long Gone and Nearly There isn't a throwback, either to the mid-'90s indie pop scene or to '80s U.K. records (like "Julie Ocean" itself) that directly inspired so many of those bands. These ten songs are utterly timeless: the bracing, jangly rush of the barely two-minute opener "Ten Lonely Words" could have been recorded at any point from 1965 onwards. Crucially, however, there is no sense of retro kitsch even on the most overtly backwards-looking tracks here: "#1 Song" and "My Revenge" are pure sweet-tooth power pop, right down to the falsetto harmonies and the fake-out endings, but Julie Ocean are no Flamin' Groovies-style genre copycats. "Here Comes Danny" is so overstuffed with clever turns of lyrical phrase, ear-grabbing production tricks, and good old-fashioned hooks that its five minutes whiz past in a seeming blink, but what's most impressive about Long Gone and Nearly There is that nearly every other track on the album manages the same trick in less than three minutes flat: Julie Ocean understand that brevity is the soul of pop, and that a perfectly constructed two-minute pop song is half as effective at twice the length. When the album's over just barely 25 minutes after it began, the only logical response is to start the whole thing over again. -AMG  Buy the album here!

Listen: HERE

Art School - Sound Gallery. A Review by Sabino Stanley of Stanley Road

 

ART SCHOOL- SOUND GALLERY

Art School is a Power-pop trio born in Murcia (south-east Spain) towards the end of 1995.  Juanfra Godoy (guitar & vocals), Jorge Izquierdo (bass & vocals) and Paco Ruiz (drums) played together for the first time in and they started their never ending trip around Spain, playing their genuine, original music with a smashing attitude.

 This is the bands first Long Player launched in 98, and rumour has it, the best LP ever animal records have edited. They were always put into the mod revival, new wave and punk scene, although this album and ,above all, the live shows gave them something else, that made them very genuine. Within the songs here you can find true  anthems for the generation like “People talk about us” or “ I don’t care”. The band released three  albums  on three different record labels and played in Germany twice and once around the US east coast.

                      Art School- Sound Gallery (98)
1.- Tin Soldier, 2.- I Don´t Care, 3.- My Mind Goes Round in Circles, 4.- Another waste of time 5.- Leaving Home6.- We can work it out 7.- People Talk ABout Us 8.- Stolen Soul 9.- Sounds From Yesterday 10.- Meanings,11.- See12.- Strange Days, 13.-Killed In Action 14.- Wicked, 15 My Little Treasure

Get it:HERE   Find Art School: HERE

Check out Sabino's band STANLEY ROAD: HERE

The Choir - Choir Practice

The Choir was a garage rock band largely active in the greater Cleveland area from the mid 1960s into the early 1970s. Originally called The Mods, their largest commercial success came with the release of their first single "It's Cold Outside" in December 1966. The song, considered by many to be a classic of the garage rock era, was featured on Pebbles, Volume 2, one of the earlier garage rock compilation LPs (issued in 1979). The flipside, "I'm Going Home" was included as a bonus track when the Pebbles album was reissued as a CD, and it can also be found on a garage rock compilation LP on Ohio bands, Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 9. The Choir is well known for containing three of the four original members of Raspberries (all except lead singer Eric Carmen).

The first bandleader of The Choir, Dann Klawon (also called Dan Klawon or Danny Klawon) discovered Beatlemania in late 1963 before most of his peers, since a girl he knew had been to England and brought back a copy of the Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do" and one of their early albums (probably With the Beatles) before their release in the U.S.^[1] Within months, he had organized a band with three of his friends who all attended Mentor High School in Mentor, Ohio. Dann Klawon began as the drummer for the band, Dave Smalley and Dan Heckel were the guitarists, and Tom Boles served as lead singer. (Randy Klawon, Dann's brother, did not officially join the band until 1968; but he filled in on drums for one concert in 1966 when he was just 14).^[2] They called themselves The Mods, and again, Klawon was ahead of his time: although Mod was established in England by the late 1950s, the British band that is most often identified as "mod" in the U.S. is The Who, which was formed in the same year as The Mods.
Soon, The Choir had subtracted Heckel and Boles and added Dave Burke on bass, Wally Bryson on guitar, and Jim Bonfanti on drums; while Klawon moved to the rhythm guitar post. Klawon recalls: So we began playing songs by the Beatles, the Who, Stones, Zombies, Troggs, and Moody Blues. If they were from England, we played it. We had this song list that was unbelievable... And everybody alternated instruments, depending on what song. We'd have that written on [index] cards, as to who played what on what song.^[2]
In the summer of 1966, the band traveled to Chicago, where they recorded their first single with "It's Cold Outside" (written by bandleader Dann Klawon) on the "A" side, which was originally released on Canadian-American Records.^[3] According to Klawon: I used to write quite a bit then, and one day I was thinking of some sort of theme to use with the moon/spoon, boy/girl lyrics. I decided to go with a weather analogy.^[2] While there, they discovered that a Chicago band called The Modernaires had shortened their name to The Mods, so they renamed themselves The Choir.^[2][3] The song was hugely popular in Cleveland and topped the Cleveland charts for six weeks; the song did quite well throughout the Midwest, particularly after the re-release of the single on Roulette Records in early 1967. By the spring of 1967, "It's Cold Outside" peaked at #68 on the Billboard Charts and at #55 on the Cash Box charts, and it even made the CHUM Charts in Toronto, Canada.
Not long after the single was recorded, however, Dann Klawon and Dave Burke left the band; and a succession of line-up changes ensued. Ironically, considering that he would later front the Raspberries with three core members of the band, Eric Carmen's audition to join The Choir did not go well; Kenny Margolis was selected instead.^[4] Carmen had been a major fan in the band's early years and was hurt by the rejection; not long after he joined Cyrus Erie, Carmen lured former Choir guitarist Wally Bryson to his new band, and they soon eclipsed The Choir as the most popular local band.^[4] The band's second and third singles did not have the same success as their first, and in the spring of 1968, The Choir disbanded.^[4]
The Choir reformed in late 1968 – for the second time, with the bandleader also being the drummer (Jim Bonfanti) – and regained much of their earlier popularity in the local scene. According to Denny Carleton: The new Choir's repertoire encompassed jazz, R&B, ballads and classical rock, and about 20 original songs. The group had an unusual keyboard-dominated sound, sometimes even using three keyboards on songs like "MacArthur Park" and Traffic's "Colored Rain". While other bands were simply performing standard tunes by The Beatles, Stones and Who, etc., The Choir was attempting projects of some magnitude, like taking "MacArthur Park", which was written for full orchestra, and rearranging it for three keyboards, bass, drums and guitar, or performing a 7-minute concerto with four time changes.^[3]
In 1969, the band returned to the studio and recorded a planned album that had a more psychedelic flavor, with eight original songs and a cover of a song by the Kinks. The tape was shipped to several different record labels without success.^[3] After releasing a final unsuccessful single on Intrepid Records in 1970 – including a cover of a song by the Easybeats as the "A" side, "Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight" (which was a hit song for INXS many years later) – the band broke up for good. (Wiki)

 Listen:Part 1  Part 2

The Music Machine - The Ultimate Turn On

 

The Music Machine's "Talk Talk" is one of the epochal moments in '60s garage rock, two minutes of killer fuzztone guitar, roaring organ, stop-on-a-dime bass and percussion, and the angry, frustrated bellow of Sean Bonniwell as he details the myriad ways in which his life stinks. On the surface, "Talk Talk" isn't that far removed from what the Standells, the Chocolate Watch Band, or the Seeds were doing at the time, but there was a precision in the Music Machine's performance that few of their peers could match, and even in a genre that encouraged lyrical and vocal melodrama, Bonniwell was tapping into something deeper, darker, and spookier than other bands of the day. And the group's matching black outfits, complete with a single black glove on the right hand, made them look as dramatic and threatening as they sounded. The Music Machine might have become one of major acts of the garage era if they'd lasted longer, but the group's original lineup was together for less than 18 months, leaving behind just one album and a pair of non-LP singles before most of the band split and the act evolved into Bonniwell's Music Machine (who released an uneven album for Warner Brothers). Many garage rock obsessives champion the debut album, (Turn On) The Music Machine, as one of the overlooked masterworks of the genre, and the British Big Beat label have paid homage to the LP with The Ultimate Turn On, a definitive study of the group's brief golden era. The Ultimate Turn On features the entirety of (Turn On) The Music Machine in both its stereo and mono mixes (the latter sounding noticeably more powerful), as well as both sides of the two non-LP singles, but that's not all. Along with the Music Machine's entire recorded output for Original Sound Records, this set includes a second disc featuring rehearsal tapes, demo recordings, and alternate mixes, offering an intriguing picture of how the Music Machine's original songs evolved and what their second album might have been like if they'd stayed in their original form long enough to record it. While Bonniwell's songs -- which snarl in a literate fashion and openly wear their social and psychological viewpoints on their sleeve -- are often cited as the Music Machine's secret weapon, the rough rehearsal tapes demonstrate what a solid and capable band he had, and the wealth of original material on disc two makes the presence of five covers on Ultimate Turn On seem like a wasted opportunity. The extensive liner notes by Alec Palao and video clips (playable on a personal computer) of the band performing on the television show Boss City are icing on a very satisfying cake. The Ultimate Turn On is the ultimate Music Machine collection, an exhaustive portrait of a band considerably more fascinating than their sole hit single would lead you to expect.  -AMG

Buy here: Amazon

Maybe Tonight - Weird Past FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD

 

They say that the best things in life are free, well, Maybe Tonight proves that is just the case, the bands blend of infectious Power Pop driven with great choppy guitars, beautiful vocals and a driving beat are simply uplifting and bring a smile to the listeners face and what is more they are giving their album away for free, so the best things in life really are free!

I know very little about this band, other than that they hail from Madrid in Spain, a country that is throwing some brilliant Power Pop bands out there and Maybe Tonight are in the driving seat here with Weird Past.  I have befriended them on Facebook and suggest that you do the same and don't miss a beat from the heart of this band.

Get the album here: HERE

Contact the band: Facebook  and  Myspace

The Rockin' Vickers - The Complete It's Alright!

 

A competently energetic but relatively faceless British mid-'60s band, the Rockin' Vickers are mostly remembered today because the guitarist for the bulk of their recording career was Ian Willis, who would eventually gain international fame as Lemmy with Hawkwind and Motörhead. The Blackpool band were still Lemmy-less when they made their debut in 1964 with a supremely raunchy version of Neil Sedaka's "I Go Ape," which was anthologized in the '70s on Hard-Up Heroes, the British equivalent of Nuggets. They'd only record three other singles, all of which had Lemmy aboard on guitar. Although capable of generating respectably raunchy, modish heat, they had nothing in the way of original material. Their third single, interestingly, was a version of a Pete Townshend song called "It's Alright," which sounds like a prototype for the much superior "The Kids Are Alright" (although, puzzlingly, The Who had already released "The Kids Are Alright" by the time the Rockin' Vickers' "It's Alright" appeared in March 1966). Who producer Shel Talmy liked the band and produced their final 45, a cover of The Kinks "Dandy," which actually made number 93 in the States (where it was far outpaced by Hermans Hermits version) before the Vickers split in 1967.

(~allmusic) by Richie Unterberger

The Rockin' Vickers a.k.a. 'The Rockin' Vicars' (or 'The Wild Ones') was a notorious rock'n'roll group from Blackpool, England, whose first record "I Go Ape" was released on Decca in 1964. The Rockin' Vicars had a reputation of a wild and unexpected live band, which they strenghtened by using the priest costumes and dog collars as their stage outfit. However, after visiting in Northern Finland in the mid 1960s, they got the new idea of wearing Lappish national costumes, which no doubt looked even wilder in Britain.

The Rockin' Vickers is also remembered as being one of the first British groups to perform behind the Iron Curtain, when they toured in Yugoslavia in July 1965 as part of a cultural exchange with the Red Army Youth Orchestra. In november 1965, the group was ready to conquer Finland as well. Besides touring here as Rev. Black & the Rockin' Vickers (mostly in Northern Finland), they also appeared at the recording studio, where they cut altogether 8 songs, including "Stella" and "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart", which were released by Decca of Finland in early 1966, and leased later to Decca of Ireland.

Only a month after the first trip, they toured again around the Southern Finland (towns of Hämeenlinna, Helsinki, Lahti and Turku). At this point they were calling themselves just The Rockin' Vickers, and the line-up consisted of Harry "Reverend Black" Feeney, Nicholas Gribbon, Stephen Morris, Ciggy Shaw and Ian Holbrook. It was unclear, when Ian Fraiser Willis alias Lemmy Kilmister (ex-Rainmakers/Motown Sect), the most famous member (and the son of a vicar!) joined the group. He might have been in the band already during the first Finnish tour, which would mean that he also appears on the Finnish Decca single. However, all the written sources published in Finland during these tours allude to another guitarist Nicholas Gribbon, a steady member of the group until late 1965. In any case, when the Vickers recorded their last recordings (including Pete Townsend-song "It's Alright" and Ray Davies-song "Dandy") in 1966 for CBS, the guitarist was unquestionably Lemmy. In December 1967, The Rockin' Vickers did their last tour in Finland, and quite soon after the group broke up. Lemmy continued working with (Sam) Gopal's Dream, Opal Butterfly, Hawkwind and Motorhead, and Ciggy Shaw for instance with Soloman King. Steve Wilks and Jeff Carter who were one of the last members to join the group, still play in a band called Manitou with another Blackpool music veteran Pete Gurney. Nicholas Gribbon has maintained some music activities as well, and plays nowadays with his band Nick Unlimited. Nod Turner who was also in the Vickers lives on the isle of Man, and Harry Feeney has a large local main dealership for cars.
 

Listen: HERE

Thee Dirtybeats FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD

 

 

THEE DIRTYBEATS (Chapel Hill NC) specialize in aggressive, maximally fuzzed-out vintage garage rock from the 60s, the sound that inspired early proto-punk pioneers like the MC5 and the Stooges. 

GET IT: HERE

The Small Faces - There are but four Small Faces

Today would have been Steve Marriots 65th birthday, to celebrate the event I am posting one of the bands finest albums, There are but four Small Faces.

Small Faces' first album for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label originally appeared in two different forms in England (where it was known as Small Faces) and America, and the two song lineups have been combined on an early-'90s American Sony Music reissue: There Are But Four Small Faces. The music here is much more fully developed and experimental than their preceding album, still largely R&B-based (apart from the delightfully trippy "Itchycoo Park," the band's sole American hit) but with lots of unusual sounds and recording techniques being attempted.  - AMG

Listen:HERE

Paul Bertolino - Bandmaster Flash. FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD

 

Paul Bertolino is a behind-the-scenes musician's musician from Berkeley, California... a short-list Bay Area session player who has done time fronting one of San Francisco's toughest garage-soul outfits The Sleaves, and is currently playing drums for major label breakout band Persephone's Bees.
Paul draws from a well that incorporates the toughest 60s jangle-rock, the softest 70's a.m. gold, and maybe even a pinch of Radio Shack synth swagger. Almost in spite of that it's laid back, California songwriting so solid and proprietary that it refuses to be picked apart into it's base elements...try as you might. This is the stuff that will make up the Nuggets Boxes of the future, so why wait? Come feel the love. - Paul Koehler 

FREE DOWNLOAD HERE: BANDCAMP

Contact and more info. Facebook  Myspace

Mascots: 1964-68!

 

A 32-track compilation of their 1960s recordings, including all five of their Swedish Top Ten hits, lots of A-sides, and some B-sides and LP cuts. "Words Enough to Tell You" is top-drawer Merseybeat and better, in fact, than some genuine Merseybeat songs that were international hits. But nothing else here matches that high point, although "A Sad Boy," "When I Return," and "Goodbye" are fair Merseybeat-ish tunes that should be crowd-pleasers among intense British Invasion pop lovers. Too often the production is thin, the English vocals awkwardly accented, and the songwriting slight, and sometimes there's a mawkish Nordic folk-meets-pop/rock vibe. Originals like "Nobody Crying" and "I Close Your Eyes" have a heavy Hollies influence; "I Want to Live," with its moody intensity, frantic rhythms, and undisciplined fuzz guitar break, is by far their wildest outing (and an uncharacteristic one). The later selections tend toward limp pop/rock, and although their earlier recordings are no more original, they're certainly more fun to hear.   - AMG

Listen:Part 1  Part 2

The Aftermath - Friendlier up Here. FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD

 

A brilliant find over on Bandcamp that I would like to make you aware of and what is more, the band are giving this little gem away for free!!!

The Aftermath's debut album which boasts 3 top 20 singles in Ireland and was voted The Hot Press list of the 250 best Irish albums of all time.

It features guest appearances. from Steve Wickham from The Waterboys on violin, Vyv Long on cello, Helen Turner from The Style Council on piano and Duncan Patterson ex Anathema on Bass.

What some of the papers say:

“The saviors of Irish lad rock.”
The Irish Independent

“Say hello to rock's latest heroes - Who just happen to be Irish”
4/5-METRO NEWSPAPER.

“A record of uncompromising, inspired rock anthems. A stellar debut.”
HOT PRESS.

“The hardest working band in Irish showbiz.”
TOTALLY DUBLIN.

“The record hurtles along in a dizzying myriad of styles but is gratifyingly stuffed full of good tunes... like the Bad Seeds on top form.”
8/10 - AU MAGAZINE 

Download the album free: HERE

Contact and read more: Myspace Facebook

Cherry Twister - At Home With Cherry Twister

 

The title says it all: Cherry Twister are a homespun pop group, and At Home With Cherry Twister is a collection of their homemade demo recordings. Led by frontman Steve Ward, Cherry Twister embody the D.I.Y. ethic of Ram-era McCartney while sounding like they spend lots of time listening to Beach Boys and Big Star records. The guitars are alternately chiming and crunchy all over this one, with gooey, almost sticky-sweet background vocals drenched over every bridge and chorus. The problem is that it sounds better on paper. Like all too many of their peers, Cherry Twister fail to stumble across anything resembling a truly memorable hook (with a few notable exceptions, such as "Meteorite"). And at 16 tracks, the album is an awful lot to swallow, given the lack of an obvious entry point, and given that Steve Ward's rather pinched vocals are an acquired taste. Even with these limitations, At Home With Cherry Twister became one of the most popular guitar pop cult records of the late '90s, showing that Ward's endearingly quirky songwriting and the Twister's devotion to '60s-influenced three-and-a-half minute pop singles certainly reached quite a few listeners.-AMG

 

Listen: HERE

LIVE. The Jam Farewell Concert, Brighton 11/12/82. LIVE

By no means is this a great quality recording, but given the year, the technology available and the gig in question, it is worth a listen!

Start!/It's Too Bad/Beat Surrender/Away From The Numbers/Ghosts/In The Crowd/Boy About Town/Get Yourself Together/All Mod Cons/To Be Someone/Smithers-Jones/Tales From The Riverbank/Precious/Move On Up/Circus/Down In The Tube Station At Midnight/David Watts/Mr. Clean/Going Underground/ In The City/Town Called Malice/Butterfly Collector/Pretty Green/The Gift

 

GET IT:HERE

Nederbeat Dutch Nuggets 63-69 - Vol. 2

Between 1963 and 1969 beat music was really happening in the Netherlands. Renowned bands such as the Outsiders, The Motions and Q65 received a great deal of attention. They got a lot of airplay, resulting in many hits and even more gigs. The familiar Beat sound, which was mainly played by Radio veronica, was contagious and all over Holland people were playing the Beat. Hundreds of musicians rehearsed in attics, sheds and garages. Many bands got the chance to record a single...

Part 1. HERE Part 2. HERE

The Dylans - Spirit Finger

 

The band was formed in early 1990 by former 1,000 Violins guitarist, songwriter, and occasional singer Colin Gregory, now on bass guitar, Jim Rodger (guitar), and Andy Curtis (guitar). They soon recruited Quentin Jennings (keyboards) and Garry Jones (drums), continuing 1,000 Volins sixties-tinged retro style, but with a nod to the "baggy" scene of the time. The band were signed to Beggars Banquet Records' "indie" subsidiary Situation Two (RCA Records in the United States), who released their debut single, "Godlike" in January 1991, which reached the top 10 of the UK Indie Chart.^[2] They subsequently replaced Curtis with Andy Cook, and released follow-up singles "Lemon Afternoon" and "Planet Love", before the band's Stephen Street-produced self-titled debut album was released in October 1991. After extensive touring, the band returned in 1992 with the "Mary Quant in Blue" single, but further line-up changes ensued, with Jones and Jennings leaving, to be replaced by Craig Scott and Ike Glover. With interest in the band growing in the United States, the band were signed to Atlantic Records, moving to the main Beggars Banquet roster in the UK for subsequent releases. Two further singles were followed by the band's swansong 1994 album, Spirit Finger. In the face of disappointing sales, the band split later that year.

Get it:HERE

THE LA's - THE LA'S

When the La's released their debut album in 1990, it made immediate waves in the British pop scene, as well as American college radio. Drawing from the hook-laden, ringing guitars of mid-'60s British pop as well as the post-punk pop of the Smiths, the La's' self-titled first album had a timeless, classic feel. It seemed like effortless music, yet that was not the case. From their inception in 1986, lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Lee Mavers was a perfectionist with a nearly obsessive eye for detail. Consequently, the La's were never able to totally fulfill their promise.

Mavers formed the group in Liverpool with bassist John Power, guitarist Paul Hemmings, and drummer John Timson. On the strength of their demo tapes, Go! Discs signed the band in 1987, releasing the single "Way Out"; it received good reviews, yet it wasn't a chart success. Similarly, the following year's "There She Goes" received good press yet stalled on the charts. With a new lineup featuring bassist James Joyce, guitarist Cammy (born Peter James Camell), and Lee's brother Neil on drums, the La's began recording their debut album that same year. The record didn't appear until 1990. Even though Mavers claimed it was rush released, the Steve Lillywhite-produced The La's received glowing reviews and strong sales; a re-released "There She Goes" entered the U.K. Top 20 and hit number 49 in America. For most of 1991, the band was on tour. At the end of the year, they went back to the studio to record their follow-up. This time, Mavers was in complete control and he took his time to perfect the album, re-recording tracks and rewriting songs. The La's disappeared without a trace from the pop music scene. Mavers and a reconstituted band resurfaced in the spring of 1995, playing a handful of supporting concerts that featured a couple of new songs.

Get It: HERE

The Girls of Texas 60's - Various Artists

The best known girl group in Texas during the late 60's was The Heart Beats of Lubbock who are included on this album, along with other great female led bands and that is unfortunately the extent of what I know about this album, but it really is worth a listen!

1. [02:19] The Heartbeats – Crying Inside
2. [02:44] The Heartbeats – Poor Side Of Town
3. [02:36] The Brazen Hussies – Climbing The Wall
4. [02:12] Kay Gramm & The Bandettes – Cross My Heart
5. [03:07] Leisha Brodie – Cross My Heart
6. [06:14] Lou Ann Barton – I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home
7. [05:22] Lou Ann Barton – He’s Gotta Use His Head (To Turn Me On)
8. [03:15] The Heartbeats – Choo Choo Train
9. [02:08] The Heartbeats – Little Latin Lupe Lu
10. [02:34] The Bombshells – Treat Her Right
11. [02:24] The Brazen Hussies – Imitation Me
12. [02:03] The Bad Girls – Santa’s Got A Brand New Bag
13. [02:02] The Baxterettes – Why Oh Why Does Barbara Cry
14. [02:18] Friday & The Girls – An Older Boy 

Get it: HERE

THE LOOP - ALBUM RELEASE 23rd January 2012 (MOD/ POWER POP)

Releasing their second album "Shame" today, another band blowing the bloody doors off the little shop of audible wonders is The Loop from Cambridge, a band with a great bunch of songs to make your feet tap prior to your whole body leaping up and dancing around wherever you are! 

 

 The Loop are: Martin Holt - Guitars, Vocals, Darren Day - Drums, Vocals, Steve Wilson - Bass Guitars

 

Formed in the Summer of 2003 The Loop have steadily established themselves as a no-frills guitar based power trio playing gutsy, melodic, powerful songs with a simplistic ‘in yer face’ approach. Martin draws on life experiences when writing the songs and refuses to envelop them in sugary, stereotypical coatings for the masses to conform. Darren & Jamie provide the tight driving force behind this unique, refreshing and energetic collaboration.

The band was developed with a simple ethos in mind: "We've all chased the dream before, we have paid our dues many times over. We would love to turn professional but, we are realistic (not cynical!) and enjoy what we do but our friendship and families come first." 

With debut Album ‘Game Over’ available from I-tunes and ‘the difficult’ 2nd Album ‘Shame’ getting glowing reviews prior to it’s release The Loop are looking to steadily claim more converts by gigging extensively. Keep an eye out and catch them when you can. 

"As British as the river Thames!"

 This band are being raved about just about everywhere I look right now, Mod Radio UK to Glory Boy Radio, to name a couple of places, don't miss out on them, that would be an absolute crime!!!

You can contact The Loop on FACEBOOK and at their MYSPACE page and you can purchase the new album on Itunes or you can order a physical copy of the album at DETOUR RECORDS

Squire - Get Smart! - 1983

 

Somewhere between the delicate power pop of Shoes and the classy British pop of mid-period Jam sits the wonderful world of Squire. No, not Billy "The Stroke" Squier. This is Squire, the groovy mod trio fronted by Anthony Meynell, one of pop music's unsung heroes. Spanning the years 1980-1984, this exceptional compilation concentrates on the latter half of the band's career, and contains almost their entire Get Smart album. By this point in the band's career, Meynell had tired of the musical restrictions that the mod scene had thrust upon him. Adding more overdubs in the studio (including a horn section), Meynell created some of the brightest, most exhilarating, guitar-based pop music of the early '80s. Sidestepping such influences as the Who and the Kinks, and embracing Lennon's edge from the Beatles ("No Time Tomorrow"), and the bright, sunny vibe from the Monkees ("Standing In The Rain"), Squire did not create disposable pop, they created timeless pop. Many of these tracks could have been released in the mid-'60s or even in the early '90s at the height of Brit-pop. "Every Trick In The Book Of Love," "You're the One," "My Mind Goes Round In Circles," "Girl On A Train," "Stop That Girl," and "Take A Look" are nothing less than perfect pop songs. When Meynell puts down his pen and records a cover version (including Shoes' "Boys Don't Lie" and Big Star's "September Gurls"), the results are nothing less than Squire-like. Sadly, the only low point on this disc is the A-side of their fan club-only final single, "The Young Idea," which, strangely enough, was probably considered a high point when first released! Mod and power pop fans should keep their eyes peeled for this gem of a CD. It's worth the hype! -AMG

Available at itunes

The Who - Sell Out (Deluxe Edition)

The Who Sell Out was given a deluxe reissue in 1995, a reissue that greatly expanded upon the original 13-track album, adding a plethora of outtakes -- some heavily bootlegged -- and rejected jingles to the end of the album proper. That 1995 reissue seemed to mine the vaults pretty thoroughly, removing the need for another expanded reissue, especially not one as lengthy as this 2009 double-disc expansion. In a certain sense that's true, as there's not a whole lot of previously unreleased material among these 53 tracks: there's a rather excellent, snappy studio take on "Summertime Blues," a full version of "Premier Drums," an instrumental called "Sodding About" that could function as the introduction to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (and was indeed planned as part of a rejected instrumental EP with that track), and a tighter yet inferior remake of "Rael 1 & 2," plus a few scattered jingles on the first disc, while the second has a stereo demo of "Relax" that's quite different, and a stereo "Glittering Girl," along with alternate mixes that are rare enough to seem previously unreleased. Unreleased tracks aren't the reason for this package, un-reissued mixes are, with the first disc containing the original stereo mix of Sell Out, the second the original mono mix. Often, parsing these kinds of mixes is the province of fanatics...and to a certain extent that's true here, at least in regards to the stereo mix, which does feel different than the 1995 reissue: it's different but not dramatically so. That's not the case with the mono mix, which is punchier and occasionally graced with additional flair, like a completely different guitar solo on "Our Love Was." Also, this reissue flows differently than the 1995 deluxe edition, which was sequenced to mimic the original album's pirate radio flow. That sensibility is retained on the first disc, where unbilled commercials pop up between the bonus tracks, but on the second disc the bonus material stands slightly apart from the rest of the album, which may be an appropriate move because this disc houses many of the alternate mixes and trails out with uncredited backwards backing tracks for "Armenia City in the Sky" and an unreleased commercial for the U.S. product Great Shakes. Despite all the repeated songs and differing mixes, it's only these hidden clips that feel like collector bait; there's such infectious joy and invention to this music, it's easy to get swept up in its momentum. Besides, repetition has always been the name of the game in radio, so having songs repeat throughout this deluxe edition of The Who Sell Out only accentuates and strengthens its initial pop art concept, which makes this a rare Deluxe Edition that manages to improve an already great album, and offers up a wealth of rarities while still being immensely entertaining. (Collector's note: even though this does have a wealth of rarities, it does not contain "Melancholia" and "Glow Girl" which were on the 1995 disc, giving further reason than the different mix to hold onto that reissue.) - All Music Guide

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Dodgy - The Dodgy Album

The Dodgy Album is the debut 1993 album by the British indie group Dodgy.

"Water Under the Bridge", the first single released from this album, saw the beginning of "the way of dodgy", a step-by-step enlightened 'dodgy' philosophy that would appear on the record sleeves for each of their future recordings. The artwork also included their 'mdv' logo. The single was released in early 1993, and the video for the song featured the band in Amsterdam.
The second single was "Lovebirds", a song that had won them award on Gary Crowley's GLR show during the band's youth. Included on the single was the acoustic live favourite "Big Brown Moon".
Continuing their new shiny artwork single success, Dodgy released "I Need Another", the cover of which depicted the band as garden gnomes and included a campfire version of "Never Again", complete with the sound of crackling logs.

Get it: HERE

THE THEME - MOD/POWER POP

 

The Theme are:

Gary Davis -lead vocals, Paul Bassom - lead guitarist, Martin Gamby - Drums, Anthony Morgan - bass and Reece Wiggett - lead/rhythm guitar.

 I heard THE THEME recently on the Glory Boy Radio show playing the track "The first time I saw you" and I was immediately taken back to 1979 where I was sitting in front of a remoteless, fat television set, microphone in one hand and the other hand poised above the pause button of my mobile cassette recorder in pretty much the way I did when waiting for The Jam to appear on Top of the Pops back then.  The Theme's sound is full of energy, it is exciting, melodic and fun, and whilst it takes you back to another time of great music, it also sits comfortably besides the likes of Oasis The Real People and Ocean Colour Scene.

 

                                   The Theme is bringing the britpop/mod scene back to life!

The Theme describe themselves as a South London fusion of Brit-Pop and post-Punk Modrock! This is not sixties flower-power, it's hard-hitting rock music in the best traditions of Mod-Revival Power Pop.  "We're not trying to re-invent the wheel, we just wanna play some rock and roll."

 

The band have just released an excellent six track EP/mini Album, all six tracks have a real British sound about them, something that is extremely refreshing in amongst all these pseudo American RnB singers that seem to be thrust upon us from every direction at the moment, the EP is available to download from itunes HERE.

            "We love the music, we love the clothes, but this is our music and this is our sound…"

GIGS

100 Club Oxford Street Friday Febuarary 3rd
Purple Turtle Camden Friday Febuarary 10th
Camden Rocks Friday 24th Febuaray
Billeracy Football Club Friday 9th March, supporting The Mannerquins.
Southend Riga Bar April 14th supporting The Most (mod band)
Islington O2 April 18TH.

The Theme are a good honest, well dressed rock 'n' roll band playing the music they love and are having a great time doing it..........and that is exactly when the best music is made!

You can contact the The Theme on FACEBOOK  and read more about them at REVERBNATION

MOD ON! (Expression copyright Carl Grisley)

Purple Hearts - Beat That. 1979

 

Outstanding disc by one of the best of the Mod Revival Bands.  Solid musicianship, witty and well-delivered lyrics. This album is brilliant.  Thirty years after its release it sounds as fresh, energetic and as relevant now as it did in 1979.  If you are looking for a very good example of what "Mod Revival" sounds like, this is as good a place to start as any. 

 Get it: HERE (NEW LINK)

The Bank Holidays - As a Film.

 

It must be frustrating for a band like the Bank Holidays, with all their effortless talent and charm, to watch the culturally effulgent east coast spawn artists who, almost by protocol, manage to gather momentum and interest by sole virtue of exposure in the ‘big’ cities. You know, those cities where all the reputable indie labels are, where all the most forceful writers, announcers and lifestyle spruikers are. It’s probably extreme to paint Perth bands as outsiders – victims – but to an extent it is true. Most Australian musicians already understand the limits of our geographical predicament. Imagine living in Perth.
Still, with the opportunities for exposure and career-fulfilment being slimmer in Perth, there’s probably an instinct for the bands to work harder, or to play to their own strengths rather than the benchmarks set by others. The Bank Holidays is one of a handful of Perth bands at the moment that seem incapable of failure, if you ignore circumstance and concentrate solely on their efforts. In essence, As A Film is a marvellously consistent, lyrically thoughtful, emotionally provocative and seasonally specific (i.e. summer, i.e. now) album brimming with sincerity and melodic hooks to die for.
It’s an album for pleasure – an album replete with songs that mark moments like musical milestones. The lyrics are infused with the type of pop wisdom that we all take for granted but like to have reinforced in song. Take ‘Teaching Pupils’, where in the first verse a rather undesirable group of friends ‘tip your bag out on the lawn’ and ‘pin things to your uniform’. Following these accounts, sometime vocalist James Crombie warns us that, in order to save face and dignity, you’ll need to lie and ‘teach your pupils not to dilate’. Anyone who has ever forced back tears to save face will understand and cherish the sentiment.
Of course, being pop music it’s got a large capacity for nostalgia, and the strength of the melodies and harmonies involved here echo certain oft-referenced Californian luminaries, but if charisma and endearment are both essential ingredients for a good pop album, As A Film is a quiet classic.
by Shaun Prescott

Get It: HERE

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