Further Observations From A Jangly Music Fan

December was a banner month for new releases, excellent jangly tunes and primo power pop music. After enjoying eleven days of warm, sunny weather in Arizona with my family, it is time to resume my working life in the Washington, D.C. area … and share recent finds with Fufkin site readers. Here is my latest list of discs and songs worthy of seeking out:

Fox Pass - the self-titled disc by Fox Pass. Although this was a late 2005 release, this disc will land in my Top Ten for the year, and the song "Sometime Saturday Girl" is a contender for Song of the Month honors. Fox Pass is a Boston band led by the talented Jon Macey. This time around, Macey and his bandmates have embellished their repertoire with plenty of ringing Rickenbacker riffs. "Here Comes The Karma" sounds eerily like Sid Griffin (Long Ryders, Coal Porters, Western Electric); several tunes sound like classic Tommy Keene songs; and "Sometime Saturday Girl" reminds me of Blue Rodeo with 12-string accompaniment. This is top-notch pop! Long may you run, Sir Jon and Fox Pass!

Only Love Remains - Jeremy. Jeremy Morris finishes another prolific year with his latest pop release that features fourteen upbeat and jangly tunes. Jeremy's Rickenbacker 12-string chimes resoundingly on the title track, "Love Is Coming," "You're Beautiful," "Upside Down" and "Wake Up." Jeremy's next project is a pop CD/DVD compilation to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims; the project will be titled Sweet Relief. I encourage all pop fans to support this endeavor that is being spearheaded by Jeremy Morris, who is one of the sweetest and most giving people in the indie pop community.

The Stockholm Years - Joe Algeri. A terrific assortment of tunes that were penned and recorded by Joe Algeri during his years in Sweden. Rickenbackers jangle and chime on "Break Up In Barcelona," "Yellow And Blue," "Miss The Train" and Joe's wonderful cover of Gene Clark's "Full Circle" (which was recorded with the happydeadmen for the 2000 Gene Clark tribute disc with the same title). Joe, like Sid Griffin, is one of my favorite pop artists that resides on the other side of the Atlantic … and who likes to plug in a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar! Long may you run, Sir Joe!

SuperGenius: The Best of David Grahame - David Grahame. Twenty-eight tracks by one of indie pop's most talented singer/songwriter/multi-track artists. David has the ability to write and record Beatlesque and McCartney-inspired pop tunes almost effortlessly. In view of his superb repertoire, it may be unfair to categorize these songs as his "best." If you add all of David's CDs to your music library, then you will truly have "the best of David Grahame." If you're like me, you will hope there is plenty more where his first hundred or more songs came from!

Slide Show: Selected Tracks 1984 - 2004 - Bill Lloyd. As is the case with David Grahame, I have every release by Bill Lloyd, but I didn't hesitate to add this compilation to my collection. Bill can jangle with the best of them - the proof is in songs like "In A Perfect World," "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "Back To Even," "Lisa Anne" and "Ring Around The Moon." Bill is a permanent member of my All-Star Pop Band!

The Folk Den Project 1995 - 2005 - Roger McGuinn. Roger endeared himself to legions of fans in the mid-60s as the founding member of the Byrds whose signature Rickenbacker 12-string guitar sound has inspired two generations of successor artists. During the past ten years, Roger has devoted himself to recording traditional folk tunes - accompanied by banjo, six-string, seven-string and twelve-string acoustic guitars … and his well-recognized Rickenbacker 370RM 12-string electric guitar. This four-CD compilation includes 100 songs that have appeared on Roger's "Folk Den" website; all have been remastered with the latest digital technology. There's a lot more to Roger McGuinn than just the familiar jangle of his Rickenbacker 12-string guitar. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for chronicling and preserving our rich folk music heritage. Long may you run, Sir Roger!

Goin' Back and Love You 2 - Les Fradkin. When it comes to Roger McGuinn disciples … and George Harrison disciples (Les portrayed Harrison in the original Broadway cast of Beatlemania), Les Fradkin is among the leaders of the pack. These two discs feature, respectively, twelve very jangly tracks and eleven Beatles tunes (nine of which are Harrison-penned tunes). Les' fireglow Rickenbacker 360V64 12-string guitar is pictured on the cover of both discs. Almost every track has that snappy compressed sound that Roger McGuinn is known for. Among my favorite tracks are Les'cover version of "So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star" and all of the Beatles cover tunes.
Fans of jangly music should acquire both of these discs … and be on the lookout for the two-volume Jangleholic compilation that Les plans to release this month (Volume One) and in March (Volume Two). Long may you run, Sir Les!

Mania - The Lucy Show. Excellent power pop that reminds me a great deal of the Mighty Lemon Drops. Need I say more?

Come Out Tonight - Sal Valentino. If you have been a pop music fan as long as me, you recognize that Sal Valentino was the lead vocalist for the mid-60s Bay area folk-rock band the Beau Brummels (they scored national chart hits six months before the Byrds released "Mr. Tambourine Man"). Sal's new solo disc (on Fat Pete Records) is produced by Freddie Krc, and one of my favorite tracks, the jangly "Treasure Of The Orient," is a Freddie Krc song. The promo disc doesn't provide credits, but it sure sounds like Cam King doing the honors on the Rickenbacker 12-string. It's nice to know that veteran 60s artists like Sal and Roky Erickson (who Freddie Krc has also performed with) are still contributing to the indie music scene.

The Pale Stars - the self-titled disc by Baltimore's Pale Stars. Add vocals that remind me of Better Than Ezra and the Greenberry Woods with a cascade of guitars that sounds like classic Gin Blossoms songs … and you get a very positive picture of this band. I'm keeping this one close to my disc player.

High School Reunion: A Tribute To Those Great 80s Films! What a great concept, brought to you by American Laundromat Records and Face Down Records - twenty cover songs by twenty artists. My favorite: the chiming version of "American Girl" by Matthew Sweet. There's something for everybody on this cool disc!

Another candidate for "Song of the Month" is "Some Strange Twist" by the High Caliber, from their A Certain Kind Of Charm album.

New discs by the Scruffs, Paul Collins, David Brookings, Dimmer and Sunshine: Love are also very worthy of mention. As I said earlier, my Christmas stocking overflowed with excellent pop material this past month. Jeffrey Glenn continues to unearth some rare treasures on 45 - compiling these tracks in his Lost Jukebox series of discs. I just added Volumes 171 - 200 to my collection, and there were some great jangly, melodic and sunshine pop tracks in the mix.

Hope all of you had a very happy New Year. Until next month, jangle on!

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