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Eric Sorensen:
April, 2001
Random
Observations of a Jangly Music Fan
Before
launching into a discussion of the new discs that are receiving
attention in my household, I would like to thank my fellow
Arlington, Virginia resident, fellow pop enthusiast and fellow
"fufkin.com" columnist, Anna Borg, for hosting a terrific
house concert by pop singer/songwriter Chris von Sneidern
on Sunday, March 18th. Chris has been touring as the bass
guitarist with John Wesley Harding, and "Sir CVS" had performed
with the Harding band at Arlington’s IOTA club on Thursday,
March 15th. Chris then hustled off to Austin for a brief stint
at this year’s SXSW Festival, and he flew back to our area
Sunday evening. It was very cool to hear many of Chris’ tunes
in their stripped-down version, accompanied only by an 11-string
(one of the G-strings broke while he was tuning) acoustic
guitar. Someone in the living room audience broke the sad
news to Chris that Papa John Phillips had died earlier that
day; Chris confided that the Mamas & Papas LP was the first
album that he had purchased and, in a fitting tribute, Chris
led a sing-along of "California Dreamin’." Thanks Anna, and
thanks Chris, for a very memorable evening.
Now on to what has been capturing my ear of late: The spectacular
Girls Say Yes To Boys Who Say No disc, masterminded and released
by Jim Huie, on the Paisley Pop label. This disc will compete
for Top Ten honors in 2001. The fifteen song CD includes solid
performances by a "rotating" studio line-up featuring Huie,
Mitch Easter, Steve Almaas, Bobby Sutliff, Jeff Hatcher, Russ
Tolman, Richard McGrath, Adam Marsland and Ben Drucker. Wendy
Bird adds some terrific vocals that remind me of an Easter-produced
80s band, the Hummingbirds. Several of the talented artists
share 12-string duties on the disc, and the various 12-string
guitars jangle and chime in all the right places. This, friends,
is an all-star disc recorded by an all-star cast!
The impressive indie self-titled debut disc by the Drysdales.
This is chock-full of pseudo-60s gems – including: "Lost In
Your Smile," a Spongetones-styled tune that features Scott
McCarl; a nifty cover of Del Shannon’s "I Go To Pieces; and
a host of other refreshing mid-tempo songs. There is a Rickenbacker
guitar on the front cover illustration, so the Drysdales do
not disappoint those of us who like our pop to jangle!
Three excellent compilation CDs were added to my music library
this past month – Bam Balam Volume 7, Spellbound (a San Diego
pop compilation) and the Parasol-released Shoe Fetish: A Tribute
To Shoes. "Summertime Girl" by Dawholeenchilada is the most
upbeat jangly tune on the Bam Balam collection, followed closely
by "Teenangel" by Waterfall. The other two discs have their
share of jangly songs, but it is the overall quality of power
pop melodies on each compilation that makes them so outstanding.
Kudos to John Borack for assembling some of the finest indie
pop artists (personal favorites include tracks by DM3, Bobby
Sutliff, the Spongetones, Walter Clevenger & the Dairy Kings)
for the Shoes tribute, and kudos to the pop artists on Spellbound
who haven’t let San Diego’s fickle tastes for ska, punk and
death metal keep them from janglin’ and strummin’ sweet pop
tunes.
I have been adding each Volume in the History Of Power Pop
series to my collection, and the History Of Power Pop Volume
6: Pennsylvania features two awesome jangly and pseudo-60s
tracks by the Patriots - "She Loves You Too" and "Hey Don’t
You Know." If I didn’t know better, I would think that these
tracks were performed by the Sorrows (of "Can’t Go Back" fame).
Mammoth Records just did pop fans a big favor by releasing
a "two-fer" disc that features the Young Fresh Fellows’ Because
We Hate You vs Minus 5’s Let The War Against Music Begin.
Both bands incorporate some jangle into their tunes, but the
song that brings the biggest smile to my face is the Young
Fresh Fellows’ cover of the old Boyce/Hart hit "I Wonder What
She’s Doing Tonight?"
Gunnar
and Matthew Nelson (the twin sons of Rick Nelson; AKA Nelson)
recently released Life – a pop/rock masterpiece that should
not be overlooked by hardcore pop fans. The whole album is
terrific, and a Rickenbacker 12-string, mentioned in the liner
notes, chimes on several tracks – most notably the Pettyesque
"Everybody Cries Sometimes." After hearing this album, I am
truly sorry that I didn’t see Nelson perform at a local club
a few months ago.
Henry Gross (the same fellow who performed with Sha Na Na
and had the hit 70s single, "Shannon") has just released I’m
Hearing Things – a 14-song album that is evidence that yet
another pop veteran has improved with age. The back cover
pictures Henry with well over 30 guitars; Rickenbackers are
conspicuous in the collection, and they supplement his excellent
tunes. Henry’s songs draw easy comparisons with Bill Lloyd,
David Grahame and Walter Clevenger. Pop fans should track
this disc down!
I have also been very excited about the debut disc from a
North Carolina pop band – Catfish Saturday by the Showgoats.
The disc is produced by pop maestro Jamie Hoover, and Jamie
augments the band’s clean REM-influenced southern pop sound
on several tracks. This is strummy, jangly pop that reminds
me of the great 80s band Firetown, the contemporary band the
Rumors, Three Walls Down … as well as early REM. Many thanks
to Jeremy Morris for introducing this disc to me through his
JAM Records mail order/website catalog.
In the "oldies" category, I just added the Nightcrawlers’
The Little Black Egg compilation disc to my collection. The
disc, released by Big Beat, includes 24 songs by the band
best known for the title hit. Jangleholics will greatly appreciate
the Byrdsian folk/rock nugget, "A Basket Of Flowers."
In the Gene Clark-related category are two other recent additions:
the Chantigs’ cool rendition of Gene’s obscure tune "Only
Colombe" on their latest disc Mission Faucet; and an excellent
upbeat and mid-tempo tribute song, "The Ballad Of Gene Clark,"
on a recent American Suitcase CD EP.
That’s the latest. Until next month, jangle on!
______________________________________________
Eric
Sorensen: March, 2001, February,
2001, January, 2001,
December,
2000
Eric
Sorensen Reviews: February,
2001
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