1000 Violins – Like One Thousand Violins (2000)
27/07/10
The indie pop band One Thousand Violins were bound by geographic restrictions during their four-year career. Since the group had no manager, One Thousand Violins had to limit its live performances to England, France, and Germany; however, because of the Internet, One Thousand Violins eventually acquired the exposure the band couldn’t get during their lifetime. One Thousand Violins formed in Sheffield, England, in 1985. The group featured two former members of the Page Boys, Colin Gregory (guitar), and Dave Walmsley (guitar, keyboards), and Darren Swindells (bass), Peter Day (drums), and John Wood (vocals). In 1985, One Thousand Violins released their first single, “Halcyon Days.” Later that year, the single “Like One Thousand Violins” was voted as one of the year’s best songs by the listeners of renowned British DJ John Peel. Day was replaced by drummer Ian Addey in 1987; a year later, Wood departed from the band and Vince Keenan of the Hazze Office became the new vocalist. One Thousand Violins released three albums before breaking up in 1989 due to financial problems. Gregory ended up in the Dylans. Keenan reappeared with Splendid Fellows and then SPIGGOTT. In 1992, Walmsley passed away from cancer. In 2001, Vinyl Japan released a career retrospective, Like One Thousand Violins. Through word-of-mouth on the Internet, the music of One Thousand Violins was discovered by a new generation of indie pop buffs. ~ Michael Sutton, AMG
My Rate: 9/10
Áudio de “If Only Words”
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VA – The Sound of Leamington Spa Volume 1-5
24/07/10
The three record companies involved in these releases – Clarendon Records, Firestation Records and Bilberry Records – all had the same idea for the compilation series independently. As they started talking to each other they realised that if the individuals from these companies wanted to see these recordings made available once more, it made sense that there was a large listening public of like minds. Some of the groups are obscure, others are better known, but it was deliberate policy not to release the more familiar artists of the time. After all, even though these are old recordings, it was still felt important to be offering something new, something that would give the listener that thrill of hearing something unexpected and delicious for the first time. Even the most knowledgeable and devoted 80s indie-pop fan will make new discoveries in uncharted territories here.
The Sound of Leamington Spa is a series of CDs and LPs that give people the chance to get re-acquainted with, or discover anew, a back catalogue of British pop gems that had been banished to an airwave graveyard. Like the legendary Pebbles albums that showcased the hidden wonders of 1960s garage so eloquently, the Leamington Spa series provides a valuable public service to the hungry independent pop music explorer, who wanders through the past as well as the present in search of unmapped landmarks. ~ TWEE.NET
VA – The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 1 (2000) | DOWNLOAD
The Pooh Sticks – Indiepop Ain’t Noise Pollution
Episode Four – Strike Up Matches
Big Red Bus – Cathedral walls
The Man From Delmonte – Drive Drive Drive
Hey Paulette – I Really Do Love Penelope
Where Gardens Fall – Search
The Anyways – Silver
Metro Trinity – Spend My Whole Life Loving You
The Hepburns – Andy & Valerie
Asia Fields – Dazzed
The Siddeleys – Sunshine Thuggery
Hot Rain – Time Is On Our Side
The Desert Wolves – Mexico
The Clamheads – Summer’s Coming Down
Sister Rain – Burt Reynolds
The Cherry Orchard – So blind
North Of Cornwallis – Billy Liar
The Windmills – The Day Dawned On Me
Last Party – Barbecued
The Wishing Stones – Beat Girl
The Aurbisons – Holy Cow
VA – The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 2 (2002) | DOWNLOAD
Friends – You’ll Never See That Summertime Again
Bob Hope – I Don’t Know
Newsflash – An Englishman
The Sandalwoods – The Day Is Mine
Said Liquidator – Third Man
Reserve – Butcher’s Daughter
Benny Profane – Tear The Web
Dubious Brothers – Yes Man
Phil Wilson – Better Days
The Groove Farm – Just A Silly Phase I’m Going Through
Splendid Fellows – Fields of Corn
The Big Gun – Heard About Love
Harbour Bar – The Boy I Was
The Honest Johns – Judas In Me Singing
Fat and Frantic – I Don’t Want To Say Goodbye
Fallover 24 – Cloth Stained Blue
The Passmore Sisters – Difficult
Love Parade – Under The Weather
Ambitious Beggars – Pockets and Minds
VA – The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 3 (2003) | DOWNLOAD
The Candidates – Sound Of Summer
Pure – Aspidistra
Accrington Stanley – The New Me
The Morrisons – Listen To Your Heart
1000 Violins – Start Digging My Grave Sugar
The Bloody Marys – Stain
Me And Dean Martin – Me And My Paisley Shirt
Bounce The Mouse – Will You Ever Say
Exit 13 – Perfect Dream
Waving At Trains – Sylvie
Thin Gypsy Thieves – Perfection
The Passengers – Sometimes
Snowbirds – Motorcycle Baby
The Deddingtons – The Last Day
C-Saim – Give And Take
Onionhead – It Comes Around
Honeytrap – Peace In A Picture
The Chairs – Brave Little Soldier
The Irregulars – Against The Grain Of My Life
The Chalk Giants – Pushing Gary Down
VA – The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 4 (2004) | DOWNLOAD
The Clouds – Get Out My Dream
The Submarines – I Saw The Children
Decoy Avenue – Gone Native
Candy Darlings – That’s Where Caroline Lives
35 Summers – Really Down
The Nivens – Yesterday
The Minnows – Time Flies
The Marteens – First Kiss
Hellfire Sermons – The Best Laugh I Ever Had
The Bridge – Shame Is A Girl
The Apple Moths – Everything
The Williams – I Know I’m Nothing Special To You
Johnny Says Yeah! – Waiting Here For Me
Dislocation Dance – He’s The Man
The Church Grims – Plaster Saint
Beethoven’s Kiss – The Wonder Of You
Nautical William – Love House
Explained Emma – When My Heart Rings
The Days – Audrey’s Curtains
Wake Up Afrika – Walking Blind
VA – The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 5 (2005) | DOWNLOAD
Nine Steps To Ugly – Eddie Lopez Lives In Slough
Perfect – Desire
A Strange Desire – Promise To Lie
On The Waterfront – Mrs Harrington
The Shrew Kings – Losing My Cool
The Incredible Blondes – Forever (Swansong)
No Flags Etc – Rubble
This Poison! – Driving Skills
Carpenter Joe – The Path Of Most Resistance
Kid Sinister – The Cradle Born
Almost Charlotte – Frustration
Men Of Westenesse – Boating
The Honeymooners – Untitled
Action Painting! – Boy Meets World (Alt Version)
Black Cillas – Sebastian
The Thieves – And Then He Died
Ade Moose And Walker – Lounge Around
Gradapenda Rosindale – Bad Days Must End
The Wildhouse – Ficca
My Rate: 10/10
Áudio de “The Windmills – The Day Dawned On Me”
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The Windmills – Sunlight (2001)
23/07/10
British guitar pop group the Windmills follow in the footsteps of such great guitar pop bands like the House of Love, the Weather Prophets, the Go-Betweens, and Lloyd Cole and the Rattlesnakes. They have the same ringing, jangling guitar and propulsive drumming. Roy Thrilwall has a world-weary mope of a voice that is eerily reminiscent of Lawrence of Felt at times. Like the songs of the aforementioned bands, the songs on Sunlight are mostly depressing and heartbroken: “Pounds, Shilling and Pence” and “When It Was Winter” are almost desolate in a shrugged-shoulders kind of way. Even the jauntily titled “Be Groovy or Leave” is a downer, since it isn’t the singer giving the command, he’s on the receiving end. Bummer. While the Windmills don’t quite reach the level of their influences, Sunlight is a pretty good record and is recommended to fans of sensitive British guitar pop. ~ Tim Sendra, AMG
My Rate: 9.8/10
Áudio de “She’s So Hard”
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Maplewood – Maplewood (2004)
22/07/10
Maplewood is a low-key indie rock supergroup with members of Champale, Koester, Cub Country, and Nada Surf gathered together in the spirit of ’70s canyon rock. Their self-titled debut brings back hazy memories of groups like America, Bread, and CSNY. The kind of groups who always seemed ready to break out their acoustic guitars and serenade the sweet hippie chicks around campfires and in hazy bars with heartfelt lead vocals and harmonies, ringing open-chord strumming, lazy tempos, and occasional pedal steel for added melancholy. There are also echoes of more modern bands like R.E.M. on “Darlene,” Lambchop on “Bright Eyes,” and Teenage Fanclub on the chiming “Morning Star.” The spirit of Matthew Sweet also hovers over the proceedings, as he’s been treading these light rock boards for quite a while. So there you have all the influences and connections, all of which don’t mean much if Maplewood can’t deliver the songs. Luckily, they do. Tunes like “Indian Summer,” “Little Dreamer Girl,” and the quiet epic “Desert Queen” sound like they were taken right off a Time/Life Sounds of the 70′s comp. The rest are solid and memorable too. They escape being mere revivalists by investing their hearts into the material. There is no winking or obvious lifting of melodies. They create the feel of the sensitive California ’70s with an easy, sweet manner and plenty of laid-back soul. Not bad for a bunch of short-haired, East Coast fellas. Line them up next to the lovely Autumn Defense and let the ’70s begin again. ~ Tim Sendra, AMG
My Rate: 8.8/10
Áudio de “Indian Summer”
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Woven Bones – In And Out And Back Again (2010)
22/07/10
Obeying the old adage about leaving ‘em wanting more, the Austin trio give us just 9 tracks in 26 minutes – packed with walls of guitar noise, dirty riffs, pounding primeval rhythms and slashing distortion. Taking a cue from the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Velvet Underground (with additional nods to Suicide, The Cramps and the Damned), Woven Bones makes raw sinews-exposed rock’n’roll from blasts of indie guitars (‘I’ll Be Runnin’), primal rock’n’roll drumbeats (‘Creepy Bones’) or extravagantly garagey fuzzrock (‘7 Year Mirror’). They sweeten the darkness, however, with plenty of melody, especially on the 60s garage-poppy ‘Guess You Already Knew’. It’s an outpouring of pent-up passion that despite the fuzz and the crepuscular influences is pretty ecstatic when it comes to presentation. ~ Ged M, SoundsXP
My Rate: 8/10
Áudio de “Guess You Already Knew”
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The Greenberry Woods – Big Money Item (1995)
21/07/10
The Greenberry Woods’ instrumentation and yearning vocal style tend to the emotionally manipulative, heart-on-sleeve side, but lyrics often rise above the vacuous boy-girl stuff that defines the genre. “Love Songs” surveys the cliched landscape with a sly, knowing eye while working completely within the musical formula. At 18 tracks, most hovering under the three-minute mark, Big Money Item serves up a dizzying over-abundance of sugary riches. While some selections remain lightweight trifles, enough substantial moments overflow the cone to coat the listener in captivating sticky goo. “Invisible Threads” combines sudden gear shifts with a phased, baroque pop underpinning. There’s the stately soft-psych of “Parachute,” and a dew-eyed tip of the hat to Crowded House balladry in “For You.” “Nervous” pumps up the fuzz for some garage-y power-pop while “Go Without You” breaks into Bay City Roller handclaps. “Oh Janine”‘s soaring chorus recalls both The Beach Boys and Eric Carmen’s Raspberries. Even at its most superficial and derivative and unapologetically nerdy, Big Money Item is just so chock full of fatal hooks that…well…life almost starts to feel that fresh and innocent again. ~ Roch Parisien, AMG
My Rate: 9/10
Áudio de “Love Songs”
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The Scruffs – Wanna Meet The Scruffs? (1977)
21/07/10
Power pop bands who worship at the altar of Big Star are a dime a dozen today, but the Scruffs were doing that long before Alex Chilton became a cool name to drop, and Wanna Meet the Scruffs?, the sole album they released during their lifetime, is that late-’70s rarity, a slice of classic power pop that doesn’t sound “new wave,” unlike most of smart pop’s class of 1978. Using Big Star and the Raspberries as a starting point, vocalist and songwriter Stephen Burns blended an Anglophile’s sense of melody with a very American feel for crunchy guitars and the occasional power chord. And Burns‘ songs about dreams of rock stardom (“Break the Ice”), his vast array of romantic problems (“My Mind”), and his multitude of other anxieties (“I’m a Failure”) suggests the neurosis of the early Modern Lovers sides without Jonathan Richman‘s willful childishness; in a genre where aggressive cheerfulness or good-natured arrogance were the order of the day, Burns‘ intelligent angst was something new and distinctive. And the band, anchored by David Branyan‘s tough, concise guitar leads, made music that was bright and hooky but still had backbone and plenty of punch; this is pop that earns the prefix “power.” That so strong an album could slip though the cracks is both sad and puzzling, but the 1997 CD reissue of Wanna Meet the Scruffs? (augmented with two bonus demo tracks) thankfully restores a lost classic to circulation, and anyone who loves a good hook with an interesting idea behind it ought to seek this out. ~ Mark Deming, AMG
My Rate: 8/10
Vídeo de “Break The Ice” (audio only)
Mary Lou Lord – Got No Shadow (1998)
19/07/10
For many years in the alternative revolution of the early ’90s, Mary Lou Lord was touted as the next big thing by those in the know, but she never delivered a full-length album, preferring to turn out a series of indie EPs on Kill Rock Stars. It wasn’t until 1998 that she released her full-length debut, Got No Shadow. While many of the titles on the album may be familiar to longtime fans — “Lights Are Changing,” “Some Jingle Jangle Morning,” “Western Union Desperate,” “Subway” — the clean, polished sound of Got No Shadow might come as surprise. But the production actually does a nice job of opening up her sound, making it accessible like a Shawn Colvin record without losing integrity. Some critics may carp that Lord wrote or co-wrote seven of the 13 tracks of the record, with the rest of the songs devoted to covers of her longtime associate Nick Saloman (the Bevis Frond), and one tune apiece from Elizabeth Cotton (“Shake Sugaree”) and Freedy Johnston (“The Lucky One”), but that has the effect of strengthening the album, since there isn’t a weak song here. Lord has a sweet, thin voice that is surprisingly versatile, and she delivers Saloman‘s songs as convincingly as her own. Got No Shadow is a little subdued, but Lord’s charming performances, clever lyrics, and catchy melodies prove remarkably resonant. It may not have the unvarnished appeal of the early EPs and tapes, but Got No Shadow was worth waiting for. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG
My Rate: 9/10
Áudio de “Some Jingle Jangle Morning”
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VA – Yellow Pills Vol. 3, More Great Pop! (1995)
19/07/10
The third volume of the newly-recorded power-pop anthology, Yellow Pills, is arguably the most interesting and best installment in the series, featuring gems for Paul Collins’ Beat, Material Issue, and Greenberry Woods. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG
TRACKLIST
1. Penelope Baker – Her Majesty’s Buzz
2. Do What You’re Doing – Michael Guthrie Band
3. Problem With Jill, The – Material Issue
4. Blunderbuss, The – Brad Jones
5. Nobody I Know – Martin Luther Lennon
6. Her Stars Are My Stars – John Wicks
7. SkyVue – The Finns
8. Taking Me Somewhere – John McMullan
9. Weird Sister – Gigolo Aunts
10. Just In Time – Black & Blonde
11. You Know The Real – The Greenberry Woods
12. Pt. 1 – The Blow Pops
13. Dear Prudence – Feet Of Clay
14. Skidmarks – Wonderboy
15. I’ve Always Got You On My Mind – Paul Collins’ Beat
16. This Can’t Go On – The Scruffs
17. Time Will Tell On You – The Rock Club
18. Blue Summer – Cherry Twister
19. Be The One – Something Happens
20. Nobody Knows – Scott McCarl
21. Let’s Take A Chance – Craig Pearman
My Rate: 8.8/10
Áudio de “The Greenberry Woods – You Know The Real”
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