From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V7 #272 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Sunday, December 2 2007 Volume 07 : Number 272 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out [robert toren ] RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out [Gil Ray ] Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out [zoom@muppetlabs.com] RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out [Aaron Milenski ] Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out ["Stewart Mason" Subject: Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out >> Interesting...we've debated these things here before, and I will continue to always think of LOLITA NATION as the true GT/LF masterpiece, but I suppose it's less "power pop" than BSC (or REAL NIGHTTIME), whatever that means. I am blown away by Lolita Nation, and bowled over by a lot of Interbabe and DfD, I want to get coked-up and fuck 2-Steps, but I *LOVE* Big Shot Chronicles - every time I think the "best" is down to one of the more aurally/lyrically/melodically impressive works, I know BSC is the girl with the pure blue eyes that I should have married... ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. Make Yahoo! your homepage. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 12:19:10 -0500 From: Aaron Milenski Subject: RE: Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out >i *LOVE* Big Shot Chronicles - every> time I think the "best" is down to one of the more> aurally/lyrically/melodically impressive works, I know> BSC is the girl with the pure blue eyes that I should> have married... I hate to bring this up again, because BSC has some of Scott's best songwriting and most interesting songs, but the problem with it is that, way more than anything else GT/LF ever did, it falls prey to trendy production techniques that really detract from the songs and snuff much of their power. They're stlil great, but I can't listen to it without thinking how much greater they would be if the soun was more sympathetic. LOLITA NATION and TWO STEPS are really products of their time too, but somehow sound more confortable in it...for whatever reason the production on those seems appropriate. _________________________________________________________________ Put your friends on the big screen with Windows Vista. + Windows Live. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/shop/specialoffers.mspx?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_CPC_M ediaCtr_bigscreen_102007 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 12:33:45 EST From: Scout82667@aol.com Subject: Re: Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out In a message dated 12/1/2007 12:09:22 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, angrylambie1@yahoo.com writes: but I *LOVE* Big Shot Chronicles There is something special about BSC--it has a vibe like no other Scott record. I don't know if he was doing like Brian Wilson in '66 and having prayer sessions during the recording, or exactly what it is, but there is something divine and pure about BSC. It's not something you can easily translate into words. It helped me get through a very nasty depression at 19 (remember, the first SSRI Prozac was at least another year off in release). I played it every day for months. Kind of like when the evil spirit departed from Saul when the flute player played, BSC was the music that made the blackness go away while it played. "Regenisraen" is holy, I tell you. It would and still can give me chills. - --Mark **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 12:45:23 EST From: Scout82667@aol.com Subject: Re: Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out In a message dated 12/1/2007 12:33:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, Scout82667 writes: Kind of like when the evil spirit departed from Saul when the flute player played I mean harp player. - -Mark **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 11:36:29 -0800 (PST) From: Gil Ray Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out - --- Jenny Grover wrote: > Cool! So how is the disc? I have to admit that I > have never heard of a > lot of those bands/people. Don't know, haven't listened to it yet, but it contains 23 tracks of mostly "unreleased" songs by he likes of Bill Lloyd, Spongetones, Chris von Sneidern, Flashcubes, Wonderboy etc...Honestly, I don't know many of them. This is more in Stacey's wheelhouse than mine, so I'll get her assesment and pass it on! Gil ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 11:45:41 -0800 (PST) From: Gil Ray Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out - --- Aaron Milenski wrote: > I don't have the book yet, but aparently the top 200 > was not > compiled by a panel of power pop experts, but was > acutally put > together by just one: John Borack. This is true, and he states at the beginning of the book that he expects the list will cause debate and admits his list could change daily. These are his favorites at this time. Just looking over the book, it really is kind of neat. While "The List" is the centerpiece, there is a whole lot more than just that. 20 artist dicuss their favorites. 9 critics list their top 10, a brief power pop history, discussion of labels and more. It really looks fun. Gil ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 14:24:08 -0800 (PST) From: zoom@muppetlabs.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out > Cool! So how is the disc? I have to admit that I have never heard of a > lot of those bands/people. I, too, plead ignorance at most of those names, although I loved listening to Chris Von Sneidern's BIG WHITE LIES at KCMU-FM. The Spongetones' Jaime Hoover, if I recall correctly, is Gil's old buddy from the Happy Eggs--have I got that right, Gil? I only know one Spongetones song, the one about "My Girl Maryann," as witty, and slightly more tuneful, than anything Neil Innes wrote for Monty Python. The JDC taped a Rubinoos album for me, describing them as "hapless." He says "hapless," I say "recklessly passionate." Are we to assume, then, that Nick Gilder had more good stuff aside from the obvious? Single-author list books aren't exactly rare, though they fare unevenly in the marketplace; I imagine Chuck Eddy's STAIRWAY TO HELL sold better than Jimmy Guterman's THE BEST ROCK 'N' ROLL RECORDS OF ALL TIME. But I'm open to correction. Sad, though, that Scott and Gil (among others!) either didn't contribute or just plain weren't asked. After all, they opened the door wide for Joey Molland... Andy "They should have a law that you have to speak English." "For what?" "To be in this country, man." "Hey, I just got off the phone with this lady who thinks if don't you don't own property, you shouldn't be allowed to vote." "Who cares about voting? I don't." "You don't vote, you can't complain." "I don't complain. I don't care." - --overheard at work recently ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 17:31:29 -0500 From: Aaron Milenski Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out > The Spongetones' Jaime> Hoover, if I recall correctly, is Gil's old buddy from the Happy> Eggs--have I got that right, Gil? Happy Eggs? Can anyone tell me about any recordings they made and how I might be able to find them? I always thought they were just a rumor... _________________________________________________________________ Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com/connect.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_newways_112007 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 14:58:29 -0800 (PST) From: Gil Ray Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out Ah...the Happy Eggs! That group actually had a pretty convoluted history including a pretty rank 12" single of 2 Jamie Hoover songs long before we reformed and went at it in the New Wave/Punk mode. The 7" 4-song ep is what people liked and now very impossible to find. It contained 4 songs, all written by the 3 main guys, Jamie, Murphy and myself. Very Devo meets King Crimson. Very sarcastic and we were winking at each other all the way, but very cool. Bomp Records had a box of 'em but they are gone forever. I have 2. Every now and then I get asked for them. Hmm..maybe I'll throw one of the songs up in my MySpace site. Hell, I'm a co-writer! Gil - --- Aaron Milenski wrote: > > The Spongetones' Jaime> Hoover, if I recall > correctly, is Gil's old buddy > from the Happy> Eggs--have I got that right, Gil? > > Happy Eggs? > > Can anyone tell me about any recordings they made > and how I might be able to > find them? > I always thought they were just a rumor... > _________________________________________________________________ > Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live. > http://www.windowslive.com/connect.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_newways_112007 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:12:17 -0500 From: "Stewart Mason" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out - ----- Original Message ----- From: > Sad, though, that Scott and Gil (among others!) either didn't > contribute > or just plain weren't asked. Many more people were asked to contribute than made it into the final book: I was one of them. I'm actually kind of relieved my piece got cut, because it was a list of 10 great pop songs that had never been released on CD, but because of the extremely long lag time between the time I was asked (early 2005, if I recall, but possibly even 2004) and the actual publication, I think a huge chunk of the songs have since come out! S ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 16:48:05 -0800 (PST) From: "\[The Arch-Villain\] West" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out > Many more people were asked to contribute than made it into the final > book: I was one of them. I'm actually kind of relieved my piece got > cut, because it was a list of 10 great pop songs that had never been > released on CD, but because of the extremely long lag time between the > time I was asked (early 2005, if I recall, but possibly even 2004) and > the actual publication, I think a huge chunk of the songs have since > come out! Perhaps that's why it isn't in the book; could you share the list with us anyway? I know I'm curious. West ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get easy, one-click access to your favorites. Make Yahoo! your homepage. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:46:37 -0500 From: "Stewart Mason" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out - ----- Original Message ----- From: "[The Arch-Villain] West" > > Perhaps that's why it isn't in the book; could you share the list > with us anyway? I know I'm > curious. Here you go. Actually, most if not all of these eventually got re-purposed for Little Hits or elsewhere. S TOP TEN GREAT POP SONGS NOT AVAILABLE ON CD As of April 1, 2005, none of these songs have ever been available on a commercially-released CD. This doesn't include the hundreds of CDs that have fallen out of print since the mid-'80s, most of which can still be located if you've got sufficient patience and a fat enough wallet. Although most of my personal want list have finally made it into digital form in the last few years -- the Three O'Clock's Arrive Without Traveling, Holly Beth Vincent's two Virgin albums from the early '80s, etc. -- there's mopping up to be done: stray b-sides from minor chart acts, assorted singles and EPs from obscure indie bands, and a few major-label pop albums that have fallen through the cracks. There are undoubtedly hundreds, even thousands more where these came from, which is why most of my examples below come with equally excellent runners-up in a similar style: 1. Matt Allison -- Heyday (Bus Stop 7" 1989) One of the first releases on the estimable Bus Stop label was a single by a Champaign/Urbana scenester named Matt Allison. "Heyday" was the b-side, a summery bit of jangly guitar pop that basically laid the groundwork for the entire Parasol Records sound. Allison also had the good taste and humor to kick the song off with the studio-chat opening of the Kinks' "David Watts." According to a friend of mine who was active on the Champaign/Urbana music scene at the same time, Matt Allison curtailed his performing career due to paralytic stage fright; he later became a producer and engineer of some local reputation. Another band that never managed to get it together enough to manage a CD's worth of material was Seattle's Action Suits, three cartoonists (Eric Reynolds, Andy Schmidt and Peter Bagge) whose response to grunge-era heaviness was a disingenuously twee brand of bubblegum with ironically chipper vocals, the high point of which was the single "Four-Track Mind" (Fluffer 7" 1996). Although the Action Suits put out three singles almost simultaneously in 1996, the band was never more than a part-time giggle. 2. Attention -- Statesong (from What Have We Done?, MB3 EP 1985) From the last half of 1983 to the first half of 1986, America's college campuses were awash with former new wavers who washed most of the styling gel out of their hair, traded their Flock of Seagulls-inspired togs for jeans and long-sleeved button-down shirts and used their student loan checks to buy 12-string Rickenbackers. Most only managed a few frat parties, a privately-pressed DIY EP or two, and if they were lucky, an opening slot at Goober McCool's when Guadalcanal Diary came through town, before they split up when the bass player decided to go ahead and get his law degree. On behalf of all of those bands, I give you "Statesong" by Attention, the song for which the critical terms "winsome," "Byrdsy" and "adenoidal singer whose bollocks apparently haven't yet dropped" were coined. 3. Blueboy -- Stephanie (from Some Gorgeous Accident, Sarah EP 1993) I could have mentioned dozens of songs in this slot, because Matt Haynes and Clare Wadd, Sarah Records' owners, have steadfastly refused to reissue most of their singles and EPs on CD, due to a murkily-reasoned label philosophy about how pop music is supposed to be an ephemeral, forward-moving process and nostalgia equals death and vinyl is cool but CDs are careerist or something like that. They're wankers, in other words, but at least they're idealistic wankers instead of greedy wankers (see: Allen Klein, Dave Clark, etc.). The final song on Blueboy's fourth 7" EP, "Stephanie" is nothing more than three minutes' worth of Keith Girdler's helium-toned, whispery vocal and Paul Stewart's gentle acoustic guitar, yet it's as melodically substantial and memorable as anything else here. See also the maddeningly tuneful, neo-psychedelic "July Is A Long Time Coming" by Red Chair Fadeaway (Candy Floss 7" 1995), a trio led by Tim Vass, who traveled in the same circles as many Sarah folk without ever managing to appear on the label. 4. Flake -- Deluca (from a split single with Henry's Dress, Omnibus 7" 1996) The Shins are currently one of the biggest indie bands in the world, which is kinda weird for me, because I still think of them as one of the biggest bands on the teensy, insular pop scene of my former adopted hometown of Albuquerque. This single, produced by Jon Little of the Ant Farmers (Burque's other big band of the mid-'90s), doesn't quite capture the My Bloody Valentine-like sweep of this powerful song, the highlight of Flake's live sets. Yet on its own merits, it's still a compelling early glimpse of James Mercer's idiosyncratic but appealing pop craft. Although "Deluca" is on Flake Music's sole CD, When You Land Here It's Time To Return, it's a much inferior remake; it's likely that Flake's several vinyl-only releases will someday be gathered, but it hasn't happened yet. Nor has there been a CD compiling the vinyl-only releases by Boston power pop dynamos Miles Dethmuffen, who managed a slightly higher profile 1997 CD under the name Permafrost before primary songwriter and co-lead vocalist Ad Frank went solo. "Mouth of Hell" (Presto 7" 1992) has the hard-candy crunch of a classic Cheap Trick single and the best hook line on this entire list: "How can this happen to me when I'm so pretty?" 5. Game Theory -- Water (from A Child's Christmas Saving the Whales, True Gamesters cassette 1989) By some distance the most unfairly obscure song on this list, "Water" has never even seen a proper release: it was only available on a 1989 fan-club-only Christmas cassette that's otherwise devoted to an extremely silly rock opera, with narration and dialogue. Written and sung by the Three O'Clock's Michael Quercio (who was briefly a member of this otherwise unrecorded lineup of Game Theory), "Water" is an elegant piano-driven ballad that's both a welcome respite after the giddy nonsense of the rock opera and worlds better than anything Quercio had written for his own band since 1985's Arrive Without Traveling. 6. Glo-Worm -- Wishing Well (Slumberland 7" 1994) A short-lived trio starring Archie Moore from Velocity Girl on guitar and Pam Berry (from seemingly every other cool Washington D.C. indie band of the '90s) on vocals, Glo-Worm managed a brief run of simple acoustic singles that were eventually gathered on the compilation Glimmer. This would normally disqualify "Wishing Well" from this list, but unfortunately, the version of "Wishing Well" on Glimmer is a re-recording that buries the airy simplicity of the barely 90-second original in an onslaught of overdubbed guitar parts, at least one of which is wincingly out of tune. Humbug. There were lots of these neo-Young Marble Giants duos and trios in the mid-'90s, all releasing equally precious miniatures of a sort that you either love or hate. One of the most prolific was the Softies, the post-Riot Grrrl duo of Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia. Sbragia's "As Skittish As Me" was the b-side of the dreamy "The Best Days" (K 7" 1996), a mildly neurotic bit of love song fluff that's the essence of the Softies in under two minutes flat. 7. Karen Lawrence and the Pinz -- Girls Night Out (from Girls Night Out, RCA LP 1981) Unlike every other song on this list, "Girls Night Out" was released by a major label, if one can use that term to describe the post-Presley RCA, a near-moribund label that never did manage to find its way in the rock music marketplace. "Girls Night Out" is a gloriously Spector-like bit of retro girlypop in the manner of the Go-Go's or Josie Cotton, but the New York-based Lawrence was more of a Shangri-Las-style bad girl than her sunnier California compatriots. However, the queen of them all was San Francisco's Bonnie Hayes, whose debut album Good Clean Fun (Slash LP 1982) is a masterpiece, for my money the best album still never released on CD. Although the singles "Girls Like Me" and "Shelly's Boyfriend" made their digital bow on the two volumes of the belated soundtrack to the 1983 cult flick Valley Girl, the rest of the album is just as good, and I have faith that one day I'll have a clean copy of the album's impassioned, desperate final track "The Last Word." 8. Life -- Tell Me (Factory 7" 1984) For years, this was the most mysterious record I owned, a single I'd bought at Ralph's Records in Lubbock, Texas the summer before my senior year in high school, simply because it was on Factory Records, at the time a label I bought on faith. There are no names or dates at all on this single, and it's only been in the last few years, since the development of the impressively thorough Factory discographies available online, that I've learned anything at all about the participants, and even then, it's not much: it was released in July 1984, it was produced by Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert of New Order (the credit reads "A Bemusic Production," which was the semi-anonymous credit that New Order members took when working on outside projects), and...well, actually, that's it. There is literally no other information available on this single or its 1985 followup "Better." I've come to suspect that Gilbert is the artless but appealing female singer, although this brand of swirling, nearly psychedelic indie pop has little in common with New Order's dancefloor experiments. An almost equally obscure single more in line with New Order (or, even more so, their Factory labelmates Section 25) is Hard Corps' "Je Suis Passi" (Polydor 12" 1985), an English synth trio supporting a dramatic French femme singer with a breathy, soigni delivery that sits uncomfortably atop the brittle post-punk churn of the electronic backing; yet somehow it works. This is, for my money, the last really great UK synth pop single. 9. The Nelsons -- I Don't Mind (from Bag Your Face, Southpaw EP 1983) The Nelsons were Lubbock's answer to the dB's, a nervy new wave quartet whose jumpy power pop songs made them THE local band during my high school days. They flirted with national exposure, with "I Don't Mind" winning one round on MTV's Basement Tapes contest (remember that? It was like a battle of the bands where a lot of local bands sent in really crappy homemade videos in and we all sat around and laughed at how awful they were) and managing a few low-rent national tours. But then Ricky Nelson died and the Nelsons changed their name out of respect when they found out that his twin sons Gunnar and Matthew were using it in L.A. Only problem was, they changed their name to Unexplained Cattle Mutilations. Yeah, pretty much nobody ever heard from them again. John Sprott, the guitarist and songwriter, has a steady gig in a local blues band, and I think singer Donnie Allison still pops up occasionally, but this two-minute blast of tuneful nervous angst remains one of the greatest lost power pop singles of all time. 10. The 6ths -- Rot in the Sun (Merge 7" 1993) In the '90s, Stephin Merritt was so productive that he had four different bands going (the Magnetic Fields, the 6ths, the Future Bible Heroes and the Gothic Archies) and he was still churning out songs faster than they could get onto CDs. A blasi but devastating kiss-off to an ex who's run off to Hollywood to sell out ("You can sign to a major Top 40 label/Blow David Geffen, blow Seymour Stein/You can make an atrocious Top 40 record/No one will know in two weeks' time") set to a lo-fi collection of synths and rhythm boxes that sound like they're decaying as they play, "Rot in the Sun" is primal Merritt from the period well before his gradual conversion into his generation's Irving Berlin. The only artist more consistently productive than Merritt in the latter half of the '90s was Stereolab, who must be in the studio 23 out of every 24 hours to amass the depth of catalogue they have. In this situation, a wonder like "Fried Monkey Eggs" (from The Underground Is Coming, Duophonic EP 1999), which boils down the group's unique blend of bossa nova and krautrock to 127 seconds of relentless forward motion, can end up relegated to the b-side of a limited-edition tour single. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:47:01 -0800 From: Tim Walters Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out Stewart Mason wrote: > TOP TEN GREAT POP SONGS NOT AVAILABLE ON CD No love for BLUE TOMORROW? - -- Tim Walters | The Doubtful Palace | http://doubtfulpalace.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 00:48:09 -0600 From: Steve Schiavo Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Power Pop book finally out On Dec 1, 2007, at 4:24 PM, zoom@muppetlabs.com wrote: > I only know one Spongetones song, the one about > "My Girl Maryann," as witty, and slightly more tuneful, than > anything Neil Innes wrote for Monty Python. Here's a clip that covers 25 years of the Spongetones. - - Steve __________ I can't resist an anime that includes a small, cute, violence prone girl with a scythe. - John ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V7 #272 *******************************