Here’s the latest batch of reviews, fellow Pop Pioneers!  It’s a lot of work going through all this great pop and finding the best, but your faithful servant is going do his best!  This is a very long list this time around, so get ready to bite down hard.

THE MODULATORS:  Tomorrow’s Coming (Kool Kat)

In the early eighties the Modulators turned out one killer song after another with crunchy guitar leads and sweet hooks.  Every song is memorable.  “Tomorrow’s Coming” brings the jangle and the harmonies with a brush of Hollies and the Squeeze.  “Jimmy Says” sounds like a time capsule from the late sixties–the Knickerbockers or Barry and the Remains.  Fab hook.  “Spin Me Around” takes dead aim at the Raspberries and hits the bullseye.  Crank it!  This is the type of song that would not have been out of place on the American Graffiti or Dazed and Confused soundtracks.

“My Back Pages,” the only cover, fits in seamlessly.  I could go on and on but I’m staring at a stack of CDs a million miles high.  Tomorrow’s Coming is the reissue of the year.

Four and a half stars.

Kool Kat – HERE

MATT TYSON: Malibu Jukebox (Mai Tai Sun)

Matt Tyson’s love letter to the Beach Boys is canny in its ability to create a mood and uncanny in the subtle ways it transcends its source inspiration.  Tyson is another one-man band doing it all himself, including one dazzling vocal arrangement after another.  It is difficult to believe the same man is producing all these vocal styles as in “Talk of the Town,” where he sounds like two different people.  Maybe he’s a multiple personality.  “The Ooh Wah Song” sounds like every surfing song you’ve ever heard rolled into one, Tyson’s vocals soaring over an agreeably cheesy Farfisa.  “Still Standing” puts a modern gloss on classic Beach Boys chords.  “I’ll Be True to You,” with its chiming vibes, has the swooning delicacy of “The Girls on the Beach.”

On “Belief,” Tyson alternates gleaming keyboards with an ascending guitar figure that twine around each other with the grace of Astaire/Rogers.  “Details” is a kaleidoscopic journey through a psychedelic forest with deep roots in both “Heroes & Villains” and “Surf’s Up.”  “Cars, Surfboards & Girls” sounds exactly as you would expect it to sound with a hint of melancholy in the bridge.  Unfortunately it’s all too easy to point to Tyson’s antecedents.

As homage this is very good.  As rock and roll not so much.  The only reason it gets three and a half stars is because Tyson doesn’t venture far from the beach, and we’ve heard what Explorers Club and Sunrise Highway can do.

Three and a half stars.

www.soundclick.com/matttyson

BLANK PAGES: Absolute Uncertainty (Kool Kat Musik)

The three members of Blank Pages who appear on the cover look like hedge fund managers.  Surprisingly, guitarist Jon Mollenhauer, who lends so much to Blank Pages’ sound, is not pictured.  Greg Potter wrote all the songs and sings lead in a highly distinctive tenor.  Likewise his songwriting shows a stylistic consistency and invention reminiscent of Marshall Crenshaw’s debut.  Drummer Ed McCaffrey and bassist Jason Brown provide an unusually robust bottom and sing harmony.

“Let It All Out” sets the pace with bouncy guitar and a good hook.  “Help Me” carves an indelible sweet line.  Mollenhauer showers grace all over this song, and every song.  “Lucky Guy” has that Laurel Canyon country vibe.  “Can You Feel: finds Mollenhauer at his most Byrdsian.  “This Way” is both plaintive and upbeat, key to Potter’s secret.  “Something More Than This” is classic power pop in the style of Artful Dodger, the Buckinghams or Fools Face.  Mollenhauer lays paisleys all over this bell-bottomed song.

These guys touch a lot of bases but emerge as formidable originals.

Four and a half stars.

Kool Kat- HERE

SHPLANG: “My Big Three Wheeler” (Jam Recordings)

This adventuresome trio  has one foot in country and one foot in pop.  The pop foot is stronger due mainly to lead singer Peter Marston’s singing.  When he’s singing the country stuff he sounds like he’s putting on his cowboy hat and affecting a style rather than singing from the heart.  Which is not to denigrate the several forays into Branson here, they are expertly played.  “Spanish Galleons” is an evocative rocker with a hint of country in the twangy guitar and harmonies in the knock-out bridge.  “Pound Cake” opens like a Doors jam with John Krause’s heavy bass and Paul Angers’ highly musical drums.  “Right on Time” swerves abruptly from the pop intro to the Grand OIe Opry.

“Let’s Get High (And I Could Be Your Man)” (yeah right) has a nice Beach Boys style instrumental interlude.  “Glitter” is an instrumental but it held my interest.  There’s a touch of Lou Reed in “That Word is Love,” at least until we hit the bridge where Rudy Vallee supplants Reed.  “No One Knows” is polished Brit Pop in the manner of Captain Wilberforce.  “Keep It Down” is a hushed but urgent love song which most purely reflects the trio’s style.

Three and a half stars.

VEGAS WITH RANDOLPH:  Above the Blue (Caged Giant)

Years ago Rolling Stone ran an April Fool’s story about a band named Guitar which consisted of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Jimi Hendrix.  If that band existed it might sound like Vegas with Randolph, a six piece out of D.C., with two lead guitars and one rhythm.  Brock Harris and Dave Purol share lead guitar duties twining together like the Rolling Stones.  With Vegas it’s all about the riffage.  There are inventive guitar licks all over this thing and they rock like Paul Collins.  Eric Kerns and John Ratts share songwriting duties and lead vocals.

“The Better Part” is an anthemic rocker with buzzing guitars and sound similar to Swirl 360.  Like every song here it has good bones–interesting change-ups and hooks.  “Above the Blue”  starts out soft and cooey before exploding into a Superdrag-style wall of guitars led by Purol.  Kerns nails that roller rink sound on organ.  By the time that crazy guitar riff heads into the outro it’s almost too much of a good thing.  Almost.  “Some Time to Love” channels Hoodoo Gurus, Squeeze and 10 cc through a mountain range of wailing guitars.  Maxi Dunn joins Eric on vocals for the lilting “A Lesser Fool” suggesting the band could share a bill with Little Big Town.  Terrific chiming bridge.  Drummer Danny Aylestock sounds a little like Danny Seraphine.  The heavy liquid guitar sound recalls Curtains 4 You.  “She Does It For Me” features riff after riff of which the last is particularly bittersweet.

“Summertime” eschews the surf sound for a hard-rocking Saturday night roller rink organ and more exciting guitar riffs than you can shake a pick at.  “Lagavulin” could be Celtic rock.  Fortunately it’s short.  “The Tree Song” is a softly baroque love-letter to trees.  The last eight tracks are a mini-suite.  I’m a sucker for these things and this one doesn’t disappoint, winding through horn-tinged R&B, honky tonk, prog and folk.  The sweetly rocking “I Wonder Why” has the bones of a much larger song and at 1:49 is way too short.  The Journey-like “Even Though” retains the band’s massive riffage.  “Light of Day” channels ELO with soaring harmonies and would have been a good place to stop.

www.vegaswithrandolph.com

Kool Kat – HERE

Four and a half stars.

DREAMING IN STEREO: 2 (Forward Motion)

Fernando Perdomo has awesome chops, a fine ear for psychedelic swirl and superior engineering ability but the songs themselves rarely involve more than two chords and rely more on ambience than melodic invention.  “Fill My Sky” opens Dreaming In Stereo’s second record with languid psychedelia which burst into guitar constellations at Perdomo’s fingers.  “The Traveler” features an acoustic intro and an intriguing theme, but there’s no bridge or chorus.  “Enough’s Enough” surrounds you with pastel guitar, Perdomo giving the wammy bar a real work-out.  “Lullaby” is an acoustic love song in which you can hear Perdomo’s fingers working the strings.  “Gonna Sleep”–are we sensing a trend here?–another ethereal daydream with a rococo coda.  Marisol Garcia sings “Saturday Song,” the strongest comp on the album.

Dreaming In Stereo is like a 500 hp sports car with swoopy styling that never exceeds 50 mph.  The songs lack tension and dynamics–need more chords!

Three stars.

JOE EGLASH:  So Wired

Joe’s a one-man band in the tradition of Josh Fix and Roger Klug who does most of his recording on keyboards.  So Wired is full of melodic invention and arresting details, such as the cow bells on “October.”  Eglash’s music suggests a million influences attesting to his wide-ranging palate.  “When My Life Is Done” begins as Celtic rocker with mandolin, melodica and a Paddy beat until the lush bridge changes the tone and back again.  Eglash sings in a distinctive tenor frequently overtracking himself for a heavenly chorus.  “Sweet Candy Needles, a mini-suite about Chicago junkies has an unusual melodic structure culminating in a Burt Bacharach bridge with lyrics that sound like a more cogent Alan Ginsberg.  The urgent organ riff opening “Let It Go” will remind some of ABC, but the keyboard/bass roundelay sounds like XTC.

“I’m So Wired” is a late night party anthem and displays Eglash’s melodic touch with the drums.  “Go Home to Grow” finds Eglash drawing inspiration from the same sources as Captain Wilberforce with a big show biz strut and guitar thick enough to suspend a bridge leading to an inspirational chorus, neon guitar and a big Beatles finish.  “Isolated Man” alternates buzzy rock with whimsical rustic.  “Slide On By” is Southern-fried rock with a warm rainbow bridge.  “You’re Not the One” is a poignant and richly satisfying power ballad.  “I Want Me” is a gettin’ over heartbreak song bristling with melodic invention including cascading a capella vocals and a sweet guitar coda.

Impressive sophomore effort.

Four and a half stars.www.JoeEglash.com

CHRIS ALVY BAND: Anything Goes  (Forward Motion)

This South Florida trio’s debut EP explodes in your face like a letter bomb, opening with the Billy Joel meets Material Issue “Inside Job.”  “Anything Goes” displays Supraluxe inventiveness with a surf undertow in the vocals.  “Something New” is more hard-rockin’, like the Fab Thunderbirds with a touch of Hindu Rodeo in the vocals.  “The Fall” melds a driving Kinks-like rhythm with a beautiful hi/lo vocal by Alvy and drummer Todd Toulbee achieving a Queen-like grandeur.  “Your Smile Shines Like a Light” touches Jellyfish in its intricate vocal arrangements.  “This Is Your Life” is an Extreme-like hard rocker.

They are recording six more songs to make a long player.

Five stars.

ROLLO TIME: Victims of the Crown

Churning fleet-footed rock with frequent grace notes, Rollo Time sound a little like My Morning Jacket.  “You Can Talk” sweeps you along on a propulsive bass–a throbbing dark song with a golden filigree of a bridge.  “Eyman P:rison” might have been a Grateful Dead song with Jon Raleigh doing Jerry Garcia proud on guitar.  “Where’s Mine” swaggers along on a menacing hip-hop riff before bursting into a gentle rain of a bridge.  “‘Til It All Comes Down” has the suburban urgency of the Gin Blossoms.

“I Can’t Believe This Day” approaches Crowded House in its rockin’ majesty and the horns are a total surprise.  “Talking to Myself (On My Cellphone)” has a bottom Metallica could love but the song itself is an elegant, piano-centered protest against modern alienation, something the Doors might have done.

Three and a half stars.

www.rollotime.com

Kool Kat – HERE

ALTO VERDE:  Paper Clips

Blithely efficient little thrash machine contains elements as disparate as Cactus, BTO and Material Issue.  Alto Verde is Andy (Myracle Brah) Bopp’s new project and while he claims to have left power pop behind, power poppers will love this for its simple but catchy hooks.  “Ammonia Coke” is very Myracle Brah.  The rest of the songs have the stylistic consistency of a CCR recording.  “Candy Floss” trips along on booming bass and nervous guitar ’til it slows down for the sweet bridge.  All these songs have punk energy but the rhythmic interplay is sophisticated.

Four stars.

FALLON CUSH:  Fallon Crush

Melodic Australian heartland rock with elements of Black Sorrows, Byrds and Pink Floyd.  “Tiny Town” could almost be an Eagles song but of course lead singer and song writer Steve Smith has his own voice which has a quiet tensile strength.  Guitarist Matt Galvin is frequently epic and somewhat similar in style to Mark Knopfler.  Smith’s vocal bridge on “Over Me” raises the song up a level.  The stomping “Where You Been” features Scott Alpin’s churchy B3 and Galvin’s epic guitar solo.

Riding on softly jangled guitars “Sleeping Giant” is their most Crowded House sounding song but hardly derivative.  “The Great Divide” combines Byrdsian jangle with Rascalish chorus to exquisite effect.  Galvin supplies a typically stadium-ready guitar solo.  “Disintegrate,” the last song, references Johnny Ray and Dexys Midnight Runners and falls solidly in the latter’s tradition missing only the horns and strings.

Four stars.

Kool Kat – HERE

THE SECRET POWERS:  What Every Rose-Grower Should Know

This Montana-based quintet has been phenomenally prolific, releasing three records in two years.  Their latest is their best, filled with a wide cross-section of power pop styles of the more-is-more school.  The songs reflect an almost febrile melodic invention.  “Generation Ship” is a metaphysical meditation on procreation with ELO pomp, more hooks than a tackle box and memorably sly lyrics.  “Tarantula” is a shakin’ ode to the hairy arachnid that could serve some enterprising high school well as a marching song.  “What Every Rose Grower Should Know” is epic orchestral power pop in the Jellyfish or Queen mode.  This should be the halftime entertainment at the Rose Bowl.

“Candy” is concrete art insofar as name and subject matter, a Frankie Avalon/Fabian crush song.  “The Desert” is a sagebrush saga with brilliant whistling lead patterned after Ennio Morricone’s great scores for the Fistful of Dollars series.  “Crocodile” is a love song with a subtle dB’s-like melody and languid guitar.  “I’ll Be Home” starts with that dumb as a barrel of nails polka beat, but it’s about a draftee’s letter to the son he may never see.  “Queen of Bizarre” is elegant psychedelia built around an ascending guitar figure and rat-a-tat drums.  Paul Revere and the Raiders might have come up with “In the Way.”

Every song hits.

Five stars.

GARY RITCHIE: Hum, Sing and Repeat! (Fancy/Two Tone)

Gary Ritchie, whose Pop! Radio with Jeff King was such a delight, has released another record of lyrical and inventive pop, also filled with King’s eloquent guitar.  In a devastating blow to critics Ritchie supplies the names of his inspirations to each song in the liner notes.  Liner notes aside, the spirits of Paul Collins, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello hover over much of this material.  Ritchie even has a touch of Collins’ duck’s ass vocal fillip with the vocals, particularly on the opener, “At the Party.”   “This Time Around” is classic garage rock with good bones.  “Because Because” sounds like a tongue-tied Merseybeats.  “When I Grow Up” sounds a little Nick Lowe.

Todd Rundgren might have produced “She’s My Girl,” and “Never Again” floats along on a cunning melody with great drum breaks (Ritchie) and an eloquent winding guitar solo that leads into a sweet casio outro, something the Buckinghams might have sung.  “Look On Love” is the most Byrd-like of several Byrd-like forays.  “Fancy Two-Tone Car” has one foot in Nashville and taps sweetwater country rock a la Sweethezrt of the Rodeo.  Every song brims with invention and conviction.

Four stars.

Kool Kat – HERE

BLIND STRIKE: Curse the Worst 

Fort Collins, Colorado-based prog/metal/punk band Blind Strike has released Curse the Worst with eight songs.  Strike occupies a rather narrow spectrum of agit/prop dance, seldom venturing beyond two chords and lead singer Cody Jeffryes sounds like he’s channeling Jack Kirby’s Demon, but he can sing when he wants as evidenced on the acoustic “9 Weeks Acoustic.”  More importantly guitarist/bassist Dan Sanborn and drummer Mason Mondy make for thrilling alchemy.  Sanborn’s guitar work is pointed and sweet in contrast to the bulldozer chords.  Both “Got To Have It” and “Hard On” feature elegant contrapuntal lines.

“Reep the Benifit (sic)” sounds like a sewer crawling centipede–and I mean that in a good way.

Blind Strike is now a quartet which should deepen their already rich sound.

Three and a half stars. .

NAUTICAL MILE: Invisible Ink

This Boulder, Colorado-based five piece sounds like a cross between Kate Bush and Debbie Harry fronting True Love.  Singer Janaya Spink has chops and a banshee wail that will make the hair stand on the back of your neck.  There are only four songs but they’re all good.  “Invisible Ink” sounds like something the Doors would do.  “Two Roads” alternates between acoustic and electric like concrete poetry.

The cover art showing blood red orchids climbing a wall is eye-catching, highly appropriate to the material and shows what can be done with smart art direction.

www.nauticalmileband.com

Four stars.