JANGLE ON! – October 2021

by Eric Sorensen

2021 continues to be a banner year for jangly pop music – and power pop music in general.  Tons of catchy “ear worm” tunes have been added to me digital library over the past month.  Standout pop/rock albums and tunes with jangly and chiming guitar riffs include:

            Strange Tide – ANC4.   Wow!  This is easily a candidate for top album of the year – featuring sixteen tracks of pop Nirvana.  When the band features chiming guitar riffs on tracks like “Struck Gold,” “There Goes My Baby,” DarlingHoneyBaby,” “Being Nice” and “Stand Alone” I hear faint echoes of the Someloves and the Cosmic Rough Riders.  This is one of those great albums that you play over and over again – and it will make you feel like you are driving down the California coast on a sunny summer afternoon.  Kudos to Ray Gianchetti for releasing this terrific CD on his Kool Kat Musik label.  Long may you run, ANC4!

            My Shining Star  – Jeremy.  The ever prolific Jeremy Morris has released yet another janglefest of an album on his JAM Records label.  Jeremy’s chiming Rickenbacker can be heard on many of the tracks (“Waiting For The Sun” is my personal favorite), and he turns Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit In The Sky” into a magnificent 24-minute rock opus.  This album is just further evidence of why Jeremy is already a member of my Power Pop All Star Band.  Long may you run, Sir Jeremy!

            Although David Heselden sets aside his 12-string electric guitar on his latest full-length CD – Acoustically Yours – I highly encourage pop music fans to seek out this album.  The fourteen tracks include several original tracks, four covers of Nick Drake songs (twenty years ago, a number of movie soundtracks included obscure Drake songs) and a host of other cover songs (e.g., “Marrakesh Express,” “Harvest Moon” and “Horse With No Name”).   I first became a fan of David Heselden’s chiming covers of 1960s pop/rock, and I have also embraced his less jangly ventures.  Acoustically Yours is a wonderful homage to the “soft rock” of previous decades.  Long may you run, Sir David!  You can find this album through David’s Facebook link at: https://www.facebook.com/David-Heselden-Acoustically-Yours-110679983981971/

            The new full-length CD (and bonus CD) from Starry Eyed And Laughing – Bells of Lightning – should be arriving very soon. Pop Geek Heaven readers should check out the latest release by 12-string maestro Tony Poole and his band mates.

            Notable singles from the past month include: the terrific 60s-influenced “Hard To Say” by the Pre-Amps; the two-fer “45” from Rich Arithmetic (on his Optional Art label) – “You Are Always Right” and “Up To You”- two great pseduo-60s tracks that harken back to Rich’s debut CD Sleep In A Wigwam; “Here Right Now” by Reno Bo; “Through The Day,” “Work It Out,” “He’s In Stock” and “Recall” by the Twerps; “Stuck On You” by On The Runway; “Falling Out” by Emmett Morris; “Ghosts of Youth” by the Pale Lights; “Maybe More” by Portland, Oregon’s Eyelids; “Wordless Wonder” by the Real Numbers; “Five Star Diary” by Sweet Nobody; “Runaway” by the See No Evils; “Jangle Joe” by the Quirks; “Dead End Dreaming” by Jerry Popiel; “Duh Dum” and “You Don’t Understand” by the Elevator Operators; and “Here’s No Use” by the Salad Boys.  I owe many of these discoveries to searches on the Bandcamp website, reviews on the Kool Kat Musik site and recommendations from the Powerpopaholic site.

            Until next time, jangle on!

ERIC