Wine and History with Al Stewart

Most of you probably know Al Stewart as a one hit wonder. Unless you're a fan, you probably haven't heard much beyond his hit Year of the Cat. As you might expect, Al continued to have a productive and fascinating musical career well past the 1970s. He is intelligent folk-rock singer with most of his songs drawn from his deep interest in history and world events (and now, wine).

Several years ago, he released an album only to fan club members that included songs that he recorded as demos but never released on any commercial album as well as several unreleased live gems. The album was called Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time and contained a number of astonishingly melodic and sophisticated songs. One of those songs is featured here - Soho (Needless To Say) a great recording of the song that originally appeared on Past, Present, and Future. In 2001 (or so), he released an album that highlights his love of wine. Down In The Cellar is a fantastic collection of Al Stewart melodies with clever and intelligent lyrics. The song featured here from that album is Turning It Into Water. Apparently some legal problems prevented the album from being released in the US until now. The album is scheduled to be released in the USA on August 28.

I urge you to revisit the Al Stewart catalog. If you have only heard Year of the Cat, you're in for many pleasant surprises as you listen to all his albums. You can find a nice greatest hits collection here. Past, Present and Future is here and Down In The Cellar is available for pre-order here. An import version is available here. Find other Al Stewart gems here.

1. Al Stewart - Soho (Needless To Say) (3.68 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Al Stewart - Turning It Into Water (4.23 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Don't Mock This Music

Let's end the week with another of the power pop CDs in my collection. Here are The Mockers who sound like a cross between Squeeze and Elvis Costello with The Turtles thrown into the mix. Like yesterday's group, this is foot-tapping music that is instantly likable. No deep understanding of musical styles is necessary to appreciate this fun guitar-based music. This is sixties music with a 21st century sound.

From yesterday's west-coast group, we travel across the country to the east coast where The Mockers are (were?) based. The selections featured here are from their 2001 album, Living In The Holland Tunnel. Their other albums are available from their web site or from Amazon here.

Next week is Elvis week on this blog. Can you believe it's been 30 years since he died?

1. The Mockers - Coronation (3.53 MB; 128kbps MP3)

2. The Mockers - Comes As No Surprise (3.55 MB; 128kbps)

Wonderminty Power Pop

I'm going to end this week by featuring some pure guitar power pop groups. A friend of mine (probably one of the few regular readers of this blog), sent me a whole series of CDs from different power pop groups that I had never heard of a couple of years ago. They all have exactly the clean, melodic pop with excellent harmonies that I seem to enjoy so much.

Today's featured group is an L.A. group called The Wondermints consisting of Darian Sahanaja, Nick Walusko, and Mike D'Amico. The sound is reminiscent of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and ELO. If you like that sound, you won't be disappointed. This is another of those albums that is consistently strong from beginning to end, making the choice of songs to feature here difficult. Their MySpace page is here. Some info can also be found on Wikipedia.

The songs featured here are from their fourth album (2002) called Mind If We Make Love To You. Absolutely classic power pop. The rest of their oustanding catalog can be found on Amazon here.

1. The Wondermints - Time Has You (2.83 MB; 128kbps MP3)

2. The Wondermints - Project 11 (3.38 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Enjoy Your Time On Earth

So, the new Crowded House album is out after a break of over ten years. As would be expected, the album has been subject to much speculation and discussion.

Is it really a Crowded House album or a Neil Finn solo album superficially packaged to make it a "band" album? Can Crowded House really be Crowded House without Paul Hester? The album started as a Neil Finn solo package and ended up as a Crowded House album after Neil decided to get the band back together. I think discussions of the "band" versus "solo" sound are bound to be pointless. I am not sure there is a distinct "band" sound that can be distinguished from a Neil Finn "solo" album sound.

Neil is a master of catchy melodies and pop hooks. There are several standouts on this album even though I just received it today and have listened to it a few times. The most accessible and catchy tune has to be the one I have featured below. You'll be amazed at how Neil takes a rather dark and somber lyric (of lost love) and turns it into almost a "happy" song.

This is a depressing lyric set to an upbeat rhythm and melody. The song is called She Called Up and is classic Crowded House (or should I say, Neil Finn).

The album is available at a VERY reasonable price on Amazon ($9.99 only). So, please buy it here. You won't be disappointed. You can also buy the Crowded House back catalog here.

1. Crowded House - She Called Up (2.65 MB; 128 kbps MP3)

Give! And Anything Is Possible

Oh no! I missed my first post. And it's only been a few weeks since I started this blog! I was out of town yesterday and never got around to doing my blog post for Monday.

Today, I returned to town and had a meeting with my friend Marty Weintraub who now runs a search engine marketing (SEM) firm AimClear.com. As usual, I remembered my initial introduction to Marty was through his work in the music industry. A long time ago, I served on the local United Way advisory Board and Marty was instrumental in creating a fund raising effort that involved producing an original CD by a Minnesota artist Pamela McNeill. Being on the Committee at that time, I was marginally involved in the process.

The end result was a CD of original songs written by Pamela McNeill and other local artists, with a lot of the music composed by Marty Weintraub. When I heard the CD for the first time, I was floored. Here was one of those rare CDs where I felt every song was a classic. This truly was one of those complete CDs with no filler material. A perfect example of the incredible talent that isd often hidden in the heartland of this country. I bought several autographed copies of this CD to give to friends convinced it was going to be a huge hit. In a way, it was. One of the songs on this CD (The Gift) was picked up and used for the national United Way campaign. The song, The Gift was written in a short time by a local songwriter, Dick Wilson around our local United Way of Greater Duluth theme of "Give, and Anything Is Possible." Beautiful words, with music composed by Marty. If this song doesn't make you want to go out and donate to the great local causes of the United Way, nothing will!

To make up for my missed post on Monday and to highlight the fact that this CD is spectacularly strong, I am including FOUR songs from the CD here. Pamela McNeill has an exquisite and unusual raw voice that will tug at your heartstrings. She donated 100% of the profits from this CD to charity. Unfortunately, you can only get used copies of this CD from Amazon for as little as a penny here. I promise you that this is an album you won't regret buying. Great pop produced in tiny Duluth with catchy melodies and great lyrics. There isn't a weak song on this album. However, she has another album out, American Breakup. Although you can buy these albums on Amazon, I beg you to support such talented artists by buying these CDs from her own site http://www.pamelamcneill.com/. Please consider getting Pamela's CDs. Start with 2 Sides to Every Sky which is featured here and then move on to American Breakup. This is really good stuff that you wouldn't have heard of if it wasn't for this blog! :-)

Here's a deal. To encourage you to support the artists highlighted here, I am willing to mail one of my autographed copies of 2 Sides To Every Sky to the first person who posts a comment on this blog in response to this post AND buys a copy of another Pamela McNeill CD online through her site. First post a message on this blog and then email me (rvblogs@gmail.com) with a copy of your purchase receipt and I'll mail you (at my expense) an autographed copy of her debut CD.

1. Pamela McNeill - You Will Love Again (4.22 MB; 128 kbps)
2. Pamela McNeill - Let The River Come To You (3.99 MB; 128 kbps)
3. Pamela McNeill - 2 Sides To Every Sky (4.78 MB; 128 kbps)
3. Pamela McNeill - The Gift (3.94 MB; 128 kbps)

Jangling Guitars for Years Around The Sun

When I started this blog a few weeks ago, my goal was simply to learn a little about blogging as a form of word-of-mouth communication as well as share my love of more "unusual" music (that is, stuff you don't hear every day when you turn on the radio). I never expected that this blog would (so quickly) help me discover new music and artists -- something I love to do (as I mentioned in my post about bar hopping).

I was surprised recently with an email from the marketing coordinator of an artist management company that represents a band called Years Around The Sun with an attached MP3 file from the band as well as an offer to send me their debut CD Introstay. The moment I heard it, I decided that this was my kind of music. Catchy melody and toe-tapping rhythm. While it's possible the lyrics may be profound (as I've mentioned before, I am not really a "lyrics man"), I couldn't tell. I listen to music for entertainment and not some intellectual stimulation. This was a song with lush and layered sounds surrounding a nice hook. As I said, my kind of music.

I would like to assure blog readers that I am NOT paid for the review. They sent me the song, I liked it and decided it is worth sharing with all of you. I don't know if any of you know me well enough to trust that I won't feature anything I am sent by any band or company that I don't genuinely like myself. But, given my eclectic taste in music, the featured music here will span many genres.

The first song is a single Heart Delay which, as I said, will get your toe tapping. This is the first song I heard from this group. The second song linked below is a selection from their debut CD called Sinclair. I had a hard time picking a song off their Introstay CD to feature here. I didn't like the opening track (Align), but found Dead Man's Sea to be very catchy. But then, when I put my headphones on, I seemed to prefer Dry Lake Bed. Probably the easiest to like on the first listen is Sinclair. Sounds like a single should sound. Soft Soul has a funky groove to it that would work great in the evening with a glass of wine in your hand. Both Northfork and Warm Jets are great songs. For some reason Warm Jets sounds a little Beatlesque to me. The sound on most of the songs is quite similar with jangly guitars and synths leading to a nice melody and a steady beat. Overall, the vocals are somehow reminiscent of a British group, but their site seems to suggest they're all Americans. Let me know if you get the same sense of a "British accent" when you hear these songs. In fact, all these songs remind me a lot of Evermore who I featured recently on this blog. Maybe it's my imagination.

You can find the band web site here (including tour info). And their CD cover looks suspiciously like the Jantar Mantar ancient astronomical lab I used to pass by frequently when I lived in New Delhi! Like many independent bands today, you can hook up with their MySpace page. Of course, I urge those of you who like these songs to buy their CD here. After having heard the songs, how wrong can you go for ten bucks?

1. Years Around The Sun - Heart Delay (Deleted on artist's request)
2. Years Around The Sun - Sinclair (Deleted on artist's request)

Free Steadman NOW!

Several years ago (honestly, it was at the turn of this century!), when the idea of bands releasing their own music on the Internet was a completely new phenomenon, I ran across a band completely by accident on MP3.Com. In those days, bands could create an account and upload their music and then create a "space" on their site to sell their stuff.

One of the many songs I downloaded in those days was by this group called Steadman and this song called Life of Leisure was absolutely one of the catchiest songs I had ever heard. I was just convinced that this band was on the verge of really hitting it big. The song sounded exactly like the hits that was getting a lot of airplay in those days (Blues Traveler, Semisonic, Everclear, etc.) and I couldn't imagine how it could be long before some savvy marketer picked up this single and got it a ton of airplay. I remember being excited and telling friends about this band I had "discovered" so I could tell them all "I told you so" once the band became a household name.

Well, as far as I know, it never happened. I still love this song and think it has a catchy melody and great clear vocals. For anyone out there wondering what kind of music turns me on, here's a model! When I was creating this post, I did some searching online to find out what happened to Steadman. Of course, at Amazon, not only can you find the album with this song, Loser Friendly but also their newest album, Revive (released in 2003). Apparently they're an English band who has gained some fame after being featured on Smallville. Wikipedia provides more details about their current whereabouts and also clarifies that their sound is influenced by Oasis and Radiohead (shows what I know in my musical comparisons!) Most interestingly, I discovered from Wikipedia that Steadman got disgruntled with the "big label" business and have released all their albums and off-cuts online as free digital downloads with a creative commons license (feel free to download and distribute). Now if that isn't a reason to love this band, I don't know what gets you going. Please visit their site here and download anything you want! As they say, they want you to.

1. Steadman - Life of Leisure (5.376 MB; 160 kbps MP3)

Fountains of Wayne are Never Wet

The music savvy among you probably are scoffing at the idea that people haven't heard of Fountains of Wayne. After all, they're gaining in popularity and may even have gotten some fair airplay recently. Again, my 11-year-old son (who I use as the barometer of what's "current") knew who Fountains of Wayne were and gave me the title of a few of their songs.

But, this CD was sent to me by a friend of mine some time agop and I found most of the songs instantly catchy and likeable. The one song that grabbed me and stayed around in my head all day was "Hat and Feet." I challenge you to listen to this song twice and not find yourself humming it all day.

Great midwest pop. You can find all their CDs on Amazon.com here. The CD from which I got these two selections is Utopia Parkway and you can find that CD here. Enjoy!

1. Fountains of Wayne - Hat and Feet (2.78 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Fountains of Wayne - Red Dragon Tattoo (3.23 MB; 128kbps MP3)