Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 125

Fat Mattress: S/T (1969)

Taking another walk through the Obscure Psychedelia shelf in my library... short-lived UK act Fat Mattress were probably best known at the time for the presence of Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding, who played guitar and shared vocal duties here while not busy with Jimi. (Indeed, on a Hendrix US tour, Fat Mattress were the opening act, with Redding serving double-duty in both slots... impressive!)

The album is a blend of pre-prog sounds, psychedelia with strains of folk and R&B, probab...

Robert Pollard: Greatest Solos & Sides (A Mix)

Guided by Voices fans, stick around--this was a serious labor of love, and I think you're gonna thank me for it. (Everyone else, take a quick walk around the block, grab a Twinkie, go spin the new Wilco, we'll catch up later.)

Like (I assume) most GbV fans, I previously put together a compilation that captures the highlights from the band's lengthy run, countless albums and EPs, finding the choice nuggets buried amongst the sometimes seemingly haphazard meanderings. (My current version is a 3CD s...

Dramarama: Vinyl (1991)

I'm posting this in response to a suggestion from a reader of the blog. I'll have to admit it's not an album I've heard in just about forever, but I'm glad I dusted it off.

I remember L.A.-by-way-of-New-Jersey band Dramarama mainly for their 1985 debut, Cinéma Vérité, which arrived while I was still at the college radio station and got a fair amount of airplay (most notably the break-out single "Anything, Anything"). It had that blend of jangle pop and harder-edged garage rock, with just a hint ...

The Hold Steady Top 10

I've got my latest Top 10 up on Toppermost... This time around, picking my 10 favorite Hold Steady songs. Check it out. (Some of my other recent Top 10s include Game Theory, The Reivers, and The Shazam.

Meanwhile, if ten isn't sufficient, here's my longer Hold Steady For Beginners playlist on Spotify:

Spiritualized: Everything Was Beautiful (2022)

The original run of Spiritualized records felt like a logical progression of frontman Jason Pierce's (a.k.a. J. Spaceman) work with Spacemen 3--headphone-friendly modern-day psychedelia blended with electronica grooves, increasingly lush and dense. This culminated with 1997's Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space , a monumental sonic achievement that stands as one of the decade's greatest albums (and remains on my shortlist of go-to records when I'm looking for a late night zoning out on t...

A Flock Of Seagulls: S/T [1982]

1982 was a pretty big year in my musical development. Mainly because I turned 16 and got my driver's license. Which meant on weekends I could borrow my mom's car and drive into Evanston, near Northwestern University, and hit all the used record stores that lined Dempster Street. With little cash on hand, most of my music exploration up 'til this point had been limited to the local public library's record collection; I could only afford occasional record purchases at the chain stores at the mall ...

The Beau Brummels: Bradley's Barn (1968)

The Beau Brummels were a San Francisco-based '60s act that never got the same love as some of their peer bands. Like others in the Bay Area, they blended British Invasion pop with R&B, folk, and country. (An early covers album had them covering the Beatles, Stones, Mamas & Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, and Byrds, which gives some insight into their sound.)

But the AM radio-ready Beatlesque pop sound found on their (thoroughly enjoyable) first few records gradually gave way to a more rootsy American a...

Imperial Drag: S/T [1996]

Interesting little mid-90s gem here. Imperial Drag were a short-lived band fronted by Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., after the break-up of edgy power pop alt.rock act Jellyfish and before he embarked on a series of wild and weird baroque pop solo albums. It's an interesting blend of skewed power pop and a harder-rocking, '70s glam-tinged sound, shades of T.Rex and Sweet and later post-Cheap Trick power-poppers like The Shazam.

Opener "Zodiac Sign" kicks it off with a frenzied riff, a pop hook buried ...

The Clash: Combat Rock (1982)

I've always had mixed emotions about the Clash's final studio album (ok, that's not counting the post-Mick Jones Cut The Crap , which most of us exclude from the proper discography). After releasing the single greatest rock & roll album of all time in 1979's London Calling , followed by the sprawling, at times confusing, but still legendary Sandinista! , Combat Rock--their first mere single-LP since 1978's Give 'em Enough Rope --couldn't help but be a bit of a letdown. Plus, when Mick Jones departed...

The Best Of 2022: The Running List

Back from vacation... and finally getting around to setting up my running playlist of some of my favorite songs released this year (so far). As usual, leans more heavily on the more upbeat, poppy side of the equation; plenty of quieter tunes I like to spin that aren't necessarily the sort of things you toss onto a mix.