Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 147

Radio Birdman: Radios Appear (1977)

Australian punk progenitors Radio Birdman are as essential a part of early punk history as the Ramones, Pistols, Buzzcocks, Clash, Wire, etc., yet outside of music nerd circles they remain largely unknown (at least in the States). Which is a shame, as their 1977 debut is as compelling as the work of their better-known brethren. Though stylistically similar to many of the early punks, with stripped down 3-or-4-chord guitar blasts, raggedly cathartic vocals, and pure feral energy, the Radios also ...

Various Artists: Girls Go Power Pop! (2020)

Here's an awesome new compilation that just came out, combining two of my favorites -- power pop and women vocalists. About half of this is obvious, half is new to me, which seems fair. I wouldn't necessarily call all of this power pop, leaning a bit more heavily on 80s new wave-ish acts, but it's in the ballpark. You've got your Go-Go's and Bangles and Pretenders, the Darling Buds and Primitives, and 90s indie acts like the Muffs and Juliana Hatfield. A few picks are a bit odd: It opens with...

Kirsty MacColl: From Croydon to Cuba (1979-2000/2005)

Spent last night spinning some Kirsty MacColl, and it's always so bittersweet--such an incredible vocal talent, with plenty of wonderful originals and a knack for covers; but also haunted by sadness, with a peripatetic career jumping around among record labels and never really getting her due, and ultimately suffering a truly tragic death while on vacation with her children. 

I picked up this compilation when it first came out, which was a good thing, as it, like a lot of her work, is out...

Van Morrison: Moondance (1970)

Van Morrison is on my shortlist of highly respected artists I know I'm supposed to enjoy a whole lot more than I actually do. (I imagine that falling short of outright reverence draws the same backlash as daring to be ambivalent about Steely Dan.) Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that he's released some great music (at least before he became better known as a loon railing against Covid precautions -- check out this assessment of his recent slate of anti-lockdown songs.) And I do like to take...

The Minus 5: Down With Wilco (2003)

Scott McCaughey, the hardest working man in indie rock, seems to be shooting for Robert Pollard-like levels of productivity these days. We've just been treated to the latest outing of reliably fun party music from his original band, the long-running Young Fresh Fellows; and earlier this year he had a supergroup debut with the No Ones (featuring R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Norwegian power-poppers I Was A King), not to mention a solo album of unorthodox Neil Young covers (as Scott the Hoople); and...

Big Star: Third/Sister Lovers (1978)

As noted previously, Big Star's 1972 debut #1 Record is one of my favorite albums ever, to this day the definitive power pop record, sheer brilliance start to finish from Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. And while Bell departed the band soon thereafter, 1974's Radio City was nearly as perfect, Chilton offering another batch of sweetly wondrous pop tunes.

But by the end of the 1974, it was just Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens. Chilton, apparently in a fragile emotional state at the time, laid down a...

2020 Year In Review: First Stab

 

Sure, we've still got another month to go in the shitshow that was 2020, but it's never too soon to get a head start on my year-end mix. I've got a pretty hefty running list I've been keeping all year up on Spotify, but figured I'd burn myself a preliminary CD of favorites, a little something to play in the car until I get around to burning my final 2-CD mix in January (once I've had a chance to sift through some late releases and suggestions from various publications' year-end lists).

On the ab...

Mighty Baby: S/T (1969)

Time to head to the back of my CD racks for some more obscure 60s psychedelia. UK band Mighty Baby eschewed the whimsical aspects of post-Beatles/Floyd British psychedelia, instead opting for a more jam-heavy, earthy West Coast variety, shades of Jefferson Airplane and early Steve Miller Band, but also reminiscent of Traffic, with a few Crimson-esque prog touches.

The band arose from the remains of second-tier British Invasion act The Action, who had some decent mid-60s pop singles, culminating i...

R.E.M.: Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985)

As noted elsewhere in these pages (and described at length in my book), R.E.M. was one of the small handful of bands that truly changed my life. When I was belatedly introduced to them in 1984, upon my arrival at college, it was a revelatory experience, opening me up to all the music I'd been missing outside my MTV/radio-fueled suburban bubble. Those first two LPs, Murmur and Reckoning (as well as debut EP Chronic Town), rarely left my tape deck that entire year.

So when their third album dropped...

Renee & Jeremy: A Little Love (2012)

This is the first (and likely last) "children's record" I'm posting in these parts, but it's the sort of thing I wish was around when my kids were young (we were instead stuck with a lot of Barney and Wiggles music). If you've got kids, or you just need a sweet little gem to sand off some of the election-related cynicism and nastiness as we ease into the holiday season, consider this a public service.

Renee Stahl & Jeremy Toback have recorded a few albums, wistful interwoven vocals and wispy acou...