Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 158

The Beat Farmers: Tales of the New West (1985)

The Beat Farmers were one of the original "cowpunk" bands of the mid-80s college radio era, infusing their jangly, Byrdsy guitar rock with a healthy dose of old-school twangy Americana, putting them in line with peers like the Long Ryders and Jason & The Scorchers. They released a half dozen or so solid albums between '85 and '95 (disbanding when their drummer passed away), but I've always had a soft spot for the debut, which blends straightforward country-rock with some sillier faux-country num...

Blue: S/T (1973)

I've discovered a lot of great, largely overlooked (if not completely forgotten) obscurities from the late 60s and early 70s through various online music sources; one of my favorite discoveries is Scottish band Blue, who had a handful of records back between '73 and '79. They were fronted by guitarist Hughie Nicholson, previously of Marmalade -- another obscurepop band I've been introduced to in recent years. (Given their voluminous output, I'm guessing Marmalade enjoyed a little more popularity...

Ultimate Painting: Green Lanes (2015)

Ultimate Painting were a British duo (with various supporting musicians) who released 3 modest, low-key albums over the past decade (with a 4th recorded but not officially released) before an apparently acrimonious break-up. It's a laid-back blend of contemporary pastoral freak folk (somewhere between Real Estate and Kingsbury Manx), latter-day psychedelic Americana a la Beachwood Sparks, and Lou Reed-styled jagged guitar strokes. It's unpretentious bedroom music, a little stark but still engagi...

Seventies Pop Thing: A Mix

I was sad to read yesterday of the passing of Emitt Rhodes, an early pop pioneer who had a few 60s singles with his original band the Merry-Go-Round, followed by several largely overlooked albums in the early 70s that found him comfortably mining post-Beatles Paul McCartney territory. (He then disappeared into obscurity for decades, emerging in 2016 with a surprisingly decent album of low-key adult-oriented pop music.)

Anyway, figured I'd put together a brief mix of early 70s like-minded pop musi...

The Pleasers: Thamesbeat (1977-78/1996)

Tied up today, so just a quick hit, a little choice nugget from the power pop bin. The Pleasers were a British group who recorded a series of singles early in the skinny tie era, much more on the power pop than the new wave side of the equation. These were collected a couple decades later on Thamesbeat, the title of which leaves little question about what's inside -- nostalgic British Invasion guitar pop, straight out of the pre-Rubber Soul Beatles/Dave Clark Five/ Gerry and the Pacemakers playb...

Explorers Club: Freedom Wind (2008)

I've probably got a whole sub-section of my music library dedicated to "bands who really, really like Brian Wilson" -- the Wondermints, Linus of Hollywood, the High Llamas, etc. One of the most unabashedly Wilsonesque would be the Explorers Club, basically South Carolina songwriter Jason Brewer and various shifting bandmates. Their 2008 debut gives up the game right out of the gate, from the faux-Beach Boys cover design (faded LP outline and all) to the marvelous opening track "Forever" (not a c...

Madness: Keep Moving (1983)

Back in high school in the early 80s, I was musically multi-tasking: trying to get caught up with all the classic rock and prog that had predated my late 70s musical coming-of-age; while simultaneously getting my arms around all the emerging punk and new wave bands that were (slowly) penetrating my suburban bubble. Madness, who had finally gotten some Stateside attention with their late '82 single "Our House," were one of those bands I figured I should check out. But while I liked a few songs (l...

The New Pornographers: Challengers (2007)

Returning for a second go-round with one of my favorite bands of the past 20 years.

Challengers, the New Pornographers' 4th album, seems to divide some fans, but it's the one I listen to the most. Sure, it may not have a song quite as stunning as "The Laws Have Changed" or "The Bleeding Heart Show" from the two preceding albums -- though I think Challengers stand-out "The Old Showstoppers" comes pretty damn close -- but it's also a more consistently enjoyable record. Chief songwriter Carl Newman ...

Rare Earth: Ma (1973)

Smack dab in the middle of the BLM societal upheaval is probably exactly the wrong time to dredge up Rare Earth... but, what can I say, it came up on my shuffle play and I'm like, damn, haven't listened to Rare Earth in a long time.  So here we are.

One of the few all-white acts on Motown, Rare Earth offered up a series of surprisingly decent R&B and funk albums in the late 60s and early 70s; they were pretty reliant on covers (mostly fellow Motown acts, but also Traffic, the Beatles, and others)...

Second Bananas: A Mix

Here's another old mix I've updated for Spotify; kind of a fun one, I think.

Most bands are known for a primary songwriter or singer (sometimes two, in the case of, say, the Beatles or the Clash). But then you've got that random album track where someone else in the band steps up. This mix is all about those tracks.

Sometimes it was a semi-regular gig -- George Harrison, John Entwistle, and Dave Davies typically took one or two slots on each Beatles/Who/Kinks album to take the lead. (Likewise in t...