Read that headline and weep, folks. In just two more weeks, the summer of ‘09 will be finito. Yeah, I know technically summer has a few more weeks of life but, who are we kidding? Once the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon goes off the air, the season’s deader than Freddie (That’s what I said.)
We have no time for heavy sentiment. Leave that to back-to-school shopping, pool closings and those Summer credit card bills coming back to bite you on the Coppertoned ass. We have two weeks left of fun, fun, fun. Break out the beach towels and crank up the pop music.
Beagle – Well, It’s Only Pain from International Pop Overthrow, Vol. 4
Cheap Trick – Hard To Tell from Cheap Trick
Elvis Costello and The Attractions – High Fidelity from Get Happy!!
Joe Jackson – Friday from I’m the Man
Nerk Twins – Against The Grain from International Pop Overthrow
Oingo Boingo – My Life from Boi-ngo
Paul Steel – Cry Away from Moon Rock
Squeeze – Is That Love from Singles 45’s and Under
Starclock – Yo Pussycat from International Pop Overthrow, Vol. 5
The Duckworth Lewis Method – Gentlemen And Players from Duckworth Lewis Method
The Knack – Lucinda from Get the Knack
The New Pornographers – Star Bodies from Twin Cinema
The Ravines – Dark Clouds from International Pop Overthrow Vol. 11 (3CD)
Urge Overkill – Sister Havana from Saturation
You’ll notice an inordinate amount of songs from the International Pop Overthrow collections, and for good reason. In the short time I’ve discovered this ongoing series of releases, I’ve become irrevocably hooked. You might as well, and can find these releases at the site that released them, Not Lame Recordings.
(1996)
(1982)
(2004)
(1987)
(2007)
(1993)
(1987)
(2002)
(2009)
(1981)
(1988)
(2004)
(1996)
Kiss sets all kinds of marks as part of this series. Their nine tracks here are the most of any artist so far (there will be an artist with ten in the future) but the most remarkable thing is that these are the only nine tracks to chart in the decade. That kind of speaks to the remarkable career they’ve had: not one Top 40 song in the decade and yet the record company kept releasing singles. Now, granted, in most cases the songs you’re hearing were the first off an album and the second one didn’t chart, so the initial impact wasn’t exactly stellar.
The mark of any great power pop album is its ability to not only stick in your head after the music has stopped, but its ability to make you want to listen to it over and over again. By pop, I mean: Catchy, rocking harmonies, hooky guitars, and driving, powerful drums, a la Cheap Trick, the Raspberries, Sweet and the Knack. Those groups are obvious influences on the self-titled debut album of Tinted Windows, a supergroup of sorts that consists of Taylor Hanson, James Iha (formerly of Smashing Pumpkins), Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, and Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick. Clocking in at just under than 40 minutes, this 11-song collection sounds in no way dated or retro. The band goes after every track with such enthusiasm and energy that the fun they’re having gushes out of the speakers. Tinted Windows just may be this summer’s soundtrack record.
Some things just don’t go quite the way they’re planned. For instance, I was supposed to be over the moon and in love with U2’s latest album, No Line on the Horizon. While I’m not as down on it as I was when I heard the first single, “Get On Your Boots,” the thing got five perfunctory plays and has been shoved back into the rack ever since. Meanwhile, a friend slips me a USB flash drive and tells me (commands, more like) to listen to the album Moon Rock by Paul Steel. I know not of this Steel person, and the album cover seems to foreshadow something really, really cheeky. I’m not in the mood for cheeky lately, so the plan was to give the thing a run-through, give my friend the necessary thank-you’s and advise him I’m just not into albums that have Nintendo-like graphics for cover art (this means you, Architecture in Helsinki.)
Damn right, 