Shake Some Action!

Pre-order Phil Seymour - Prince Of Power Pop - His Very Best +11 Unissued Tracks - released 26th October 2017 on Ace Records

Phil Seymour’s story reads like a novel: three young hopefuls from Tulsa in love with 60s music and determined to bring back melody and pop songs to 70s rock set off for Hollywood to find fame and fortune.

First comes joy as they sign to Shelter Records and crash into the Top 20 in 1975 as the Dwight Twilley Band. Next, frustration as they encounter problems with their failing record company, and the inevitable split as drummer/vocalist/songwriter Phil Seymour goes solo. Initially he struggles to find a foothold but once the new wave hits America, the Phil Seymour Band storms Hollywood and becomes one of the hottest acts on the circuit.

Signed to Neil Bogart’s Boardwalk label, by 1981 Phil is riding high at #22 on Billboard’s Hot 100 with the self-penned classic ‘Precious To Me’. More terrific releases follow and, for a while, Phil is the brightest star on the horizon, but Bogart’s death in 1983 means the end of his Boardwalk contract. He doggedly continues to make good music but contracts lymphoma and dies in 1993 at age 41. Handsomely packaged with a 20-page booklet sporting rare photos and extensive notes incorporating exclusive interviews with bandmate Michael Anderson and recording engineer Bill Cooper, our collection comprises 13 of Phil’s finest recordings and 11 never-before-heard tracks, including nine terrific demos cut at producer Richie Podolor’s American Recording studio in Los Angeles.

Altogether a fitting tribute to this much-missed Prince Of Power Pop.

Baby It's You

Precious To Me

I Really Love You

Then We Go Up

Don't Blow Your Life Away

Love You So Much

How About You

Suzie Glider

 Now

Maybe It Was Memphis

Dancing A Dream

Better To Me Than You

Teaching Me

Don't Take Your Love Away

Fade Away

Baby It's You (early version)

I Found A Love

Let Her Dance

Looking For The Magic

We Don't Get Along

Stand Back And Take A Good Look

You Can't Hurry Love

Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart

The Tomboys - All Dressed Up

South Florida’s The Tomboys played hundreds of shows back in the early 80s and commanded a huge local following, but like so many other groups without major label backing, never got the widespread recognition they deserved.

The band, comprised of Tommy Anthony (currently a member of Santana), Raul Malo (now best known as the lead singer of The Mavericks) and Joe Alonso, have remastered and remixed all their recordings from the era. The first four tracks have just been released for FREE download on their brand new website!

Greg Kihn - Big Pink Flamingos

Robert Berry got me into his Soundtek Recording studios in Campbell, CA, to write a few songs together. One thing led to another and before we knew it we were halfway through an album! My son Ry joined the festivities on lead guitar. It turned out to be a fantastic combination. We wrote and rewrote songs every Tuesday and it was magic. I’ve learned from a lifetime of writing songs that the songs that write themselves are the best, so we let these tunes develop organically. Robert turned out to be an excellent producer. As time passed by we played some of the new material for our managers Joel and Skyler Turtle and guess what? They loved it too! Now we were truly becoming convinced we were on to something. Finishing the album turned out to be a labor of love. It’s been twenty years since our last studio album. The band has changed, we lost some players and we went through a lot of changes. Twenty years is a very long time, but I am more proud of this effort than any of the others. Working with Ry and Robert was a joy. We worked with different drummers like Dave Lauser, Dave Danza, and original drummer Larry Lynch. Everything fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

The Greg Kihn Band are tough survivors, a tight family. From management to music, we are two generations deep. We really care about the music and put our hearts and souls into it. This is the real thing. It’s like iTunes said, “The Greg Kihn Band is a band of genuine consequence.” 

I have to be honest with you; there wasn’t a minute during the recording of this album when I didn’t think it was special. Every day was a kick.

When we were finished the album and fishing around for a Kihn pun to title it (a tradition around here) my flame was lit. So here it is! “ReKihndled!” Dictionary defines “Rekindled” as the act of restarting a fire, to excite, to stir up, to begin to burn again. That’s exactly what it is! Strike a match and let’s go!

“Tomorrow’s” Here! New Reissue Shines Light on The Modulators

Tomorrow’s Coming, the sole album by New Jersey’s The Modulators, originally released in 1984, was briefly reissued in 2010 (to this writer’s ears it sounded suspiciously like a needledrop). Now Manufactured Recordings have remastered and reissued the album from the original tapes, adding an incredible EIGHTEEN bonus tracks, including their first single from 1980, tracks from compilations, and twelve previously unreleased demos. 

The Best Of Big Star, at first glance, hardly seems like a necessary addition to your power pop collection. If you’ve got the first three records, you’ll have all these songs already, right? Almost!

In a very enticing move, the compilers of this new disc have included six original 7″ single mixes, four of which have never been released on CD (or LP, one would assume) before. 

The album includes liner notes by Robert Gordon, who also wrote the liners for the Big Star box set Keep An Eye On The Sky, and a foreword by the sole surviving member of the original line-up, Jody Stephens.

The Best Of Big Star will be released on Stax/Concord on April 28th. The complete tracklisting:

In the Street (Single Mix)

Don’t Lie to Me (Single Version)

September Gurls (Single Version)

Thirteen

Jesus Christ (Single Edit)

I’m In Love With a Girl

O My Soul (Single Edit)

Feel

When My Baby’s Beside Me

Take Care

Life is White

Watch the Sunrise (Single Version)

The Ballad of El Goodo

Nighttime

Back of a Car

PUGWASH NEW ALBUM... by Thomas Walsh — Kickstarter

Paul Collins’ Beat - 2017 European Tour and LP Reissues!

Back in 2010, Paul Collins released an album called The King Of Power Pop. It’s the kind of claim that only he could make: as part of The Nerves alongside Jack Lee and Peter Case, they recorded Lee’s Hanging On The Telephone, which became a massive song for Blondie. 

Then he formed The Breakaways, again alongside Case, before Case struck out on his own to form The Plimsouls; leaving Paul to become the principal songwriter and frontman of The Beat, AKA Paul Collins’ Beat, responsible for such timeless power pop anthems like Rock ’N’ Roll Girl, I Don’t Fit In, Let Me Into Your Life, and many more.

For forty years now he’s been playing his own unique brand of rock and roll, and in 2017, to support the reissue of two Paul Collins’ Beat albums, he is taking to the road across Europe on a solo acoustic tour.

Hear the songs that keep the world tapping its feet, up close and personal: just the man and the music. As has been Paul’s custom for many years, the tour is a fully DIY effort, only made possible by the support of fans and friends across the world, who form part of The Beat Army.

One Night, originally released in Europe in 1989, is being reissued on Frodis Records. The opening cut on the LP, Just Give Me Love, can be heard above. Find out more about this long-unavailable album here!

A combination of two EPs, To Beat Or Not To Beat (1983) / Longtime Gone (1985) is being reissued as a single LP by Lolipop Records.

European Tour Dates:

FRANCE

6th May - Clermont-Ferrand, Bombshell 10th May - Rouen, 3 Pieces More dates in France TBC

ENGLAND

13th May - London, The Finsbury

BELGIUM

16th May - Kortrijk, Den Trap

NETHERLANDS

17th May - Rotterdam, V11 18th May - Haarlem, Patronaat (Amsterdam)

GERMANY

19th May - Düsseldorf, The Tube 20th May - Berlin, Cortina Bob 21st May - Hamburg, Monkeys Music Club

SWEDEN

23rd May - Malmo, Folk & Rock 24th May - Gothenburg, Liseberg Amusement Park Power Pop Festival w/ Psychotic Youth

SPAIN

TBC

PORTUGAL

BADFINGER feat. Bob Jackson - 2016 UK Tour Dates

In the late 60s and early 70s, Badfinger was one of the most critically and commercially successful bands to emerge from the British Invasion. Signed to The Beatles’ own Apple label, their first single “Come And Get It” was written for them by Paul McCartney, becoming a top 10 hit in the UK, USA and Canada. As were follow-up singles “No Matter What”, “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue”, all written by singer/guitarist Pete Ham. Tom Evans, the band’s bass player, was Pete Ham’s best friend, and together they wrote “Without You”, which became a smash hit worldwide when covered by Harry Nilsson (and later by dozens of other artists, including Mariah Carey in the 1990s).

But crooked management and inter-personal problems within the band eventually resulted in the suicide of Pete Ham in April 1975. After Pete’s death Badfinger disintegrated, with Tom Evans and guitarist/keyboardist Bob Jackson becoming part of a new group called The Dodgers. In yet another example of misguided management, the band’s managers forced Tom out, his contributions to their work-in-progress debut album deleted. Bob Jackson stayed with the band long enough to contribute material to a second album and then found himself in exactly the same situation as Tom; let go with his work removed.

Meanwhile Tom had formed another incarnation of Badfinger with guitarist Joey Molland, releasing the albums Airwaves in 1979 and Say No More in 1981. Then Tom and Bob reformed as Badfinger for several US tours, one tour also including original drummer Mike Gibbins. Finally in late 1983 Tom Evans, in dire financial straits and with the threat of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit looming, succumbed to the same method of suicide as his best friend had eight years previously.

The story remains one of the ‘Shakespearean tragedies’ of the music business, made all the more ironic by the beautifully melodic and inspiring music they left behind, which has remained popular over the years.

Most recently “Baby Blue” was used in the closing scenes of the TV series Breaking Bad, sending the song back into the American charts a full four decades after its initial release.

There has been consistent recorded music for Badfinger fans to enjoy, with a series in recent years of reissues of their six original albums, but experiencing Badfinger in a live setting was simply not possible unless you happened to catch Joey Molland, sporadically playing live somewhere in the USA. Finally British fans will get the chance to experience a full live show!

Bob Jackson, part of the original 1970s line-up, has continued playing and eulogising the music of Badfinger over the years. He participated in the Pete Ham tribute concert in Swansea in 2013, contributes to numerous TV, print and online features about the band, as well as regularly performing Badfinger songs as part of his other band The Fortunes’ setlist.

Now Bob has put together his own band, featuring Andy Nixon on guitar, Mick Healy on bass, and Ted Duggan on drums. Last year they played to over 20,000 people as part of a 1960s ensemble theatre tour (see the above video), and now they’re headlining a series of shows this autumn. The setlist will feature Badfinger classics and never before performed album tracks, alongside some new material written by Bob. He is determined to keep the Badfinger story going for as long as he can.

Speaking about the upcoming tour, Bob says, “The emotional connection is everything for me and when people come to see the Badfinger show, they’ll get it… The whole history of what went down continues to be at the forefront of everything I do… The injustice of it all is not something I can ignore, and, you know, the way to exorcise all that, is to play and celebrate the music. That’s what’s timeless… I am hoping that we can re-connect with our market, get enough people on board to make the process of continuing to write and record worthwhile.”

Subscribe to the Badfinger mailing list on their website to receive a FREE download of a brand new song, “In A Different World”, and be sure to catch the band on tour this autumn.

2016 dates - more to be confirmed

Thursday 8th September - Band On The Wall, Manchester

Friday 14th October - The Flower Pot, Derby

Thursday 17th November - The Musician, Leicester

Wednesday 23rd November - The Stables, Milton Keynes

Thursday 8th December - The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal

BBC Radio 6 Music - Katie Puckrik's Power Pop, Episode 1

Power Pop fanatic Katie Puckrik sizes up the genre with a bop through its history and highlights. Featuring commentary from the likes of Johnny Marr and Clem Burke, plus key tunes from down the decades courtesy of The Knack, Cheap Trick, Blondie, Weezer, Teenage Fanclub and more.

THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK - THE TOURING YEARS. Official UK Teaser Trailer

By James White

You know the drill with film of the Beatles during their heyday: newsreel footage. Crowds. Thrumming guitars. Screaming. Aiming to offer all of that, and a lot more, Ron Howard has put together a new documentary about the Fab Four's early days on the road called The Beatles: Eight Days A week – The Touring Years.

Rather than just rubber stamp (or Rubber Soul?) someone else's work, here Howard acts as director and producer, digging up rare archive footage of John, Paul, George and Ringo in the years between getting their start in Liverpool and their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966. It'll explore how the band came together to become this extraordinary phenomenon, and look at their inner workings – how they made decisions, created their music and built their collective career together.

The Big Takeover: Song premiere: "Hold Me Up" [Demo] by Velvet Crush

By Big Takeover Exclusives

In the annals of power-pop, few bands stand taller than Rhode Island’s Velvet Crush. Formed in 1989 by vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck, the trio (including former Honeybunch guitarist Jeff Underhill) released two albums — In the Presence of Greatness, produced by Matthew Sweet; and the classic Teenage Symphonies to God, produced by Mitch Easter and released on Epic Records in 1994. Unfortunately, their ill-fated third album, the bluesy Heavy Changes, led to their being dropped by both Epic and Creation Records.

After a brief break-up in 1997, the band released Heavy Changes on their own Action Musik label (1998); Free Expression (1999) on Bobsled; and Soft Sounds (2002) and Stereo Blues (2004), both on Action Musik.

While Chastain and Menck have remained separately active in music in the ensuing years, Velvet Crush has not been heard from since. But now Omnivore Recordings is set to release Pre-Teenage Symphony, a collection of 16 recordings previously available only in a very limited quantity from Action Musik, including eight tracks recorded live in 1994 at Cabaret Metro in Chicago (originally released as Rock Concert) and eight demos (originally compiled as Melody Freaks) — including this one for their smash single “Hold Me Up”!