February 2020 REVIEWS
by Mike Baron
GARY RITCHIE: Head On A Swivel (Fancy Two/Tone)
Ritchie’s music is as instantly identifiable as Marshall Crenshaw, due to his unique voice and sure-footed compositions, drawing on everything from Brit Pop to the Raspberries, to Tom Petty. Like fellow Texan Lannie Flowers, this grows on you with each new listen. When those hand claps come in on “Emergency Time,” it’s impossible to sit still. The Beatle chord pops up at the end of “Here We Go Again,” but Gary’s not really Beatlesque. He’s more of a heartlands rocker in the tradition of the above, or Dwight Twilley. He achieves a distinctive flat pick sound on “Blonds & Bullets.” The epic “Record Store” contains the line, “I don’t need another loser from the record store,” with a hilarious fade-out of a fast talking salesman. Top Ten material.
THE REAL IMPOSSIBLES: It’s About Time (Rum/Bar)
Sounds like it was recorded in a garage in the best possible way. The Real Impossibles (see also The Genuine Fakes and The Successful Failures) favor an A/B harmony popularized by the dBs, whom they sometimes resemble. Their cover of Neil Diamond’s “Cherry Cherry” is a stroke of genius, while “Turn My World” has the low down dirty quality of the Standells. There’s that dB harmony on “Against the Grain,” hooked up to shining bridge, and again on “Something to Learn.” Much of this record was produced by Plimsouls front man Peter Case, who lights it up with a wailin’ harmonica on “Guess You Feel It,” which sounds like early Stones. “Won’t Let You Down” sounds like something Johnny Cash would have liked. Fresh stuff.
THE BOOLEVARDS: Real Pop Remix
Fiendish jangle machine comprised of two brothers and a guitarist, although everybody plays guitars. Joe Nowik wrote most of these songs and drums. His drumming has an irresistible organic quality, as if he beat the whole thing out on five gallon buckets from The Home Depot or whatever else he could find around the house. The drumming alone is reason to get this record, but the songs are all good, bridges, check, hooks, check, two part harmonies. Plus there’s twenty of them. “It’s Great” could have been a Buddy Holly song. These guys love the Beatle chord, using it to finish several songs. They could have been the band in That Thing You Do. “Wait A Minute Girl,” has early Who and Herman’s Hermit vibes. The inspirational “Find A Star Make A Wish” is a standout among many.
NATO COLES AND THE BLUE DIAMOND BAND: Flyover (Rum/Bar)
Nato Coles has a sound similar to early Springsteen, but where the Boss veered off into stagnant tributaries, Nato has stuck to the deepest part of the river, picking up speed. That sound has been around a long time. Just listen to early Meatloaf, and more significantly, his producer Jim Steinman’s debut, Bad For Good. Flyover is full throttle rock that will jerk you to your feet like a Blue Angels flyover. “Under the Flyover” bursts from the gate with alternating minor and major chords, essential to all great pop. It never lets up. “LL.P.’s Yard” features an intertwining helix of lead guitars. “Michelle of the City” with its sha la la chorus and dueling guitars and piano grabs you by the throat. “Standing On the Corner Alone” dynamics sound like Dexys Midnight Runner’s Searching For the Young Soul Rebels. The record briefly slows for the elegiac “Disposable Camera” before finishing with the monstrous “Avenue of the Saints.” This record could reanimate a corpse.
THE DOWLING POOLE: See You See Me
Congenital smart alecks’ third album filled with exquisite harmonies, mad pop science. You won’t hear any standard chord progressions. The Poole engages in wildly inventive melody and thematic brotherhood with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Such as the heavenly sounding “Hope.” “Hope will hold your hand and drag you down. Hope is the cruelest one. She’ll keep you hanging on on…” Or the sarcastic “Made In Heaven,” with its cartoon synthesizer intro. These guys slip you the knife and you like it. “Human Soup” is as cool as Boz Scagge. “Fire and brimstone take your breath away and you dissolve. Human Soup a natural aphrodisiac. Human Soup in fifty shades of black”
“Alison’s Going Home” has elements of Steely Dan and Jellyfish. “The Last Train Home” should be the new James Bond theme. If it’s inventive, melodic pop you seek in the vein of XTC, Jellyfish, and The Blood Rush Hour, look no further.
