BLOODY RED BARON – June & July Reviews

Posted on 20 July 2016

Bloody Red Baron

 

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Michael Carpenter - Big Radio

MICHAEL CARPENTER: The Big Radio

Carpenter’s latest is a rich palette of modern pop suffused with a golden glow and wrapped in swooning harmonies. Carpenter uses the studio the way the Cheyenne used the buffalo. He let’s no part go to waste. It is a radio-friendly sound that harks back to the Brill Building and Phil Spector. Which is not to say it doesn’t rock. It rocks like an adult, not a punk. “I Kissed A Girl” is a sweet, Billy Joel-like meditation with a Beach Boys-like choir. Carpenter never writes a one or two chord song. The hook on “I’ve Been Loving You” hits you like a wrecking ball, while “Father” is saved from preciousness by the strong melody.

The caramel-voiced Carpenter sings with Billy Joel intensity on “The Only One.” His “Chrissie Hynde” is an instant classic in paeans to other songwriters (like the Replacements’ “Alex Chilton,”) and “She’s In Love With Herself” is destined to become a classic, another trenchant, Billy Joel-type observation.

Four and a half stars.

 

 

NATHANIEL RATELIFF

NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS (RumBar)

Native Missourian and one-time missionary Rateliff is a growly-voiced soul shouter with one foot in Stax/Volt and the other in Van Morrison. You could call it roots music. It is a romping, stomping roadhouse band that grabs you by the ass and won’t let go. “Howling at Nothing” sounds like Van Morrison crossed with Sam Cooke, while “Wasting Time” and “I’ve Been Failing” could have been written by Van Morrison. The rest of the material roves the roadhouse landscape, with a honking horn section that grabs you by the ass and shakes.

There are gospel elements in the hilarious “S.O.B,” wherein Rateliff drops everything but voices and hand claps. This is Sunday morning come-to-Jesus stuff, although with a profane chorus. The sultry “Shake” is similar. These guys would be welcome at The Apollo.

Four stars.

Www.nathanielrateliff.com

Dowling Poole

THE DOWLING POOLE: (ONE) Hyde Park

The Dowling Poole are Willie Dowling from Jackdaw4 and Jon Poole from the Goddamn Whores and they are creating mad pop science, bashing out the borders of great pop in the manner of XTC, Jellyfish, and of course, Jackdaw4. Jackdaw was a very snarky, Mothers of Invention-ish, band with a greater emphasis on melodic structure. Some snark carries over into the new album, along with a heavy dose of English music hall tradition. Two blokes making jokes, but also serious music.

“Willing To Change” is in the same park as all of Spilt Milk, while “American Teeth” uses C,S&Y harmonies, and sounds like it came right off the Dukes of Stratosphere: Chips From the Chocolate Fireball. Dowling Poole’s melodies are often unpredictable and always irresistible. “Bring Back” is light and jazzy, but has tensile steel in its Sondre Lerche-like bones. There’s also a soupcon of Zappa in the boys’ snark. Guaranteed top ten record.

Five stars.

Www.thedowlingpoole.com

I wrote Willie, “A friend asserts that the name Jackdaw4 is a play on words, meaning jacked-off whore. Es verdad?”

To which Willie replied, “What an interesting mind your friend has. Or twisted. I’m not sure. No, sad to say that your friends theory is far more interesting than the rather mundane way the name was settled upon. We felt our influences were apparent and that we were stealing the shiny trinkets from pop history. Much as the Jackdaw or magpie might steal any shiny object for their nests. And ‘four’ because there were supposed to be at least five of us. I may appropriate your friends interpretation in future however.”

Mark Roebuck

 

MARK ROEBUCK: The World And All Within (Fear of the Atom)

Roebuck, leader singer of the under-appreciated eighties power pop band The Deal, returns with a stunning collection of original music playing most of the instruments himself. Roebuck is one of those mad pop scientists capable of creating shimmering beauty like XTC, Jellyfish, or The Blood Rush Hour. He’s a melodic sui generis, like Michael Brown or The Hang-Ups, which is not to say he sounds like them, but that his hooks sweep you off your feet. “Billboard Blue” features an unusually robust bass, an off kilter minor key melody, and C,S,N and Y harmonies. “Lazarus” is another melodic peak, with that fat, pulsating, veined bass. Roebuck sings a lot like Lane Steinberg, as on the Poco meets XTC “One Bad Day,” and on “God Is A Gun.” “Sunlight” nods to Brian Wilson, while “Day After Day” nods to McCartney, without giving up a gram of Roebuck. Top Ten stuff.

Five stars.

Gary Ritchie

GARY RITCHIE: Poptimistic (Fancy Two-Tone)

Ritchie returns with his Brill Building-influence rock, filled with jangly riffs that hit the pleasure centers repeatedly, beginning with “Million Dollars,” in which Ritchie goes braggin’ on the subway to a pretty girl. Although I don’t think “I drive an Austin Healey” is gonna cut it with today’s modern woman. The songs are filled with bright, jewel-like guitar riffs. “Subtle As A Freight Train” is funny, straight and true. That freight train really comes on during the guitar solo which seems to have migrated from a metal band. Can’t you just hear the Four Seasons singing “Perfect Girl?” “Friend of Old” hits you in the gut with a sense of loss. Not for the depressed. “Carol Says” is a Modulator-like rocker, while “Lonely” suggests the Elvis Brothers. This record rocks and rumbles, shocks and humbles.

Four and a half stars.

Sloan Tribute

IF IT FEELS GOOD DO IT: A Sloan Tribute

Sloan is the brilliant, unclassifiable Canadian band. They rock. That much we agree. With four strong songwriters they are chameleonic and this rich tapestry is a reminder of their legacy, which can only be described as Beatlesque in quality and quantity, although Sloan is more of a rock band. “Cmon, C’mon” by Stereo Tiger opens the album with guns blazing. If you must have an ear worm, let it be this. Other outstanding entries include Andy Reed’s “I Love A Long Goodbye,” The Hangabouts’ “The Answer Was You,” Nick Piunti’s “Right Or Wrong,” and Pop 4’s “Flying High Again.” But really, there are no bad songs on this album, which is why they made it. A brilliant mix of kick-ass rock and roll and bittersweet harmonies.

Four and a half stars.

 

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Mike Baron is the creator of comic books Badger and (along with Steve Rude)  Nexus.  His latest book is “A Brief History of Jazz Rock” – more on Amazon CLICK HERE.

He has written five novels in the last few years, all available on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/184-5348781-8830168?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Mike%20Baron.  Visit his website here:  http://bloodyredbaron.net and on Wikipedia here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Baron

One Response to “BLOODY RED BARON – June & July Reviews”

  1. Gary Ritchie says:

    Bloody Red Baron,
    Thank you very much for the kind and generous words.

    Gary