JANGLE ON! – Early Winter 2019

Posted on 19 November 2019

JANGLE ON!

Early Winter 2019

by Eric Sorensen

Jangle On

There has been no shortage of chiming, jangly pop/rock material in the past two months.  Here are some of the CDs and single tracks that should appeal to fellow jangle enthusiasts:

Forward To The Past – Starbyrd.  Just in time for Christmas, a new Starbyrd CD will be available through the CD Baby website in early December.  Starbyrd is fronted by the prolific singer/songwriter and Roger McGuinn acolyte Horst-Peter Schmidt.  This iteration of Starbyrd also includes guest artist Ray St. Clair on pedal steel guitar and harmony vocals, Mario Metzele on drums, Manfred Tessmer on rhythm guitar and harmony vocals and Burckhard Thonissen on bass and harmony vocals.   There are plenty of jangly riffs – featuring Horst-Peter’s Rickenbacker 12-string guitar – on many of the 15 original tracks and the cover of David Crosby’s “Everybody’s Been Burned.”  While many of the song themes are contemporary, the overall theme of this album was inspired by the recent documentary “Echo In The Canyon.”  Songs like “Forward To The Past,” “Laurel Canyon,” “At The 60s Cafe,” “Hippie Grandpa Millionaires,” “I Don’t Want To Fight Anymore” and the updated version of “Back To The Roots” should resonate strongly with a Boomer audience.   Forward To The Past is another time capsule gift from the Crown Prince of 12-String.  Long may you run, Sir Horst-Peter!

The Inner Truth – The Vapour Trails.  On the heels of the very jangly CD See You In The Next World (mentioned in my September column), the Vapour Trails have released another full-length CD with even more jangly gems and some very nice covers of  “Michelle” and “Eleanor Rigby” (the Beatles) and “She Don’t Care About Time” and “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” (the Byrds).  The Vapour Trails wear the influences of these two 60s bands on their sleeves, and they update that sound with pop/rock references of the past five decades.

Live at Rockpalast 1976 – Starry Eyed And Laughing.  How can one say “no” to a live CD and a DVD of a Starry Eyed And Laughing 1976 concert, along with a CD of studio recordings (including two songs not released at that time)?  If you are a jangleholic, you can only say “yes” to this excellent compilation of jangly material.  Front man Tony Poole often describes this band as ten years too late (the Byrds) or ten years too early (Tom Petty, REM) in harnessing the Rickenbacker 12-string sound!

ANC4 – ANC4 (Roger Arvidson, Tomas Nilsson, Janne Borgh and Niclas Ostergren).  This Kool Kat Musik release includes my “Song of The Month” for October – “No More Words” and many other catchy, chiming tracks like “Easy Way Out” and “So Good To Me.”  Many thanks to Kool Kat label guru Ray Gianchetti for releasing the cream of the crop in today’s indie power pop community.  Let’s hope there is more ANC4 material in the future!

Lahs – the Allah Las.  More great tunes from a jangly indie pop band that flies under the mainstream radio radar.  “Polar Onion” and “Pleasure” are the most chiming tracks.

International Pop Overthrow (IPO) Volume 22.  Three CDs with 69 tracks by some of today’s finest power pop acts.  While not every track features a jangly riff, it’s all great stuff!  This is one annual compilation that is always worth the price of admission.  Many thanks to IPO Prez David Bash for keeping the IPO concept alive for all these years!

Other catchy jangle pop tunes from the past two  months include: “It’s Alright” by Jonathan Pushkar, “Saturday In The Sunshine” by the Last Hurrah!, “Ain’t Nobody But Me” by Those Pretty Wrongs, the very catchy “I’m Not Ready For This” by Bryan Estepa, “Good Deal Of Love” by the Brothers Steve, “Walking Backwards” by Supercrush, “I Will Answer” by Wolf Circle and “Sending This To You” by the Elevator Operators.  Fellow jangleholic Ray Verno has been very busy collecting and compiling material from a variety of sources, and he is now up to Byrdsian Volume 136 in his library of jangly, chiming music inspired by the Byrds.  Standout tunes in the most recent volumes include tracks by the Rusty Dusty Bros and the Raving Beauties and an excellent cover of “Chimes Of Freedom” by Penny Davies and Roger Illot.  Long may you run, Sir Ray!

 

Until next time, jangle on!

ERIC

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