Various A Very Special Christmas 2

Various A Very Special Christmas 2

Get It At Discogs

Although not even half of this CD is outstanding, it was recorded for a worthwhile cause (the Special Olympics), and contains some great songs, most notably Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "Christmas All Over Again" -- this is jingle-jangle pop at its best. Boyz II Men wrap their a cappella voices around "The Birth of Christ," and the two Wall of Sound standouts, Darlene Love and Ronnie Spector bring their powerful voices together for the first time on "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Bonnie Raitt duets with Charles Brown on his sexy "Merry Christmas Baby," while Aretha Franklin shows why she's called the "Queen of Soul" on "O Christmas Tree''

  

Various A Very Special Christmas

Various A Very Special Christmas 

Get It At Discogs

Recorded to benefit the Special Olympics, this has some of the biggest names in contemporary music, most covering seasonal favorites with mixed success. Outstanding tracks include the Pretenders "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," with Chrissie Hynde giving a touching performance. Run-D.M.C.'s topical "Christmas in Hollis" relies heavily on sampling "Back Door Santa," and may head you toward the dance floor. Alison Moyet's stately version of "The Coventry Carol" is beautifully Haunting

Ian McNabb Merseybeast

Ian McNabb Merseybeast

Get It At Discogs

Merseybeast (an album title to savor from the Liverpool native) marks McNabb's third solo collection of refreshing, heart-on-sleeve, no-hidden-agendas pop/rock. He communicates such an open, wide-eyed innocence through his work that it's difficult at first to believe he can be for real. But McNabb's willingness to express, from a male perspective, emotions uncommon for conventional rock's posturing swagger soon makes you a convert. When, for instance, was the last time a guy convincingly sang about "Camaraderie" in a way that could (at least, until the very end) apply in an equally touching way to a male or female respondent? The tone of McNabb's cosy-fireplace vocals -- especially on ballads like "Too Close to the Sun" -- sometimes evoke legendary crooner Scott Walker, likely through such second-hand bridges as David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, or perhaps fellow-Liverpudlian Julian Cope's (the Teardrop Explodes) influential 1981 Walker compilation The Godlike Genius Of.... At the same time, parts of Merseybeast (notably "Heydays" and "They Settled for Less than They Wanted") make me think of some lost Mick Ronson album. On his own sporadic solo releases, the late Spiders from Mars guitarist shared McNabb's talent for making an ingratiating, "golly-gee" naivete work to his advantage. (Speaking of "They Settled," I can also hear former Call vocalist Michael Been tackling this dense, lugubrious anthem of disappointment and missed opportunity, one of the rare downers on the disc.) "Don't Put Your Spell on Me" harkens back to Liverpool's postpunk salad days, a track that would have been envied in the early '80s by both Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes.

Roddy Frame The North Star

Roddy Frame The North Star

Get It At Discogs

Roddy Frame emerges from his Aztec Camera moniker with a charming blend of jangling guitars and soulful crooning. "River or Brightness" is a particularly beautiful standout track, where Frame's mandolin creates poetical dense waves of charm. There's not really much sonic difference from an Aztec Camera release, as every album was basically a Roddy Frame solo affair, in that he's written almost every Aztec Camera song on his own. The North Star is a pleasure throughout the ten tracks, as he never fails to register sweet emotion or frolicking joy. "Bigger Brighter Better" suggests that Frame is both overjoyed with and at full-mastery of his endearing acoustic pop style. "Sister Shadow" sounds as if it has been produced by Phil Spector at the peak of his skills. For every song of happiness, there's a complementary track of subtle soul searching. The singer/songwriter has never sounded this confident over the full length of an album in the past. If The North Star isn't this artist at his best, then he must have purely transcendental songs up his sleeve for future releases. With this confident solo debut, as strong or stronger than any Aztec Camera release, Roddy Frame confirms his status as a first-rate emotional balladeer.

Haircut 100 Pelican West

Haircut 100 Pelican West

Get It At Discogs

If Orange Juice famously wanted to sound like a combination of Chic and the Velvet Underground, then Haircut 100 must have wanted to sound like a combination of Orange Juice and Chic. Heavy on the Juice. On their debut and only album with band founder Nick Heyward, Pelican West, the group display all the skittery beats, deep-voiced crooning, and pop smarts of OJ, while adding more funk and saxophone than Edwyn Collins and co. probably ever imagined. That Haircut 100 scored a bigger hit than the band they so clearly idolized must have rubbed the lads in Orange Juice the worst way, but it's clear from even one listen through Pelican West that Haircut 100 were more than just mere copycats. "Love Plus One" is that aforementioned mega hit and it deserved to be a timeless classic. Nick Heyward knew how to write pop hooks and the band fills it in with brilliant subtlety. There are siblings to that song scattered across the record. "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)," "Marine Boy," and the ecstatic "Fantastic Day" all have wonderfully snappy melodies and huge choruses, "Milk Film," "Surprise Me Again," and "Snow Girl" have a refined pop sound that skews a little less gleeful and a little more melancholy. Sure, they are all prone to sax breakdowns and horn section crescendos that sound like Chicago happened by the studio, but the bulk of the album is first-rate '80s sophisti-pop. The few tracks that cast aside the traditional song structure and jump over to the Chic side of the equation are fun, though very much of their time. "Love's Got Me in Triangles" and "Calling Captain Autumn" are both quite British, with a sort of awkward kind of funk almost quaint in its unfunkiness. Heyward's attempts at rapping on the latter achieve beat poet-meets-Captain Sensible levels of uncoolness that circle back around to coolness in the end somehow. The entire record is a little like that. From their corny outfits to their lighter-than-air sound, Haircut 100 were never going to be dangerous or sexy. The best they could hope for was escapist, but never mindless fun and on Pelican West they bury their arrows dead center in the middle of that target. [Cherry Pop's 2015 Deluxe Edition of the album adds four bonus tracks on the first disc, including single B-sides and the post-album release "Nobody's Fool," which pointed to a guitar-heavy, sax-solo-free future the group never saw. The second disc is made up of 12" versions of album tracks, extended versions, and a live recording of "Fantastic Day." Of chief interest is the 12" version of "Love Plus One," because it's the big hit and it's fun to hear them stretching it out a little. The rest of the disc is also fun and it's a nice addition to the classic album with which it's paired.]

Thompson Twins Into The Gap

Thompson Twins Into The Gap

Get It At Discogs

Thompson Twins' atmospheric and moody 1984 album Into the Gap was their commercial breakthrough in the United States, and remains a classic as far as '80s new wave pop is concerned. Nearly every song on this set differed from the others, with each track taking the listener on a different musical journey. The song that cemented Thompson Twins as a presence on American Top 40 radio was their earnest ballad (and biggest hit) "Hold Me Now," which years later still sounded as fresh and innocent as when it was first released. The album yielded a couple of other hits, including the feel-good, percussion- and harmonica-heavy "You Take Me Up" and the mysterious, melodramatic "Doctor! Doctor!" "The Gap," the album's final single (and a definite standout), heavily leans toward Middle Eastern influences (as does "Doctor! Doctor!") and ranks as the album's most unstoppable (and unusual) dance cut. Other tracks, including "Sister of Mercy" and "No Peace for the Wicked," rank almost as high as the singles. Thompson Twins were quiet visionaries, blending intelligent lyrics, Eastern sensibilities, and new wave pop to create a wholly unique and unforgettable listening experience and an album that ranks as one of the '80s' most unique. [Edsel's two-disc 2008 Deluxe Edition featured 16 bonus tracks, including remixes, B-sides, and alternate versions.]

Various Close To The Noise Floor Presents Noise Reduction System (Formative European Electronica 1974-1984)

Various Close To The Noise Floor Presents Noise Reduction System (Formative European Electronica 1974-1984)

Get It At Discogs

During the late '70s and early '80s, a crop of British experimentalists emerged with positions on conventional rock music that ranged from indifferent to hostile. Prompted by early electronic music and the advancements made by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Throbbing Gristle -- and eventually their peers -- they plied their trade on equipment with names like EMS Synthi A, EDP Wasp, Korg MS-10, and ARP Odyssey. For many of them, guitars and drum kits were obsolete. Synthesizers, drum machines, and tape delay units, many of them shrinking in size and cost, were the present and future way to sculpt jerking noises or strange pop songs. The fledgling musicians could record in bedrooms and release the results on cassette, or they could ally with independent labels and operate at studios like Blackwing, a haven for Mute and 4AD artists such as Depeche Mode and Cocteau Twins. Released by Cherry Red, one of those original outlets for music of the margins, Close to the Noise Floor: Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984 collects four discs of the alternately thrilling, grim, silly, and just plain bizarre stuff. Some of the groups, such as Blancmange, the Human League, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, went commercial after they released their selected inclusions, while the likes of Wire's Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis appear here with a divergence into sound manipulation that resembles animal calls. Some of these tracks have appeared on widely available albums and compilations. The making of this set must have been an arduous undertaking, however, as the majority of the tracks were originally issued on cassettes and 7" vinyl in small quantities, previously heard by few sets of ears. Among the highlights of the accidentally obtainable and deliberately obscure: Thomas Leer's spangly narrative "Tight as a Drum," Adrian Smith's skeletal and crepuscular "Joe Goes to New York," and British Standard Unit's mutilation of Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" There's also Gerry & the Holograms' delightful self-titled theme song, placed on high rotation by temporary WPIX DJ Frank Zappa. The Mute massive -- Cabaret Voltaire, Robert Rental, and so forth -- are surprisingly absent, though they're represented somewhat by Alan Burnham's "Music to Save the World By," produced by label boss Daniel Miller (aka the Normal, the Silicon Teens). Given that so much scarce material is discerningly compiled here, it's hard to gripe about it and other exclusions. A great essay and a fair portion of the track-by-track notes come from Dave Henderson, who documented the global post-punk electronic underground as it developed, after being lured by "reading dismissive reviews in the weekly music press." Henderson's own group, Worldbackwards, contribute a glum but enchanting ballad that drones and stirs, then fades out to a bit of Sylvia Plath's "Lazy Lazarus." Henderson's assessment? "Man, we were pretentious."

Various Harmony In My Head UK Power Pop & New Wave 1977-81

Various Harmony In My Head UK Power Pop & New Wave 1977-81

Get It At Discogs

Despite the way it sometimes seems, punk wasn't the only thing happening in the U.K. during the mid-'70s. A whole bunch of bands took the good-natured feel of pub rock, the hooky melodies of the original British Invasion, and the energy of punk to come up with their own kind of power pop. It was definitely inspired by the skinny-tie power pop scene happening in the U.S., but much of it had sharper, more ragged hooks. A few artists came out of this scene to have bigger careers, like Elvis Costello and Squeeze, and some bands were good enough to have lasting power, like Buzzcocks and Wreckless Eric, but a majority of the bands playing this jumpy, catchy pop were relegated to the dustbin pretty quickly. Cherry Red's 2018 release Harmony in My Head: UK Power Pop & New Wave 1977-81 seeks to redress this injustice by unearthing the good, great, weird, and genius acts of the era over the course of three discs that will have power pop fans beside themselves with nervy joy. The set's compiler, David Wells, does a great job of sprinkling in some well-known artists like Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, and Buzzcocks, critical faves like the Monochrome Set, and power pop heroes such as Eddie & the Hot Rods and Bram Tchaikovsky among the one-offs, misfits, never-weres, and no-hit wonders that make up the rest of the set. It's a deep, deep dive into the underground that comes back with a very high gem-to-junk ratio. In fact, it's hard to single out anything for the latter column since the bands chosen are all very familiar with how to put together at least one song with a vibrant hook, unstoppable energy, and loads of enthusiasm. Some of the songs lean more toward punk (the Nips' "Happy Song," Chelsea's "Look at the Outside"), some are twitchy and strange like the best oddball new wave (the Dodgems' "Science Fiction [Baby You're So]," Those Naughty Lumps' "Down at the Zoo), and some give their U.S. counterparts a run in the chirpy pop department (the Monos!' "UFO," the Letters' "Don't Want You Back"). Mostly though, the collection charts that fleeting moment when punk, power pop, and new wave came together magically to create something new, great, and timeless. Songs like Fast Cars' "You're So Funny," Rich Kids' "Rich Kids," and the Users' "Now That It's Over" sound as fresh and vital as when they were first released. That applies to the whole set, which is required listening for anyone who loved the sound at the time or who loves the raft of bands who have been aping this sound with varying degrees of success in the many years that followed.