June 30th, 2010
“My Star Has Fallen” is the title of the second album by Exeter band National Pastime (www.myspace.com/nationalpastime), which has just been released on their own indie label Pastime Records (Pastime 008). This however, seems a bit inappropriate as I think their Star is actually rising, especially after listening to this album. This is a superb follow up to their first album “Short Stories” and their “Paper Planes” EP, which both came out on the wonderful and increasingly prolific Pop Noise Records, a label that is quickly making a name for themselves, by consistently releasing some of the finest UK POP.
The album is called the unofficial album, which I am not exactly sure why, but may that it features some reworked tracks from their earlier releases, and the press kit also says that they recorded this “album themselves in their rehearsal studio whilst work is ongoing on their second official studio album … at Off The Rails Studio”. Maybe it is because this album was not recorded in the studio, that it seems to have a sense of excitement and a rawness that really suits these songs.
The introductory song “Goldsworthy Gurney” packs a real punch and I love the fuzzed out guitars (courtesy of Dave Goodes) and how they interplay with the piano, as a very strong rhythm section (Andy Botterill & Kal George – if you seem to recognize some of the names, it’s because they all play in what seems endless numbers of other bands also) keeps the song clipping along. I love the passionate and yearning vocals by Andy Padfield which are exceptional, especially on my favourite track “Judge A Book By Its Cover” and in some strange way they remind me of The Stockholm Monsters, who curiously have a song called “National Pastime” (which I think the band is getting tired of me saying this). Also among my favourites from the album are the slower and elegant “My Star Has Fallen” and “Running Scared”, with it’s sweeping keyboards/piano.
They have also been compared to some of the bands on Sarah Records like The Field Mice and Teenage Fanclub (Creation Records), but at times they draw from a much wider range of sounds and even remind me of early Echo & the Bunnymen, like on the intro of “Houston” or early Psychedelic Furs and even a bit of Joy Division on “Bad News Story”. This is all good in my books as these are all bands that I love, so it makes it for an even more enjoyable listen.
Now I am even more eagerly awaiting their second official album and here is to hoping that their star continues to rise.
Categories: 2010 Favourite, Great Music |
Tags: Echo & The Bunnymen, National Pastime, Pop Noise Records, Stockholm Monsters, Teenage Fanclub, The Field Mice | No Comments
June 29th, 2010
Hey now that summer is here, we also have the perfect soundtrack for summer with The Sound Of Pop Art (www.myspace.com/popartsongs) and their debut self titled longplayer on the newly founded England In June label. Pop Art (as they started out as) is a band that I have been very excited about and have been following since their very early days when I heard their initial demos, and knew that they were going to create a masterpiece of a record. They were so amazing, that I even reviewed some of the songs here - http://thebeautifulmusic.com/blog/?p=757 – and provided some hints at the legendary history of two of the main characters behind the band Chris Free and Tony Jenkins, which goes back as far as the punk days when Chris was with The Users and the second coming of Mod with A Craze and labels such as Paul Weller’s Respond Records and Tony’s band Plume and his record label Everlasting Records. With a history like that it is not surprising that The Sound Of Pop Art has created a majestic collection of Superb Songs that will satisfy any discerning music fan.
“12 Classic Songs For Beat Bohemian Music Lovers” and “Beatnik Pop / Accoustic Soul” is how the album describes itself and that is a perfect description. I will attempt to provide you my observations on these tracks as follows:
“Custom Built” starts things off with a swaying epic, a wonderful update of The Ronnettes style in a “Be My Baby” heavenly vocal style, with a real beat flair especially when Tony sings “Oh Yeah”, kind of like The Revillos singing the Beatles.
“That Summer Feeling” kicks in sounding like Makin Time meets The Style Council and colliding with The Beautiful South to create a groove with a whole lot of Soul – something to live for.
Track 3, “Visions Of You” slows things down, sounding like a folky Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) fronting the Fantastic Something, with gentle guitars serenading you drift into a daydream.
For anyone who hates Shopping, then “Shopping Centre Saturday Afternoon” will become your new anthem as he sings ‘Shopping Centres, they mess up your mind’, yes let’s run away as we listen to this song which conjures up the sound of Paul Bevoir and The Jetset and maybe hints of The Cherry Orchard.
Song 5 starts off mellow but has the undercurrents of a spy thriller theme as the song builds in a Stereophonic Space Sound feel, only to slow things down again, keeping you in suspence.
“High Street Girl”, brings us some swinging sixties feel with guitars from the early Who sound and hints of The Jetset, and dreamy psych pop flourishes.
The soulful blues stomp of “Damage Limitation & The Junk Yard Blues” also conjures up a ‘My Generation’ Who, with traces of The Jam and maybe even The Inmates.
“Run Away Baby” is an early favourite of mine, and this version is a beautiful ballad a la Burt Bacharach with plenty of class as sung by The Zombies, The Direct Hits or The Left Banke.
“A Love Out Of Bounds” is more swinging sounds for the Beat Bohemian music lover with a jazzy feel, not far from The Wondermints meet The Sneetches territory.
Track 10, “Until Forever” is a real gem which drifts along quietly, sounding like a young Paul Weller or a Colin Swan doing an exceptional folky ballad taking you through ‘pastures new’. This is a quiet song that you will want to play load and let yourself float through time.
Another dreamy masterpiece is “Shooting Star” that takes you ‘high above the clouds’ and has traces of Bowie and Pink Floyd and the French chanteuse.
Not sure how to describe the closing track which ends things off in more bluesy style, bringing to close an exceptional album. “These are the things that mod/pop dreams are made of!”
And as Jonathan Richman once sang (and BMX Bandits covered) “That Summer Feeling Is Going To Haunt You The Rest Of Your Life”, well this album will haunt you, in a good way the rest of your life as this is timeless POP for the NOW generation.
Categories: 2010 Favourite, Great Music |
Tags: A Craze, Aztec Camera, Everlasting Records, Paul Weller, Plume, Respond Records, The Direct Hits, The Sneetches, The Sound Of Pop Art, The Users, The Wondermints | No Comments
June 23rd, 2010
Anyone who knows me, has heard me praise the wonderful Jasmine Minks, a band that was to be huge and was well on their way, but as usual the music machine lost their way and missed out on great band. Right from their first few singles on Creation, you knew there was something special, even the b-sides were better then most of the music coming out those days - but more about these in a few minutes - first the good news.
The release by the “Poppy White ep” by The Jasmine Minks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jasmine_Minks ) marks the launch of an exciting new Scottish label Oatcake Records ( http://oatcakerecords.co.uk/), which is run by Jim Shepherd of the Jasmine Minks. This is a label that is poised to do some exciting things as is indicated by the list of future and upcoming releases (I can’t wait to hear more from Scottish Funk greats APB).
The single contains four fabulous slices of Pure Pop Perfection, and are among the best songs ever by the Jasmine Minks. These songs were recorded in 1992, but for some strange reason, were never released till now, so it’s great to finally hear these tracks. “Poppy White” kicks off with a real jangle and some beautiful guitars. “Distraction” has an early Jam/Mod/Small Faces feel, especially when he sings the title and chorus. “Dead And Gone” is a brilliant track that will not leave you unsatisfied and somehow seems fitting in the memory of two lost friend. The Final track “Rain” is also a perfect Pop tune with a great beat and rhythm,(just watch those kids dance in the video and you’ll know what I mean) and dripping with a heart full of Soul - . This kind of music can “Rain on me” forever, I love it.
Now back to my story - I have been a fan of the Minks for a while now, ever since I heard their first amazing single “Think”, which was released on Creation Records (The Jasmine Minks were one of the first signings on Creation, along with Biff Bang Pow, The Legend!, The Loft, The Bodines, and The Revolving Paint Dream) way back in 1984. Even the b-side “Work For Nothing” was brilliant and made it’s way on a few of my mixtapes and still sounds fresh and relevant today. The equally brilliant follow up “Where The Traffic Goes” which was also out in the same year, cemented their stature as a band to watch out for. They had a fresh and exciting new sound that drew on the 60’s Mod/Beat/Garage sound (akin to the Pebbles series but with a modern feel) and adding a healthy edge and vitality that set them apart from much of the music coming out at that time. It also didn’t hurt that they also featured the talents of Dave Musker on Keyboards and music genius Joe Foster on production duties, who both had links to the Television Personalities, who were a favourite of mine.
(Picture borrowed from the wonderful Creation Website -
After that the albums started coming and a few more singles, all of which are gems and worth searching out. They didn’t allways stick to particluar mold or sound and drifted into various different styles of sound, drawing on some of the sound of punk, Postcard and soul elements and always exciting and melodic.
If you can’t find their early releases, you can always check out the mighty fine Rev Ola Records compilation “The Revenge Of The Jasmine Minks - The Best Of The Creation Years” or the Edition 59 reissues of some of the early Creation singles -
All the Best with the new label Jim!
Categories: 2010 Favourite, Great Music, zUncategorized |
Tags: Cherry Red Records, Creation Records, Dave Musker, EDITION 59, Jasmine Minks, Joe Foster, Oatcake Records, television personalities, Vollwert Records | 1 Comment
