Some quick hitters.

Catching up on my music backlog with a few words on some fine new releases.

Smash Palace-Right as Rain EP. Veteran Philly poppers Smash Palace are back with their first new music in nearly four years and it's a welcome return with five tracks of the jangle-rock they've been perfecting for the last 30+ years. Opener "It Happened to Me" is their best track of this decade with "Heart of a Loving Man" and the title track close contenders.

iTunes




Jeremy Fetzer-Wisdom of the Octopus EP. This 3-song EP was released in the fall of 2017 and I've been meaning to getting around to mentioning it here for about 6 months now. Fetzer is a confederate of Reno Bo (who's been releasing some excellent singles of his own lately), and Bo co-wrote "You Should Know by Now", a deliciously melodic tune that serves as the perfect example of his Beatles-meet-Van Dyke Parks pop. The title track and "When Will You Be Home?" aren't too shabby either with the latter being the EP's most baroque.

Free download from Bandcamp



Checkpoint Charley-The Great Jedi Mind Trick EP. Last month I was pleasantly surprised to see Adrian Whitehead back after a 10-year + hiatus, and now Checkpoint Charley is the next long-lost artist from the mid-2000s to return after wondering whether we'd hear from them again. Last heard from in 2005 with the heavily Jellyfish-influenced Songs One Through Twelve, these Tennessee poppers are back with a 4-song EP about the Star Wars universe. And the good news is that they have an Indiegogo crowdfunder for the proper followup to the debut, titled none other than Songs 13-24.

iTunes



Dan Israel-You're Free. Minneapolis singer-songwriter Dan Israel has been going strong for a couple of decades now, and I've featured him on the site before. On album #14 he serves up another winning combination of Tom Petty-influenced heartland rock and Dylanesque folk-rock. Top cuts: the title track, "Gets You Through It", "Someday You'll Say".

iTunes

Friday Roundup.

A couple of our favorite bands from the Northeast make welcome returns today:

Smash Palace-Do it Again. These Philly power pop icons really need no introduction, and album #8 finds them once again in top form. In fact it takes about three seconds to come to this conclusion, as the jangly guitars that open "Living it Lonely" let you know that you're at home.
"It's Easy" is a melodic rocker that compares to their 80s compatriots The Smithereens, and the title track manages to be both bluesy and Beatlesque. They're also effective when they take things down a notch, on the plaintive "21st Century Boy" and the mellow but menacing "Sympathy Runs Deep". Stephen Butler and company Do It Again, and by "it" I mean deliver the power pop goods.

Buy at official site | iTunes




The Successful Failures-Here I Am! This Jersey band has always been a favorite, mainly because they're not afraid to eschew the familiar power pop song topics of girls and cars in favor of stuff they just find interesting, and they usually do so with a skewed, humorous bent. This time around, subjects of their whimsy include "How People Start Sentences", "The Rise of China", "Mickey Mantle's Knees" and "Viking Heroes", among others. But while their choice of material might be goofy, they take their melodies and musicianship seriously so they don't come across as cute or precious. The common thread here is no-nonsense, straight-ahead rocking power pop in the tradition of their label (FDR), and this might be their best and most consistent release.

CD Baby | iTunes

CD of the Day, 7/5/10: Smash Palace-7

Smash Palace has been around since the 80s, but somehow they've managed to come up with what might be their best album in a deep catalog of quality releases. Whether it's the Revolver-styled cover or the dawn of a new decade or something in the air, these veteran Philly poppers have one of 2010's best on their hands.

Long-time Palace fans will love this disc of course, but this is also a perfect time for the uninitiated to get on board. They're versatile among the many power pop styles - whether it be a mid-period Beatlesque sound, Byrds-like jangle or straight up power pop, they do it all well. The 1-2 punch of "Win it All" and "How Can You Say?" is perfect way to open the disc, with both being energetic and melodic rockers. "Holding Out for You" is the kind of tuneful ballad that might have been a hit in their 80s days, and "Human Kind" might just be the best song on the album, a punchy rocker with some jangle that definitely lives up to the promise of the Revolver cover art.

The second half of the disc doesn't slack off either. The Tom Petty-ish "Here it Comes Again" would have made a great Side 2 opener in the days of LPs, with its insistent melody and "whoa-oh-oh-oh" backing vocals. The gentle acoustic guitar-and-piano ballad "Bridge of Sighs" is another triumph, and "Dead End Street" is classic Smash Palace. "Somebody Up There Likes Me" boasts some nice Harrisonesque slide guitar and "Solo" closes the album in style with yet another catchy melody. It's certainly a lucky "7" for both Smash Palace and anyone who picks up this disc.

CD Baby | Not Lame | Kool Kat | MySpace | iTunes

CD of the Day, 1/2/08: Smash Palace-Everybody Comes and Goes

What better way to ring in the new year than with the first big-name power pop release of 2008, Smash Palace's Everybody Comes and Goes, the followup to 2005's Over The Top, which placed at #10 on my Best of 2005 list. The veteran Philly band is known for their jangle pop sound, but here they add a few wrinkles to keep things fresh.

Opener "She" is classic Palace: Jangly guitars, a Beatlesque melody, great chorus. But "Didn't Anyone Tell You?" follows with a bit of a more "modern power pop" sound in the manner of Fountains of Wayne, while "When You're Down" has a late 60s sheen that brings to mind The Grip Weeds. Meanwhile, "Dressed In Black" and "Don't Ask Me Why" return to the more traditional Palace sound. Other highlights include "She Can't Understand", which reminds me a bit of "Love Grows" in the verses, and the album's best track, "Hoping", a jangly delight which would bring a smile to Roger McGuinn's face.

Although the official release date of the album is January 22, copies are available now at the CD Baby link below. There's no better way for a power popper to start the year than with this one.

CD Baby | MySpace

New on eMusic 3/13/07

In my third piece in a row today in a desperate bid to make up for a recent lack of posting, I'll note that there have been some great adds to eMu today. In fact, it's not every day that two of my top 100 of 2006 get added in the same day, but today was one of those days.

Most notable was my #22 for 2006, The Hazey Janes' Hotel Radio. As I wrote over a year ago, "The HJ's are at the intersection of my two favorite styles of music: power pop and alt-country. The Jayhawks and Cosmic Rough Riders comparisons are most certainly apt." I never gave the disc a proper review, but my lofty ranking speaks for itself. "Moanin' Face" was an unfortunate omission from my favorite songs of 2006 list.

My #74 popped up as well, The Virtues' Where Were You?. See this post for more on these Swedish janglers (scroll down about halfway), complete with a couple of mp3 downloads.

Finally, had I done like David Bash and compiled a list of top reissues/compilations, Smash Palace's Best of 99-06 would have been near the top of the list, and it should be at the top of yours.

My Top 20 of 2005, #10: Smash Palace-Over The Top

Philly's Smash Palace is a veteran band that keeps cranking out great albums over the years. Once signed to Epic back in the late 80s, Palace has hit its stride over the past seven years with three quality self-released cd's, capped by the very late 2004 release (close enough for me to count it as '05), Over The Top.

Over The Top was pretty much the best jangle-rock album of the year. Standouts on this one abound, from the opener, "Steal Her Thunder" to my favorite "Juliet to Me". The level of consistency from track-to-track on this one is what makes it a true keeper. If you're a fan of the classic janglers, from The Byrds to Tom Petty, this one is a must-buy.

And there's good news - I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance. (Sorry, couldn't resist). Actually the good news is that the album is available on eMusic here, as well as their previous two releases. Their official site has four full streams from Over The Top, including the two I singled out above. And you can buy it at the usual power pop retailers.

But wait - there's more! (I really have watched too many commercials in my lifetime). Palace is releasing a brand-new best-of album covering their three latest releases, along with two brand new tracks: "Like I Do" and "Thinking About Her", with the latter being streamed at their myspace page. The best-of is to be officially released in May, but if you email Smash Palace's Stephen Butler and ask him real nice, he'll sell you an advance copy now.

Also note that Mr. Butler produced the MezzRow disc that was our most recent CDotD, as well as playing on and co-writing several of the tracks. I knew there was a reason that disc jumped out at me.