New Tommy Keene CD - Chasing The Ether

[JohnO]

Popdude & anyone else who's a fan or Mr. Keene - I had the incredibly good fortune to run into Tommy and Robert Pollard, his current employer, last week in Austin. Shockingly, TK remembered me from the 80's DC days (my first ex-wife's best friend at work was Bill Craig's fiance - Bill was the 2nd guitarist in Razz with Tommy in the late 70's....the Razz's rhythm section of Ted Nicely and Doug Tull became Tommy's first rhythm section when he went solo....but I digress....). Anyhow, to make a long story short, I ended up hearing about 1/2 of Tommy's new solo CD, Chasing The Ether (I think that was the title) - it'll be coming out in April. Most excellent!!! Perhaps his best ever....

[popdude]

Yes, it's a great effort from Tommy - one of his best discs in years, no doubt. Cool that you ran into him!

[JohnO]

Well...I got the title wrong, it's "Crashing The Ether", per his web site.....and is out a week from next Tuesday, although Not Lame apparently has advance copies for sale. Having seen him with Pollard twice, it's a shame Robert isn't giving him at least 1-2 songs per set (although I didn't ask RP why not.....I guess he's just hired help...although I'm sure that RP/GBV fans would certainly not object...)

[Don_Krider]

JohnO, I love Tommy Keene's work.

Eleven Thirty Records/Yep Roc sent me a promo copy of "Crashing The Ether" a couple of weeks ago for an upcoming review, and it's an amazing slice of good rock 'n' roll. It hits the streets April 4, according to the promo material.

I put it in the car stereo the first day I got it and it has remained there ever since (the big beat drum sound grabbed me quickly). The songs are great --- kind of a blend of Raspberries, The Posies, The Who and The Replacements (not surprising since Tommy has toured with Paul Westerberg, as well as with Velvet Crush).

Jesse Valenzuela (of The Gin Blossoms) and R. Walt Vincent (from Pete Yorn's band) appear on the album as well.

I really recommend this one highly if you like classic rock/power pop.

Rolling Stone called Tommy Keene "one of America's greatest, unheralded songwriters."

Keene and Robert Pollard have another release due later this year as "The Keene Brothers."

Raspberries connection? Check this out --- from Magnet magazine a couple of years back, artists were asked what their favorite power pop songs were --- http://www.magnetmagazine.com/interviews/powerpop2.html --- and Tommy Keene answered:

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“Play On,†Raspberries

It’s the Raspberries’ “A Hard Day’s Night.†The lyrics are very “rock clichéâ€â€”“Play your hits and all the girls will comeâ€â€”but the main riff is classic, and the too-high-for-my-high-school-band-to-cover harmonies are amazing. The record it’s on, Starting Over, is the quintessential power-pop album, a perfect blend of the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Who. It was their attempt to shed their teenybopper image, and “Play On†sort of chronicles their frustration.

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Don

[JohnO]

Don - That's great news about Tommy & RP doing an album together.....although with Pollard having put out about 50 albums (or the equivalent of) in the past 15 years or so, it shouldn't be all that surprising. (Luckily, when I ran into the dynamic duo in Austin - at Antone's record store - Robert didn't remember me as one of the fools down front at his 930 Club show back in January, who was yelling at him throughout his set to let Tommy do a song or two.....(although Tommy did)....)

[Early Wynn]

The disc is great. It's somewhat of a step back from his last 3 or 4 albums, which were a little more straight ahead rockers. This does remind me of his "Places that are Gone" EP, and "Based on Happy Times" CD. I emailed Tommy about the Raspberries reunion tour and he said he saw them back in the early seventies and loved them. I believe he was going to see them in L.A. He has a lot of the same influences at the Berries: the Who and the Beatles.

[pierson]

TK's latest is a strong one (i dig it much more than the last one).... it also marks the 20th anniversary of the release of "Songs From The Film"-- i'm not exactly sure what day, but I remember it being early 1986...

[JohnO]

At one point, I had two vinyl copies of his debut "Strange Alliance", complete with the bonus single...but sold both of them for about $30-40 apiece well over 15 years ago, after copying one of them on cassette....which my car tape deck promptly ate several years later. Wonder what decent quality copies of that LP are bringing nowadays? (The title track can also be found on "Disconnected", a DC compilation from the early 80's, that featured my old pals Black Markey Baby, who just had a compilation of their work released on Dr. Strange in Feb.....BMB, in my opinion, were the best punk band DC ever produced - screw the Dischord crowd and all of those awful bands!)

[JohnO]

I just found an answer to my question about Tommy's "Strange Alliance" LP.....2 vendors have copies for sale on www.gemm.com - one costs $115, the other $125.