Recommend two groups, please

[Bob Allen]

Pernice Brothers it is. Anyone who has NOT yet given them a listen -- whaddya waiting for? The new one -- A Lovlier You -- has been spinning on my CD players continually since June when it was released. Fetch it. (Oh, and The Scruffs released some stuff in the late 70s that was very pop/garage-ish sounding...)

[hbecstacy]

Adding to the list (hope I'm not repeating anyone):

Wondermints "Mind If We Make Love to You?" (Brian Wilson's backup band, terrific 70s style pop)

Jellyfish (both "Bellybutton" and "Spilled Milk" are wonderful psychedelic-tinged power pop)

Posies ("Dear 23" and "Frosting on the Beater", power pop meets the Seattle sound)

Trevor Rabin (pre- and post-Yes solo albums "Trevor Rabin" and "Can't Look Away")

Imperial Drag (groovy Jellyfish spin-off band, well worth the search, melodic rock with a T-Rex/glam edge)

Rollers "Elevator" (Yup, the Bay City Rollers in a later incarnation)

Doug Powell (Todd Rundgren meets Jellyfish, he's actually played in TR's band)

Spock's Beard (my current favorite, a bit of a stretch here as this is a progressive band, but a lot of melody and power on "V" and "Snow," and the band's brilliant keyboardist, Ryo Okomuto, has played with EC)

The Darkness "Permission to Land" (not for all tastes, but I dig this goofy Queen-meets-AC/DC blast of English bombast)

Ben Folds 5 (especially "Ben Folds 5" and "Whatever and Ever Amen"; Ben's latest solo album "Songs for Silverman" is terrific also; his stuff, with and without the band, reminds me of early Todd Rundgren)

King's X (incredible, underrated power trio offers lots of melody and Beatlesque harmony under Doug Pinnick's soulful lead vocals, check out "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska," "Faith Hope Love" or "King's X")

Galactic Cowboys (like their mentors King's X, they combine crunch with melody, best bets: "At the End of the Day" and "Let It Go," can buy their CDs cheap on eBay)

and of course

The Hudson Brothers (mentioned often on this Board, their compilation CD "So You Are a Star" is well worth tracking down)

Probably many I've left out, but that's my two cents!

Howard

[Carmen Smalley]

I´d recommend The (International) Noise Conspiracy because maybe is the most oriented to melody/choruses I like nowadays.

[Sally G]

Love!

Joyce

[marvin]

Australia's Michael Carpenter: combines a love for Raspberries/Carmen/Beach Boys, with the Byrds/Petty. Pretty picture if you can see it.

Canada's April Wine: their mid 1970's work was as melodic and powerful as the 'berries.' High praise, but lead singer/songwriter Myles Goodwyn was just as good as *someone else* we all know when it came to singing ballads and uptempo songs.

Marv

[mamacote]

......i love that robert johnson lp!!!!!........you can hear more of his excellent guitar playing on john entwhistle's ox records!!!.....(of course, the downside is you have to listen to the records!)

[Gregkevinw]

argee, good call on greenday...some surprising'berrish moments.

imo, cheap trick comes as close to the berries as anyone, fountains of wayne, rooney also has "that" sound...

[Gregkevinw]

ooooppppsss.....tony's right about butch walker!

[darlene]

Ain't *nobody* as good as "*someone else* we all know" at singin' THOSE songs!

--D

[Julie]

When I'm not listenin' to Eric and the boys, it's Christian "pop" music for me. I adore:

Mark Schultz

Chris Rice

Phillips, Craig and Dean

FFH

Casting Crowns

aahhhh.....good stuff!

[Dougjack]

Marv

And welcome back from vacation, Marvin! Nice to see you back on the board(s)!

Jack

[Tony Cartmill]

Julie, Mark Shultz is a major talent. It seems everybody wants to work with him lately.

A person as important as Marvin should always carry his notebook PC on vacation.

[AJ]

Do I have to limit it to two?

Artful Dodger (there's a great forum for the band at http://www.adodger.ho8.com/SMF%20Forum/index.php including some streaming audio and posts from band members)

Enuff Z'Nuff (first few albums up to the album "1985"). Later, they released a good live CD.

Dwight Twilley - his greatest hits "XXI" Phil Seymour did 2 solo LPs which are pretty good!

The Kings - 80's flavor power pop. Had the hit "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide". Their first two albums are available on a single CD.

The A's - 80's New Wave - debut and "A Woman's Got The Power" - Never released on CD but you can find them at used record stores.

The Sinceros - 80's - two albums before they broke up. Keyboard player joined SQUEEZE aft Paul Carrack left. "Sounds Of Sunbathing" and "Pet Rock" - Not yet released to CD

New England - Big hit "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya" - put out 3 albums - the debut is the best. Available on CD.

Wet Willie - Southern Rock - Their Epic Record releases are available on a single CD. Includes "Weekend", "Street Corner Serenade", "Rain Man" and "Make You Feel Love Again"

Silver - obscure group, put out one album with the song "Wham Bam (Shang-A-Lang)". LP or import CD. Hit song was syrupy but the rest of the album was pretty good.

Player - debut and "Danger Zone". Debut is the strongest album. Both are together on 1 CD. "Baby Come Back" was their big hit.

Matthew Sweet - power pop of the '90s

Jellyfish - '90s - debut was good - Also a rare EP CD had a live cover of Wing's "Jet" and Badfinger's "No Matter What"

Sweet - pop and some harder rock - Greatest Hits is a decent collection

Michael Stanley Band/Breathless - I lean more towards Breathless and 80's MSB - what can I say, I'm from Ohio and grew up in the '70s and early '80s

Michael Bolton - debut and first few releases (through "The Hunger") Avoid the Michael Bolotin releases - although soul-ful the recording is bad and covers are lack-luster.

The Monroes - only put out an EP around 1980. "What Do All The People Know" was their big song. Whole EP is very very good!

The Alarm - "Strength", "Eye Of The Hurricane" and "Change" are good. "Standards" is a greatest hits collection. All on CD - find'em used!

Franke & The Knockouts - "Sweetheart Collection" is a greatest hits disc with his original demos for "Hungry Eyes" and "I've Had The Time Of My Life" from Dirty Dancing. Love his liner notes on Eric Carmen singing "Hungry Eyes".

The Producers - '80s pop - "She Sheila" and "What's He Got" received airplay. Both albums are available on a single CD.

A couple of good compilations - the Rhino DIY collection (especially the Power Pop discs) and a later Rhino compilation called "Poptopia" - 3 discs, one for the '70s, '80s and '90s.

Not pop but '70s rock - STARZ and ANGEL. Both groups have Greatest Hits on CD. Funny tidbit - STARZ was formed by the members of LOOKING GLASS!

These two groups, people either like them or dismiss them. Aldo Nova - "Portrait" Greatest Hits. Some Sammy Hagar solo stuff ("Standing Hampton" and "3 Lock Box") The "Essential Red Collection" is a good package!

BLUE BY NATURE - Around 1998 - I picked up this disc for a dollar. Jack Douglas produced it. There's a good cover of the Nazareth song "Love Hurts".

Yikes, That's quite a bit, sorry I rambled! Sometimes, when I'm desperate for new music I search the All Music Guide based on the Producer of the albums I like (such as Jack Douglas). Producers tend to have a big influence on the sound of a record and the material chosen to record. This has proven to be very fruitful over the years!

[Raspbernie]

AJ,

You'll have to move out of the Express Lane since you have more than 2 items in your cart!

Bernie :-)

PS: BIG fan of Angel!!!

[MAM]

Yay!! Someone else likes Bolton besides me! I don't feel lonely anymore.

[Gregkevinw]

bernie, a friend of mine sent me the first four angel cd's recently.... it's a shame they quit when they did because "on earth as it is in heaven","white hot" & "sinful" they seemed to really be perfecting their craft. each of these cds had plenty of potential hits singles....

there was also a semi reunion cd called "in the beginning"..ever heard it?

[Bob Allen]

...someone saw punky meadows recently and commented that he's gained about 150 lbs and is totally bald. Oh well.

[Gregkevinw]

i guess time has not been as kind to some of "our"aging rockers as it has been to our raspberries....

[beachberry]

Dwight Twilley

The Rubinoos

The Shoes

[AJ]

You know, I always (I mean always) get stuck in the shopping line that crawls to a hault! Even when it's the express lane. And the person in front of me will have that one item that requires a price check!!!!!!!!

Sorry about the rambling........

The other thing about ANGEL (besides the music) was their great stage show! They did put out an album a year or two ago, but is was only the original drummer and lead singer, no Greg or Punky on the project. Most of the feedback was that it wasn't too good, I never heard it so I can't judge it!

I laughed at the comment on Punky's appearance, I was surprised to see how Michael Lee Smith from STARZ aged. If you like ANGEL, check out some of the STARZ catalog (Rykodisc recently reissued them). "Violation" may be the best - helped by Jack Douglas production.

Michael Bolton, I really like his "second debut" album, with "Fools Game" (first was Michael Bolotin). Aldo Nova production gave it a nice edge. "The Hunger" was helped by the co-writing with Jonathan Cain. And we all know Eric Carmen liked one of his songs enough to use it on his 80's Eric Carmen album.

[Raspbernie]

I saw Angel many times. They had a damned fine stage act. Saw Starz, too. Always dug their "Attention Shoppers" LP.

Bernie

[AJ]

Starz got hammered for that album, I thought they did a good job self-producing it! Don't know if you ever heard them do "Hold On To The Night" live in Cleveland, Richie Ranno did added a great little solo just before the final chorus refrain. I was bummed that they didn't use it for the "Live In Action" CD (which was Cleveland and Kentucky). STARZ has a DVD of their reunion show available at the STARZCENTRAL web site.

Angel - Remember Brandt's "funky" white FIBES drum set??? The suspended toms looked like elbow joints. If you like them and never heard it, "Live Without A Net" is pretty good.

You might like the group New England (around 1978). The debut was produced by Paul Stanley of KISS. If you like ANGEL, chances are you'll like the debut. I believe AMAZON.COM has some clips you can listen to. Todd Rundgren produced their later effort.

Here's another obscure one: Jules Shear & The Polar Bears. If you can get past Jule's voice, great song writing and very good power pop guitar work!!!

Here's one to stump you - What did Peter Noone of Herman's Hermit do after they broke up???

He got PUNK in the 80's and formed the TREMBLERS. They put out one album "Twice Nightly". Phil Seymour and Bill Witcock IV from Dwight Twilley assist. I like it, but it's definitely an acquired taste. It was definitely a change from his 60's stuff!!!!

Later!

[Bob Allen]

The Tremblers LP enjoyed many a spin on the Allen Bros's turntable back in the day (I still listed to 'I'll Be Taking Her Out Tonight' from time to time; it was the best off that LP). Noone's solo LP, which came out in the early 80s also had some good stuff. Anyone ever listen to Rex Smith (brother of STARZ frontman)? He had some very listenable stuff out in the early 80s, including a great pop nugget called 'Love Will Always Make You Cry.' Don't know whatever became of him (probably fat and bald somewhere -- like Punky).

[AJ]

Rex Smith - My only experience there is the 80's duet with Rachael Sweet - the ol' Robert Knight song "Everlasting Love" (later done by Carl Carlton in the early 70's).

Couple of later after-thoughts...

Del Amitri - "Waking Hours" and "Change Everything" albums. I love playing along with "Always The Last To Know". I once heard a radio broadcast of them live to support "Change Everything". It was fantastic - unfortunately, it has never been released.

Colin James - His first two albums had a pop/rock sound to them. He later went swing like Brian Setzer with the Colin James & The Little Big Band.

Gary Myrick & The Figures - Outstanding guitarist! His voice can take a while to get used to though. The debut had "She Talks In Stereo". He did these two albums after doing the "No Brakes" album with John Waite ("Missing You" was over-played in its day, but I never tired of the guitar in that song). A couple of solo albums in the 80's, Havana 3AM (with Paul Simon - bass - The Clash), and then solo again.

Help wanted:

Anyone know any more about the following...

Bullet - early 70's - did the song "White Lies, Blue Eyes". The group was formed from some members of Atomic Rooster. Did they ever put out an entire full length album? Was it any good?

Toronto - Anyone ever heard this Canadian group's version of "What About Love"? They did it a year before Heart's big comeback in the 80's. I know it's available on the CD reissue of "Get It On Credit" as a bonus track, but since I have the LP converted to CD, I can't justify the purchase for one song. If anyone knows where to hear a sample of it, I'd be much obliged!

[mannoman]

AJ,

Yes Del Amitri is a great band and Change Everything is a fine album. Their Best of... album is also superb.

The A's - a Philly based band (Eric Bazillian)became "The Hooters." An unfortunate choice of names - but it was a nickname for the Hohner Melodica which was an integral part of their signature sound ("And We Danced). A good live band.

Ted