Where we going fellas?

 By Henry Lipput

A long time ago, when (if you can believe it) The Beatles were struggling young musicians, tired of their lack of luck and playing low-paying gigs around Liverpool, John Lennon would try to buck up his fellow bandmates by asking, in a faux American DJ voice, “Where we going fellas?!” The answer was always “To the toppermost of the poppermost!”

Well, Joe Kane of Glasgow, opportunity knocks! 

Kane, the “one-man beat group,“ is a multi-talented musician, singer, songwriter, and performer (he’s played with Neil Innes, Joey Molland, and The Bootleg Beatles). He’s adopted the Poppermost name for his own musical project and the first Poppermost release, last year’s“ Can’t Take That Away” single, was a fab-tastic Mersey beat romp. 

The A Piece of the Poppermost EP (Bandcamp) shows Kane lovingly mining the musical vein of other mid-Sixties groups. 

“Well I Will” could have been recorded by The Easybeats and “Laziest Fella in the Realm” is a jaunty, Kinks-flavored tune like “Dedicated Follower of Fashion.” “Get it Down,” with its McCartney vibe, is a cross between “I’ll Follow the Sun” and the songs he wrote for Peter and Gordon. And “In & Out” is the kind of feel-good song favored by Herman’s Hermits and might still become a pub sing-along

In addition to the “Can’t Take That Away” single and the A Piece Of The Poppermost EP, Kane has recorded eight more songs that a scheduled to be released on his Hits To Spare album in June. It’s available on vinyl and because the CD of A Piece Of The Poppermost has already sold out it might be a good idea to pre-order it.

Next Time: Jeremy Porter’s Sweet Tooth 

All You Need Is Friends

 By Henry Lipput

While waiting for the release of his second album with Lisa Mychols (the first was one of my favorite albums of 2020), SUPER 8 is doing what he always does during a break: make more music.

The result this time is the wonderful new single “For My Friends” (Bandcamp). It’s the second “taster” (but I prefer to think of it as a “treat”) for his next solo album being released later this year on The Beautiful Music label.

“For My Friends” is a warm embrace as well as a salute to all of those people who help you through the tough times (like last year) and are there with you to celebrate the good ones.  

My alternative title for the song is “All You Need Is Friends” because SUPER 8 has channeled his inner George Martin to create the brilliant arrangements: there are strings and horns and the only thing could make this song better is if he flew in a snippet of his “Love Like Ours” song into the mix near the end. “For My Friends,” with its echoes of a certain Fab anthem from the Sixties, could easily turn into a sing-along with your best mates.

And this being a SUPER 8 single there is, of course, a video this time with photographs of his friends.

Next Time: Where we going fellas?