This crossword is no puzzle

 By Henry Lipput

Ringing guitars, short sharp bass lines, wonderful close harmonies, and tunes a-plenty, that’s what you get on Pressed & Ironed, the debut album from Crossword Smiles (Big Stir Records).

The band is a brand-new collaboration between Detroit, Michigan, pop stalwarts Tom Curless (guitar, drums, and vocals) of Your Gracious Host and solo efforts and Chip Saam (bass and vocals) of The Hangabouts as well Curless’s backing band The 46% (and Neighborhood Weekly Radio’s Indie Pop Takeout).  Inspired by the sound of 80’s and 90’s college radio, Curless and Saam dip into their musical grab bags to create songs that both reflect and build on what they’ve grown up listening to.

“Feet on the Ground” is the blast that begins the album. It’s the sound of Big Star if Chris Bell was still in the band for the Radio City sessions (Pressed & Iron’s “Take It on the Chin” is the corresponding Alex Chilton track). Another nod to their influences is highlighted in “This Little Town.” With its Amanda Brown-sounding violin and Robert Forster-like rhythmic guitar jabs, it’s like the late, great Go-Betweens take on Simon & Garfunkel’s “My Little Town.” And what can I say about the sad and beautiful “October Leaves?” It’s a song about broken hearts that might break yours as well.

The album’s first single, “Parallel Lines,” is infused with that college radio vibe and the video would have been a staple on MTV’s 120 Minutes. The second single, “The Girl with a Penchant for Yellow,” is kicked off with an A Hard Day’s Night guitar crash and a dreamy musical phrase. It’s about a woman who wants to be noticed and packs her suitcase as if she’s leaving home; but she’s in a world of her own as she has her “ears on tight.” There’s also a man on the move with “his briefcase packed and ready to pick a fight” with the girl.

Although there’s no resolution, what is clear is the song brings along Saam’s bandmates from The Hangabouts, Greg Addington and John Lowry. Even cooler is, following the release of Pressed & Ironed, it was announced that Curless would be joining The Hangabouts and the band was working on new material for a forthcoming album. Curless and Saam will be joined by Addington and Lowry at a Record Release Party for Pressed & Ironed on January 6^th at Trinity House (opening the show is Pure Pop fav Chris Richards of The Legal Matters and Chris Richards and the Subtractions)! You can get tickets here.

“Second Guesser” is a delight with some fine backing vocals (something you might have heard on a Beatles record; are they referencing “Girl” in the middle eight?) and excellent lead guitar work. Like “The Girl with a Penchant for Yellow,” but more fleshed out, it’s a story song. It’s left up to the listener as to whether these two become Terry and Julie or they never meet up because they think too much about it.

Freedy Johnston returns with a great new album

 By Henry Lipput

Although it’s been seven years since Freedy Johnston’s Neon Repairman, from the opening notes of his great new album Back on the Road to You (Forty Below Records) it’s clear he hasn’t missed a beat.

My favorite songs on Back on the Road to You recall the things I’ve liked in his past work. For instance, my first listen to the glorious pop of “There Goes a Brooklyn Girl” made me think of Never Home’s “I’m Not Hypnotized.” The five-minute long instant classic “Somewhere Love” has the same melancholy vibe of his masterpiece Blue Days, Black Nights.

The back-to-basics rock and roll delight that is “Tryin’ to Move On,” about a man on the run, sounds like the inspiration for an early Jonathan Demme film with a theme song written by Chuck Berry. The album’s title song is a return to form as he’s helped by a crack roots music team that adds nifty touches like a pedal steel and organ fills. But it’s the banjo that begins the song that can make you want to run to your CD collection and give his break-out release Can You Fly yet another listen (but listen the new album first).

Johnston gets some help along the way from friends who happen to be major-talent singer/songwriters. Aimee Mann provides lovely backing vocals to “Darlin.” Long-time collaborator Susan Cowsills matches him note for note on the rave-up “The Power of Love” (NOT the Huey Lewis song). And Susanna Hoffs brings a twang to her backing vocals on “That’s Life.”

The first song, “Back on the Road to You,” and the last, “The I Really Miss Ya Blues,” bookend the album. In addition to what the lyrics tell us about a man trying to get back to someone who means a lot to him, they work as well for long-time Johnston fans who, for nearly a decade, have had the really miss him blues.

Welcome back, Freedy.

the black watch has pressing concerns

 By Henry Lipput

Deciding to wait until their new album, future strangers, was available on vinyl (sometime in early 2023) before releasing it on any format, the LA-based indie guitar pop band the black watch has treated us to a digital EP that includes “the neverland of spoken things,” a song to be included on the album, as well as two non-album tracks (ATOM Records).

John Andrew Fredrick and company (including this time around the backing vocals of the wonderful Lindsay Murray of Gretchen’s Wheel) are again plugged in and ready to bring on the fuzz and the crunch to the melodies.

“the neverland of spoken things” is a perfect example of the band’s dreampop sound. There’s a cool “Penny Lane”-style horn and Murray makes an appearance that’s more than a support role but instead a partner to Fredrick’s lead vocal.

The other two tracks, “precious little” and “living backwards.” aren’t demos or outtakes but fully formed songs that just didn’t make it onto the album. You can think of them as bonus tracks as well as yet another example of the creative geyser that is John Andrew Fredrick, allowing the band to release an album a year between 2019 and 2021 (actually there were two full-length albums in 2020).

On “precious” the guitars are upfront in the mix and the drums drive the song along; it ends with some terrific lead guitar work by Bernard Yin. “living backwards” is the kind of melodic gem for which Fredrick is known and he joins Yin by taking turns on the lead. Both songs would find pride of place on an album by any other indie guitar pop band.