Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Don't delete these scenes

 By Henry Lipput

If you type Gramercy Arms NYC into Google one of the results will be a co-op building of that name. Built in 1959, it was no doubt an apartment building between the time the president of the United States told the city to “drop dead” and the whole turning-apartments-into-co-ops started to happen.

It’s also the time period when young people -- artists, writers, actors, filmmakers, musicians – flocked to the city. And this period of creativity is reflected in the songs and sounds of Deleted Scenes (Magic Door Record Label), the wonderful new album by Gramercy Arms – not the co-0p but a collective led by Dave Derby. (How much do I like this album? I’m disappointed it’s only available as a download and would really like to have a CD copy or, even better, have it on vinyl.)



Derby, among other things, was a member of another collective of sorts: The Negatives was a band led by Lloyd Cole resulting in 2001’s The Negatives, a now mostly (and wrongly) forgotten disc that’s full of terrific performances and Cole is at one of the peaks of his songwriting game (“Impossible Girl” anyone?). This one-time only collection of musicians included Derby and Jill Sobule as well as long-time musical partner and Commotions guitarist Neil Clark and New York rock staple Robert Quine in what may have been his last time on a record.

Lloyd Cole, it turns out, is also part of the Gramercy Arms collective. He sang a duet with Joan As Police Woman on “Beautiful Disguise” from 2014’s The Seasons of Love album. Cole also co-wrote and plays on the splendid “Yesterday’s Girl,” the first single from Deleted Scenes. Having worked with Cole for more than 20 years, Derby has, especially on this song, picked up some of the former’s vocal mannerisms. This isn’t a criticism as I’ve been a Cole fan since I bought Easy Pieces in 1985 so the more Cole the better I say. (But it’s interesting that Derby sounds less like Cole on his work with The Norfolk Downs.)

Although the Bandcamp page for Deleted Scenes mentions the album was inspired by the 70s and 80s artistic heyday, I initially thought it referred to the burgeoning punk and new wave music of that period and so really didn’t catch the connection. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was instead the singer-songwriters of that period and the one I latched on to immediately was the 1974 self-titled solo debut of New York-based singer-songwriter Tim Moore. Moore’s great “Second Avenue” is a song of lost love and, for me, is in many ways, both lyrically and musically, a template for what Derby and company have achieved with Deleted Scenes.


Sunday, April 16, 2023

The Pure Pop 4 Now People Singles Club 2023 #2

By Henry Lipput

We’re back with another batch of recent singles we’ve been enjoying. This time it’s new music from The Boo Radleys, The Plus 4, and Librarians with Hickeys.

The Boo Radleys, "Now That's What I Call Obscene"

The rousing “Now That’s What I Call Obscene” (linktr.eebooradleyofficial) is the second single being used to announce the June release of the band’s new album Eight. The new song’s lyrics gives listeners a choice of what they might think is obscene and the video makes it even clearer with scenes between same-sex couples alternating between scenes of armies and killing machines. Based on the new songs, it’s clear that Eight will be giant step (see what I did there?) in the continuing evolution of the band.



The Plus 4, "She's In My Head"

Who is the mystery band that is The Plus 4? “She’s In My Head” (Bandcamp) is the fourth single from the band and we still don’t know much about them. (My guess is that it’s made up of four members but that might be wrong as Ben Folds Five was only three.) What we do know is The Plus 4 is a beat-happy group with influences ranging from Merseyside bands to the early 60’s London of The Who and The Kinks. When you can’t shake the thought of someone you've just met, “She’s In My Head,” with its big screen sound of strings, horns, a pounding piano, and a Dave Davies-like lead guitar solo, is what it feels like.




Librarians with Hickeys, "Can't Wait 'Till Summer"

For the lonely guy in Librarians with Hickey’s “Can’t Wait “Till Summer” (Big Stir Records) as Winter slowly changes to Spring he’s looking forward to seeing his September gurl again. Now with both most likely living in different states, he wonders what’s going on : “You told me you needed some time alone/You promised me that you would phone.” This latest from Akron, Ohio’s finest, and the second single from last year’s Handclaps & Tambourines, is a pure pop gem and no matter what the season it’s jangle all the way.



Thursday, April 6, 2023

Fresh from the blender

 By Henry Lipput

What do you get when you put a musical mix of styles in a blender and hit the puree button? If you’re lucky (and it turns out we definitely are this time) you’ll end up with The Power Of And (Big Stir Records) the debut solo album from Steve Stoeckel – and it’s a delight!

The Power Of And alternates between the Rockpile rockabilly of “Laura Lynn” to the wonderful acoustic treats of the title song, “Heather Gray,” “Birds” (a lovely melody as good as anything on a McCartney album), and “Strange Cameo” with its “I’ll Follow The Sun” vibe.


Stoeckel is a founding member of Power Pop Hall of Famers The Spongetones so it’s not surprising the power and the pop is brought out in force on “Christine” in which Stoeckel double tracks his vocal and sounds like the Everly Brothers doing “Lucille.” His duet with Irene Pena on “Why” also suggests not only the Everlys but also the foreverly album in which Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day dropped his snarl and teamed up with Nora Jones for an album of Everly Brothers songs.

“If/Then” is where the Nick Drake influence comes in and it includes some wonderful Robert Kirby-like strings. “Hummingbird” could have been written by Andy Partridge and is a sister to “Ladybird” on XTC’s Mummer album. And I couldn’t help but think of George Harrison when listening to “Just One Kiss” with its opening mandolin like something off Brainwashed.