Moving to Nashville must be working for Maia Sharp

By Henry Lipput

Having moved to Nashville from her native California, Maia Sharp has taken advantage of the local music scene, a city that American Songwriter magazine described as “the natural songwriter’s habitat.” The result was her album Mercy Rising, (one of my favorite albums of 2021) and her first solo release in six years.

Her superb new album, Reckless Thoughts (maiasharp.com), builds on the relationships she’s made with the many musicians and songwriters she’s met in Nashville and has also had over the years with friends and colleagues since her debut in 1995. The new album, like Mercy Rising, is a self-produced collection and recorded in Nashville’s Resister Studio. It contains co-writes with Dean Fields, Mindy Smith, Garrison Starr, and Kim Richey but Sharp’s views of life and love are always front and center.

Working with a supporting cast of seasoned musicians, Sharp’s production on Reckless Thoughts is a low-key affair highlighting each song’s melody with subtle arrangements that wash over you like a warm bath and then come back to revisit you. The literate lyrics are polished to a gem-like finish with just enough detail in the characters and conversations to double as a pitch meeting for a Netflix series. (If you look up ‘literate’ in the dictionary you’ll find Sharp; she’s part of a pantheon of currently working great American singer-songwriters that also includes Lucinda Williams and Freedy Johnston).

Standout tracks on Reckless Thoughts include “She’ll Let Herself Out” (“She’ll let herself out/The gate to the cages she’s been living in/Now that she’s realized they lock from the inside/She’ll never be something she’s not/Not again”), “On A Good Day” (“There are days it’s harder not/To bring you up in conversation/All the ways you still exhaust her/Move in steady slow rotation/With a good day”), “California” (“You were always good to me/I never thought that I would leave you/California”), and, my favorite track (hence the extra lyrics), the glorious, bluesy “Fallen Angel” (“She said, ‘Honey don’t fall for this fallen angel’/I said ‘Don’t tell me what to do/If I want to drop to my knees all fuckin’ faithful/Well it’s really not up to you/Besides you with a halo is like me with a crown/And that ain’t the way we make a joyful sound/I’ve been waiting so long’”).

It’s a joy

By Henry Lipput

“It’s A High” (Bandcamp) is the latest single from The Shop Window and it’s a sunny, jangle pop delight. Songwriters Carl Mann and Syd Oxlee have crafted yet again another wonderful song that is a joy to listen to. “It’s A High” employs the sun and clouds as metaphors for how the light from a loved one’s eyes can make life so much better: “When I’m feeling down/Your light of day just washes over me/A sun within a cloud.”

The line-up for The Shop Window continues to be Mann on vocals and guitar, Oxlee also on vocals, Martin Corder on bass, and Phil Elphee on drums. They are now joined by Paul Reeves on guitar, saxophones, and assorted instruments; Reeves became part of the band when The Shop Window toured behind their last album A 4 Letter Word after it became too difficult for Mann to play two guitars at the same time (and you just know he tried to do it).

“It’s A High” is also the lead-off single from The Shop Window’s next album Daysdream out next year. It’s a two-record event with the “Days” disc filled with summer jangle and the “Dream” disc full of melancholy melodies. Daysdream is the first album released on the band’s very own Jangle Pop Records, a very DIY affair, and you can preorder it here.

The New Fools are not phoning it in

By Henry Lipput

seashells, the excellent new album from The New Fools (Bandcamp), adds trumpets and saxophones to the mix and the result is a hornucopia of sound. It’s their first “full-length” album (being more than the eight songs of previous ones) and their best yet (although I have a very soft spot in my heart for 2020's papillion -- the "lockdown" album [have you heard "D.N.S"?]).

It’s not the first time The New Fools have added horns to their songs. Their previous album, last year’s vanille, had horns especially on “Better Days.” But there’s something different about the band’s sound on the new album. It’s hard to know if the horns were recorded at the same time as the band was playing but the Fools sound better and tighter than ever before.

The band shares duties on creating lyrics and tunes for seashells. For example, bassist Dave Seabright was asked to write a theme song for the band which could be used to open shows. The resulting instrumental “Mr. Grimsdale” opens the album with a burst of sound. It’s both an overture and a statement of intent.

The horns are used again on “Tickets Still Available at The Door,” one of two songs about being in a band and also being a fan. “Tickets” describes a Thursday evening pub gig for a local band and it doesn’t go well: “The guitar’s not quite in tune/The singer comes in too soon/And the drums are too loud for the room/And what’s that buzzing?” But you just know there’s some lonely fan (is it you? it might be me) standing at the back of the room taking it all in and enjoying every minute.

In the fast-moving pop of “Chortle and the Wheelies” lyricist and vocalist Tony Jenkins reminisces about the music he grew up with and thinks about the music of the present. It’s a discussion many of us have had not only with friends but also in our heads on a daily basis. He sings about being late for school so he can hear the rest of his favorite song on the radio or trying to get home in time to watch a favorite TV program after buying a new single. Jenkins wonders about the shelf life of new bands: “I said to Dave/Hey Dave, I was watching Get Back I thought my head was about to explode/And do you think in fifty years people will be listening to Idles and Black Country New Road?”

Although XTC’s “Making Plans For Nigel” was a slap at British Steel, The New Fools’ take on the song, “(Oh yeah) I’m Making Plans for Nigel,” uses it as an opportunity to put it to Nigel Farage, a well-known UK broadcaster, former politician, and former Brexit supporter: “Oh yeah I’m making plans for Nigel/I only want what’s worst for him/Start with a long walk on a short pier/A wicker man to lock him in.” Using some of the lyrics as well as the melody and some of the arrangements of the original song this new version becomes an ear worm (especially if you’re from the UK) to gloat by.

The lost-love treasure that is “Hopelessly Alone” has a wonderful acoustic guitar solo from The Druid and there’s as a lovely flute solo too. Sitting outside during the summer is, for this person, a time to recall the one who got away: “To the girl in a million/The one that got away/And if I hadn’t been stupid/She’d be here today.”

New single from Tremendous and the premier of the Pure Pop Phive

By Henry Lipput

 New Tremendous single

“Fingerprints,” the terrific new single from the UK’s Tremendous, is more than another break-up song. It begins with a quiet, solo guitar but then bursts into a full-band rock fest as lead singer Mark Dudzinski relates his feelings about the split with some new ways to describe it: he’s left looking like “the boy for the poster” for loneliness and he feels as if his now-gone love has left “fingerprints all over my heart.”

The new song is the first release from the band since 2020’s Relentless album and continues the trio’s dips into the music of ‘70s glam and pop like T. Rex and Eric Carmen’s Raspberries with a bit of Cheap Trick thrown in for good measure.

“Fingerprints” is available at digital vendors (Amazon and Apple Music) and on streaming services (Spotify and YouTube).

Here’s the video for “Fingerprints”:

The Pure Pop Phive

Dudzinski has kindly agreed to answer some questions (five to be exact) in the premier of the exciting new PP4NP feature: the Pure Pop Phive.

How would you describe your music?

Classic rock/glam punk

What/who are your major influences?

T. Rex, Hanoi Rocks, The Beatles, Johnny Thunders

Do you perform live? Do you have any upcoming gigs?

Looking for a new drummer so shows are on hold at the moment.

How do you support yourself so you can continue to make music?

Whatever we can.

What’s an album you can’t live without (that not one of yours)?

The Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks

Pure Pop’s Songs of Summer 2023

By Henry Lipput

As we approach what used to be called the dog days of summer (now most of the season is being dogged by the high temps), I wanted to put together a playlist of recently released summer-themed songs and a couple of classics.

The playlist starts out with songs that celebrate the joys of summer (“Summer,” “Summer Dreamin’,” “Summer Blue,” and “The Version” [which doesn’t mention summer but in my review I called it “a horn-driven burst of sunshine” and wouldn’t you just love to hear it blasting from a car driving by?]). It’s the feeling you got when school was out for the next few months and except for maybe mowing your parents’ lawn you just hung out with friends. For the rest of us maybe we can get some time off from work and enjoy the longer days spending time with family and friends.

There’s a song about summer love and falling for someone at the local pool (“Right in the Middle of Summer”) and two songs that reflect what Nat King Cole called the hazy, lazy days of the season (“Sunlounger” and “Summer Be Gone”). Then we have two classics: a song about what it’s like to live in the concrete jungle (“Summer in the City”) and another classic as a nod to the dog days (“Hey Bulldog” – did you really think I’d put together a playlist that didn’t have a Beatles’ song?).

All these songs can be found on the accompanying Spotify playlist.

But because not everything is on Spotify, I’m also including another celebration of the season, “Summer Is Here,” which is available on Bandcamp (as are most of the songs on this playlist so you can get yourself a download and support indie music).

Music by Pritchard, words by Woodcock

By Henry Lipput

You may think (as I did) that after having written both words and music for wonderful songs like “Mont St. Michel” from 2016’s Mother Town Hall and “Lullaby” from 2019’s Midland Lullabies that Bill Pritchard would have little need or incentive to collaborate with the Canadian poet Patrick Woodcock.

But it turns out this is a genius move and has resulted in the stunning new album Bill Pritchard Sings Poems by Patrick Woodcock (TapeteRecords). Woodcock has written nine books of poetry that reflect his work as a migrant writer, volunteer, and teacher. As a long-time fan of Pritchard’s work, during the pandemic lockdown he reached out to the musician and asked it he would like to write a song based on one of his poems. The songs were created from poems in Woodcock’s latest collection Farhang Book One out on September 5^th (the poems on the album are included with the CD and vinyl releases of Sings Poems by Patrick Woodcock).

Pritchard has lost none of his ability to create brilliant melodies and songs like “The Lowering” and “Art in G Sharp” that knock me out. The vocals and simple arrangements make you stop what you’re doing and listen to the words and give the poetry the attention it must be paid.

Two of the eleven tracks on the album are spoken by Woodcock with music written by Pritchard. “Floe” and “Balcony” are darker poems and it’s terrific to be able to hear the words in the author’s voice.