The Many Fazes Of John Andrew Fredrick

 By Henry Lipput

The always prolific John Andrew Fredrick (although he prefers being called a ‘"fuzzy janglepop genius”) and his excellent band of cohorts the black watch have been creating new music for more than 30 years. Their great collection of past triumphs, 31 Years Of Obscurity, was released in 2019 and is a must have for both old and new fans of the band.

Last year the black watch released the sprawling double album For All The World, a collection that seemed at times difficult to navigate (and I've been a diehard fan since 31 Years). This year we have been gifted with a single album, the terrific Varied Superstitions (digital: ATOM Records/Vinyl and CD: Blue Matter Records) and while more straightforward it’s also sprawling in its own way. The new album is a combination of “Rain”-like drones and the purest of pop (because like Fredrick I am also a massive Beatles fan you’ll find more than a few references to that group within this review).

“Faze” a song Fredrick would refer to as a “pop drone” and what I might call (and he might agree with) as having the influence of shoegaze.  There’s, along with electric guitars the sound of Indian music that’s been filtered through the music of a certain foursome. 

“Some People Will Believe” and “Living Backwards” has Fredrick and the band leaning into their love of pop. His affection for The Beatles makes the guitar centric “Living Backwards” a brother to the songs on Side 2 of Revolver ("And Your Bird Can Sing" perhaps?), 

It’s hard to make sense of “No I Shouldn’t” unless you have the album on vinyl (let's move some units!) and can play the song backwards like you can when you listen to “Revolution 9” on a vinyl copy of 'The White Album.’  On the other hand the album’s final track “Your Clothes, Sir” is gorgeous and melancholy made even more so with its beautiful guitar solo which brings to mind “And I Love Her.”

Caleb Nichols: a new album and a fab Christmas mashup

By Henry Lipput

Let’s Look Back

Let’s Look Back (Kill Rock Stars), the new album from poet, singer, and songwriter Caleb Nichols, continues the backwards looking journey he began with last year’s Ramon (one of my favorite albums of 2022).

Ramon is a queer love story (he used #queerthebeatles on the tweeter to promote the album) about a young gay boy growing up in a small town in the 1990s and finding the music of The Beatles as an escape. There’s also a rocky love story about Mean Mr. Mustard and Captain Custard although the names may have been changed to protect the innocent. The album also contained “(I Fell In Love On) Christmas Day” my new favorite Christmas song.

Following Ramon, Nichols released Chan Says & Other Songs which consisted of both an EP and a book of poems. He described the songs and story being at “the intersection of land/sea, sexuality/gender, and fairy tale/reality” as they tell the story of a young boy born to parents who wanted a girl.

So Let’s Look Back is more like Let’s Look Back Some More. In stark contrast to the warmth of “(I Fell In Love On) Christmas Day,” the new album starts off with “Christmas, California” and it’s clear the trip back home is not one that's looked forward to. The opening guitar riff recalls the music from a Sergio Leone western (or an overture to a shoot-out at the holiday dinner table).

“Demon Twink” and “Absolute Boy” are the album's pop highlights. The latter is a jangle-pop treasure with a sad message at its core: "The time you clipped my wings." “Albatross” rocks out and offers advice to those who have been hurt in love and not ready to move on yet: “Everything you lost/Wear it like an albatross.”

“The Wires,” the penultimate song on Let’s Look Back, is my favorite and the best song on the album. The song starts slow with a strummed electric guitar and an entreaty to a potential lover: “Hold me tonight/Show me.” The song slowly builds, an acoustic guitar dominates the bridge, and it ends with a majestic orchestral conclusion.

So This Is Crimble

It’s hard to deny Nichols’ Beatles credentials. In addition to the very Beatles-influenced Ramon, he also released the single Double Mantasy with covers of McCartney’s “Waterfalls” and Lennon’s “Watching The Wheels”(and he's made them his own).

The main attraction and centerpiece of the So This Is Crimble  EP (Kill Rock Stars) is “Crimble Medley” in which Nichols creates a wonderful mashup of a song from a Beatles Christmas fanclub disc as well as holiday offerings from three solo Beatles along with Ringo's "Photograph" which fits very nicely in the mix (what's Christmas without photographs?). The EP also includes his two most recent Christmas songs, “(I Fell In Love On) Christmas Day” from Ramon and “Christmas, California” from Let’s Look Back.

Here’s the video for “Crimble Medley:”

It was 80 years ago today

 By Henry Lipput

Today, June 18, 2022, is James Paul McCartney’s 80^th birthday. I have been listening to his music, both with The Beatles and as a solo artist, for nearly 60 of those years.

The first mention of activity by Paul was in 1953 when he was awarded a Liverpool Public Libraries prize for his essay about Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. But it wasn’t until four years later that things really took off. On July 6, 1957 he met John Lennon and so was born one the greatest songwriting partnerships in popular music. 

Paul was the lead writer for early classics like “I Saw Her Standing There,” “All My Loving,” and “And I Love Her.” But for me he really came into his own on June 14, 1965 when the band recorded “I’ve Just Seen A Face,” “Yesterday,” and “I’m Down” in one day.

When The Beatles broke up in 1970, Paul was still in his late twenties and even if he retired from music and took up being a shop keeper or barman he would still be remembered today. His fingerprints are all over Revolver (in addition to the songs he wrote, he played lead guitar on “Taxman” and brought in the tape loops for “Tomorrow Never Knows”), the concept of Sgt. Pepper’s was his, and he cobbled together the glorious Abbey Road medley.

But as we know he didn’t stop there. His solo career began in 1970 with his self-titled album on which he played every instrument. And two years ago he released McCartney III, another (mostly) all-McCartney production. He just finished up an American tour and he’s about to headline Glastonbury, the biggest music festival in the world.

It would be very difficult to list all of my favorite McCartney songs but here are just a few: Side 2 of Wild Life, “I’m Down,” “Hey Jude,” “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five,” “Smile Away,” “Press,” “Here Today,” the Abbey Road medley, “I Will,” “Demons Dance,” “Arrow Through Me,” “Fabulous,” “Heaven On A Sunday,” and “Get Enough.” On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, there’s a special segment in which he asks guests a series of questions to get to know them better. One of the questions is: If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would that song be? For me it’s no contest: “Got To Get You Into My Life” (the mono mix of course).

Paul McCartney’s music has influenced how I think about music. His music is my default reference for how I describe music in my reviews.  Important moments in his life are hard wired into my mental calendar.

Happy Birthday, Paul. Have a wonderful day.