Best of What’s New

After a two-week hiatus due to a vacation in Germany, I’m happy to be back. The first two songs highlighted in this post are from albums that were released yesterday (August 12). The two remaining picks reflect music that appeared while I was out. Let’s get to it!

Tony Molina/The Last Time

Kicking things off today is Tony Molina. From his Apple Music profile: California native Tony Molina spent years working in the punk and hardcore scenes before venturing out into his much poppier solo work. Living in the Bay Area, Molina played in various D.I.Y. hardcore acts starting in his teenage years. In 2013, while still fronting the much more aggressive Caged Animal, Molina released his solo debut, Dissed and Dismissed, a collection of 12 short and fuzzy tunes that took notes from ’90s indie and power pop acts like Weezer, Dinosaur Jr., and Teenage Fanclub. The incredibly brief album (the 12 tunes rush by in as many minutes) caught the ears of various labels and booking agents, and within the year, Molina was scheduled to release singles with indie luminaries like Matador and Slumberland. Fast forward nine years to Molina’s third solo album In the Fade. Here’s The Last Time, a nice fuzzy rocker!

Collective Soul/Reason

The first time I heard of Collective Soul was in March 1993 when they seemingly emerged out of nowhere with their debut single Shine. I immediately dug what became their biggest hit to date. Then the alternative rock band completely fell off my radar screen. Frankly, I had no idea they are still around and have since released 10 additional studio albums, including their latest titled Vibrating. Three of the group’s founding members are still part of the current line-up: Ed Roland (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), his brother Dean Roland (rhythm guitar) and Will Turpin (bass, percussion backing vocals). Jesse Triplett (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Johnny Rabb (drums, percussion) have been with the band since 2014 and 2012, respectively. Reason, penned by Ed Roland, is a nice melodic rock tune.

Sheryl Crow/Circles

I trust Sheryl Crow, one of my favorite pop rock artists, needs no further introduction. When Crow released Threads in August 2019, she said her 11th studio album would be her last full-length effort, citing changed listening habits in the era of music streaming. I reviewed it here at the time. But the singer-songwriter also noted this didn’t mean retirement or no more new music. While Crow hasn’t been exactly prolific since Threads, she has followed through on her announcement. The latest example is her rendition of Circles, a tune written by Post Malone who first released the song as a single in August 2019, off his third studio album Hollywood’s Bleeding that appeared in September of the same year. Crow put out her cover of the tune as a single on August 2.

Tedeschi Trucks Band/Emmaline

My last pick for this Best of What’s New installment is Emmaline, a song off Tedeschi Trucks Band’s I Am the Moon: III. The Fall, the third of their ambitious four-album I Am the Moon studio project, released July 29. I covered the first two installments here. The fourth and final album I Am The Moon: IV. Farewell is scheduled for August 23. I Am The Moon is the fifth studio effort by Tedeschi Trucks Band, a group founded in 2010 by married couple Susan Tedeschi  (guitar, vocals) and slide guitar virtuoso Derek Trucks, who among others was a member of The Allman Brothers Band from 1999 until they disbanded in 2014. Emmaline was written by Mike Mattison, one of the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s harmony vocalists – great tune!

This post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist of the above and a few additional tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to another Sunday Six, my weekly celebration of music in different flavors from the past seven decades, six tunes at a time. Get ready for another eclectic zigzag journey. It starts with some contemporary ambient electronic music. The trip then takes us to an acoustic folk gem from 1972, soft grunge from 1993, new wave from 1984 and a beautiful pop ballad from 2004, before we wrap up with a ’60s rock gem. Hop on board and let’s go!

Leif/Seven Hour Flight to Nowhere

I’d like to start this post with a music genre I rarely pick: Ambient electronic music. Recently, I stumbled upon British electronic music producer Leif Knowles. According to his Apple Music profile, Knowles who is known as Leif creates lush, emotive music ranging from the deep, smooth house of his 2013 debut Dinas Oleu to the warm, soothing ambient of 2019’s Loom Dream. Born in Barmouth, Wales and brought up by a musician father who played the Celtic harp and the guitar — which he taught his son — Leif grew up with a love of music, playing in guitar bands in high school. Through the radio, he was introduced to electronic acts such as Tricky and the Orb, before discovering house and techno through free outdoor raves in the forest…Owing to his formative experiences, his music was inspired by a fusion of the natural world and the dancefloor, and he incorporated organic elements such as guitar, bass, and percussion into a sound produced using a fairly simple setup of computer and synth. I’m completely new to Leif and can’t quite explain what drew me into Seven Hour Flight to Nowhere, a track from his new album 9 Airs released on October 29. I find it very soothing.

Jim Croce/Time in a Bottle

Next, I’d like to go back to April 1972 and a song I’ve always loved because of its beautiful lyrics, melody and neat acoustic guitar-playing: Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce. At the time I first heard this gem, I was taking (acoustic) guitar lessons. Croce’s great finger-picking was an immediate attraction and a motivation to work hard on my finger technique. Time in a Bottle is from Croce’s third studio album You Don’t Mess Around with Jim that appeared in April 1972. He wrote it like all other songs on the record. Sadly, in September of the following year, Croce became yet another music artist who perished in a plane crash. Time in a Bottle was also released separately as a single in the wake of Croce’s death in November 1973. It became his signature song and biggest hit, topping the mainstream charts in the U.S. and Canada. Reminds me of John Lennon and the post-mortem success of (Just Like) Starting Over – the bitter cruelty of an artist’s success when they have passed and can no longer enjoy it!

Collective Soul/Shine

This next song takes me back to my grad school days at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island, N.Y. I can easily say these two years (1993 and 1994) were the most intense period of my student life where I felt I studied as much as during the prior six years of university in Germany! At the time, there was lots of academic freedom in Germany, and you pretty much could study at your own pace – let’s just say I allowed myself to be distracted and wasn’t exactly in a hurry to finish my graduate degree. Anyway, I well remember Shine by Collective Soul. The lead single, off their debut album Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, received frequent play on the Connecticut FM mainstream radio station I usually had on in the car (blanking on the name now). Originally, the song was released in 1993 on the independent label Rising Storm Records. Subsequently, Collective Soul got a deal with Atlantic Records, which reissued the single and the album in October 1993 and March 1994, respectively. I find it a quite catchy tune and also like the soft grunge sound. Collective Soul, which were founded in 1992, are still together, with three original members remaining in the current lineup.

The Stranglers/No Mercy

Continuing a bit of nostalgia, let’s go back another 10 years to 1984 and The Stranglers. I hadn’t heard that name in ages until I saw their tune The Raven was picked by A Sound Day as part of a song draft by fellow blogger Hans from Slice the Life – thanks, guys! In my case, The Stranglers are similar to The Cars – I know a number of their songs based on radio play but haven’t further explored the group. The first Stranglers tune I recalled after the song draft prompt was Golden Brown, their first hit from 1992. When I checked Wikipedia, some of their other ’80s songs popped up like Always the Sun (1986), Skin Deep and my favorite No Mercy. The last two tracks were on the group’s eighth studio album Aural Sculpture from November 1984. Credited to all four members of the band at the time – Hugh Cornwell (vocals, guitar), Jean-Jacques Burnel (bass, vocals), Dave Greenfield (keyboards) and Jet Black (percussion) – No Mercy didn’t match Golden Brown’s chart success but still gave them a decent hit. Call me crazy: If The Rolling Stones would have gone new wave, this is how I imagine they could have sounded! BTW, like Collective Soul, The Stranglers exist to this day and released their 18th studio album Dark Matters on September 10. Based on sampling a few tunes, it doesn’t sound bad.

Anna Nalick/Breathe (2 AM)

Time to leave the ’80s and ’90s behind and travel to the current century, specifically the year 2004. In October that year, American singer-songwriter Anna Nalick released Breathe (2 AM), the lead single from her debut album Wreck of the Day that appeared in April of the following year. Let’s just say, both the beautiful ballad and the record weren’t exactly a wreck. They became Nalick’s most successful song and album, respectively. Breathe (2 AM) is the only tune by Nalick I can name. She’s still around (in fact she’s only 37) and has released three additional albums to date, most recently The Blackest Crow from December 2019. I find Breathe (2 AM) a pretty compelling and catchy pop ballad. Yes, it’s a bit on the lush side, but the intensity and Nalick’s vocals are just stunning!

The Moody Blues/Go Now

Sadly, on Thursday (November 11), Graeme Edge, co-founder and drummer of The Moody Blues, passed away from cancer at the age of 80. As such, I’d like to wrap up this post with some music by the Moodies whose 1967 sophomore album Days of Future Passed has become one of my favorite ’60s records. Pre-dating this gem is Go Now, the band’s second single from November 1964. Co-written by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett, the song originally was released by Larry’s wife, American soul singer Bessie Banks, in January 1964. But it was the version by The Moody Blues that gained international popularity, topping the charts in the UK, reaching no. 10 in the U.S. and The Netherlands, no. 2 in Canada and no. 12 in Australia. The tune was also included on the band’s debut album The Magnificent Moodies from July 1965, which in the U.S. and Canada was titled Go Now – The Moody Blues #1 and had a different song lineup. It was the only Moodies album to feature guitarist and vocalist Denny Laine who in 1971 joined Paul McCartney’s Wings.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube

Jersey Singer-Songwriter Rick Barth Releases Acoustic Roots-Oriented Sophomore Album

I met Rick Barth in June 2018 and at the time wrote about his 2015 debut album Hand Me Down Soul. Now the singer-songwriter from Budd Lake, N.J. is out with his second record titled Fade. It’s a nice continuation of his acoustic-oriented rock, singer-songwriter ballads, as well as country and roots-oriented music.

While Barth has been performing on the New Jersey music scene as a solo artist and a member of various bands and duos for about three decades, he only decided to start writing his own music less than 10 years ago. His named influences include Butch Walker, Ryan Adams, John Lennon, Ryan Bingham, Tom Petty, Michael Trent, Jason Isbel and Parker Milsap. I can also hear traces of John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle.

Let’s get to some music. I’d like to kick things off with the opener We Had Fun (Didn’t We?). Like all other tunes on the album, the song was written by Barth.

Next up is the title track featuring nice pedal steel guitar accents.

A vocal highlight on the album is Shine, in my opinion, where Barth’s voice beautifully blends with backing vocalist Louise Trezza.

Here is another tune I like: Stranger Things. Check out the nice dobro work!

The last track I’d like to call out is Change, a country song that to me is perhaps the musical highlight of the record. I dig the beautiful violin playing and the pedal steel guitar, which sound great together. This is perhaps somewhat ironical coming from a guy who used to say he doesn’t like country. Oh well, it just goes to show again that genres don’t need to define great music.

Apart from lead vocals, Barth handles guitars, bass and mandolin. In addition to Louise Trezza (backing vocals), other musicians on the album include Keith Dunham (bass), Wayne Wilson (pedal steel), Jim Reeber (keyboards), Rick Krueger (lap steel, dobro), Ralph Heiss (bass), Dawn Patrick (violin) and Rob Ot (percussion).

Fade was produced by Barth and Dunham and recorded at Rifftide Studio in Ledgewood, N.J. Dunham also served as recording engineer. The album is available on streaming platforms and since yesterday on CD through Barth’s website. By the way, the picture on the cover shows the former Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem, Pa., which during its heyday was one of the world’s largest steel producers.

Sources: Rick Barth website, ReverbNation, BandMix.com, GigMasters, YouTube