The Year that was 2020 – Part 2 of 2

This is second and last installment of my two-part year in review. In case you missed part 1, you can read it here.

Celebrating new music one song at a time…

With more than 150 songs highlighted since the launch of the Best of What’s New feature, I find it impossible to call out the best tunes. As I wrote in the inaugural March 21 post, While I don’t see myself starting to write about electronic dance music or Neue Deutsche Haerte a la Rammstein, I’m hoping to keep these posts a bit eclectic. I realize the characterization “best” is pretty subjective. If a song speaks to me, it’s fair game. I should perhaps have added that I don’t need to like other tunes by an artist to include them. It’s literally about the specific song.

Best of What’s New installments have featured tunes ranging from prominent artists like Sheryl Crow, The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty to lesser known acts like rock bands Brother Man and Mondo Silicone and Austin, Texas-based band leader Joe Sparacino, aka. Dr. Joe. Frequently, these posts triggered new album reviews, e.g., LeRoux (One of Those Days), Mick Hayes (My Claim to Fame) and Niedeckens BAP (Alles Fliesst). Following are four songs I discovered in the context of Best of What’s New.

Dr. Joe: Believer

From Dr. Joe’s website: Based in Austin TX but raised on a farm outside Salina, Kansas, band leader Joe Sparacino spent his early childhood learning piano from a southern gospel choir matron and listening to his family’s old vinyl collection of Ray Charles, Leon Russell and James Booker. Released on April 10, Believer was Dr. Joe’s then-latest single and it’s cooking!

The Reverberations: Under Your Spell

The Reverberations are a five-piece band from Portland, Ore. Their Bandcamp profile characterizes their music as “’60s influenced psychedelic jangle.” I’d call it psychedelic garage rock. Under Your Spell, the B-side to their single Palm Reader released May 28, features some cool Byrds-ey guitars and nice keyboard work. Did I mention it’s also got a quite catchy melody? And check out the lovely psychedelic cover art – super cool all around! For more on this great band, you can read my review of their February 2019 album Changes, their most recent full-fledged studio release.

Kat Riggins: No Sale

Kat Riggins is a blues artist hailing from Miami. According to her website, She travels the world with the sole mission of keeping the blues alive and thriving through her Blues Revival Movement. She has been vocally compared to Koko Taylor, Etta James and Tina Turner to name a few. The nice blues rocker No Sale, which has a bit of a ZZ Top vibe, is from Riggins’ fourth album Cry Out released on August 14. That woman’s got it!

Greta Van Fleet: Age of Machine

Age of Machine is the second single from Greta Van Fleet’s next album The Battle at Garden’s Gate, which is scheduled for April 16, 2021. I think this kickass rocker provides more evidence the young band has evolved their style, moving away from their initial Led Zeppelin-influenced sound. Looking forward to the album!

Live music in the year of the pandemic…

Except for two tribute band concerts in January, pretty measly for the ‘King of the Tribute Band,’ I didn’t go to any live gigs this year. Shows for which I had tickets, including The Temptations and The Four Tops, Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band, and Steely Dan with special guest Steve Winwood, were rescheduled until April, June and July 2021, respectively. Perhaps with the exception of the last concert, I hope all other shows will be rescheduled a second time and moved back to the second half of the year. For somebody who loves live music and over the past 4-5 years has gotten into the habit of seeing an average 20-30 shows per year (counting lower cost tribute band and free summer type concerts), seizing live concerts it’s a bitter but necessary pill to swallow until this lethal pandemic is behind us.

I ended up watching two live concerts via Internet stream: Southern Avenue at Instrumenthead Live Studio in Nashville, Tenn. last week, and Mike Campbell’s band The Dirty Knobs at the Troubador in Los Angeles in late November. It was fun and also a nice opportunity to support music via voluntary donations in lieu of buying official tickets, but no virtual experience can replace the real deal.

Some final musings…

While my primary motivation for the blog has always been the joy I get from writing about a topic I love, i.e., music, it’s nice to see continued growth in visitor traffic, followers and feedback. Just like in 2019, the most popular post remained my January 2018 piece about Bad Company’s live CD/DVD collection from their May 15, 2016 show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre; personally, I find the post average at best. By comparison, my July 12, 2020 post about the mellotron, which I’m proud of, received less than one percent of traffic than the Bad Company post. Perhaps, it was too geeky! 🙂 It’s funny how these things sometimes go.

I’d like to thank all visitors of the blog. If you’re here for the first time, you’re welcome back anytime. If you’re a regular, I hope you keep coming back. I also enjoy receiving comments, including different opinions. All I ever ask is to keep things civil.

Last but not least, I’d like to leave you with a great song by Southern Avenue they also played during the above noted virtual concert. I feel it’s a great message, especially during these crazy times: Don’t Give Up, from their eponymous debut album released in February 2017. Since I couldn’t capture footage from the above gig, here’s an alternative I can offer: a clip I recorded during a show at The Wonder Bar, a small venue in Asbury Park, N.J. in July 2019.

Sources: Christian’s Music Music Musings; YouTube

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What I’ve Been Listening to: The Reverberations/Changes

If you read my previous Best of What’s New post all the way to the end and know me a little bit, it probably doesn’t come as a shocking surprise that the ’60s retro sound of The Reverberations proofed way too seductive to leave things at one clip. I’m still somewhat in disbelief this band from Portland, Ore. doesn’t do a better job to make it easier for music fans to find them. In my case, I have to thank Apple Music for including these guys in their most recent New Music Mix playlist.

The good news is in the meantime I uncovered some more background information, but I still feel it’s not nearly enough. According to Discogs, as of Changes, their second and most recent full album released in February 2019, the band’s members are Dave Berkham (lead guitar, vocals), John Jenne (rhythm guitar), Bob Fountain (keyboards), Cam Mazzia (bass) and Ian Bixby (drums, percussion). June Coryell and producer Pat Kearns are listed as guest backing vocalists.

According to Wikipedia, Kearns is a singer-songwriter for Blue Skies for Black Hearts, another Portland-based band, and has done production and engineering work for various other artists, such as The Exploding Hearts, Pat McDonald and Jerry Joseph. None of these names ring a bell, but that doesn’t mean much.

Among things that remain unclear is the origin of the band’s name. Given their psychedelic garage touch, I’m wondering whether it’s a nod to ’60s psychedelic garage rockers The 13th Floor Elevators and their song Reverberation (Doubt). Another clue is the album’s cover art, which was designed by Bixby and has features that are reminiscent of the Elevators’ debut The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators.

But, all of what I said in the preceding paragraph is speculation. It’s also not clear to me how long The Reverberations have been around. The oldest listing in Discogs is a self-released EP from 2015. What I do know is I really dig the band’s sound that heavily borrows from the ’60s, especially The Byrds and The Beatles. And, if you look at the image above, these guys kind of look like transplants from that era. Time for some music!

Here’s the excellent opener Footsteps. It appears all songs are credited to the entire band. Don’t get fooled by the track’s beginning, which sounds psychedelic but perhaps not so much like The Byrds. But wait until about 1:42 minutes into the song when that mighty jingle-jangle Rickenbacker gets going – can’t get enough of it!

Here’s Dream Catcher. Man, again, what a cool sound. And that harmony singing is just awesome!

The beginning of Left Behind has the same chord progression like Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues, while the sitar-sounding instrument (I assume it’s sampled) reminds me of Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones. Not trying to be a smart ass here, but it’s obvious. Plus, the tune then takes off in its own direction. It’s all good!

Another great tune is Levitate Away. And, yes, the beginning sounds like Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze. But similarly to the previous track, the song then goes in a different direction. It’s quite catchy!

I’d like to call out one more track: What Can I Do? Coz, I dig these guys, what can I do? It’s another beautiful jingle-jangle guitar-driven tune.

Changes appeared on Beluga Music, which according to Discogs is an independent label based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has been around since 1994. On their website, they describe themselves as “The Home of Punk & Garage Records”. It does seem to be a bit odd for a U.S.-based band to have a Swedish label, but hey, what do I know? Plus, at the end of the day, it’s all about the music. And their music surely sounds sweet to me!

Sources: Wikipedia; Discogs; Beluga Music website; YouTube