Song of the day: Sunshine Highway - "Baby Be Good"

And the requests continue!

I was recently contacted by a chap called Marc who's the chief songwriter/main performer/head honcho of Sunrise Highway, a US band I'd never heard of before. (How come there are so many bands I've never heard of before? I really need to get out more...)

Marc asked me to perform my solemn duty* and have a listen to the band's music. My response was a definite "A-OK, baby." So Marc sent me some songs.

Well, I've spent some time with the songs that Marc sent, and I can safely say this: if you want to listen to them you'll need to put on sunglasses first. This music is so bright, and the songs so dazzling, that it won't matter what time of the day, week or year you play it – when you play it, it'll be summer. You may also find yourself squinting while the music's playing and wondering if you turned on too many lights where you are. (If you live on the beach, however, then you won't notice much difference.)

The music of Sunrise Highway sounds to me as if it lives in the world of 70's AM radio – a world full of sunny tunes, sunny harmonies, and just a few more sunny harmonies thrown in for good measure.

The first song I'll play you is "Baby Be Good." It's as good an introduction to Sunrise Highway's music as any of the other tracks Marc sent me:

Sunrise Highway - "Baby Be Good" (2010)

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And here are three more of 'em:

Sunrise Highway - "Magic" (2010)

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Sunrise Highway - "Roundabout" (2010)

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Sunrise Highway - "Life On Mars" (2010)

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I have to say that I think Marc is a brave man naming those songs "Magic," "Roundabout," and especially "Life On Mars" – all names of songs I've adored for years. That's gutsy.

If you're so inclined (and you may very well be after listening to those songs), you can buy the Sunrise Highway album from a variety of places:

Buy from CD Baby
Buy from Kool Kat Music
Buy from Not Lame

You can also buy it digitally from DigStation or that thing called iTunes, but I don't recommend it.

(Don't tell Marc, but I've never liked the idea of buying downloads. When you buy a CD, you end up with a round, shiny, plastic-and-aluminium thing and a little booklet to hold and look at. You also have the excitement of waiting eagerly by the letterbox so that when the CD does arrive you can gleefully rip open the packaging and marvel at that round, shiny plastic-and-aluminium thing you're holding. Oh, and with the packaging itself there's the possibility of getting bubblewrap you can pop. And, much later, when you've completely forgotten about buying it, you might find yourself one day walking past it on the CD shelf, spot it in the corner of your eye, smile and say to yourself, "Oh yeah, now I remember – I bought that." You don't get any of that when you pay for a download. All you get is a new filename in your media player. How anticlimactic...)

Sunrise Highway on MySpace

(*I must admit that Marc didn't use those exact words. Actually, I don't know of anyone who uses the phrase "solemn duty" nowadays.)

Song of the day: Crowded House - "Locked Out"

Here's Crowded House with one of their friskier songs:

Crowded House - "Locked Out" (1993)

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Live


Crowded House official website

Song of the day: Johnny Young and Kompany - "Step Back"

It's time to get groovy, so "Step Back" baby!

Johnny Young and Kompany - "Step Back" (1966)

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Fabulous.

"Step Back" was written by The Easybeats' Stevie Wright and George Young – and sounds like it (I can easily picture The Easybeats playing it.)

As a bonus, here's the equally fabulous B-side, "Cara-Lyn":

Johnny Young and Kompany - "Cara-Lyn" (1966)

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Oh, before this posts ends I just wanted to let you know that the original version of "Cara-Lin" (spelled with an "i") is by a band called The Strangeloves who, according to PopArchives, were "a New York band who pretended to be from outback Australia."

No, I don't know why either.

Song of the day: Choirboys - "Empire"

Here are the Choirboys with some good old-fashioned 80's Stadium Rock:

Choirboys - "Empire" (1991)

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Just between you and me, I reckon that track wouldn't have been out of place on a Cheap Trick album.

Song of the day: Research Turtles - "Let's Get Carried Away"

I tell ya, this blogging caper sure can be surprising at times.

Not only was I emailed out of the blue by Couple, a Malaysian power pop band I'd never heard of before (see yesterday's adventure), but I also received an email by another band I'd never heard of before. They're an American band called Research Turtles, and they emailed me to ask if I could have a listen to their music on the band's MySpace page. Yep, no problem.

However, as with yesterday's encounter my initial surge of enthusiasm (yay! new music!) was suddenly replaced by trepidation. Was the Research Turtles' music going to be good (yes, please), bad (I hope not), or maybe boring (please no, anything but that)?

Nowadays, you can sometimes tell the kind of band you're going to listen to by their photos (standard music industry equation: Image = Terribly Important), and my heart sank a little when I saw a few photos of them on their MySpace page. They were all wearing shirts and skinny ties, like so:

My first thought was: "Oh-oh, it looks like they're one of those bands." In other words, I had a horrible feeling that they were going to sound like any number of bands that have, over the past five or so years, tried to sound exactly like The Strokes or Franz Ferdinand.

But then, because of the combination of skinny ties and youthfulness, they got me thinking that instead of a Strokes/Franz Ferdinand clone, they might be another Jonas Brothers. "No, not another Jonas Brothers!" I inwardly cried.

If you're not familiar with any of those bands (it's possible if you don't follow the charts, listen to the radio, read newspapers, or watch television), The Strokes sound is über-cool garage rock, the Franz Ferdinand sound is all staccato Fender Telecasters and 2/4 drum beats à la early 80's British art rockers, and the Jonas Brothers are a teenage rock band fostered by Disney. You can lump The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand together because there are hundreds of bands who sound just like them (or a combination thereof) – bands such as The Killers, The Hives, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, The Wombats, The Libertines, The Kooks, The Panics, and many many more ad infinitum. Unfortunately, none of them are terribly inspiring in the melody department. The Jonas Brothers, on the other hand, are different to The Strokes or Franz Ferdinand in that they have moderately catchy tunes. However, they're straight off the teen pop production line which means that the tunes, although moderately catchy, are instantly forgettable.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. I was at the Research Turtles MySpace page trying to ignore the photos as I repeated to myself "Open mind, open mind, open mind...". I held my breath, pressed "play" and...

I was relieved. It wasn't bad or boring. Yay!

So, what do the Research Turtles sound like? Well, I was originally going to coin a phrase and say that they were The Strokes, But With Tunes^©, or maybe Franz Ferdinand, But With Tunes^©, but the more I listened to them the more I realised that they don't really sound like The Strokes or Franz Ferdinand. They actually sound like themselves. (Hooray! A band that doesn't emulate what's currently fashionable.) If you're looking for a point of reference, I'd say that the RTs* sound like they're influenced more by the British Invasion bands than anything else. Which is fine by me.

Rather than twisting my brain into a knot trying to describe their sound (see above), I thought I'd just play you some of their songs. Here are the first three tracks of their debut album. Hopefully, they'll give you an idea of where they're coming from:

Research Turtles - "Let's Get Carried Away" (2009)

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Research Turtles - "Damn" (2009)

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Research Turtles - "Mission" (2009)
(Mild warning: this song contains some cussin')

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By the way, I have a huge apology to make to the Turtlers. I was actually contacted by them a few weeks ago. I blithely told them at the time that I'd mention them on the blog – and then promptly forgot about it. Sorry about that, chaps.

But back to this overlong anecdote. After I had acquainted myself with their songs, I let the band know that I liked their non-Strokes, non-Franz Ferdinand music, and they told me that they'd send me their album. I thought, "You beauty!" (That's Australian for "Top show, old bean!"). I also thought that was exceedingly generous of them, giving someone they don't know at all (i.e., me) an album they could have sold to someone willing to pay for it (i.e., me).

Now, I don't know if the band insists on going broke, but when a certain package from a band called the Research Turtles arrived in the post I discovered that they had sent me four copies of their album.

Because I'm keeping one of 'em ('cos I like it), I have three that I'd like to give away.

I'm happy to send you a copy, but on one condition: you must actually like the music. I don't want you to have a CD that sits on your shelf not being listened to. (Having a CD and not playing it is simply unacceptable.)

So, email me and I'll post it to you. Bargain!

Research Turtles on MySpace
Buy Research Turtles - Research Turtles at CD Baby

(*When I typed "the RTs" I noticed the initials and thought about nicknaming them "The Arties." The only trouble with that is that they don't sound like a seriously arty band – so that idea went out the window.)

Song of the day: Couple - "Are You Ready?"

This is how amazing I think the Internet is...

I received an email a few days ago from a chap in a Malaysian power pop band asking me to plug their music. Someone I'd never met before, in a band I'd never heard of before. From Malaysia.

That's how amazing I think the Internet is.

Aidil was the chap's name (and still is, I presume), and he's the chief singer-songwriter for Couple, a band from Kuala Lumpur. Aidil supplied me with links to the band's three albums – Top Of The Pop (2006), Teenage Disc Fantastic (2008), and Pop Tak Masuk Radio (2009) – so I could have a listen to 'em and then asked if I wouldn't mind mentioning them on this here blog.

My first reaction was "Great! Love to! I'm keen to help anyone!"

But almost immediately after that I thought "Oh, no. What if it's horrible?"

So, I grabbed the albums. I put them very carefully in my media player. Then, with trembling fingers I pressed "play" and held my breath...

I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It wasn't horrible.

I decided to listen to the albums chronologically (and present them to you that way, too), so I started with 2006's Top Of The Pop.

Top Of The Pop (2006)

As I was listening, I thought "OK, it sounds pretty low-fi, and the singing's dodgy in places – but that's probably because they're an indie band with no money and couldn't afford lots of overdubs and retakes. I guess they did the best they could with what they had."

When Top Of The Pop finished, I was very pleased to notice that I didn't skip any tracks. (The sign of a non-horrible album: playing it all the way through). Overall, I thought that what the album lacked in polish it made up for in charm.

Here are a couple of tracks to give you an idea of what Couple's songs actually sound like, as opposed to me trying to describe them:

Couple - "Are You Ready?" (2006)

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Couple - "Gotta Be My Gurl" (2006)

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(I like the little references to "You're Going To Lose That Girl".)

Teenage Disc Fantastic (2008)

As well as a great album name, the band plays enthusiastically here, and the songs are foot-tappers:

Couple - "C'mon Operator" (2008)

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Couple - "Menarilah Hey" (2008)

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Pop Tak Masuk Radio (2009)

I enjoyed this album, and I found the first three tracks very interesting. The first, "Radio," sounded to me like Coldplay playing a power pop song:

Couple - "Radio" (2009)

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The second track, "Lagu Cinta Untukmu," is a nice little power pop ditty. Vocally, it reminded me a little of The Wellingtons' "Song For Kim," but it's also a little Weezer-ish in places. Despite the resemblances, I like it:

Couple - "Lagu Cinta Untukmu" (2009)

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And track three, "Semua Tak Boleh," sounded like an amalgam of every garage song I've ever heard. It starts off as "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" then goes into what sounds very much like a song that I can't remember at the moment (maybe you can spot it):

Couple - "Semua Tak Boleh" (2009)

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Overall, I think that Couple aren't too bad at all. (Warning: cheap joke alert) They're certainly the best Malaysian power pop band I've ever heard.* At least there are a few songs for you to listen to so you can ignore me and make up your own mind.

And I was so pleased that they weren't horrible.

Couple on MySpace

(*Sorry about that.)

Song of the day: Icecream Hands - "The Way She Drives"

Here are the Icecream Hands with something short and sweet:

Icecream Hands - "The Way She Drives" (1993)

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Musical coincidences # 39

Last week I was reading the splendid PowerPop blog (as I do every morning), and one of Steve's posts there was a list of "Most Memorable Drums, Drumming or Drum Simulation on a Post-Elvis Pop or Rock Record!!!". At number 7 was Cozy Cole with "Topsy Parts 1 and 2." Steve presented Part 2 which sounds a little like this:


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And as soon as that organ riff came in I thought "Hang on a minute – that organ riff sounds like..."


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Yep. That's the theme tune to the kids' cartoon Inspector Gadget.

Here are the full versions of each:

Cozy Cole - "Topsy Part 2" (1958)

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Inspector Gadget – theme tune (1984)

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Song of the day: Ted Mulry Gang - "My Little Girl"

Here's Ted Mulry and his gang with some irresistible* glam/boogie (I guess you could call it 'gloogie' – or maybe 'blam'):

Ted Mulry Gang - "My Little Girl" (1977)

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(*Irresistible to me, that is. You, on the other hand, may find it entirely resistible.)

Song of the day: Mitch Friedman - "This Is A Song"

Sheer genius...

Mitch Friedman - "This Is A Song" (2008)

Song of the day: Neon - "Friend"

Here's Neon* with "Friend":

Neon - "Friend" (2005)

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And who said people don't write decent tunes anymore?

If "Friend" was a little too low-key for you, try "Hit Me Again", which does a fairly good job of hitting you in the solar plexus (as long as you have it turned way up):

Neon - "Hit Me Again" (2005)

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Both "Friend" and "Hit Me Again" appear on Neon's 2005 self-titled album, a mighty good collection of solid tracks (see above) and still my second-favourite Australian power pop album released this century.

Neon on MySpace

(*Or is that "Here are Neon" because it's a group of musicians? I can never tell with collective nouns and all that nonsense. Curse you, English language!)

Song of the day: The Twilights - "What's Wrong With The Way I Live"

Here are The Twilights asking the perfectly reasonable question:

The Twilights - "What's Wrong With The Way I Live" (1967)

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And here are The Hollies who wanted to know the same thing (but they asked first):

The Hollies - "What's Wrong With The Way I Live?" (1966)

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Unless you can tell me the difference between the two, that version by The Twilights is identical to the original – same tempo, same key, same instrumentation (right down to the banjo), and even the same harmonies. (Yes, there are different people singing, but it's the same.)

It's all the same.

Why?

And what is wrong with the way they live?

Song of the day: The Four Fuller Brothers - "Groupie"

You may remember (or may have chosen to forget) one of my posts from a few days ago which featured a bubblegum song called "Groupie" by The New Dream. Because it was a bubblegum song about a groupie, I felt obliged to be mildly outraged by the lyrical content. However, I had a Dickens of a time trying to figure out the lyrics to determine just how outraged by the lyrics I was supposed to be. I listened intently to the lyrics, transcribing them as best I could (with decent audio equipment but faulty ears), but there were definite errors: for example, I was convinced I had heard phrases like "soda lap" and "waking minister's door". Unfortunately, because it's a bubblegum song and not a stream-of-consciousness piece of prose à la Bob Dylan, I was fairly sure that The New Dream weren't actually singing those odd phrases and was frustrated that I didn't know exactly what they were singing. Cue my friend Col...

Col is a regular reader of this blog and occasional contributor of ideas (e.g., "Hey, Peter, I've got a really cheesy 60's song that nobody's ever heard of. Can you use it on your blog? And will you hate me for suggesting it?"). Col read my post about "Groupie" and emailed me straight away saying that, believe it or not, he and his brother had tried to figure out the lyrics to that very song ten years earlier. He then presented me with his version of the lyrics, which was helpful. But the best thing he did was supply me with the original version of "Groupie" by The Four Fuller Brothers. I was relieved to hear the Brothers singing much more clearly than The New Dream did. It made a huge difference to my poor old ears.

Col and I went to work on the lyrics again, and now I'm extremely pleased to say that, thanks to The Four Fuller Brothers' clearer singing, the mystery of those pesky lyrics has been solved.

(Incidentally, Col even went above and beyond the call of duty by emailing Buzz Cason, the man who wrote the thing. We haven't heard back from Buzz yet – but hope we do.)

So, here now for your listening pleasure tolerance are both versions of "Groupie" – PLUS the full and correct lyrics (yay!):

The Four Fuller Brothers - "Groupie" (1969)

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The New Dream - "Groupie" (1969)

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Every time we come to town
You know she always comes around (so they laugh at her and call her a groupie)

There she is in the very first row
After the show I know just where she will go

A night of love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
Waiting near the stage door (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
She'll have flowers and kisses (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
And a pair of beads that I once wore (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)

And baby, though they laugh at you and call you a groupie
To me you always will be nothing but groovy, yeah (ba-ba-ba-ba ba ba ba ba [x2])

And I got love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
Just waiting for you (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
I got flowers and kisses (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
And a brand new picture of our group (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)

And baby, though they laugh at you and call you a groupie
To me you always will be nothing but groovy, yeah (ba-ba-ba-ba ba ba ba ba [x2])

Let her by
Officer, it's OK
Can't you see the tear in her eye?
She's come such a long way

So bring me love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
I'm givin' you some (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
You'll be showered with kisses (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
And I'll sing you our latest bubblegum (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)

And baby, while they laugh at us our life will be groovy
Some day I might up and marry a groupie, yeah

I've got love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
We got love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
We got love (love, love)
We got love (love, love)
We got love
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby) (baby I love you)
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby) (baby I love you)
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby) (baby I love you) etc

As a bonus – and as a reward for perservering to the end of this post – here are The Four Fuller Brothers with their only other hit:

The Four Fuller Brothers - "Bitter Honey" (1969)

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Song of the day: The Superjesus - "Now And Then"

It's time for a big ballad, 90's-style.

Mix a little bit of grunge with a little bit of jangle, slow it all down and, hey presto, you have The Superjesus with "Now And Then" (1998):


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Beware of the video for the song – it looks as if whoever uploaded it simply put their video camera in front of a television screen and pressed "record". I'm including it here only because it exists. Caveat emptor, baby:



Update: I've found a much better video of the video:



And here's a live performance of the song. It was uploaded by the same person who made the video above, and the sound and vision aren't much of an improvement on t'other one, but it lets you know that The Superjesus could play the song well in front of a crowd:

Song of the day: Marcia Hines - "(Until) Your Love Broke Through"

Although this song has already appeared here as part of a previous Musical coincidence, I wanted to highlight it because I think it's one of the loveliest pop ballads to have come out of Australia in the 70's.

Before Marcia Hines became the "everyone's great!" judge* on Australian Idol she was a pop queen. (A real one: Marcia was crowned Queen of Pop in Australia three years in a row from 1976-1978.)

Anyway, here's Marcia with the ineffable "(Until) Your Love Broke Through" (1976):

Marcia Hines - "(Until) Your Love Broke Through" (1976)

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For me, especially in the chorus, a pop ballad doesn't get much better than that. As a bonus, here's the original version:

Keith Green - "Your Love Broke Through" (1977)

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By the way, you can read more about the song (if you're keen enough) on the Musical coincidence page that originally featured it.

(*Like Paula Abdul on American Idol.)

Happy Birthday, Yellow Submarine

Happy Birthday, Yellow Submarine, released on 17 January 1969.

Courtesy of producer George Martin's orchestral contributions to the movie's soundtrack, here's one of my favourite non-Beatles tracks on a Beatles album:

The George Martin Orchestra - "Pepperland" (1969)

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Song of the day: The Easybeats - "St. Louis"

It's been a while since I played you a song from the unbelievably productive pens of Vanda & Young, so I started thinking about something suitable. For no discernible reason (other than the majority of Vanda & Young songs are never too far away from my subconscious), The Easybeats' "St. Louis" popped in my head. And stayed there. All afternoon.

"Yep – that's suitable" I thought to myself:

The Easybeats - St. Louis" (1969)

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As a half-bonus, here's a version of "St. Louis" by the Little River Band that, as far as I can tell, serves no purpose whatsoever. I think that – partly because of the '80s production, and partly because it's the Little River Band playing it – they manage to suck out every last ounce of grit the song originally had:

Little River Band - "St. Louis" (1982)

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Song of the day: Maybe Dolls - "Nervous Kid"

I originally wasn't going to post this song because it's not especially power-poppy, but then I thought: "Well, that's never stopped me before. Just post the darn thing."

Sorry about the swearing there.

Here are the Maybe Dolls with "Nervous Kid" (1991):


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Trivia time: Before becoming the Maybe Dolls, the band used to be The Numbers. A song by The Numbers – plus their slightly convoluted history – was featured in a previous Song of the day.

Song of the day: Boom Crash Opera - "Onion Skin"

Here's Boom Crash Opera with "Onion Skin" (1989):


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Boom Crash Opera was one of the few Australian bands I really liked in the '80s (my least favourite musical decade of all). I always thought of them as a sort of Simple Minds-with-anthems due to their cavernous sound and shout-along choruses. "Onion Skin" opened their second album These Here Are Crazy Times (1989) – and an eminently suitable album opener it was, too.

I'm pleased to say that this song has nothing at all to do with Shrek.

Song of the day: The New Dream - "Groupie"

Here's a bubblegum song with a difference:

The New Dream - "Groupie" (1970)

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This is one odd song. Musically, it's bubblegum through and through. But lyrically...

This is a bubblegum song about a groupie. A GROUPIE. In a bubblegum song.

When I first heard "Groupie" my eyebrows raised considerably as I kept thinking "This is a song for kiddies, and they're singing about a groupie!".

I don't know how shocked I'm supposed to be by this – or even if I'm supposed to be shocked at all – because I'm not sure what the term 'groupie' meant to Australians in 1969. (I was eight at the time, so all that "Hey baby" stuff the grown-ups were singing about on the radio completely eluded me.) Maybe it was a whole lot more innocent back then, and being a groupie in Australia meant no more than a coy peck on the cheek of your favourite pop star. But with the exploits of real people like Pamela Des Barres and fictional people like Penny Lane offering aspiring male rock stars dreams of non-stop naughtiness, I have a feeling that groupies everywhere back then were exactly what I think they were (i.e., mind-bogglingly available and enthusiastic young women).

Nevertheless, from what I can gather, nobody in Australia in 1969 seemed to have been terribly outraged by "Groupie."

And I've come to the conclusion that I'm a prude.

I wondered just how risqué the song actually was so I decided to find out exactly what the band were singing by reading the lyrics. The Internet seemed the most likely place to look, considering that it has the lyrics to every song ever recorded. Well, that's what I thought until I found that the Internet has the lyrics to every song but this one.

So, determined to get to the bottom of this "Should I be shocked?" moral and ethical dilemma I put on the headphones, pressed "play," and went a-transcribin'.

The following lyrics are presented as is. I must warn you that due to my less-than-magnificent ears there are bound to be inaccuracies. For example, I thought I heard the phrases "soda lap" (at the 6-second mark) and "waking minister's door" (at the 28-second mark), but I'm pretty sure that they're not singing "soda lap" or even "waking minister's door."

The background vocals are in brackets:

Every time we come to town
You know she always comes around (soda lap [?] I'm gonna call her a groupie)

There she is in the very first row
After the show I know just where she will go

A night of love [I got love?] (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
Waking minister's [???] door (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
She'll have flowers and kisses (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
And a pair of beads that I once wore (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)

And baby, though they laugh at you and call you a groupie
To me you always will be nothing but groovy, yeah (ba-ba-ba-ba ba ba ba ba [x2])

And I got love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
Just waiting for you (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
I got flowers and kisses (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
And a brand new picture of our group (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)

And baby, though they laugh at you and call you a groupie
To me you always will be nothing but groovy, yeah (ba-ba-ba-ba ba ba ba ba [x2])

Let her by
Up the stair [?] it's OK
Can't you see the tear in her eye?
She's come such a long way

So bring me love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
I'm givin' you some (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
You'll be showered with kisses (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
And I'll sing you our latest pop gum [?] (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)

And baby, while they laugh at us our life will be groovy
Some day I might up and marry a groupie, yeah

I've got love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
We got love (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
We got love (love, love)
We got love (love, love)
We got love
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby)
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby) (baby I love you)
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby) (baby I love you)
Uh huh huh (ba ba, groovy groupie baby) (baby I love you) etc

I guess that's innocent enough. (The singer's even thinking about marrying his enthusiastic sweetheart.) But it's a bubblegum song about a groupie.

I know, I know: you're saying "Just get over it, Peter."

Can do, gentle reader. Can do.

Before I leave this post, though, I want to mention that "Groupie" was written by a chap called Buzz Cason (great name) who also wrote "Hayride" which was a previous Song of the day. Unsurprisingly, the two songs sound similar (they both have virtually identical bass lines). Here's "Hayride" to refresh yer memory:

The Flying Circus - "Hayride" (1971)

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By the way, I promise not to overreact to the next Song of the day.

(*Is there a name for a group of bubblegum songs? If there is, then I'm guessing it's not "slew." Maybe "gaggle," or "pompus," or "dridlibing," or "comgibinibity." Or maybe it's just "Kevin." Who knows?)

Song of the day: Chalice - "In My World"

Here's the almost-completely-forgotten Perth band Chalice with "In My World" (1975):


Link

I say "almost" because I've just discovered that Robin over at the purepop blog has a comprehensive post about this very song – and the Australian Power Pop 1975~1995 blog posted the song as well. Both of those have scads of information about the song and the band, putting this meagre post to shame.

I really must pay more attention to other people's blogs before I go off and post songs that I think no-one else has heard...

(Thanks to Col for suggesting the song in the first place. I'd never heard of either the song or the band before.)

(And thanks also to Australian Power Pop 1975~1995 for unknowingly allowing me to pinch its image of Chalice.)

Song of the day: Cold Chisel - "My Baby"

Although Cold Chisel were known throughout the land as a hard-rockin', hard-livin' band that ruled the pubs of Australia in the '80s, they did come up with this little pop gem:

Cold Chisel - "My Baby" (1980)

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"My Baby" was one of the few Cold Chisel songs not written by keyboardist Don Walker. "My Baby" was written instead by the band's bass player, Phil Small. (Yay, bass players!)

Song of the day: The Pogs - "The Pogs' Theme"

Here's Australian garage band The Pogs with "The Pogs' Theme" (1967):


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I like a band that has its own theme tune.

By the way, there are two aspects of this song that set it apart from just about anything else released in Australia in the '60s:

1. It has a guitar solo in it that I can only describe as demented. (Really, there's no other word I can think of to use for possibly the weirdest guitar solo I've ever heard. It's demented.)
2. The end of the song speeds up. It's not the musicians who go beserk, however – it's the tape operator in the recording studio who speeds the whole thing up.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out anything about The Pogs other than that they came from Sydney and one of its members (Rory O'Donoghue) went on to become a performer on the Australian comedy The Aunty Jack Show.

I don't know if there are any other recordings by The Pogs, but at least we have "The Pogs' Theme."

Demented.

Song of the day: Hoodoo Gurus - "Domino"

Here are the Hoodoo Gurus with "Domino" (2004):


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"Domino" appears on the Gurus' 2004 comeback album, the wonderfully-titled Mach Schau (Beatles fans will know...).

The Hoodoo Gurus had been going for years and years – and years – until they decided to have an indefinite rest in 1998 (alright, if you want to get pernickety: they broke up). Due to renewed interest in the band in 2003 when a sports campaign tried to ruin one of their songs (don't ask), they reformed and recorded Mach Schau. A couple of tracks from the album were released as singles, but radio wasn't interested in them any more.

Although "Domino" wasn't one of the singles from Mach Schau, someone somewhere decided to make a video for it:



I've said it before, but I'll keep saying it to anyone who'll listen: Dave Faulkner couldn't write a bad song if he tried.

Hoodoo Gurus on MySpace

Song of the day: Los Shakers - "For You, For Me"

It's been a thoroughly international week of music here recently, with songs from America, Britain, Korea, and Japan. Now, if you don't mind too much, I'd like to keep the cosmopolitan flavour of Song of the day going for just one more day by adding Uruguay to that list.

Here are the Uruguayan Beatles, Los Shakers, with "For You, For Me (Para tí y para mí)" (1965):


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As a bonus, and because I can't get enough Los Shakers, here's "I Am Thinking (Estoy pensando)" (1965):


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If you're hankering for Australian content, don't worry – we'll resume regular Australian Power Pop duties tomorrow.

Los Shakers on MySpace

Song of the day: Ai Otsuka - "Smily"

You may have missed this song a little while ago tucked away amongst all the others in my long and rambling fanboy post about this particular individual, so I thought I'd rescue it from obscurity.

Here's my favourite Japanese artist (who isn't Puffy) with possibly the happiest song in the known universe:

Ai Otsuka - "Smily" (2005)

Ai Otsuka - SMILY Vidéo oyasutv sélectionnée dans Musique

Pure pop perfection.

Ai Otsuka on MySpace

Song of the day: F.T. Island - "Bing Bing Bing"

The 18-year-old Japanese/Korean fan in the household (Hi, Celeste!) is leaving today to spend a month in South Korea (which we call "The Good Korea").

To celebrate her very first trip overseas, I decided to post a Korean pop song and asked her if there's any Korean pop she could recommend. "Well, F.T. Island are power poppy" was the response. So...

Here are F.T. Island with the not-totally-horrible "Bing Bing Bing" (2009):


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I've been told that I'm not allowed to show this video of them (because their pants are terrible, apparently, and the live singing is bad), but I'm going to anyway. Mwu-ha-ha-ha-ha...!:



And here are another couple of songs from F.T. Island, this time performed in a sort of massive duet with Korean girl group Kara.

(Five Boy Singers + Five Girl Singers = Massive Duet.)

I must warn you that if you watch it, you may overdose on cuteness – from both the females and the males: