July Album Reviews: Bloody Red Baron

GUEST POST: Mike Baron

Mike Baron (aka Bloody Red Baron) was the longtime album reviewer for Pop Geek Heaven. With the closure of that legendary power pop newsletter, we are very happy to host his latest round of album reviews here at Remember The Lightning.

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Crossword Smiles—Consequences + Detours (Big Stir)

Two guys, Tom Curless and Chip Samm, who write beautifully balanced power pop—not hard and crunchy like Cheap Trick, but more like the Bye-Bye Blackbirds, Peter & Gordon, and Hall & Oates. Mesmerizing bridges and hooks on “Falling All Over Myself.” The delicately feathered shifts from major to minor on “Girls Club” suggest the melancholy beauty of Lannie Flowers. Sharp pop instincts and horns elevate “Night Train.” The boys touch many pop keystones but retain a unique sound due to their harmonies and writing. They dip into The Stones on “The Never Seens.”

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Tristan Armstrong—The Lonely Avenue (Kool Kat)

The title track is a hortatory power popper that will bring you to your feet. The rest of The Lonely Avenue has one foot in Americana (although Tristan is Canadian) and one foot in country. “Periscope” features a swooningly gorgeous Claptonesque guitar. “The Lender” sounds like Bakersfield, something Merle would sing. Duncan Symonds’ pedal steel anchors “Gimme A Sign” as well as “Twice As Bright” and “Would You Take An IOU,” a song bout loss and regret headed down the same lonely highway as The Ghost Particles. There’s a hint of Mellencamp in “The Palace Hotel,” and Bill Lloyd in “On the Run.” Not to say Armstrong sounds like them. His voice is strong enough on his own.

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Splitsville—Mobtown (Big Stir)

Some bands run out of steam, can’t make a living at it and disband. Big money record companies no longer invest in power pop. Some bands keep touring way past their due date. Some bands reform years later to see if they still have the magic. Some don’t. Graham Parker comes to mind.

But some bands reform and the magic is there.

Splitsville’s first album since 2003 is a master pop power piece from “Cold Open,” an overture to the show in the spirit of Cheap Trick’s “Hello There!” and Ed James’ “Welcome to the Show.” It hits the ground running and never lets up. “Southern Hospitality” has the sweet melodicism and mid-tempo of the Posies. “Gray” is a languid haunting ballad with raging guitar work and a bird-like chorus. “I Hate Going To Hutzler’s” slips into fifth gear with a stop/start rhythm that adds to the exquisite tension.

“Fallsway” recalls the effortless melodicism of The Wellingtons, worming its way into our consciousness. If only these songs were our fall back earworms! Closer “Penn Station” is pensive, melodic, and emotional. Sticks with you long after the song has ended. The record is a paean to their hometown Baltimore.

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Smackbeat—Little Letters (Kool Kat)

Oozing attitude with appropriately snotty vocals, Smackbeat roars into your ears with “1999,” with overtones of Creed, Everlast and Foo Fighters. The joyfully upbeat “You and Me” throws a bristling riff in your face and accelerates. “Last Summer” is another fist pumper. These guys wouldn’t slow down at a school crossing, vocal arcing over a canyon of drums before the band bursts back in. They pop and click on every track.

“Avicii” begins with three minor chords that have haunted pop music for millennia (such as “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” but no one will confuse the two). Although they sound like a product of an American high school, they are in fact German. Sounds like they love the Buzzcocks and The Cry! “Meet Me In Hawaii” is vibrant and unexpectedly emotional. “Little Letters” chorus is both devilish and heavenly.

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Mark Ward—Translator

Ward records personal favorites reminding us how great rock used to dominate AM radio, beginning with “Indiana Wants Me.” There’s something about a familiar refrain you haven’t heard in ages that touches the cortex. “Walk Away Renee” is a gutsy choice. I can’t recall another band that covered the Left Banke. They were sui generis, reminding us that Michael Brown was a genius. Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” is an old friend you haven’t heard in a while. “Weighing Down” steps in country.

Released in 2024, Ward reminds us that it’s impossible to cover all pop. It’s impossible to cover all rock or all power pop. Resurrecting gems is a public service. I wish more bands would record their favorite covers. Yes, we get a cover here and there, but bands rightly want to play us the new stuff. Their stuff.

“The Eagle and the Hawk” reminds us of the grandeur John Denver could achieve. And there’s no “Jessie’s Girl.” There are a dozen great seventies and eighties cover bands where I live and few of them can omit “Jessie’s Girl.”

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Nelson Bragg—Melodie De Nelson (Big Stir)

The best power pop ignores the classic rock and roll blues-based structure, Chuck Berry’s first, fifth and sixth chords, C-M=major, G-M=major, F-major and A-minor in favor of a purer pop esthetic which has more to do with Broadway than the blues. Bragg was part of Brian Wilson’s band and his compositions are in the master’s tradition in that they seem to come from his imagination rather than any predecessor. He reminds me of Nick Frater, Willie Dowling, and Valley Lodge, to name a few.

“We’re Gonna Laugh About It” initiates the jangle and the way the bass echoes the guitar snaps our head around. “Tell Me I’m Wrong” is a little roots rock, very seventies, with echoes of Jackson Browne, and C,S and N. The ethereal harmonies of “Forever Days” remind me of Norway’s Jessica Fletchers.

The songs are balanced, always melodic. “Whitechapel Girl” recalls the stratospheric Beach Boys extensions of Explorers Club, and “Lost All Our Sundays” is a stunning peacock of harmony. “Death of Caroline” is a tribute to Pet Sounds, and would fit right in.

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April Album Reviews: Bloody Red Baron

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