October 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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Surveillance by Chris Lund

Chris Lund is a sole proprietor but you’d never know it listening to this seamless blast of power pop, echoes of a thousand bands blended into one timeless, urgent of-the-moment music. Echoes Buzzcocks and Redd Kross, as in “You’ve Got A Lot Of Nerve,” leading into “Crazy Driver,” a turbo-charged Mustang with a writhing and popping live wire guitar. Guitar is Lund’s main ax, but he plays everything and he sounds like a band. He may have written “Swallowed” with The Hollies in mind. He may have been listening to Rick Derringer before writing “Sing Bird Sing,” a joyous peaen to rock and roll with a Ramones shout out. “No Ethics No Future” is a vicious put-down song although it’s as sweet as Fountains of Wayne. We all know someone who deserves it. “Come On Home” is a mid-tempo charmer bursting with melodic invention. Chris summons the ghost of Mike Bloomfield for the guitar on “God Loves His Children.” Top ten contender.

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AM Operetta by The Humbugs (Kool Kat)

As light and sweet as a Crème Brûlée, The Humbugs seduce with indelible, mid-tempo charmers reminiscent of The Cowsills and The Bye Bye Blackbirds. From the opener “Be Careful What You Wish For” they draw you in with pitch perfect melodic invention and swooning harmonies. “Take Out The Trash” is a featherweight song with a Mike Tyson hook. They don’t need pounding drums or in your face bass, it’s in the compositions and the execution. Although they sound nothing like Marshall Crenshaw, their work is reminiscent in its effortless melodicism. “Tearing Me Up,” with Kristin Marshall singing lead, is as cool and effortless as a summer breeze. Crowded House couldn’t do it better. “Never Noticed Me” has a hint of The Hushdrops in its adjacent chords, and Krisim Marshall channels Kate Bush on “Threw The Rules Away.” Another top ten contender.

Every year I say it and every year it’s true—this has been one of the greatest years for power pop since Badfinger and Todd Rundgren.

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Finally, A Party Record by Davey Lane (Kool Kat)

Aussie Davey Lane has been making music since his teens, has toured with Todd Rundgren and Crowded House, put out numerous records with his own band The Pictures and others, and now proffers this party soundtrack which does indeed sound like a party record, beginning with “Mach IV.” Shades of Bootsy Collins! Monster Luke Hodgson bass. Reminscient of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Davey sings on “Not Expecting To Fly,” more in the mad pop science groove of The Dowling Poole. It’s all over the place, but every track is interesting, like a good deejay would play. A touch of techno creeps into “An Absent Lover” and massive prog in the very ‘70s “Flippant Words.” Luke Hodgson’s bass and Davey’s guitar wind through “Saint Me” like a mountain river, somewhat reminiscent of ’80s dancemeisters ABC. “If It Can Rain, It’ll Rain” is a stem-winding yawp to the heavens.

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The High Frequencies by The High Frequencies (Jem Recordings)

The siren Lisa Mychols makes a triumphant return with her new band, a perpetual motion machine that thumps ever more insistently and alluringly all the way through beginning with “Tonight And Every Night.” Grabs you by the throat, like a good story. The music is timeless but unmistakably Lisa. Her voice is both muscular and feminine. She has that siren sound, like Stevie Nicks, Kate Bush, or Dionne Warwick. A siren is a mythical creature that lures sailors to their death, or a beautiful and seductive woman. Anything that produces a loud, attention-grabbing alert. Lisa is not alarming, she’s forcefully seductive. The High Frequencies pick up momentum through the record, if that’s possible, every song fully realized with tonic, bridge and hook, leaning more toward minor chords in the second half. “Parasite” has the classic structure of Arthur Alexander. Not the blues pianist, the Polish born founding member of Sorrows, a brilliant power pop band scuttled by CBS Records who staged a triumphant return forty years later. There’s a hint of The Mommas & The Papas in those “Miss Me When I’m Gone” harmonies, but it’s fleeting. The record closes with the anthemic and valedictory “Nexus Star.” Reminds me of the brilliance of Lisa’s 2013 release, Above, Beyond and In Between.

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July Album Reviews: Bloody Red Baron

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