Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio

By Alan Haber – Pure Pop Radio

Eight years ago, a Facebook post by ex-Merrymaker David Myhr, now a successful, and rightly so, solo artist of the melodic pop variety, compelled me to check out the music of one Coke Belda, whom David suggested was terrific.

David was right.

Eight years later, five albums and 10 single track covers from a wide variety of genres into a career marked by excellence in the art of melodic pop writing and performing, Coke Belda was on my mind, as he often is, because, for one thing, he is my good friend, and for another, he has amassed a body of work that always rises to the top of the heap. Because? Because he is just that good, and consistently so.

Because I no longer operate my Pure Pop Radio station, where I played Coke’s music for people who would have no recourse other than to love and enjoy it, I must now employ other means to get the word out, which I do within these pages and on my Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation shows, where Coke answers my questions and we all get to find out things we didn’t previously know about him.

It was this particular road map that I had in mind when Coke and I sat across from each other (well, side by side on a Zoom screen, which is the way the world communicates in this pandemic year) and talked about his latest release, the second containing nothing but joyous covers of Bee Gees songs, and his albums of original songs, mostly played from A to Z by Coke who can strum, keyboard and percuss at least as well as the best of them, if not more so.

We talked about a lot more, too–about songwriting, designing an arrangement for a particular song, recording, and so on. It was one of Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation’s patented deep dive chats, where time was not an object but detail certainly was. The back-and-forth was capped by a live, acoustic performance by Coke of his song “1968,” which appeared on Coke Belda 4. Now, that’s the way to serve up a moment.

You can see, and hear, for yourself by clicking on the video interview below, presented in See! Hear! Pop!, Pure Pop Radio’s finely-tuned, video-riffic sight and sound format. Coke is on the left; I am on the right, and always the twain met, for about 80 warm moments.

After you’ve enjoyed our interview and Coke’s lovely acoustic performance, feel free to click on the links below to listen to some of the songs we talked about. You will enjoy them all, I believe, like I do.

Where to Get Coke Belda’s Music: Bandcamp

Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation, hosted by Alan Haber, is the internet’s premier talk show presenting melodic pop music artists talking about their work. New episodes appear here exclusively on the Pure Pop Radio website. Podcast versions of previously-aired episodes are archived here.

Alan Haber’s Pure Pop Radio is the premier website covering the melodic pop scene with in-depth reviews of new and reissued recordings, and a wide variety of features.