Spins and Reviews | 08.15.17
By Alan Haber – Pure Pop Radio
Coke Belda | Coke Belda 3 (Gs) (2017)
So natural is Coke Belda’s ability to breathe new life into the songs of the Bee Gees that it would seem perfectly acceptable to call him “Mr. Natural,” at least temporarily, and in honor of one of the songs on this alluring celebration of the charms of the Brothers Gibb.
The long-awaited followup to 2013’s Coke Belda I and 2015’s Nummer Zwei similarly breathes new life into the art of musical homage. Certainly, paying tribute to favored artists is a tradition in pop music; it is not uncommon to come upon covers of certain songs or collections dedicated to a particular group, such as Zero Hour Records’ new tribute to the Knack, Not the Knack. So Coke Belda’s 12 song paean of Bee Gees joy is not all that unexpected, especially when you consider how enamored he is of the group’s songs.
Which is obvious as Coke serves up peerless versions of classics and buried treasures such as “Run to Me,” “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” and “Sir Geoffrey Saved the World” with both reverent approach and Belda style. Playing all the instruments and singing all the vocal parts (save for some welcome and soulful passages from Gretchen Wheels’ Lindsay Murray on “Run to Me” and “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You”), Coke delivers a tour de force that should land on more than a few best-of lists later this year.
One of the absolute joys of a terrific album such as the rather cleverly titled Coke Belda 3 (Gs) is discovering the surprises contained within, and seeing the striking cover art by Ignacio Alcázar. Speaking of surprises, 1965’s “Claustrophobia,” arranged and played by Coke as a sweet Merseybeat romp, will have you booking tickets for the Cavern in Liverpool (and a virtual time travel trip back to the 1960s). The album closer, a beautiful take on “Our Love (Don’t Throw It All Away),” a top 10 Billboard chart hit for Andy Gibb in 1978, written by Bee Gee Barry and keyboardist Blue Weaver, is another welcome, perhaps unexpected nugget.
Coke Belda 3 (Gs) is the, yes, natural and welcome third project from the artist whose travels brought him from Spain to take root in Germany and now in the United States. Naturally, this is the next step in Coke’s musical journey, and one you should absolutely follow with glee.
Where to Get It: Futureman Records (digital–preorder here), Kool Kat Musik (CDs–preorder here), and Rock Indiana (link to come)
Robyn Gibson | Bob of the Pops Vol. 2 (2017)
My love for cool covers of melodic pop songs from across the decades knows no bounds, so it was a fait accompli that a second dip into the treasure trove of Robyn Gibson’s favorite pop nuggets would stir my interest.
And so it has. I raved about Bob of the Pops Vol. 1 back in May; if anything, I feel more strongly about this collection, and that’s really saying something. This time around, “Bob” has essayed some truly spectacular wares with truly spectacular results by such artists as the Tremeloes, the Byrds, Abba, the Soft Boys, the Who, and the Dukes of Stratosphear (aka XTC). He’s also taken flight, in similarly spectacular fashion, with the Monkees’ “Girl that I Knew Somewhere” and Matthew Sweet’s “I’ve Been Waiting.” And a little group from Liverpool’s “There’s a Place.”
Once again, “Bob,” in his various pseudonymous guises, has played all the instruments and sung all the vocal parts. It’s all to, yes, spectacular, highly enjoyable effect, and it’s a free download from Futureman Records’ Bandcamp page, leaving you and yours to simply click the proper links and enjoy. Volume three please, “Bob,” and soonest, if you will.
Where to Get It: Bandcamp
The Bye Bye Blackbirds | Take Out the Poison (2017)
Bradley Skaught’s Oakland, California-based outfit have been strong performers of the melodic pop art since arriving on the scene in 2006 with their Honeymoon EP. This full-length effort, their latest release, is their best offering yet, with 11 finely wrought, emotionally charged songs that will surely take root in listener’s hearts.
Highlights are many, and varied. The aggressive pop-rocker “Alfred Starr Hamilton” pops hard with lots of guitars and an enticing melody. “Let Your Hair Fall Down” is an out-and-out pop workout, complete with horns, sounding right out of the J. Geils playbook. The mid-tempo country ballad, “Duet,” features strings and a lovely vocal by Lindsay Paige Garfield, who co-wrote the song with Bradley. And “Poison Love,” a fiercely upbeat country rocker, carries a lineage that goes as far back as 1951, when Johnnie and Jack hit big with the Elmer Laird tune on no less than three Billboard country charts.
Take Out the Poison is no less than one of this year’s finest releases. Take a bow, Bradley Skaught, Aaron Rubin, Lenny Gill, KC Bowman, and so many other fine performers. Pop, and rock, on.
Where to Get It: Bandcamp
Pure Pop Radio’s signature shows, Alan Haber’s Pop Tunes Deejay Show, playing the latest and greatest melodic pop songs from today and across the decades, and Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation, the premiere Internet melodic pop talk show, air weekly on Pop that Goes Crunch Radio.
Listen to the Pop Tunes Deejay Show on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 pm ET (two different shows every week); In Conversation airs every Wednesday night at 9 pm ET. Don’t miss a minute!
Tune in to Pop that Goes Crunch Radio by clicking on the following snazzy-looking button:
There is excitement on the air! This week sees Alan Haber’s Pop Tunes Deejay Show and Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation debut on Pop that Goes Crunch Radio.
Every Tuesday night at 8 pm ET on the Pop Tunes Deejay Show, I will spin the very latest and greatest melodic pop releases by artists you love and some that may be new to you. This week, thrill to top tunes from Tommy Lorente (his brand-new pop and roll single), Daniel Wylie’s Cosmic Rough Riders, Fun of the Pier (their first long player!), Sitcom Neighbor, Jared Lekites (with a great cover of a song by one of my favorites, Coke Belda), Terry Draper, and many more. (Repeats Friday at 2 pm ET)
On this week’s all-new Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation (Wednesday at 9 pm ET), I talk to one of my favorite-ever melodic pop artists, the great Richard X. Heyman, whose smashing 12th album, Incognito, has just been released. It’s a spirited half hour show with one of the great instrumentalists, songwriters and performers in melodic pop. You won’t want to miss it. (Repeats Saturday at 2 pm ET)
Singer-songwriter Coke Belda returned to Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation
Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation, the premiere melodic pop interview program hosted by Alan Haber, airs Tuesday nights at 8 pm ET. Archived, podcast versions of interviews are posted on the 
Alan Haber’s Pure Pop Radio is the original 24-hour Internet radio station playing the greatest melodic pop music from the ’60s to today. From the Beatles to the Monkees, the Posies, McPherson Grant, the Connection and the New Trocaderos, we play the hits and a whole lot more. Tune in by clicking on one of the listen links below.
Musician Coke Belda and another lively discussion of the merits of the just-released Pure McCartney compilation are in the spotlight on this week’s episodes of Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation and the weekly Beatles roundtable, Things We Said Today.
This coming Thursday, June 16, also at 8 pm ET, the regular panel sits around the Things We Said Today microphones to talk about a recent show performed by Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. Ken Michaels was in attendance at the Paramount Theatre in Port Chester, New York to see a top flight band, including Todd Rundgren and Santana’s Gregg Rolie, rock the house with a joyous noise. “The band just sounded really killer,” said Ken. Also on the docket: a look at the relationship between the Beatles and Muhammed Ali, who just passed, and another discussion of Paul McCartney’s Pure McCartney compilation that’s kicked off by Ken, which develops into another examination of the release’s plusses and minuses.
Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation, the premiere melodic pop interview program hosted by Alan Haber, airs Tuesday nights at 8 pm ET. Archived, podcast versions of interviews are posted on the 
The Dowling Poole | Single: “Rebecca Receiving,” “The Same Mistake Again,” and “Empires, Buildings and Acquisitions (Live in Manchester)” This tasty taster, being released February 19 in advance of the full-length One Hyde Park, is yet another example of what Willie Dowling and Jon Poole do so very well: mix the past with the present as they point to the future. “Rebecca Receiving” is an undeniably catchy art-pop explosion drinking from a well overflowing with Stiff and Godley and Creme-isms. It’s hard to deny, as is the non-album “The Same Mistake Again,” a wholly different, gentle-by-comparison beast, coming from the other, Stewart-Gouldman side of the 10cc fence. A lovely, heretofore unreleased, stripped down, live version of Bleak Strategies‘ “Empires, Buildings and Acquisitions” completes the triptych. Super stuff.
Various Artists | If It Feels Good, Do It: A Sloan Tribute Keith Klingensmith’s Futureman Records hits another bullseye with a collection of covers of songs from the Sloan catalog. A selection of familiar and perhaps not-so-familiar artists delivers the goods, from Coke Belda and El Inquieto Roque’s melodically-charged “Autobiography,” which kicks off with a knowing, smile-inducing nod to Jeff Lynne’s “Mr. Blue Sky,” to Pop 4’s short but sweet “Flying High Again,” sounding more than a little like electrified, later-period Cowsills. We’re playing 12 superb tracks in rotation, including the previously-mentioned nuggets and Andy Reed’s “I Love a Long Goodbye”; Fireking’s “The Other Man”; Gretchen’s Wheel’s “Try to Make It”; the wonderfully named Hal E. Fax and the Supernova Scotias’ “So Far So Good,” with its Beach Boys vocal open; Nick Piunti’s “Right or Wrong”; Phil Ajiarapu’s “Set in Motion”; Stereo Tiger’s “C’mon C’mon (We’re Gonna Get It Started)”; The Hangabouts’ “The Answer Was You”; and the Well Wishers’ “The Lines You Amend.” Cheers to a fun listen.
Coke Belda | “Poor Baby” Speaking of Coke Belda, this pop master has recorded a spirited and loving cover of the Cowsills’ 1967 single track “Poor Baby” for Pop Parade, a forthcoming compilation from the Rock Indiana label. Coke plays all of the instruments and sings all of the vocals. It’s a spectacular performance, and we’ve got it playing in rotation. Beautiful.
Propeller | Fall Off the World The followup to 2013’s Don’t Be Sorry Again, sporting a K-tel International homage on its cover, is an infectious collection of hook-filled songs with more than a hint of Teenage Fanclub-esque-fueled DNA. Songs like the Byrdsian “She’s So Alive” is but one example of the heights the group achieves; “You Remind Me of You” melds Buddy Holly swagger with its power-pop heart; “It’s Kinda Why I Like You” is a virtual love letter to Fanclub song construction. These three songs, plus “Wish I Had Her Picture,” “The Things You Say,” “What a Way to Feel,” and “Can You Hear Us Now,” are currently playing in rotation, as you would expect.
Chris Murphy | Ghost Town The Murphy Brothers’ Chris closed out 2015 with this gorgeous collection of songs soaked in melodic charm. The title track, a lovely ballad, is quite simply one of the most affecting numbers we’ve heard in quite some time. The blues-rocking “Scarecrow” is a punchy number, punctuated by Chris’s strong vocal and some tasty piano runs; and “Kid from the Country” sings a heartland song from the heart. These three tunes, plus “Not Like it Was Before,” “Running Out of Time,” and “Happy Boy” are now happily playing in rotation.
New Sincerity Works | Nowadays Our old friend Mike Tittel returns, fellow travelers Roger Klug, Bob Nyswonger, Mike Landis, Greg Tudor and Tom White in tow, with New Sincerity Works’ second album, another sparkling collection of melodic gems. “The Upside of Being Down” is a powerful rocker performed with energetic swagger; the gorgeous “Our Room Shares a Door” sports a delicious melody and beautiful harmonies. In addition to these two songs, we’re playing “Dreams Worth Keeping” and “Lips Miss Talking” in rotation.
The Cactus Blossoms | You’re Dreaming It’s like the Everly Brothers are spinning on the turntable, but you’d better open your eyes (and your ears, for that matter), because it’s not Phil and Don; it’s brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum delivering an authentic mix of Everly, country and western, and Bakersfield magic. One of the great surprises of this early year, we’re playing five great numbers: “You’re Dreaming,” “Traveler’s Paradise,” “Stoplight Kisses,” “No More Crying the Blues,” and “Clown Collector.” It just doesn’t get much better than this.
Daisy House | Western Man Here is another great surprise that has defined this year, even early on, as a great one for melodic music. Doug Hammond and his daughter Tatiana have made an album for the ages. Golden harmonies and great songs melt your heart all the way through. The heavenly duo channels the Byrds in the uptempo “She Comes Runnin’ Back” and “Twenty-One,” offers up a catchy, playful vibe with the singalong number “Willow,” and delivers a strong, emotive ballad with the orchestrated pearl, “Western Man.” We’re playing these and five other grand musical gestures: “The Defender,” “The Boulevard,” “Say Goodbye,” “Like a Superman,” and “Golden Heart.” This is nothing less than a gift from heaven.
Tricia Countryman and John Hunter Phillips | “The Warmth of the Sun” Taken from Tricia’s upcoming solo album, being produced by her husband Dana (a Pure Pop Radio favorite, don’t you know), this lovely rendition of the Beach Boys classic is pure gold. This is just about as perfect an example of how important harmonies are to melodic pop music as we can think of.
