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Joy Spins Eternal Saturday, April 22, for Vinyl Lovers Everywhere. Record Store Day 2017 Rolls into Your Town

By Alan Haber – Pure Pop Radio
(Originally posted April 19, 2017)

Your mission this week, and not nearly an impossible one, is to compose your want lists and check them twice and, what’s more, map out your travel plans for Record Store Day 2017, happening in your town, and yours too.

Record Store Day (RSD), 10 years young this year, is the vinyl fan’s national holiday and quite the occasion for a big group hug. Taking place Saturday, April 22 at independent record stores worldwide, it’s the place to be to snag special RSD exclusive platters, fill in holes in your collections of archival and current artists, and meet with fellow vinyl hounds to talk shop, if by “shop” we mean, and we do, the musicians we love and, by the way, which albums and artists are in your top 10.

Trax on Wax’s Gary Gebler

Trax on Wax, located in beautiful Catonsville, Maryland (also known as Music City), is the official record store of Pure Pop Radio. Owner and vinyl guru Gary Gebler has participated in eight Record Store Days; he’s seen it all. In the following exclusive interview, Gary talks about how more mainstream artists have become a part of the annual celebration, Elton John’s status as the first worldwide Record Store Day Legend, the ongoing and increasing popularity of Big Star, and that familiar record store smell:

elton john 17-11-70 What’s on your Record Store Day list this year? How about an extended vinyl version of Elton John’s famous, early live album, 17-11-70, with six never-before-heard songs and a newly-remixed version of “Amoreena,” a bonus track included on the CD reissue of the album back in 1995? How about The Count Five’s Psychotic Reaction album from 1966 in mono on 180-gram vinyl? Zombies fans will want to snag a copy of a special 45–on pink vinyl, no less–pairing a previously unheard version of “A Rose for Emily” and the version of “This Will Be Our Year” that everyone knows and loves.

Whatever your desires, an indie record store near you on Record Store Day 2017 will likely be able to fulfill them. Our hearts are with Trax on Wax; we hope yours are pledged to support your favorite local independent record stores, wherever they may be.

Happy hunting and spinning!

Learn more about Trax on Wax by clicking here.

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May 1, 2017Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio Leave a comment

Get Ready, Steady and Go: It’s Eight Days a Weekling as Lefty, Zeek, Rocky and Smokestack–The Weeklings–Take Over the Airwaves at Pure Pop Radio

Pure Pop Radio’s Eight Days a Weekling marathon, beginning Monday, November 7, features:
* Weeklings Double Shots;
* An in-depth review of The Weeklings’ upcoming album, Studio 2;
* A repeat of Lefty and Zeek’s recent appearance on Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation on Thursday, November 10 at 8 pm ET;
* An in-studio live performance and interview with Glen “Lefty Weekling” Burtnik that hasn’t been heard in nearly 20 years (airs Wednesday, November 9 at 9 pm ET),
*And much more!

Preview by Alan Haber

Roll over, Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news! Beginning next Monday, November 7 at 6 am ET, Lefty, Zeek, Rocky and Smokestack Weekling, the fabulous Weeklings, the hot four-piece big-beat band bursting across the universe with their soon-to-be-released, smash hit-bound album Studio 2, take over the airwaves here at Pure Pop Radio during our high-energy Eight Days a Weekling marathon, a 12-day explosion of Beatles-inspired sound.

The Weeklings‘ second album, Studio 2, recorded, as was the band’s initial long player, in majestic monophonic sound, is being released to the world on Friday, November 18 by Jem Records (the album will be available on CD, on vinyl, as a download, and, get ready…on cassette with three extra tracks. How cool is that?!).

Beginning next Monday, November 7, Pure Pop Radio, during our smashing Eight Days a Weekling marathon, will be playing all 12 of Studio 2’s tantalizing tracks as part of our hourly Weeklings Double Shots (Studio 2 was recorded in Abbey Road’s Studio 2, the historic studio in which the Beatles made their magic). During our hourly Weeklings Double Shots, you’ll hear a Weeklings track from either Studio 2 or the first, self-titled album, along with a solo track from either Lefty (Glen Burtnik) or Zeek (Bob Burger), from albums such as Glen’s Palookaville and Bob’s The Day After. Weeklings Double Shots are cool!

glen-burtnik-and-alan-at-webr-1997 But that’s not all, Weeklings watchers! During the week of November 7, and leading up to the release of Studio 2 on November 18, we’ll be rocking and rolling with more big-beat fun: an in-depth review of Studio 2; a repeat airing of Lefty and Zeek’s recent big-beat appearance on Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation on Thursday, November 10 at 8 pm ET ; an in-studio live performance and interview with Glen “Lefty Weekling” Burtnik from 1997 from the archives of the original run of Pure Pop Radio shows on Wednesday, November 9 at 9 pm ET (see separate story tomorrow), and much, much more.

the-weeklings-crowds We’re thrilled that The Weeklings are taking over our airwaves beginning Monday, November 7 at 6 am ET. The crowds are bulging as Weeklings fans take to the streets (see photo at right) to welcome back Lefty, Zeek, Rocky (John Merjave), and Smokestack (Joe Bellia) with hourly Weeklings Double Shots, featuring tracks from their exciting new big-beat album, Studio 2, to be released by Marty Scott’s Jem Records on Friday, November 18. Don’t miss a single minute!

We’re your radio home for Weeklings excitement this November! Gather ’round, kids: It’s Eight Days a Weekling on Pure Pop Radio!

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November 1, 2016Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio Leave a comment

Charming, Bittersweet “Sabina” Points to Fine Fall Album Release from Michael Oliver and the Sacred Band

Michael Oliver

I cannot remember the last time I was so charmed by a song that I played it over and over again upon receipt. Only seconds into the first single from the forthcoming, hopefully late-Fall-ish album by Michael Oliver and the Sacred Band, Everything Sunny All the Time Always, I was thanking my lucky stars that such a wonderful creation (in the form of a great-sounding studio rough) had fallen into my lap. The album, you should know, is being recorded with Ducky Carlisle at his Ice Station Zebra studio in Medford, Massachusetts.

I’ve been a big fan of Michael’s for a long time. News of a new album on the horizon made me stand up and take notice. The new song, “Sabina,” which sees its Pure Pop Radio premiere tonight at 8:30 pm ET and will subsequently be spinning in hot rotation after that, is an expertly crafted, lovely, mid-tempo ballad–a heartstring tugger about loss, about sensory memory, about love, about life. Michael says the song is about a cat or life. Yes and yes.

Following a gorgeous, riff-based opening (played out atop a haunting, ghostly percussion track), Michael sings, “If she’s gone, then why do I call her name and wait for her quiet games?” as the sensory memory sets in. And then, the heartbreaking chorus, punctuated by a sensitive accordion sample, played to perfection: “Sabina’s gone but not forgotten…but something in my heart still lingers. I close my eyes and find her there.”

The final chorus adds an inventive background vocal wash, underpinned by hope, and a closing, sadly and ultimately life affirming observation: “And sometimes we all feel bruised and battered. We all need to know somehow it matters.”

As I said, this is a heartstring tugger. Michael is in fine form on the song, his vocal acutely observed. “Sabina” is a triumph. Listen to the song’s Pure Pop Radio premiere tonight at 8:30 pm ET. Hear it in rotation after that, and keep a look out for Everything Sunny All the Time Always mere months from now. The fall, or thereabouts, is looking up already.

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