Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio is the archive for the premiere website that covered the melodic pop scene with in-depth reviews of new and reissued recordings, and a wide variety of features. We are now closed for new activity.
Eight podcast versions of recent Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation shows are now available for listening and downloading from our PodOmatic podcast page.
A mere mouse click or two will open a wonderful world of Alan Haber’s in-depth chats with your favorite melodic pop artists:
* The Legal Matters, whose new Omnivore Records album is the harmony-drenched Conrad
* Steve Eggers from The Nines, whose recently-released album is Alejandro’s Visions
* Glen “Lefty” Weekling and Bob “Zeek” Weekling from New Jersey’s fabulous beat group The Weeklings, whose second smashing collection is the Beatlesque Studio 2
* Dana Countryman, who reveals details of his upcoming tribute to early 1960s girl groups, Dana Countryman’s Girlville! New Songs in the Style of Yesterday’s Hits
* Terry Draper, whose new album is Window on the World: The Lost 80’s Tapes
* Bubble Gum Orchestra’s Michael Laine Hildebrandt, whose latest release is Sticky Love Songs
All of the above-noted shows are now available for listening and downloading. Simply click on any of the links and enjoy!
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 In Conversation PodOmatic podcast page; click here to listen to shows previously broadcast on Pure Pop Radio.
Richard X. Heyman stars in an all-new edition of Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation tomorrow night, April 26, at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT). In fact, all of our specialty shows are new this week.
Richard X. Heyman joins Alan Haber on Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation to talk about his re-realization of his classic Hey Man! album, released in 1991 and celebrating its 25th anniversary. The new versions of these great songs exhibit deeper bass and a wider stereo sound field. Many of the instrumental parts are new. It’s a fantastic listening experience (we’re playing all of the new versions of these songs in rotation on Pure Pop Radio).
During the program, Richard talks about the making of the original Hey Man!, starting from his signing to Sire Records and moving on through the making of the album, its release, and initial reception among the media. It’s another in-depth show you won’t want to miss, tomorrow night, April 26, at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT).
This Wednesday night, Brian Bringelson checks in with an all-new episode of Needle Meets Vinyl, where all of the music is played from records. This week, Brian spins classic tracks from the Box Tops, Linda Ronstadt, the Move, Big Star, the James Gang, Father John Misty and, yes, the Beatles. The Fabs’ “Savoy Truffle” gets things going this Wednesday night, April 27, at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT).
This Thursday night, April 28, at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT), the usual gang of Beatles experts gathers around the microphones for an all-new edition of the weekly Fab roundtable, Things We Said Today. Ken Michaels, Steve Marinucci, Al Sussman and Allan Kozinn talk about Paul McCartney’s current tour; Steve gives his man-on-the-spot report concerning the first show on April 13 at Fresno, California’s Save Mart Center. The crowd was “going crazy,” Steve reports (no surprise there!). The panel also talks about rumors that McCartney will be featured at the upcoming Coachella Festival along with the Who and other classic artists, takes a look at the imminent appearance on streaming media sites of the Traveling Wilburys’ catalog, and looks back on the recently-held Fest for Beatles Fans. It’s another must-listen-to show.
Plan to listen to all of our specialty shows this week–you won’t want to miss a minute!
And now, the fine print:
Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation, the premiere melodic pop interview program hosted by Alan Haber, airs Tuesday nights at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT). Archived, podcast versions of interviews are posted on the In Conversation PodOmatic podcast page; click here to listen to nearly 60 shows previously broadcast on Pure Pop Radio.
Needle Meets Vinylis the weekly show during which all songs are played from vinyl records. The music spans the decades during which popular music has flourished. Curated and presented by Brian Bringelson, a member of the band Anchor and Bear and a solo artist under the name Paul Starling, the show airs Wednesday nights at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT).
Things We Said Today is a weekly survey of all things Beatles that’s hosted by a quartet of Beatles experts–today’s Fab Four, if you will. Ken Michaels, host of Every Little Thing, is joined by Beatlefan Executive Editor Al Sussman, Steve Marinucci (Beatles Examiner), and Allan Kozinn, longtime music critic. Things We Said Today airs Thursday nights at 8 pm ET on Pure Pop Radio.
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 Spongetones, the Nines, Kurt Baker, 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.
The Legal Matters | The Legal Matters | Futureman Records (2014)
(Win one of two copies of the Legal Matters’ self-titled debut album by filling in the form below!)
The next time you rise on a cold and dreary winter morning to find that your overnight brought you two or three inches of snow, and you are moved to mumble “Just what we needed…more of that soul-killing white stuff,” think about the three members of the Legal Matters, who hunkered down in the Reed Recording Company studio this past January to make happy music against a weather-beaten Michigan backdrop. Even in the face of pounding white stuff, the show must go on.
As the snow fell fiercely around them–as a foot or two rolled into more than the sum of a record Michigan winter’s snowfall–Andy Reed, Chris Richards and Keith Klingensmith, equal parts of the same enterprise and veterans of various bands and solo tracks and whatnot, turned what started out as a new Phenomenal Cats record into a brand new enterprise, a song cycle informed by music that was made perhaps a lifetime ago by bands such as the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who, Big Star, Fleetwood Mac, the Beach Boys and who knows who else. When all was said and done, 10 songs were completed in six days, a veritable hop, skip and a jump of sorts that very possibly deserves some kind of knighthood or at least a pat or two on the band’s collective back.
The three friends, with pop-star-in-his-own-right Nick Piunti and drummer Cody Marecek and all of the sounds they loved that came before them swirling around in their heads, strapped on their guitars, fired up their keyboards and plugged in with the sole purpose of creating their art. And, with the equipment whirring gently around them, they set to making the magic happen, as only members of the P-Cats and An American Underdog and the Subtractions could do. And, lo and behold, came the Legal Matters first, self-titled album. And the summer music season of 2014 took off with what promises to be one of the best melodic pop albums of this or any other year.
There was a review of a Pink Floyd album–probably The Wall–in which the writer theorized that this was a band that never orphaned a single idea. It’s like when the ubiquitous observer of film says that every penny spent on a particular movie is on the screen. Similarly, the Legal Matters have incorporated a heap of ideas into their musical stew and left not a single one on the cutting-room floor. It’s all there in the music, in the air, in the moment.
It’s in the happy pop of “Rite of Spring,” where deeply-stacked and deeply-felt harmony vocals come together to transform a lovely melody into a rainbow of emotion. It’s in the gentle light country-pop groove of “Have You Changed Your Mind,” in the “Things We Said Today” mode of “It’s Not What I Say,” in the slightly spacey and emotional “Outer Space,” and in the gorgeous, harmony-stacked “Mary Anne.”
It’s in the from-the-heart, quite musical missives that the harmony-drenched law firm of Reed, Richards and Klingensmith have delivered to the ears of melodic pop fans all over the world. Borne in a winter wonderland that caused a populace to stand still yet still allow the creation of what Joan Jett called “good, good music,” these songs are what happens when all is right with the world. “It always feels so good to hear good music,” Joan sang, speaking for all the lovers in the world–the romantics who cradle soothing sounds and feel the elation that good, good music provides.
The Legal Matters’ first, self-titled album is good, good music. It’s good, good music for when the snow falls, for when spring turns to summer, during a light rain, and for when fall signals the end of baseball season and the year moves into its closing phase. It’s good for what ails you, a prescription that works wonders no matter the season or circumstance. The Legal Matters is good, good music. But next time, order up a warm summer’s day, boys.
Win one of two copies of the Legal Matters’ self-titled debut album by filling in the form that follows. Type “The Legal Matters” in the Comment field. Entries must be received by noon ET on July 30. Good luck!
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