Tommy James has not led a boring life. The pride of Niles, Michigan and his band the Shondells saw their first single, 1964’s impossibly innocent ode to sex “Hanky Panky,” become a modest Midwestern hit before fading out, leading to the dissolution of the band. And that would have been the end of it had the song not reached the ears of a Pittsburgh DJ, whose ceaseless promotion broke it nationwide and took it to the top of the pop charts, leading a shocked and (by then band-less) James to hire a group of nobodies he ran across playing a club in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

That’s hardly a unique story, but James’ unfortunate connections with the Mob during his dealings with Roulette Records and its president Morris Levi—the real life inspiration for Herman “Hesh” Rabkin of Sopranos fame—and participation in Hubert Humphrey’s 1968 presidential campaign tour as “Youth Affairs Commission” director are. Oh, and then there was the night in 1970 a doped-up James walked off stage in Birmingham, Alabama and promptly dropped dead (he was ultimately resuscitated). As for Hubert Humphrey, he was so grateful to James he wrote the liner notes for the band’s 1968 album Crimson & Clover. In the notes he misspells “rallies” as “rallys.” No wonder the guy lost.

James rejected the bubblegum music label, and he was right to do so. Unlike virtually every bubblegum musician out there, James wrote or co-wrote most of the Shondells’ hits, and his band actually played on their records. And the band’s music wasn’t targeted exclusively toward the pre-teen set. Even “Hanky Panky” and “I Think We’re Alone Now”—both of which I couldn’t get enough of as a pre-teen—appealed to both kids and their parents, as did most of the songs on the hit-filled 2002 Rhino Records compilation The Essentials: Tommy James & the Shondells. “Hanky Panky” and the band’s other songs may have earned the Shondells zero cred amongst the Summer of Love’s drop-outs, freaks and hairies, but America’s much larger short-haired demographic loved them. Squares Tommy James & the Shondells may have been, but America was still one square nation, LSD, sexual revolution, and anti-Vietnam war protest marches notwithstanding.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Triple Fast Action will always be ‘the band that got away’ as far as I’m concerned; the very best band out of all of us from Chicago in the ’90s. IYKYK.” —Nina Gordon, Veruca Salt

Chicago’s Triple Fast Action is set to release a massive self-titled collection of 37 rare and unreleased tracks, including many songs previously unheard by anybody who wasn’t there to see them live in the early ’90s. This collection is now available to pre-order, and will be released on Friday, April 21, 2023 via Forge Again Records as a 32-song gatefold triple LP (with 5 bonus digital tracks) and 37-song double CD.

Twenty of these tracks were recorded by the band in their practice space in late 1994 while recording demos for their debut album, Broadcaster, on Capitol Records. They were transferred from the original 1/2″ tapes and remixed by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Redd Kross, Sonic Youth). The rest come from various studio sessions and radio appearances, and the entire collection was mastered by Carl Saff.

Triple Fast Action provides an incredible glimpse into the early days of the band and their polished yet unrestrained songwriting. Their trademark searing rock highs and delicate, textured lows created mesmerizing tempos that rose and fell much like a rollercoaster.

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Celebrating Mick Abrahams, born on this day in 1943. —Ed.

When friends recommended I check out Blodwyn Pig’s 1970 sophomore LP Getting to This, I was dubious. This was, after all, the band England’s New Musical Express praised for its promising blend of “Hooting grunting blues mingled with snorts of jazz.” The only adjective they omitted was squealing. Then there’s the issue of the awful band name, which only beats Pearls Before Swine by snout. You really shouldn’t name your band after livestock, unless you’re The Cows.

But now that I’ve listened to Getting to This, I can only say the above description is an understatement. Ex-Jethro Tull guitarist Mick Abrahams and gimcrack saxophonist/flautist Jack Lancaster (who’s been known to play two saxes at once just like Rahsaan Roland Kirk!) do more than hoot, grunt and snort—on Getting to This they whip up a pig’s ear stew, and toss in everything but the trotters.

The eclectic shtick doesn’t always work. Take “San Francisco Sketches.” It opens with some ocean atmospherics ala the Who’s “Sea and Sand,” then cuts to Lancaster sitting beneath a tree in Sherwood Forest playing a fey flute. Then a high school jazz band enters stage right, Abrahams plays a hot dog of a guitar solo, and a choir of heavenly voices enters stage left and pulls a Godspell on ya. Then things kick into overdrive, Abrahams’ guitar adds kraut to the dog, and Lancaster follows up with a tasty sax solo. Me, I want to take a surgical knife to the damn thing and remove the parts that irk me. I guess this is what your aficionados call progressive rock. I prefer to call it attention deficit disorder.

“Variations on Nanos” is even more out there. Lancaster opens on a freak flute note, launches into a flitting butterfly of a solo, then hands things over to Abrahams, who serves up a subdued but classy guitar solo. All’s as should be until Abrahams (who sounds a whole lot like nemesis Ian Anderson) decides to sing from the deep end of a swimming pool before climbing out, drying himself off, and launching into a dead-on impersonation of Captain Beefheart. Weird, but not as weird as “To Rass Man,” a Deutsche Schlager Oompah reggae tune designed to excite the lederhosen hacky-sack crowd.

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The arrival of each season brings with it some balance. When one element is taken away, another quality takes its place. It’s the old adage of one door closing and another one opening. No matter how hard we want the long, warm days of sunny summer to last forever, the fall brings its own snug serenity (depending on where you live on planet Earth, of course).

Alexz Johnson is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress who first gained recognition in the early 2000s by playing the role of the lead character in the Canadian CTV series Instant Star, where she also contributed to the show’s soundtrack. She also appeared in the Disney Channel series So Weird, and in the 2006 horror film Final Destination 3. Throughout it all, Johnson has released several critically acclaimed albums and singles, showcasing her talent in various genres, including pop, rock, and folk. Johnson has built a loyal fan base and established herself as a promising and dynamic artist in the Canadian music scene. On her latest LP, Seasons, Alexz explores nature’s natural patterns.

Join Alexz and I as we discuss the ups and downs of the Gregorian Calendar to which we all subscribe. On this episode, you’ll hear Alexz describe her songwriting process, detail the challenges of simultaneously balancing a show business career with raising a family, and how she crafted her latest record which is contemporary and soulful. The skies outside might be warm and beautiful, or perhaps they are overcast and nefarious, nevertheless, Alexz takes it all in and details the highs and lows that each season brings.

Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.

The biggest takeaway from this so-so 1977 solo album is former Byrd Roger McGuinn’s eclectic taste in covers—he takes on Tom Petty, Bob Dylan (no surprise there), George Jones, and who’d have thunk it, the great Peter Frampton. Cool, right? Unfortunately the covers are testimony to the drying up of McGuinn’s songwriting gift—not that should come as any shock, as the process had been going on for years. Another takeaway is how much McGuinn sounds like Tom Petty on his lackluster cover of “American Girl.” Can you believe it? He stole Petty’s voice!

And the music is so-so too. Only one of McGuinn’s originals—all of which feature lyrics by Jacque Levy, who penned most of the lyrics for Bob Dylan’s 1976 album Desire—will knock you back on your heels, and that’s “Russian Hill,” although “Dixie Highway” holds its own. You’d be excused for suspecting that the guy who wrote some of The Byrds’ best songs—including “Eight Miles High” and “Ballad of Easy Rider”—didn’t bother showing up for the sessions.

His cover of Frampton’s romancer “All Night Long” sticks too close to the original, so you may as well listen to Peter’s version. The McGuinn/Levy original “It’s Gone” is up-tempo and has that Byrds’ feel—McGuinn’s ringing guitar brings back better days, if nowhere close to his best days. “Dixie Highway” is another original, and sounds exactly the way you think it would: rollicking Southern-tinged country rock with some nice honky-tonk piano gratis Marty Grebb. “American Girl” has a decided limp; his arrangement has none of the speed rush and passion of the original, and Tom Scott’s MOR saxophone doesn’t help.

“We Can Do It All Over Again” (written by veteran producer/player Barry Goldberg and Mentor Ralph Williams, who wrote “Drift Away”) is pleasant if hardly inspired; McGuinn’s cover of George Jones’ 1955 rockabilly hit “Why Baby Why” has the requisite get up and go but lacks the hillbilly “let’s hear some fiddle,” flavor of the original. On the other side of the coin, the country rock original “I’m Not Lonely Anymore” stands up quite nicely, thanks in large part to Rick Vito’s dobro.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Tragically Hip’s best-selling greatest hits compilation, Yer Favourites, will be available on vinyl for the first time ever on June 2.

Originally released digitally and as a two-CD set on November 8, 2005, Yer Favourites, for which tracks were selected by the band’s fans directly via their website, has soared past Diamond status at 14X Platinum (Diamond is 10X Platinum) and has over half a billion streams globally. The Tragically Hip is now the first Canadian band to achieve four Diamond-certified albums. Yer Favourites is the second best-selling compilation album ever in Canada* only behind The Beatles’ 1.

As a nod to fans for their continued support and in the lead-up to the band’s fast-approaching 40th anniversary in 2024, the Yer Favourites vinyl release will be split into two double LP sets on 180g vinyl, Volume #1 and Volume #2, each packaged in a single sleeve in an effort to reduce packaging and make the release more affordable for fans. Yer Favourites has been entirely remastered for 2023 and now includes the original versions from Fully Completely that were not found on the CD version of Yer Favourites released in 2005. This special vinyl release is a must-have for any new or long-time listener of The Tragically Hip. Each volume also includes a 24 x 36 fold-out poster.

The Yer Favourites vinyl release is set to be followed by a deluxe edition of Phantom Power later this year. In 2024, to celebrate four decades of The Tragically Hip, the band will release a deluxe set of their breakthrough album Up to Here, a previously announced four-part Amazon documentary, and much more.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | London Records has announced new 20th Anniversary editions of Dannii Minogue’s top ten album Neon Nights, set for release on 16th June. Available to pre-order now, these #Danniiversary editions celebrate Neon Nights with new artwork and liner notes, bonus tracks and b-sides, unarchived mixes, and a swathe of newly commissioned remixes.

First released in 2003, Neon Nights perfectly captured the dance-pop zeitgeist of its time. Propelled by a veritable pick and mix of the European dance production scene, the album spawned four UK Top 10 smashes with “Who Do You Love Now?” (No.3), “Put A Needle On It” (No.7), “I Begin To Wonder” (No.2), and “Don’t Wanna Lose This Feeling” (No.5). The album debuted at No.8 on the UK Official Albums Chart and was certified Gold, and in Dannii’s native Australia it was nominated for Best Pop Release at the 2003 ARIA Music Awards.

After Dannii’s previous album Girl had paved a blueprint for pop dance crossovers of the noughties, Dannii had parted ways with her label, and had not released music for almost half a decade. Dannii was philosophical then and now, “I knew the crazy world of music was not always fair, but I also knew I’d had amazing experiences and done a lot of awesome stuff. I didn’t think my music career was going to come back, and that was fine. I just thought: ‘Well, that was it.’”

Out of the blue, an invite from Pete Tong would provide an unexpected catalyst. As A&R at London Records, Tong asked Dannii to collaborate with Dutch duo Riva on a rework of their club hit “Stringer.” The resultant single “Who Do You Love Now?” would be a worldwide smash.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | You probably heard Alabama-born multi- instrumentalist Will Owsley before you heard of him; he was a mainstay in the bands of Amy Grant and Shania Twain during the mid-‘90s. He then pulled a Tom Scholz of Boston-style maneuver and recorded his own album, which he shopped to the major labels as a take-it-or-leave-it deal.

The Giant label bit, as well they should have; Owsley is one of the better power pop albums of the ‘90s and certainly one of the best power pop debuts ever to come down the pike (that this self-recorded album got a Grammy nom for best engineered album is further testimony as to Owsley’s many talents).

You’ll hear a little Cars, a little Todd Rundgren, and a healthy helping of Owsley’s former bandmate Ben Folds, but the crunch of Owsley’s guitars makes sure the “power” gets as much play as the “pop.” Highlights include “Oh No the Radio,” “Coming Up Roses,” and “Good Old Days,” but really this is a remarkably consistent album, full of hooks and some sonic surprises (cello! organ!).

Owsley makes its LP debut in a tan vinyl edition limited to 1,000 copies, complete with a full-color inner sleeve. You’ll be playing some of these songs on repeat in your head after a couple of listens.

Formed in 1992 by guitarist Richard Barnes, drummer Christopher O’Donovan, and bassist-vocalist Brenda Sauter, Wild Carnation released their debut CD, Tricycle, in 1994. Now, that set is seeing reissue by the Delmore Recording Society for Record Store Day as a RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release in an edition of 500 copies on carnation white vinyl. Sweetening the deal is an accompanying download code that includes over a half dozen demos and a 1/27/97 live set from Hamburg, Germany. It’s an altogether fantastic listen and exactly what a RSD reissue should be.

Of the three members of Wild Carnation, it’s Brenda Sauter whose musical background is the deepest, as she’s best-known as a member of The Feelies but has also contributed to Speed the Plough alongside her Wild Carnation cohorts Christopher O’Donovan and Richard Barnes (who is Sauter’s husband). Additionally, Sauter was one of the numerous Feelies who played in The Trypes and she’s also featured Yung Wu’s Shore Leave.

Suffice it to say that if you know Sauter’s other bands but haven’t heard Wild Carnation, you can still gather some solid insight into how Tricycle sounds. But if the record is no great stylistic departure, the contents do avoid the predictable through fully realized songwriting and inspired group play. Of course, the root of all this is a heavy debt to the Velvet Underground, though it should be mentioned that Wild Carnation sound less like The Feelies (except when they’re covering Patti Smith’s “Dancing Barefoot” live) and are instead nearer to early ’90s Yo La Tengo, and in particular, the songs that Georgia Hubley sings.

In a nutshell, Wild Carnation are very much a Hoboken sorta thing, and it’s striking just how timeless Tricycle sounds, as it’d be easy to pass off these songs as dating from the mid-’80s or the late ’00s or from just a couple weeks ago. A big part of the reason comes down to the classique nature of Wild Carnation’s influences and the moderne way they tackle them (there’s nothing retro going on), but the icing on the cake is the energy in their method, a factor which comes through strongest in the bonus live recording but is also applicable to the studio material.

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