ANOTHER CHRISTMAS BLOG GIFT FOR YOU - BORN TO GREET (2007)

So this is Christmas (...soon). Last year, there was "A Christmas Blog Gift For You" available on the PPL Blog, Now it is time for me to bring to you another annual exclusive Christmas compilation. But, why one more Christmas compilation , well just because I wanted to share a Powerpop Christmas with all the readers, and it was the right time of the year to release it. So, I've tried to give you "la creme de la creme" of christmas powerpop. Have a Merry Christmas, enjoy. Listen the snow is falling, thanx for Christmas.

ZS (182 mb)

 

Bands

AlternativA / The Jigsaw Seen / The Montgomery Cliffs / Redd Kross / Sugarcult / Fountains Of Wayne / The Raveonettes / Nourallah Brothers / OK Go / Imperial Drag / The Richies / Joey Ramone / Lisa Mychols / The Malibus / Bill Retoff / Corey Leland / Doug Powell / Matt Bruno / Cheepskates / Cowboy And Spingirl / Spooner / The Del-Lords / XTC / Primitives / T.. P....

LEW LEWIS REFORMER - CHORUS TV SHOW (1980)

Lew Lewis Reformer recorded live for the legendary Chorus TV Show. An excerpt of two songs "The Mood I'm In" and "Louie Louie" transferred from the original VHS. There's a short "voice over" by Antoine de Caunes (host of the show). I guess this is part of a longer Chorus aired later, but i really don't know much more about that.
Note: This is the first time i transferred it, so i don't think it is available on YouTube yet.

CHRIS BAILEY (1983)

Chris Bailey performs two songs ("Amsterdam" and "Let's Pretend") on the french TV set of Channel 2 with Antoine de Caunes hosting. Chris Bailey sang both songs just before the broadcast of the Elvis Costello's Rockpalast in 1983. (It was quite late at night).

Note: This "XviD4 PAL" video has been transferred from the original VHS taped in 1983. Lesser quality rips can be watched on YouTube.

JONATHAN RICHMAN - HOUBA HOUBA TV SHOW (1982)

Jonathan Richman on french TV show "Houba Houba" hosted by Antoine de Caunes. He sings the never recorded "Tahitian Hop" plus "Abdul & Cleopatra". Both songs are subtitled in french. As a bonus there's an interview with Antoine de Caunes.
Note: This "XviD4 PAL" video has been transferred from the original VHS taped in 1982. Lesser quality rips can be watched on YouTube.

STILETTOS - PEGGY SUE (1984) (link fixed)

Midnight Rambler @ "Son of The Dolls" has posted the full discography of this french band. It reminded of an old VHS video of the band performing "Peggy Sue" on a 80's french TV show ("La Derniere Seance" hosted by Eddy Mitchell). The TV show was trying to re-vamp how it was to go the movies in the 50's (first movie, ads, cartoons, singer and second movie). This is how The Stilettos appeared as special guests on the show. If i remember well, the show was taped for TV in Bordeaux.
Special thanx to Jose Ruiz (Stilettos' guitarist) who made me discover the Spongetones' Beat Music in 1984.

THE WILKO JOHNSON & LEW LEWIS BAND (1983)

Five years had passed since Wilko Johnson departed Dr Feelgood for new musical pastures. Wilko joined ranks with wizzard mouth harp man Lew Lewis (ex-Eddie & The Hot Rods). On this extended play waxflat, Wilko and Lewis are joined by their live gig oppos, Alan Platt and Russell Strutter (ex-Solid Senders) who complete the line-up.

Bottle Up And Go! (Thunderbolt THBE-001)
Caravan Man / Bottle up And Go! / I Wanna Be Your Lover / Looked Out My Window

LIVE AND LET DIE (2007)

In 1964, the fab four played there. 43 years later, Paul was back at the Olympia in Paris. He performed 23 songs for an exclusive concert on the 22nd of October. The concert was taped by a french TV channel and aired on the 16th of November. Here's an excerpt from the show.

THE RECORDS - TELEVISION GENERATION (1998)

The official John Wicks website includes this Popmeister unofficial release in the Records discography. It contains tracks "Recorded Live At The Rodeo In Dallas, Texas 1979" & "Recorded Live At Pierce-Arrow, 1980". 1-13 apparently taken from soundboard tapes. 14-20 also taken from soundboard tapes. 21-23 are acetate transfers. The track sequence have been fixed on the back of the sleeve (they forgot to print "Abacadabra" on the sleeve). I removed the two songs from "Music On Both Sides" because they are now irrelevant ("Music On Both Sides" has just been reissued on CD with 9 bonus songs), i only kept "Wives & Mothers Of Tomorrow" (a B-Side of "Rock 'n' Roll Love Letter".)

Live At The Rodeo In Dallas, Texas (1-13)
All Messed Up And Ready To Go / Insomnia / Hearts In Her Eyes / Vamp / Girl / Girls That Don't Exist / The Same Mistakes / Affection Rejected / Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her) / 1984 / Rock And Roll Love Letter / Teenarama / Starry Eyes.

Live At Pierce-Arrow Studios, 1980 (14-20)
Injury Time / Rumour Sets The Woods Alight / Spent A Week With You Last Night / Hearts Will Be Broken / Girl In The Golden Disc / The Worriers / Man With The Girl Proof Heart

THE PLEASERS (1977-1978) The sleeves

With their smart suits and ability to actually play their instruments The Pleasers (Nick Powell, Steve McNerney, Bo Benham & Dave Rotchelle) were at the forefront of the new wave of guitar-based groups that swept through the Britain’s music industry in the late 70’s.They wrote and performed great songs with superb harmonies, jangling guitars and pure sixties drum fills, and their live shows brought back the fashion for being surrounded by cool guy’s wearing thin ties and screaming mini skirted girls. As proud Londoners, the group described their sound as Thamesbeat but you might know it better by the name their music was given by press of the time: Powerpop. The Pleasers
Bonus feature : five FLV videos included.
Listen to some of their recently remastered tracks from 1977-78 now available on itunes or purchase the very highly recommended Thamesbeat CD (1999).

Lies E.P. (Arista ARIST 152)
1 (You Keep On Tellin' Me) Lies
2 I'm In Love
3 Who Are You








The Kids Are Alright
(Arista ARIST 180)
1 The Kids Are Alright
2 Stay With Me








You Don't Know (Arista ARIST 209)
1 You Don't Know
2 Billy

NICK HEYWARD - ROLLERBLADE (1996)

Nick Heyward left his band Haircut 100 just when they were cruising through the pop charts in the U.K. Instead of destroying his career, the move actually provided him with more artistic credibility. In 1995, he released the wonderful Beatle-ish "Tangled" album. "Rollerblade" was one of the singles pulled out from the album. It had two different issues, one of which was a limited edition entitled "A Hard Day's Nick" with three Beatles covers and an artwork based upon the fab four opus. Two independent parts.

A Hard Day's Nick (Epic 662791-5)
Rollerblade / If I Needed Someone / Nowhere Man / All My Loving

Rollerblade (Epic 662791-2)
Rollerblade / The Queen Of Summertime / Better Place / Famous Man

THE BAM BALAMS (1986)

The first two singles of the Bam Balams were produced by Rob Younger and released on the Citadel label. The first lineup was Kibble (vocals, guitar), Brad Fitzpatrick (guitar), Steve Cole (bass) and Matt Manchester (drums).

FLAC: RS
mp3 (320 lame 3.98) : RS or MF

Deliver My Love (Citadel CIT 019)
Deliver My Love / Mean Thang

No One Else (Citadel CIT 025)
No One Else / Gettin' Over You

THE BANNED (1977-1978)

The Banned (Sordid, Thomas, Manswoth and Fresh) had a hit in 1977 with "Little Girl" and the original home pressing on Can't Eat Records (Eat Up 1) was taken up by EMI Harvest. The line up changed in the first few months with Tommy Steel (Jim Hughes) replacing JT on bass and Ben Dover (Ben Grove) relacing RM on guitar. This line-up recorded the second single "Him or Me" with "You Dirty Rat" on the B side. An unreleased third Banned single "Give It To Me Now" was recorded but due to management problems the band folded six months later. Aitken and Grove continued working together in a band called The Retros. In 2004, Cherry Red released a compilation of their complete recordings. Visit the Banned website.

Little Girl (1977, Harvest HAR 5145)
Little Girl / CPGJ's

Him Or Me (1978, Harvest HAR 5149)
Him Or Me / You Dirty rat

ANOTHER BUNCH OF SINGLES (1977-1981)

Some of the songs below were only released on 7", a few of them were later included on various Powerpop compilations, but some have never been available on CD. All the links are independent.

PLUMMET AIRLINES (1976, Stiff, BUY 8)

1 Silver Shirt
2 This Is the World

THE STUKAS (1977, Chiswick NS21)
1 Klean Livin' Kids
2 Oh Little Girl




SUBS (1978, Stiff OFF 1)
1 Gimme Your Heart
2 Party Clothes




THE VALVES (1977, Zoom ZUM 1)
1 Robot Love
2 For Adolf's Only




CHEESE (1979,B-B-BABY S-72349)
1 She Said
2 Kids Don't Mind




THE FURYS (1979, Beat 002)
1 Moving Target
2 We Talk, We Dance




WILLIE LOCO ALEXANDER (1980, Varulven 112)
1 Gin
2 Close Enough




FAMOUS STRANGERS (1981, Six Believers BAC5000)
1 Hard Time To Leave You
2 These Lonely Nights

THE SMITHEREENS - LIVE AT THE ROXY (1992)

The Smithereens recorded at the Roxy Theater, Los Angeles, CA. 12-17-91. It was first released as a radio promo CD (coupled with a Pearl Jam concert). "Live At The Roxy" is the unauthorized release of the promo CD "Westwood One In Concert".

Songs
Indigo Blues / Time And Time Again / Cigarette / Evening Dress / Yesterday Girl / Blues Before And After / Blood And Roses / A Girl Like You / Top Of The Pops

PHIL SEYMOUR - RARITIES 1980-1989

A few more Phil Seymour rarities - a bunch of demos recorded with Buzz Clic but also plenty of promo items, rare singles, soundtracks bits or songs recorded with Carla's band. This exclusive blogpost was compiled and put together with a little help from two friends, "ianr" from Neverland and our "secret agent man" from the Evergreen State. Roll over to find the two parts...

Songs
I Really Love You (single edit version) / Suzie Glider (single b side) / Surrender (12" mix) / Talk To Me (single with new vocals) / You Give Good Love (Richard Podolor version) / Love Letters ("love letters" OST) / Slippin' & Slidin' ("where the boys are" OST) / When I Find You ( "the last american virgin" OST) / Gotta Get That Feelin' Back / Something To Believe In / Back In Time / Runnin' / Stay With Me / If You Don't Want My Love / I Think I'm Fallin' (demo) / Bad Boy (demo) / Never Fall In Love For Fun (demo) / I Wish It Was Saturday (demo)

THE WIND - GUEST OF THE STAPHS (1984)

After "Where It's At with The Wind" (1982), Lane Steinberg and The Wind then relocated north to Queens, New York, stopping in North Carolina long enough to have Mitch Easter co-produce the six-song "Guest of the Staphs" at his studio. Although the charming rush of cluttered, busy arrangements and overstuffed lyrics occasionally resembles Let's Active or the dB's — especially when the rhythms turn off the main road and the guitars and vocals go on a harmonic rampage — "Delaware 89763" is a '60s raveup in the style of early Manfred Mann. Trouser Press

Lossless: FLAC 8 (114 mb)

Songs
House On Fire / Delaware 89763 / The Outgoing Type / You'll Never Live Before Your Time / If I Go One Way / Sureshot

PHIL SEYMOUR - 3 (DEMOS) (1989)

In 2005, the first "Phil Seymour" album was reissued with three bonus tracks, but neither the "Phil Seymour 2" nor the supposed "Phil Seymour 3" are available in CD format. Phil was ruining his health and his career with his use and abuse of alcohol and drugs. His live performances which had gained him the reputation of being "one of the best singers in L.A." and had left audiences screaming for "more Seymour" were now greatly disappointing. He was vulgar and rude to his audiences and was booed off stages or didn't show up at all. Not long after the release of Phil's second album, Neil Bogart died, Boardwalk folded and Phil lost his contract. Phil joined the Textones in 1983 and became their drummer, Phil sang lead on a few tracks. During the Textones 1985 European tour, Phil started noticing lumps on the back of his neck. When they returned to the U.S. he was diagnosed with Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system. He was unable to continue with the Textones and they recruited a new drummer. Phil pretty much disappeared for the next few years while going through chemotherapy. He did some studio work with The Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and recorded many demos with Richard Podolor which remain unreleased gems. So, i guess the demos presented here are those demos - there was no info on the tape i had - I got the demos from an unknown generation tape given to me a long time ago (Track #4 had and still has a slight default).

Songs
Fantasy (version 1) / You Never Told / Now / Don't Tell Me / Don't Talk Your Love Away / Right Chemestry / Telephone Line / All Shined Up / Sunsets In Blue / Call Of The Wind / Fantasy (version 2)

FLESHTONES - AMERICAN BEAT (1979-1984)

"American Beat" was first released on Marty Thau's Red Star label in 1979. A few years later, the Fleshtones recorded a new version of the song which was released as a single (7" and 12" EP) in Europe. It does exist 2 different editions of the 12": this is the first one here while the second entitled "American Beat '84" had two different songs on its b-side (available on "Living Legends Series") and a revamped artwork. "American Beat '84" was included in the "Bachelor Party" soundtrack.

Red Star RSS 1
American Beat / Critical List

IRS A12-4408
American Beat / Hall Of Fame / The Girl From Baltimore / Deep In My Heart

BIG HEAT - WATCH ME CATCH FIRE (1985)

From the period of ‘82-86 Bill Hurley left The Inmates. He recorded a highly acclaimed solo album "Double Agent" for Demon Records, had two Top 40 UK chart successes as lead vocalist with JB Allstars for RCA Victor, and with his new band The Big Heat had a Top 40 UK single with the Elvis Costello produced "Watch Me Catch Fire" for A&M Records. It was unfortunately but understandably dropped from the BBC playlist the week after the Bradford Football Fire disaster. There was one Whistle Test appearance just after where the song title was changed to "Watch Me". The band was Bill Hurley, Drew Barfield (The Keys), Chris Parks (Any Trouble). Other notable musicians involved were Pete Thomas on drums and the Rumour Brass... The band split shortly afterwards.

Big Heat (75 mb)

Single A&M 239

Watch Me Catch Fire / Love Heat

Whistle Test video

CYRIL JORDAN & THE SNEETCHES - THE DNA LOUNGE (1991)

In 1990, Cyril Jordan and The Sneetches wanted to play together at the I-Beam headline gig. But after a previous rehearsal, Jordan lost his voice and he couldn't sing that night, so Cyril said "I hope i can play with these guys (the Sneetches) again, they're the best band i've heard in the last three years". A few days later, at a hastily assembled all-star "Save The I-Beam" benefit, Cyril Jordan and Roy Loney joined the Sneetches for an encore. Finally, on June 29th (1991), Cyril Jordan and the Sneetches performed at The DNA Lounge in San Francisco. Roy Loney joined the band for a two-song encore. Later, Sneetches' bassist Alec Palao played with the new Cyril Jordan's outfit "Magic Christian". The "DNA Lounge" concert has never been officially released.

Songs
Juju Man / Feel A Whole Lot Better / I’ll Cry Alone / You Tore Me Down / Lady Friend / Teenage Confidential / First Plane Home I Can’t Hide / All I Wanted / Dizzy Miss Lizzy / Shake Some Action / Don’t Put Me On / Sorry / Roadhouse (With Roy Loney)

WONDERMINTS - SHIBUYA CLUB QUATTRO (1999)

The Wondermints played phenomenally behind Brian Wilson on his last tours. Yet, they aren’t signed to a major label, their first three records were available in Japan, where the band is immensely popular. This one night special gig was recorded in Japan and has never been officially released.

ZS (160 mb)

Songs
Dos Mil e Un (2001) / In And Around Greg Lake / Invisible Paint / Open My Eyes / Cellophane / Dream Machine / Love In The City / Chris Craft #10 / Joy / Porpoise Song / Hypnolove / Global Village Idiot / Tracy Hide / Bubbles / Puppets Girls r Go / Galactic Patrol / Proto-Pretty / Playtex Aviary / Hocus Pocus

THE PALEY BROTHERS - ECSTASY 12" EP (1978)

The Paley Brothers first and only album (1978) was briefly reissued on CD in Japan. The Paley Brothers also released "Ecstasy", a four-track EP (available on 7" and 12"). This EP had to be their finest moment with three songs ("Rendezvous" being a reworking of an old Sidewinders song available on their eponymous album) which were not included on the "Paley Brothers" US edition of the album, plus a different version from the "Come Out & Play" LP version. The CD reissue didn't include the EP, what a shame!!!.

Lossy: 320 lame3.92 (28mb)
Lossless: FLAC 8 (81mb)

Songs
Ecstasy / Rendez Vous / Hide 'n' Seek / Come Out And Play