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Pop Rock Nation

Category: Releases

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  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #36: Shag Motor Pony

    Sad Cafe's "Run Home Girl" single

    SAD CAFE  “Run Home Girl”  b/w  “Feel Like Dying”  (A&M Records #2111, 1978)

    What do the words “Manchester, England” mean to me?  (Football hooligans and songs from Hair aside.)  Probably the same things you’re thinking:  Factory Records, Joy Division, Crispy Ambulance, New Order, The Smiths, The Buzzcocks, The Fall, Happy Mondays, John Cooper Clarke, Tony Wilson, 24-Hour Party People, that damn “Blue Monday” 12-inch, The Stone Roses, The Verve, The Hacienda, the whole “MADchester” proto-rave scene that seemed to dominate MTV before the grunge (and the E) took hold.  Oh, OK…and that band with the two snotty brothers who verbally gob all over each other constantly…what was their name?  I forget.  Anyway…

    Radio-friendly adult-contemporary soft-rock wasn’t exactly pouring out of Manchester in the late ’70’s, but a shiny little slice of it can be found in Sad Cafe’s woefully underrated catalog, exemplified here by this single taken from their 1978 LP, Misplaced Ideals.  I probably would’ve never heard of this record had it not been for a late-night radio call-in show that invited listeners to win prizes by answering trivia questions.  I can’t recall what question I answered, but I remember being invited to show up the next day at a local record shop to claim my prize, which was a fresh (and very sweet-smelling, if I remember correctly) copy of Ideals, plus this single (for some unknown reason).  And claim it I did.

    Sad Cafe's "Misplaced Ideals" LP (US artwork)

    Side A, “Run Home Girl,” is glossy, sexy, sax-driven, and chock-full-o’-hooks like all good ’70’s AM-radio classics should be.  It reached the lower echelons of Billboard, and, several weeks after my victorious contest win, briefly became a pop radio staple, keeping its momentum throughout 1979.  Back then, the glistening guitars of “Girl” sounded ace blasting from a dashboard on a hot summer day (while sucking on a lime Slurpee, of course) alongside tracks like “Rich Girl” and “Smoke From A Distant Fire.”  Today, I hear elements of this track in young groups like Phoenix, who are mining the lesser-exploited aspects of ’70’s pop for a new generation.

    The real payoff here, however, is the flipside, “Feel Like Dying,” a deeper cut also taken from the Ideals LP.  With its lugubrious, Mick Karn-style bassline and all-night-jazz-club piano, “Dying” starts off in that sorta bluesy, cigarettes ‘n’ whiskey after-hours-bar mode that Frank Sinatra made fashionable, then suddenly builds up and explodes into a splashy wet-wash of blistering guitar and sax, then drops you back down and lets you drift out to sea, breathless.  Slap this on your next late-night-spliffs-&-cocktails mix between some Daryl Hall and some Boz Scaggs and you’ll see what I mean.  Purely great.

    (Unfortunately, there’s no clips of either of these tracks anywhere on the ‘net, but you can take in some of the Cafe’s other classics here.)

    Sad Cafe’s singer/songwriter/frontman/mastermind Paul Young (not to be confused with “Every Time You Go Away” Paul Young) moonlighted in Genesis’ Mike Rutherford’s successful side-project Mike + The Mechanics while simultaneously recording and performing with Sad Cafe throughout the ’80’s and ’90’s.  Though they scored several more hits in the UK, stateside success eluded them, and Young died of a heart attack in July of 2000.  Sadly, the Sad Cafe is now closed.

    NEXT WEEK:  It was the ugliest slab of puke-like purple vinyl I’d ever seen.  And I had to have it.

  • New Release of the Week: Eminem’s “Relapse”

    eminem

    After a lengthy build-up, it’s finally here. Eminem ends the half-decade break between albums with his new set, Relapse.    Despite the lukewarm reception the singles from it have received, all indications point to this album being a blockbuster. Somewhat surprisingly, given the quality of the singles, reviews I’ve read for the album have been overwhelmingly positive, but then again, it doesn’t appear that Eminem is capable of doing wrong in the eyes of most rock critics. Given the current state of the industry, it’ll be interesting to see how this album does. If Em catches a brick, it may be a sign that the music industry has officially reached a point of no return.

    Here’s what else you’ll find in stores this week.

    Busta Rhymes B.O.M.B. (Back on My B.S.)– Seems like just yesterday that Slim Shady and Bussa Bus were labelmates, now they have competing albums coming out the same day. Busta’s eighth solo album has been held up for the better part of the year, with three singles having entered the marketplace without taking off. Methinks his having gone gangsta on his last record left a bitter taste in many of his fans’ mouths. Will hip-hop’s official loudmouth be able to retain his once sizable audience, or is this the beginning of the end for the man who was once one of hip-hop’s sharpest emcees?

    Lenny Kravitz Let Love Rule: 20th Anniversary Edition– Remember when Lenny Kravitz first came out, people thought he was a joke because he was married to Lisa (Denise Huxtable) Bonet and he was a neo-hippie before it was really popular to be one? Well, he who laughs last laughs best. Two decades later, Lenny is a multi-millionaire Grammy winner with a lengthy string of hit albums, and his very first effort is getting the anniversary deluxe treatment by Virgin Records. In addition to a much-needed remaster of his debut, this special edition contains live tracks and demos.

    Tori Amos Abnormally Attracted to Sin– After a moderately successful stint on Epic Records, Tori Amos moves on to label #3 (Universal) with her latest album, “Abnormally Attracted to Sin”. The always-quirky singer/songwriter/pianist delivers yet another serving of her lyrically obtuse but passionately sung music on this album.

    Lionel Richie Just Go– Folks forget about Lionel Richie sometimes, but he still has a fairly large fanbase, after all his last album went Gold. This album’s title track has a little bit of the island flavor that made “All Night Long” such a smash back in ’83, and features guest vocals from Akon. Lionel’s familiar mix of R&B and adult contemporary is here, and “Just Go” should go a long way towards proving that the man has barely lost a step, even as he approaches 60 years of age. And what’s this I hear about a Commodores reunion? Is that even necessary?

    As usual, get your complete list of new releases here.

  • Check ’em Out: Passion Pit

    All of a sudden, pop is the new “indie”. Bands like The Ting Tings are the latest thing in the alternative world, but their sound seems taken more from Eighties pop like Madonna than it does from anything off-center or truly “alternative”. After all, how much difference is there between the Tings’ “That’s Not My Name” and Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl”?

    Enter Boston’s Passion Pit. Formed and led by Michael Angelakos, this band combines falsetto and synth wizardry better than any act since the heyday of Prince. After releasing the well-received EP “Chunk of Change” last year, the band’s debut album, “Manners”, arrives in stores this Tuesday, May 19th. Check out their first video, for the song “The Reeling”. Make sure these guys are on your radar, they’ll be blowing up pretty soon.

    Check out their Myspace also.