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Pop Rock Nation

Category: Releases

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  • First Listen: Rob Thomas “Her Diamonds”

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    I, like everyone else, got sick of Matchbox 20 real fast. Hearing “Push” and “3 AM” at all hours of the day and night wore me to pieces. It got even worse when Rob paired up with Carlos Santana for “Smooth”, which won a bajillion Grammy Awards and was #1 for, like, a year. Then something happened.

    Rob improved by leaps and bounds as a singer and a songwriter. Matchbox’s second and third albums were superior examples of pop songcraft, and Thomas started to sound…almost soulful. Then, inevitably, Thomas went solo. His debut album “…Something to Be”, had a few nice ballads, but his songwriting wasn’t always on the “A” game (it’s still worth getting if you can find it cheap). He returned to his band for a greatest hits album, and now he’s back for solo Round 2.

    The new album’s called “Cradlesong”, it comes out June 30th, and if you hear Rob tell it, will have some sort of experimental flair to it. He mentioned Paul Simon’s “Rhythm of the Saints” as an influence, which made me shudder a little bit, but I think as long as he doesn’t lose his gift for melody, he’ll at least be worth checking out. Anyway, the first single is called “Her Diamonds”, and while it’s not “If You’re Gone” or “Bright Lights” or “Ever the Same”, it’s still pretty decent. Check it out.


  • Infatueighties: “Never Say Goodbye”

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    The year was 1987. I was in the 6th grade. A pimply geeky kid who was desperate to impress his friends but had no mack game.

    Her name was Heather. She was sorta pimply and geeky too. And a little on the chunky side.

    We were at the 6th grade dance. One slow jam had already passed (“You Got it All” by The Jets if I remember correctly), and I’d played the wall. I was determined to dance with someone.

    Then it happened. Bon Jovi’s “Never Say Goodbye” came on. A power ballad to end all power ballads, this song served as my introduction to slow dancing. My friends practically pushed me into Heather, who asked “Wanna dance?” I shrugged and squeaked out a “Yeah, sure” and before you knew it, we were amongst the other couples in the school gym, moving back and forth to Bon Jovi singing about high school memories (which we were still a good three years away from) and a relationship that had lasted since then.

    “Never Say Goodbye” SHOULD have been the fourth single from Bon Jovi’s behemoth “Slippery When Wet” album, but their label, Mercury, shrewdly withheld its’ release as a single, forcing the 3 teenage girls in America who hadn’t bought “Slippery” yet to buy it. I lived in Michigan at the time, but I came home to New York for Easter and for the summer, and I remember the radio playing the shit out of this and “Edge of a Broken Heart” (which was a song from the Fat Boys movie “Disorderlies”). It’s held up quite well over the years, and I’m sure holds a sentimental spot in the hearts of couples whose memories echo those that Jon sings about.

    I wonder what happened to Heather, anyway. If she’s anything like most of my other girlfriends from junior high and high school, she’s probably a lesbian.

    (for L.R.)

  • First Listen: Teena Marie “Can’t Last a Day”

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    Underrated?  Teena Marie is underrated as all hell. Pop fans that do remember will know her for 1985’s “Lovergirl”, but the California-bred singer has been a near-constant fixture on the R&B charts for thirty years now.

    A protege of Rick James, Marie scored her first wave of hits on the Motown subsidiary Gordy in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Her buttery, emotional vocals created a couple of disco classics (“I Need Your Lovin’”, “Behind the Groove”), some memorable slow jams (“Portuguese Love”), a couple of scintillating duets with her mentor (“Fire & Desire”, “I’m a Sucker for Your Love”), and the funk classic “Square Biz”, which some of you younguns may recognize as the theme from the recent, Whoopi Goldberg-headed revival of “Hollywood Squares”. Leaving Motown for Epic, she ventured further into a Prince-like rock & soul fusion with the albums “Robbery”, “Starchild” and the criminally overlooked “Emerald City” before returning to traditional R&B with the #1 hit “Ooo La La La”. Her success waned a little after that, as she took the late Nineties off to raise a family, but she returned with 2004’s “La Dona”, a Grammy-nominated Gold album and an amazing comeback effort.

    Now signed to classic soul label Stax, Marie is back with “Can’t Last a Day”, a song that features Faith Evans, who has been M.I.A. for quite some time now. It’s a smooth soul groove, and a bit of a grower, although I’ll admit that Marie’s vocals at the beginning of the song sound a bit strained. Either way, it’s good to have Lady T back, and I’ve also included a classic of hers for those of you who aren’t hip to her yet. Enjoy and let us know what you think.