Category Archives: album review

February 26, 2024 · 9:08 am

Album Review: “Real Pop Radio” by The Boolevards

Dance All Night by the boolevards / Hype Machine About 3 weeks ago, I got an email out of the blue from a J Nowik asking me, “Where can I mail the latest boolevards cd for review?” That was both the subject line and the body of the email.

I don’t get a lot of request to review music, but I decided to look up Chicago based The Boolevards and give a quick listen to see if they were something I thought that Beatles freaks would enjoy listening to and if I thought their sound had that Fab Four influence that we all enjoy so much.

Well, Cats and Kittens, get out your saddle shoes and step on up to the dance floor because you’re about to be transported back to the 60s and the best pop sounds running right up to modern day power pop.

Not only is there the Beatles influence in the opening measures of “Last Night“, but there are tunes that will give you a vibe going back to the Go Go’s hits of the 1980s. And there is even an instrumental, “On The Run“, that hints at the 1966 version of “Walk, Don’t Run” by The Ventures.

I’ve posted a link to “Last Night” on YouTube so you can hear the Beatles influence, but it’s not even close to the quality of listening to it from the CD in my car with 6 speakers.

Personally, my favorite song off of “Real Pop Radio” is called Pedestal. For those of us that like to live in the past when singers weren’t screaming, talking or using profanity, and we could actually hear the lyrics, this song hits the sweet spot!

Even The Boolevards Bandcamp page can’t do this album justice on my laptop. The closest I came to a hearing it best online is via Amazon, so pop on over there and give a listen. I think you’ll be impressed.

In fact, just buy yourself the album whether you get a digital download or CD and slip on your headphones and rock away for a while. And for that reason…

I rate this album, 3 out of 4 Beetles!

Album Review: “Songs From the Green Couch” by Seth Swirsky

I got an email from Seth Swirsky‘s people asking if I’d be interested in reviewing his latest album – Songs From the Green Couch. For those who have been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember me reviewing his book – 21 Ways to a Happier Depression in 2018 and his album Now It’s All This by The Red Button in 2017. For those who don’t following along, Seth wrote the Grammy nominated song “Tell it to My Heart” for Taylor Dane. He is also a painter, so he’s quite the talented fellow!

There’s no denying Seth Swirsky’s talent for writing great songs with nostalgic melodies. Songs from the Green Couch will invoke memories of tunes from the 50s through modern day. You can hear the Beatles influence in several songs. Cashmere Sweaters is a beautiful (though a bit corny) song with an undeniable Beatles imprint. What Was I Thinking feels very McCartney/Wings-ish, and Dead has that dark John Lennon feel to it.

If you’re a fan of The Monkees, you’ll probably dig the first track – Sunny Day. And for the 70s soft rock fans there is the sweet sound of Every Time…that reminded me of Gilbert O’Sullivan.

Don’t let the early rock influences fool you…this is a great 15 original song album for putting on shuffle to mellow out with it’s really sweet love song – You Kind of Mood or what I like to call Seth’s laundry list of chores – New Painting! And then there is the power pop song I Don’t Wanna Lose You…

I rate this album, 4 out of 4 Beetles!

Album Review: “Now It’s All This!” by The Red Button

I’ve come to trust that whenever my PR friend Maureen Daye Pietoso from JEM Records sends me information about the latest band she’s promoting that it’s going to be well worth my while to listen! This one doesn’t do anything but just reconfirmed this belief.

Now It’s All This! is The Red Button‘s third album, but it’s a whole lot more than just that. This album not only contains 6 new songs, and 4 unplugged remakes, it also contains their first two albums…33 tracks in all! The Red Button is made up of Seth Swirsky (whose name I’ve seen around Facebook but had no idea what he did for a living!) and Mike Ruekberg.

It was hard to pinpoint all the influences and sounds in this band, there are just so many! In the new songs, you’ll not only hear that Beatlesque sound that you would expect to be there if it’s being reviewed on this blog, but you’re also going to hear influential hints of The Monkees, The Knack and Weezer all rolled into the EP’s six tracks. The very first track on the new EP, Can’t Let Candy Go, is going to make you want to break out your Go-Go boots and bell bottoms and dance. Tracy’s Party and the title track are definitely in the Beatlesque style. Solitude Saturday has what I thought were some great harmonies reminiscent of the 70’s and reminded me a lot of Gilbert O’Sullivan. And the song Picture, one of the unplugged songs, has definite sounds of something Brian Wilson might have written for the Beach Boys.

This album is power-pop at it’s very best. It’ll take you back with the good feelings of the songs from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s while still being able to stand up to the very best in today’s pop music. Whether you download it or buy the actual CD, you’re going to love it! And for that reason…

I rate this CD, 4 out of 4 Beetles!

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Filed under album review

Tagged as 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, Mike Ruekberg, Now It's All This!, Power Pop, Seth Swirsky, The Red Button

June 11, 2017 · 11:33 am

Album/CD Review: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – 50th Anniversary Edition

I decided it was time for me to review something new, so I went out and bought the new Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – 2 CD Deluxe Edition. You can pick up various packaging for the revised/remix of the original album (1 CD, 2 CD, Deluxe, etc.), but I decided that for my own purposes all I really needed was the 2 CD set with the new mix and a CD of outtakes (I won’t be reviewing the outtakes).

In order to fully understand what Giles Martin did in his editing of the original cuts, I pulled out my Sgt. Pepper’s CD from 1987 and tried desperately to get my old 5 disc player to play the two discs in spiral mode so I could hear the old, then new version of each track…but alas, after 2 hours of wrestling with both our players, I ended up having to do it manually! UGH…time warp back to the 1980s!

Well, it didn’t take long to hear the difference! The older disc has a duller, more muted sound to it and the tracks sound very distinct as they change from speaker to speaker. The new version is an amazing mix that flows…Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies INDEED! The music literally surrounds you and it made me sorry I was listening to it on just two speakers. My next purchase is going to be a fantastic set of headphones for just the purpose of listening to this CD. I also can’t wait to get to listening to these mind blowing, full bodied moving tunes in the six speaker sound chamber of my car. It’s so hard to describe, maybe you just have to be there! And for that reason…

I rate this album/CD 5 out of 4 Beetles! (George Martin included this time…)