Tag Archives: Chicago

Album Review: “Real Pop Radio” by The Boolevards

Dance All Night by the boolevards / Hype MachineAbout 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!

 

 

 

 

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Book Review: “Fab4 Mania: A Beatles obsession and the concert of a lifetime” by Carol Tyler

Fab4 Mania Carol TylerAnother Amazon suggested book that I bought back in February is Fab4 Mania: A Beatles obsession and the concert of a lifetime (Fantagraphics Books, 2018) by Carol Tyler. Don’t know why it took me so long to read…are my readers as tired of my excuses as I am of making them? 😉

It almost seems to go without saying that one of the major trends in Beatles books over the last decade is for mostly women to write their memoirs about their love for the Fab Four. A Date with a Beatle by Judith Kristen, Confessions of a Beatlemaniac by Dee Elias, Diary of a Beatlemaniac by Patricia Gallo-Steadman, Do You Want to Know a Secret by Pat Mancuso, and My Ticket to Ride by Janice Mitchell are just a few of the books that have passed over my desk or been reviewed here on this blog.

And that’s just fine with me…keep them coming!

So what makes Fab4 Mania any different than the rest? Why should you want to read another teenage diary obsessing over John, Paul, George and Ringo? Well…for one reason, it’s filled with fabulous drawings and artwork by the author herself, Carol Tyler, who grew up to be a well known cartoonist. Carol’s work has graced the pages of such publications as: Weirdo, Wimmen’s Comix, Street Music, Zero Zero, Mineshaft Magazine, Prime Cuts, LA Weekly, Drawn & Quarterly, and Tower Records’ Pulse!

Like most memoirs by Beatles fans, Carol’s story comes straight from the pages of the diaries she kept as a teenage girl. The pages are fill with her bubbly stories of her friends and love for the Beatles, and also, teenage angst at the antics of her parents, siblings and teachers. The whole story culminates to her finally attending her first Beatles concert! The whole book is just wonderfully fun! And for that reason…

I rate this book, 4 out of 4 Beetles!

 

 

 

 

 

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