A band comprising two pop loving friends John Moreman and Paul Myers, the knowingly named The Paul and John bring some power pop gold on ‘Inner Sunset’, a collection of tunes written over a three year period. Fans of the rockier end of the genre will hear traces of many old favourites on this disc – Roger McGuinn, Alex Chilton, touches of Nick Lowe and even Soul Asylum…and, yes, a nod to them Beatles – but as with most acts ploughing a similar musical path, the homages are loving. Taking those influences and melding them with some great hooks, The Paul & John are almost guaranteed to please.
Tag Archives: pop
ABSENT FRIENDS: Mark Bacino
As part of our “catching up” series, Real Gone caught up with Mark Bacino, last seen in our columns in 2011.
Bacino gained some positive notices in the power pop community with his third full-length release ‘Queen’s English’, a mature album that moved away from his previous bubblegum styles and bought more Billy Joel and Randy Newman influences to the fore. It was a concept album of sorts about growth and family, the album shared Bacino’s love of New York. We hoped for a similarly classy follow-up, but the years passed and nothing appeared.
ABSENT FRIENDS: Oranjuly
With Real Gone celebrating its fifth anniversary in November 2014, we thought it would be a good time to catch up with a few faces and bands not featured in our columns for some time. Bands move on, bands split, bands plough on… In a first instalment of an ongoing series, we caught up with Brian E. King, mastermind behind Oranjuly to find out about his current activities.
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New video from The 1957 Tail-Fin Fiasco
With a gig coming up in the next week, The 1957 Tail-Fin Fiasco have been hard at work rehearsing. They’ve been kind enough to ensure their work is documented and you can now watch a “live in the studio” performance of their classic ‘Benny Rise & Shine’ below.
EDWARD O’CONNELL – Vanishing Act
Singer-songwriter Edward O’Connell released his debut album in 2010 to unanimous approval from power pop/retro pop aficionados. As for the world at large, the album did indeed remain ‘Our Little Secret’. While all of the influences were worn blatantly upon his sleeve – literally, too: the front cover parodied Nick Lowe’s ‘Jesus of Cool’, the rear paid a gentler homage to Tom Petty’s ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ – O’Connell’s gift for melody shone brightly through each of the album’s songs and the love for his forebears couldn’t be any more flattering.