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.
Tag Archives: retro
THE 1957 TAIL-FIN FIASCO – Private Jet Flashback
Armed with an unhealthy obsession with Donald Fagen, an admiration for Todd Rundgren and a liking of Badfinger, Malcolm Moore and David Myers (aka The 1957 Tail-Fin Fiasco) set to work in their quest to create proper “pop music for grown-ups”. With all manner of invented characters and scenarios to share the British duo laboured hard, writing and recording at various locations into the small hours in an attempt to bring results that tipped the hat to their myriad heroes in a most appropriate manner. Unleashed to an unsuspecting world at the beginning of 2013, their first release ‘Private Jet Flashback’ is a sophisticated work comprising of seven glossy pop/rock ditties. The results are almost guaranteed to thrill those with a retro ear, a liking of an off-kilter lyric and – perhaps most importantly of all – a craving for tunes that have the kind of love and care afforded to those Steely Dan and 10cc records of yesteryear.
ROXIE 77 – The Ameriswede EP
Ryan Roxie has been an important figure on the hard rock/glam rock scene since the mid eighties. He first became a cult figure as a member of Candy, a power pop band he joined just before their demise and whose sole album – ‘Whatever Happened To Fun’ – was given a belated CD release in 2012 (stick with your vinyl though – the “remastered” CD sounds genuinely horrible). As Candy morphed into the underrated Electric Angels in 1990 he remained as guitarist, before forming the cheekily titled Dad’s Porno Mag – a Cheap Trick/Enuff Z’Nuff hybrid with some great tunes – nearer the end of the decade. A huge chunk of his work in the noughties and beyond has been devoted to his own bands Roxie 77 and Casablanca, as well as time spent with the Alice Cooper band. Following the release of Casablanca’s second album ‘Riding a Black Swan’ – a really solid hard rock affair – Roxie resurrected the long-rested Roxie 77 to record a single. The writing sessions were fruitful and what was intended as a single quickly became a six track EP. ‘Ameriswede’ is the result – and it’s a corker.
RED MEANS RUN – All Things Said & Done EP
A four piece alt-country band from Philadephia, Red Means Run take their name from the Neil Young classic ‘Powderfinger’ and on their debut EP, guitarist Jim McKay adds a couple of solos that have the same carefree/off-key approach of the great man himself. If you love Neil and his naturalistic style of playing, of course, this is no bad thing…and it certainly suits this ragged quartet’s take on country rock. Also inspired by Young and the earlier forebears of alt-country these chaps don’t really worry about layers or overdubs – the four songs on this release have a very direct feel, almost as if the band were playing in a bar somewhere.
THE DIE YOUNGS – Nothing’s Broken
At one time, it was almost possible to know what you were getting from singer-songwriter Denny Smith from the get-go. If he’d written a bunch of songs with alternative rock leanings, then chances are they’d be released by his rock band fORMER; if the music took a more retro/acoustic groove, it would go onto the pile designated for The Great Affairs. Obviously, things weren’t quite as simple as that, but there was always a clear divide between projects and styles. After The Great Affairs released their ‘Happy Ender’ EP and Smith considered resting that band, things got more complicated: fORMER released a selection of unheard material (‘The Kids Deserve Cable’) and The Great Affairs were reborn. On the ‘4’ EP, The Great Affairs mixed up styles more than ever – alongside the Tom Petty/Black Crowes styled tunes, new drummer Kenny Wright (formerly of Bonepony and various other acts) penned ‘Fists and Guitars’, a thunderous rock ‘n’ roller fairly far removed from the quieter shades of most Great Affairs material. With fORMER dead and the revitalised Great Affairs tackling whatever came naturally, it seemed the gloves were off.