One of Philadelphia’s best is back with his sixth full length album. We liked 2022’s Julee plenty. But Dave Cope’s latest, Hidden From the World, is more of a hooky, power pop effort than the last couple of releases. Not only are the choruses catchy and harmonies engaging but you’ll hear a few things you may never have heard before. Saz’s All, Folks! The opening track, “All Alright”, starts out with a wandering radio dial until suddenly we hear the buzz of a guitar. When the 70’s hair band inspired “All Alright” kicks in (and I do mean KICKS in), we begin a roller coaster ride with Dave at th ..read more

Is there a genre called “extra-terrestrial rock”? If so, Sal Baglio has mastered it. The Amplifierheads’ latest release, They Came to Rock, was created as a soundtrack to a rock opera about an alien invasion. It’s a trip through space and time – emphasis on trip. And it’s outta this world good. The talent involved in the project is a musical “A” list. There’s Dave Mattacks (Fairport Convention), Tom West (Peter Wolf), Jen D’Angora and Dan Kopko (Shanghi Los), Barrence Whitfield, Richard Hilton (Nile Rogers Band) and Henley Douglas Jr. (The Henley Douglas Group, HDRnB). The album is a ..read more

The opening track of Wesley Fuller’s new one, All Fuller, No Filler, best expresses its reason for being. His career momentum, accelerated by the release of Inner City Dreams, stalled during the pandemic as he was unable to tour or play locally. Detached from the Melbourne scene and adrift after having ended a relationship, Fuller was indeed “Back To Square One”. This track, like much of the album, has a 70’s retro or psych pop feel to it. Abundant hooks and sing along choruses make All Fuller, No Filler a memorable listening experience. Prime Australian Power Pop Based on a Melbourne train ..read more

People choose to mourn in any number of ways. With the passing of Denny Laine this past December, the guys in Popdudes decided to get together and record a few of his classic songs. “We just thought it would make us feel better about Denny’s recent passing to do some of our favorite Wings songs that featured him. We knocked this out in a few days.”  The end result is The Denny Laine EP, a 5 song selection of covers representing some of Laine’s most enduring work. Performed by music veterans John Borack, Michael Simmons, Addison Love and Stephen Alva, the EP provides us the opportunity to ..read more

Back in 2021, The Decibels’ Brent Seavers released his first solo album. BS Stands For Brent Seavers was so good that it ended up as the #2 album on our end of the year “best of” list. Having mastered the sounds of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s, it seems that Seavers can write a memorable pop hook in his sleep. And his lyrical content is just as strong. His latest, Exhibit B, picks up where BS left off. Fate Gets It Wrong The album busts out of the gate with “Roller Coaster Ride”, a slice of 60’s pop rock that’ll make you hold on tight as he sings his way through this analogy for a rough ..read more

Paul Collins is back with a new one – a retrospective, really. The album takes the title of its opening track, a Nerves song written back in the day by Jack Lee. As such, it’s the perfect name for an album that looks back on a career that has spanned nearly 50 years. Amazingly, his sound never gets old. Paul has always had a keen sense of both marketing and context. He was smart enough to assign himself the moniker “King of Power Pop” a few years back – which is fitting. He is part of power pop royalty having been in The Nerves. And if the King of Power Pop decides to look ..read more

One look at the cover of the new Elena Rogers single and it becomes abundantly clear. You’re looking at the new face of pop. A gifted singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist well beyond her years (she’s only 20), Rogers signed an exclusive, world-wide publishing deal with Gilda Music and will soon release her second full length album. Elena has one of the more imaginative minds in pop music today. Give her first album, opus one, a spin and that becomes immediately evident. Having just released a brand spankin’ new single, “I Feel Alive”, this feels like a goo ..read more

Jordan Jones is brand new to me. I’m told that his self-titled debut is one of the finest guitar driven, power pop records in recent memory. With that info, I expected similar from his new one entitled And I, You. I’ve come to learn that Jones’ latest is a departure from the norm. Written at least partially during the pandemic, this latest batch of tunes are piano driven rather than guitar based. There’s a 70’s soft rock quality to much of the album. And while that normally isn’t my fare, these songs are so well crafted, so engaging that I find myself thoroughly enjoying them. The harmon ..read more

It’s mid-February and I’m still finding albums from 2023 that missed my radar. One such record is The Make Three’s You, Me & The Make Three. Made up of former members of The Brixton Riot and The Anderson Council (and being from New Jersey), I had a feeling it would resonate with me. And it sure did. The Make Three are vocalist/guitarist Jerry Lardieri, vocalist/bassist Pete Horvath and drummer Chris Ryan. The way the story goes, Jerry was writing material for his band The Brixton Riot during the pandemic. Having written over 40 songs, he discovered that not all were a good fit for the ban ..read more

A ..read more