Sunday, June 5, 2011

David Mead - Waiting for "Dudes"

This summer promises to be a hot one full of high quality "big name" Power Pop releases. Already announced are new albums from Fountains of Wayne, Seth Swirsky and The Red Button, Pugwash, the dB's, David Myrh (from the Merrymakers) and Bleu. Everything that's leaked so far from these releases indicates that we'll have lots of great Power Pop to listen to as temperatures climb.

One release I am particularly anticipating is "Dudes", the new one by David Mead. David raised 20,000 from Kickstarter earlier this year to pull together a new Power Pop album produced by Fountains of Wayne leader Adam Schlesinger. This is going to be a great one and a welcome return to form from the Nashville based singer songwriter. I've written about David Mead before and consider him one of the lesser known heroes of American Power Pop. He's done pop albums, folk albums and worked in a diverse set of bands. For the last three years he's worked in a series of projects including a "Almost and Always' fine acoustic project, a kid's album under the name "Davey Ukulele and the Gag Time Gang" and a collaborative punk project called Elle Macho.

In anticipation of Dudes I've assembled a collection of tracks culled from recent David Mead projects.. There are four acoustic tracks originally on Mead's "Almost and Always" from a video blog session in a duet with Swan Dive co-lead Bill DeMain. There are four short tracks from the never released effort entitled "Vitamin D" that David leaked on his Blog. There are also four tracks extracted from his 2010 kid's album released under the moniker "Davey Ukulele and the Gag Time Gang" (the lyrics are aimed at kids, but Mead can't help but craft excellent pop hooks, whoever the audience). One of the Davey Ukulele songs is an ode to Mead's dog Stan. Nice tune that sounds like a lost Harry Nilson track to me. I've also included yet another great song about the very same animal that David wrote with Bill DeMain. DeMain released it on the last Swan Dive album. Enjoy this compilation and go out and buy Dudes when its released. Need to support this struggling Power Pop talent.

1 Sunrise (From the unreleased "Vitamin D" Project)
2 Goodnight, Mr. Night (From "Davey Ukulele and the Gag Time Gang")
3 Rainy Weather Friend (Duet with Bill DeMain from LaundroMatinee Video Session)
4 We Are The Sunshine (From the unreleased "Vitamin D" Project)
5 On a Sunny Day (From the unreleased "Vitamin D" Project)
6 Down the Drain (From "Davey Ukulele and the Gag Time Gang")
7 Blackberry Winters (Duet with Bill DeMain from LaundroMatinee Video Session)
8 Buddying Up (From "Davey Ukulele and the Gag Time Gang")
9 Last Train Home (Duet with Bill DeMain from LaundroMatinee Video Session)
10 The Happiest Day (From the unreleased "Vitamin D" Project)
11 Me and My Good Dog Stan (From "Davey Ukulele and the Gag Time Gang")
12 Half Breed Stan (From Mayfair by Swan Dive, Co written by David and Bill DeMain. David on backup vocals)
13 Twenty Girls Ago (Duet with Bill DeMain from LaundroMatinee Video Session)

8 comments:

powerpopsquare said...

Great collection (as always ;-). There are some gems I still don't know (e.g. the Vitamin D stuff is good!). And I hope "Dudes" is coming soon.

Thanks Haper,
Andy
http://powerpopsquare.blogspot.com/

Anything Should Happen said...

Exceptional as ever Haper!

Wish you'd stop getting on with your home life and post more, ha ha.

kenthekid said...

Over the last couple of years, David Mead's music has gone to the head of the class. To be honest I have grown a little weary of the power pop genre though I find the solo artists have more staying power. Maybe it's more of the personal vision that I like in his music plus I like his voice a lot.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Have the early release copy of Dudes. You're going to love it - classic David Mead!

Haper said...

I'm jealous of your prerelease copy....keep kicking myself that I didn't sign up for the kickstarter project. Glad to hear its up to David's high standards!

ASH On The Beat said...

How do Haper.

I've been trying to turn fellow ASHters on to the magic of David Mead.

Any chance of a re-up of the older compilations to help them on their way and see the errors of their ignorance?

Haper said...

There you go Don. Keep on spreading the word! Regards.