Parthenon Huxley - Unacknowledged Genus

Parthenon Huxley is a sorely under-recognized pop genius. He's been putting out superior Beatlesque power pop for nearly 30 years with a criminal lack of public recognition. As "Rick Miller", he was one of two singer songwriters for the seminal North Carolina power pop band the Blazers. Later as "Rick Rock" he recorded three classic slices of power pop in the Mondo Montage series. in 1986, "Parthenon Huxley" recorded his first album "Sunny Nights", a 1980s Power Pop classic. His 1995 epic "Deluxe" was recorded by his working band "P. Hux". (It's great that this classic is back in print and currently available for download. ) In 1998, Parthenon Huxley joins ELO 2 and then that band is renamed "The Orchestra" when Jeff Lynne demanded control of the ELO name back. Parthenon's classic "Jewell and Johnny" was a high point for the Orchestra.

Parthenon Huxley has put out a remarkable string of P Hux albums, all of them classics and highly recommended. I've included a link to some hard to find b-sides and compilation tracks. There are some great tracks here and you should definitely check them out. But don't miss out on the official releases, they are even better. Almost all of them are available directly from Parthenon Huxley. I've purchased most of mine this way and recommend every one.

1980 The Blazers How To Rock
1988 Parthenon Huxley Sunny Nights
1993 P Hux Mile High Fan (released in 2006)
1995 P. Hux Deluxe
1997 VeG
2001 P. Hux Live In Your Living Room
2001 P. Hux Purgatory Falls
2001 The Orchestra No Rewind
2004 P. Hux In Your Parlour
2005 P. Hux Homeade Spaceship (the Music of ELO)
2007 P. Hux Kiss The Monster

Thanks to Powerpopaholic, I found and enjoyed reading this recent interview with "the man". Sounds like Parthenon is up to some interesting projects. I'll be checking those out soon.

Excited About the New Pugwash

For those of you who don't know, the Irish band Pugwash is one of the finest Power Pop bands recording today. Band leader and writer Thomas Walsh has worked with Andy Partridge and Jason Falkner and he really deserves to run in that distinguished company. They have a new CD out in the UK entitled "Eleven Modern Antiquities" and from what I've heard it may be the best thing so far this year. I can't wait to receive my overpriced import copy from Amazon!

You can listen to snipets from the CD at their Myspace site.

I loved the single "Take Me Away". I downloaded from Amazon and I really recommend it. It has a great "Revolver" vibe to it. In honor of this new CD I'm posting a few (not so great sounding) rarities I've picked up. They're nice but I'd really recommend the albums if you don't have them:

2005 Jollity
2003 Earworm
(A compilation of some of the tracks from two earlier albums "Almanac" and "Almond Tea". If anyone owns these would you let me know please!)

These are all highly recommended.

The Grays Studio Rehearsals and Radio Shows

One of the great things about keeping a blog is that you get help on the things you write about. I've had a couple of posters turn me on to some great music. I had thought that had I all of the Jason Falkner unreleased stuff, but I was wrong. Below is a compilation I put together from a couple of postings of some live studio covers performed by the Grays. I put these together with some acoustic radio show tunes from the same era.

The Grays - Studio Rehearsals and Radio Shows

Together, these complement the only release by the Power Pop supergroup the Grays featuring Jason Falkner, Jon Brion, Buddy Judge and Dan McCarroll.

Don't know that cornerstone album? Get over to the Never Get Out of the Boat blog immediately and check it out. if you like anything on this blog, you'll want to hear this!

Thanks to all for helping me complete my collection....and if I'm missing more stuff, will you let me know?

Rare Wondermint Demos

We are starved for more brilliance by one of the best Power Pop bands there ever was, the Wondermints. Though recently best known as Brian Wilson's backing band (leader Darian Sahanaja is credited with convincing Brian Wilson to finally re-record and release his concept album "Smile"), each or the Wondermints CDs feature amazing melodies informed by a fascination with California 60's pop. In their history, they have released only four CDs:

1995 Self Titled
1996 Wonderful World of the Wondermints
1998 Bali
2002 Mind if We Make Love to You

Each of these are absolutely essential, however all but "Mind if We Make Love to You" are out of print at this point. Somebody needs to re-release these gems, and soon!

Several years ago, there was a set of MP3s in shareland of songs from their "Colored Tape Demos" that didn't make the Self Titled Debut release. More info on that from the All Music Guide review below:

"Throughout the early '90s, the Wondermints recorded a bevy of exceptional homemade demos and small indie singles primarily in co-founder Darian Sahanaja's bedroom studio. Slowly but surely that music circulated through the Los Angeles underground music scene on a series of semi-legendary tapes identified solely by their colors. The band's music, however, still flew under the radar of the music business until the Japanese label Toy's Factory picked up the slack, releasing an eponymous debut in 1995 that cherry-picked the very best songs from those original tapes."

The longstanding Wondermints Fan Site provides more details about which demo tracks were chosen to comprise their debut CD and which were left off.

I've collected many of the left-off demos and b-sides in the link below. Most of these tracks don't sound terrific and I am missing a few tunes (I purposely left off a set of 6 hissy live in-studio cover tunes that never sounded like they belonged with the rest of the more finished tracks). I think that these tracks are absolutely outstanding, a must hear. I know that I'm missing a few tunes - so if anyone has better versions or a more complete set, please let me know.... Hopefully there will be an official re-release of their debut someday enhanced with these "extra" tracks. I'll be standing in line...

Listen to the Colored Tape Demos and let me know if you find these tunes as amazing as I do!

As a bonus, go check out the excellent Power Pop Criminals blog for a link to a great unreleased Wondermints concert CD from Japan.

Eric Matthews - The Imagination Stage

...so one of the CDs I am listening to most at the moment is the new one by Eric Matthews, The Imagination Stage . For my money, Eric Matthews has been succesfully traversing the already thin boundary between Power-Pop and Chamber Pop for years.

I first became aware of him as the #2 singer in the band Cardinal. In 1995 and 1997, he created two terrific solo albums, It's Heavy in Here and The Lateness of the Hour. He didn't release another CD of his own for another 8 years thought he did make a number of guest appearances on other artist albums. Since 2005, he's been quite prolific - releasing 2 EPs and 2 CDs in three years. The music is of consistent quality with great singing, haunting melodies and impecible production. Eris also plays classical trumpet well. It reminds you of Penny Lane when you hear it within his Beatles influenced songs (listen to the first song on his debut - Fanfare). I warn you that this music is a bit "serious" for some - but I think that it holds up well with repeated listening.

I've included links to buy downloads of all Eric's officially released stuff below. I recommend all of these. I also included link to a compilation of songs from tributes to help fans complete their collections.

A Short Discography:

It's Heavy In Here (1995)

The Lateness of the Hour (1997)

Six Kinds of Passion Looking For an Exit - EP (2005)

Foundation Sounds (2006)

Self Titled Limited Edition - EP (2006)

The Imagination Stage (2008)

Blink and you missed it!

Well evidently if you didn't act fast enough, you missed picking up the CD from the initial pressing of Mike Viola's fantastic new album "Lurch". But not to worry, for a limited time you can link over to the Power Popaholic's fine blog. There you'll find a link to download mp3s of the entire CD for free. I'd do it SOON if you missed the CD. Its a fine one! Evidently this is a limited time offer.

Another great Mike Viola/Candy Butchers CD that many people missed was his 1995 Debut CD" often known as "the Blue Thumb album". Simply stated - It's a classic. Only a few of the songs actually made it to release on the fake live EP "Live at La BonBonniere." If you don't have it then you can buy it below. This is an embed of Mike's Snowcap store. Mike get's all the money and you get an absolutley great album. Get caught up!

Mike is no longer selling his first CD through Snowcap. Check out an info page on it with a couple of mp3s at Mike's home page.

Great Lost "Owsley" Album

What happened? In 1999, Will Owsley takes the Power Pop world by storm by issuing his self titled debut album - one of the finest examples of PowerPop ever. (If you don't know this album, don't read another word. Proceed directly to Amazon to purchase the actual CD. Used copies were listed as low as $1.50 last time I checked or download MP3s at Amazon for 9.99. If you like the other music we discuss on this Blog then you need to know this album.)

It took another four years, but in 2003, Owsley finally released his sophomore release, the Hard Way. Though not quite as consitently poppy as his debut effort, The Hard Way still has many amazing moments. Don't have it? Buy it at Amazon in CD form . I saw it used for $3.31 when I looked.

Before an extended period of silence, Owsley release one more single and hasn't been heard form since (the word is that he pays the bills as Amy Grant's touring guitarist. I guess that keeps him busy and employed).

What only dedicated Power Pop collectors have discovered is that Owsley released an earlier effort under the name of the Semantics. In this band, Owsley shares songwriting and singing duties with Millard Powers, the future bass player for Ben Folds. This is simply another must hear, must own album. Powers and Owsley have very similar singing voices and the songs are excellent. Zak Starkey plays drums recalling his lineage. A CD was recorded in 1992 and was supposed to have been released by Geffen in the US. It never came out here. It did have a very limited release in 1996 in Japan. The excellent Blog Peanutus Playground Blog has more info and a download link. You've got to hear this one. You can read much more about the album at the Zak Starkey fan site run by Kathy.

This brings me to the purpose of this post. Around 2000, some demos for the Semantics PowerBill session were cirulated. These included most of the songs on PowerBill but also quite a few songs unreleased anywhere else. A friend of mine intermixed these tunes with most of the tracks from solo CD put out by Millard Powers on MP3.com and there you have it, the lost Semantics/Owsley album! To be truthful, most of the singing is done by Millard Powers on these, however Owsley is heard from on a number of tracks and Powers has a great voice. More importantly, he writes Owsley-like great songs. My personal favorite is Track 4, Standing Still. A power ballad by Owsely that sports a gorgeous chorus.

Owsley, where-ever-you-are, some more material please? Millard, another album from you would be great!