A double play from the early part of the Spongetones wondrous career. I remember hearing their first album, Beat Music at a mall record shop called the Brass Ear in Hays, Kansas and realizing immediately that I needed it. (The clerk at the Brass Ear did that to me a couple of times. "I'll bet I can sell that dorky kid this Spongetones record.") They've continued to make fine records for over 20 years that swing gently to and fro around an axis that reads "outright Beatle imitation," and have done so with such obvious affection and skill that it is impossible to dismiss their artistry.

Th' other night at the Redwalls show Tom Sorrells and Benji King were going on about how great this LP, and in particular this song were, so I grabbed a copy at work the other day, took it back to my desk, plopped it on and...Wow! Those guys were dead on (again). I loved it instantly and so much that I thought you all should hear it.

I had loved the Embarrassment like I loved my own lungs, so in the fall of 1986 I was intrigued to learn that Bill Goffrier had a new band. Upon hearing their debut EP I was not the least bit disappointed. I've never spent much time with their final LP, the major-label Slam, but all three of their Homestead releases were heavily-relied-upon texts of the era, especially Craps, which contains such parallel-universe hits as "Meet the Witch" and "Ron Klaus Wrecked His House." As for the track presented here, let's just say discretely that this cover of a classic hit single from their youth shows the band somehow both cheeky and reverent and obviously having a great time, a feeling that permeates most everything they ever did.

Also, Dave, Mark, Cody, Chris Hayes, etc. can you verify my failing memory? I seem to recall that when Big Dipper played the Bottleneck in early 1989 that they performed Husker Du's "Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill" as an encore with drummer Jeff Oliphant on vocals. Oliphant had stripped down to his boxers and was frugging madly, and at the conclusion of the number was tackled by extremely tall bassist Steve Michener (ex-Dumptruck) and pitched headlong into the crowd. It was awesome. At least the way I remember it...

This 45 is, in our opinion, undervalued by power pop collectors, though I think the band has always resisted being lumped in with that scene. Both sides are really solid, and a bit of an odd wrinkle for the genre with wiggy guitar, and vocals which don't immediately hearken back to the British Invasion. Skooshny is still active (we like their Even My Eyes CD, 1996), and released a career retrospective in 2004.

Another example of Dan Sarka's (Sparrows.) prowess as a writer and singer. It always seemed to me that the cartoon pop band premise of this band was at odds with the frequently sad nature of the songs, even the ones that sound upbeat. Can you imagine if all of the Archies' songs were about Betty's longing for Archie and the pain of observing his obsession with Veronica? (Betty was the genius behind the Archies, but you probably all knew that.) Best description I have ever heard of the Vandalias, from the Shindig newsgroup a few years back: "The bastard sons of Thin Lizzy and the Partridge Family."

I know I probably won't convince anybody, but really, Martin Phillipps is easily as gifted as Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, Alex Chilton or any of the other oddball/tragedy/visionaries whose career minutiae are obsessed over in the pages of MOJO. 1990's Submarine Bells (there's a great master's thesis to be written on the comparison of Submarine Bells to Pet Sounds if you can find the right advisor) is my favorite LP of that decade, and the Kaleidoscope World anthology of early singles and EP tracks is endlessly delightful and wonderfully odd, as well as frequently impossibly sad. Even Brave Words, which was faulted at the time for it's production, now sounds like a great collection of unique twisted-heart discoveries, hooked by the incredible "Night Of Chill Blue." All of the above contain perhaps the most moving pop music I have ever heard. In addition, they had a reputation as a great live act; I didn't catch them until the Submarine Bells tour, but they were just unbelievable, tight and confident and much noisier than the studio recordings, with occasional passages that crescendoed into a maelstrom of nearly Sonic Youth proportions. This remains probably my favorite show I've ever seen.

Tons of Chills oddities/B-sides/rarities were rounded up for the fan club 3-CD set Secret Box, which contains today's entry.

I used to go see these guys a lot, and I was always sort of amazed at how much I liked them because they seemed kind of enigmatic to me. Besides the fact that they looked more like rock musicians than most of the bands I knew personally and were from KC, which meant I didn't see them at the bar/laundromat/record store all the time, they were really LOUD and that wasn't really my thing. I mean, I liked Husker Du just fine, but I was never as smitten as most of the people I was hanging out with. Anyway, even with a wall of fuzzy guitar blare, Mike Allmayer's uncommon pop smarts and the band's arrangement acumen shone through on nearly every song; "Liking You" is the textbook example.

Midwestern folks maight not need much intorduction to this Springfield, MO band; they were a very popular club draw in the early 80s, and had they been from LA they almost certainly would have been allowed to sign a major label deal and make one or two LPs that shipped immediately to Camelot Music cut-out bins. They were slick and professional on record (3 LPs, 2 45s), and similarly disciplined live by all accounts, though I was just a couple of years too young to ever have seen them. They made a reunion CD in 2002 that was warmly recieved by the Not Lame/Audities community. Other details of the band's history are available here including the explanation of the "Fool's Tail," which lends an unfortunate Midwestern touch to the traditional skinny-tie power pop look.

This, like the Necessaries and Comsat Angels entries was a KJHK mystery until the early 90s when What Gives co-founder and former Springfield resident Mike Horan played this record for me at his house. I knew within the first few seconds what it was. It's still my favorite Fools Face song.

Hector Penelosa of punk legends the Zeros was a founding member of this SF's Flying Color, which no doubt caused some dyed-in-the-hair punk purists to wonder what went wrong. Although Flying Color made just this one LP, Penelosa continued in a heartfelt folky power pop vein with an endearing solo LP for Cryptovision and several years later, another fine album for Spain's Bam Balamm records entitled Music For Cats, which naturally gets a certain amount of kudos from the staff. Meanwhile guitarist/songwriter Dale Duncan works with Chris Von Sneidern and FC drummer John Stuart in Map of Wyoming. "Dear Friend" was released as a 45 a couple of years prior to this LP; we're not sure if it's the same version.

Our retro-garage mania continues, and Shammy is delighted. You don't hear so much about the Stepford Husbands, as their brand of garage doesn't have Thee Sound of Fuzz, but we're crazy about the $17 production and we do love that organ-driven sound. Great vocal, too. We also like their "Seems Like Years" 45, in which the basic sound heard here is applied to a heart-rending ballad with odd results.

High on the list of our favorite Sarahs is #28. This typically heartsick, atypically frantic single suggested that Action Painting should be able to produce a discography at least as extensive as that of the Orchids or the Field Mice, but sadly, it was not to be. The name Action Painting is probably a nod to the Creation, who used to burn canvasses as part of their act.

I know distressingly little about these guys; The recording was done at the fabled Chapman Recording Studio in KC, but I believe the band was from Topeka. Perhaps some of you out there who were around can provide some info. Jade G., Tom S., any of you guys have any tales to tell? In any event, the record is charming, all four Tunes tunes are good, and the Farfisa organ bits recall Blondie's carjacking of cheesy 60s AM radio sounds.

While not as well known as single tracks like "Independence Day," this track must have been fairly popular on the University of Kansas's KJHK upon it's release; it appeared several times on the cassettes I mentioned in the Necessaries comment. "Now I Know" is not an obvious potential hit single, but it is lovely and contains lots of spacey, echoey guitar that should please fans of U2 and the Chameleons, and the overall vibe is not terribly far from what the Liverpool psych scene (Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes) had going.

By now hopefully we've gone on enough about the majesty of the Flying Nun label, so we'll dispense with (some of) the hyperbole and just show you another bright star in the New Zealand sky. Choosing a Bats track was as difficult as any task we've faced besides cleaning all of the cat hair out of the keyboard. Robert Scott has for years effortlessly cranked out Little Hits; for the ultimate evidence please see the sadly out-of-print Daddy's Highway album, which is one of our favorite records...period. "Straight Through My Heart" seems like a good choice. I don't believe it has appeared on CD; only on an EP which showcased the wonderful "North By North" (from DH) and added three swell leftovers.

We love this duet between Stephen and Aggi almost as much as Calvin Johnson and Amelia Fletcher's "C Is the Heavenly Option," and better than nearly anything by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood. Our unanimous fave Pastels LP is Up For a Bit With the Pastels, but this one has considerable charm as well.

Don Kriss of Cleveland, Ohio made three 45s on his own Carrot Records imprint, hung out with the Baloney Heads, and co-wrote "Go Joe Charbeneau," the tribute to the Cleveland Indians' famous flameout. And that's just the stuff we know about.

Still in that revo-psych mode today, so allow us to present Germany's Broken Jug. You may have accidentally passed over the Jug's William LP, from whence "Promised Land;" it has a hideous and unreadable jacket that makes it look like a Coil record or something. Fairly covers-heavy (Outcasts, Unrelated Segments, etc.) but worth it, if just for this track alone. This mix is allegedly unique to the 45, but the differences are subtle indeed.

Putting together a mix tape for a friend has us fondly recalling some of our favorite garage revival outfits (and we do mean outfits). The Vipers, if memory serves, were oft-maligned back in the day, and this is an absolute mystery to Mr. Cat, who sez their debut LP Outta the Nest! is as good as some of the LPs by the bands at the very tip-top of the genre. (Shamrock J. says the top three are the Lyres, the Chesterfield Kings, and the Cynics.) Reissued on CD a couple of years back by Cavestomp.

In 1987 a number of my friends, alerted by a review in The Bob, became smitten by Died Pretty's excellent Free Dirt LP (What Goes On Records). Besides having an elaborate gatefold jacket, a luxury virtually non-existent to most indie labels at the time, it had a little bit of everything that was considered cool at that moment: Great pop songs like "Blue Sky Day," revo-garage moves like "Stoneage Cinderella," and one of my favorite feedback moan 'n' whine noise solos of all time on "Just Skin." (Brett Myers remains one of the most underrated rock guitarists in the world in my book.) Naturally, I started snapping up all of the singles including the 12" of "Mirror Blues" which I'd initially thought to put up here, but while it is devastatingly cool, it is 12 minutes long, and I wasn't sure that was a good idea. "Winterland" was the first single from the second LP, Lost, another excellent record. I can vouch for the third album, Every Brilliant Eye, as well, but after that I sort of lost track. I'd be glad to be enlightened...

The boys like this record because singer Ron Peno appears to be coughing up a hairball just before the song begins. "That's so cool..." says Mickey with wide-eyed awe.

From the gap between the power pop bust and the indie pop boom comes this charming little 45 that Steve Mitchell has likened to the brilliant Suede Crocodiles 45. Steve's usually right about these things.

The Able Tasmans are my favorite rock band of the 90s. They chalked up three excellent LPs and a fine EP ("The Shape Of Dolls") during that decade; the best is perhaps 1991's Hey Spinner, which somehow blends the psychedelic ambition of Love's Forever Changes with the frenzied strumming drone of the Feelies' The Good Earth.

On the assumption that some of you are using this site as a buyer's guide I feel it's only fair to mention that occasionally the Tasmans sound a little like the Moody Blues. But only the good parts of the Moody Blues e.g. melodic and harmonic elements. (Just admit it, the chorus of "Nights In White Satin" is pretty friggin' great). No hippie sentimentality, no sophomoric philosophizing, and the orchestrations are intricate and tasteful rather than bombastic. Also, they have a sense of humor, which never burdened Justin Hayward and Co.

An excellent overview is provided by the Songs From the Departure Lounge retrospective, which visits the stereo very frequently in our house. It also has some warm and quite hilarious liner notes. The version of "Buffalos" heard here is from that CD, and is different from the 7" version.

Another meeting place for fans of powerpop and punk courtesy of Indiana's Jetsons. Shamrock J. Cat yawns in approval, Casey assumes that the Jetsons must be singing about dogs, and Mickey wonders why there aren't more punk rock songs about cats.

Snips (a.k.a. Steve Parsons) had a legit career in the straight rock world with Sharks and the Baker Gurvitz Army before the punk explosion, but proved himself extremely adaptable by making some beguiling new wave pop singles. This one, which had Midge Ure of Ultravox in the producer's chair, is perhaps his finest, and it really seems like it would make a great cover for some hip young band like the French Kicks.

A much-loved Minneapolis 45, often hailed as a perfect combination of Ubu at their most straightforward and Television. NNB also contributed tracks to Twin/Tone's first Big Hits From Mid-America package and a No Mag flexi. Apparently guitarist Mark Freeman tried to create an element of mystery; NNB didn't play live terribly often, and the single lists no personnel, though we have gleaned that other guitarist Dick Champ ended up in The Scene Is Now.

The Scruffs were the best thing to emerge out of a post-Big Star Memphis pop scene that included the likes of Van Duren and Tommy Hoehn; in addition to a superior knack for big dumb pop hooks, their work has more teenage angst and commercial appeal than most of their contemporaries. In fact, Wanna Meet the Scruffs? is nothing short of awesome, one of the two or three best indie-power pop LPs of the era, and fortunately has been reissued by the good folks at Rev-Ola. We will hear arguments, but to us "She Say Yea" was always the killer-est cut on an album fairly stacked with them.

Sister Ray, without any obvious Velvet Underground influence other than their moniker, created a bit of hipster buzz in the mid 80s following a run of small press 45s, most on their own Sad label. Unfortunately, their LPs ended up being on that Resonance Records label from (I think) the Netherlands . You guys remember that? The albums all sort of had the same look with the artist's name and title in a band across the top, and they had all of these mediocre bands like Senator Flux and The Baby Flies. Those things always ended up in the discount bin. For what it's worth though, the Sister Ray ones are pretty good, although I don't think they ever topped this single.

We're not really the sorta guys who spazz out and do the Curly Stooge dance on the floor when someone mentions Killed By Death-style punk. Many of the "classics" sound pretty generic to us. Mickey, however, does enjoy bouncing about the room whilst we spin this Belgian gem and Casey nominates it for "The Best Whistling Record Ever." (Odds-on favorite: Liliput's "Die Matrosen.") The back of the sleeve reveals the most excellent lyrics, though you'd certainly never know what they were just by listening.