Larry & The Loafers - Let's Go to the Beach

[1966]

Come on all you over 40 teenage delinquents let's go to the beach! Get your board shorts and beers, bikini girls await! 

Sometimes I think this crude lo-fi beach party banger is the greatest fun beach tune of all.

I'm On Fire · Dwight Twilley Band

[1975]

So these guys didn't always miss. This was their debut single and their one and only hit in America reaching #16. I mean it shoulda been number one for two weeks at least...

Hooks galore in a crunchy power pop style with a great glam-y caveman beat and an undercurrent of chunky chugging boogie.

Stunning infectious pure pop that outdoes Cheap Trick and Big Star at their own game...

... doesn't get better than this!

Looking For The Magic · Dwight Twilley Band

[1977]

All the non-hits and non memories. Cardross Maniac bringing you all the the great misses of the 70, 80s & 90s. 

Today it's the sound of supreme melodicists, the power pop duo Dwight Twilley Band. That's Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour.

Talk about out of time and in between scenes. 

This was kinda late glam, pre new wave power pop, sorta pub rock but also classic rock'n'roll in the original rockabilly sense. I mean it sounds like it coulda been recorded anytime between 1969 and 1982.  

Looking For The Magic has been described as a song to rob banks to, whatever that means. Insane fluttering vocals giving Alan Vega a run for his money. Like a lo-fi drug fucked ELO without the disco element but going ecstatic and throwing in more hooks than a tackle box. The vocals, hand claps, Jangly guitars, drums and slippery bass are all put through an echo chamber and then some for maximum dream-a-delic affect. 

Whatever it is, it's just excellent! 

They made the rock'n'roll magic here folks.

Rewind forever babeeee.

The Mad Turks from Istanbul - Holding my breath

[1987]

As heard on 3MA on Sunday nights in the late 80s. The show which was maybe called Underground or The Underground or something like that. They played independent Aussie hits of the day. Stuff straight off Juke' Magazine's Independent chart which of course was where all the best music was to be found at the time. I think the radio announcer/DJ was Pat Gary. 

Anyway I never understood why Mad Turks weren't as big as say Died Pretty or Ups & Downs. They had the pop smarts and the catchy tunes with great guitar interplay in a brisk jangly power pop style but I don't think they ever got anywhere near the top 40 which is a shame. They missed. While they were out of time and in between scenes their debut LP Cafe Istanbul is an unheralded 80s guitar pop triumph. We get twelve tunes with plenty of hard strumming and pop hooks galore all done with an irresistible youthful urgency.  

On Holding My Breath you gotta love the take it down now moment at 2:23 where the instruments drop out and its just the "chicka chicka" of the muted strummed guitar and vocals. This trick is always excellent because you're waiting for the rest of the band to come back and when they do it's satisfaction guaranteed.

Thanks boys. 

Todd Rundgren - I Saw The Light

[1972]

Sweet soft rock sounds from radio's golden era.   

One of those tunes you've heard your entire life and finally you go "hang on! wait a a fucking minute, this is fantastic!" 

The state of the art sound of the 70s with all of the gorgeous hooks effortlessly in the right place.

Like a really excellent multilayered cake. Each element is a delicious harmonious hook: the jaunty piano, those melodic tom toms, the slide-y Harrison-esque guitar, the immaculate multi-tracked backing vocals, the bass, the myriad of minuscule percussion flourishes, the entire delectable melody ripped straight from Carol King etc. 

Evocative of first love, carefree summers and lost innocence I Saw The Light kinda now makes you wonder "Where did my life go?"

Piano pop-rock perfection.

Play it again Sam.