Nashville Tears by Rumer (2020)Cooking Vinyl. Long Overdue by Librarians With Hickeys (2020) Big Stir Records.
In these dark times, we need a little sweetness in our life. New records by Rumer and Librarians With Hickeys revive two music genres – soft rock and power pop – that give us that sweetness we so desperately need right now.
Rumer is a British singer who brings back the soft rock sound of the late 1960s and first half of the 1970. That smooth sound combined strong melodies with sophisticated, lush orchestrations.The Carpenters may be the most famous and one of the best examples of soft rock. I lapped it up back then. Soft rock was powerful, emotional stuff for 15-year-old me. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent alone in my room mooning over my unrequited crush and listening to Barry Manilow sing “Could It Be Magic.”
All the edges are sanded off soft rock music, resulting in a smooth, delicious sweetness that is comforting and easy to listen to. For me, soft rock is like a rich chocolate truffle: a little bit makes you happy; too much has you reaching for your insulin shot.
I put together a playlist of classic soft rock from the late 60s and early 70s. If you were around and listening to the radio then, you will recognize the songs, though you may not remember the groups (Firefall? Poco? England Dan and John Ford Coley?). And if you weren’t around then, you can catch up on what you missed. I cheated a bit and put three post-1970s, soft rock artists on the playlist, including Alison Kraus who I think of as Flatt and Scruggs crossed with Seals and Crofts. Take a listen to the playlist. You might find the sweetness gives you the comfort you need in this dark time.
The second sweet record here is by Librarians with Hickeys, a group from Akron, Ohio that just released their first album. I cannot get enough of the lead off song on the album “Until There Was You” with its chiming guitars and catchy melody.
The Librarians recall the glory days of power pop, a genre that combines sweet melodies and strong guitar chords. The genre has roots in the 1960s British guitar bands in British bands like The Who and The Kinks. Power pop thrived in the 1970s and revived in the 1990s. Power pop combines the strong, catchy melodies of soft rock and bubblegum with hard rock guitar. Check out this playlist of classic power pop.
The great Los Angeles Indie Label Big Stir Records is the home for great power pop music today. Big Stir holds concerts in Burbank (or at least they did before the pandemic), publishes a journal, puts out great collections of Power Pop singles, and also releases albums, including the new release from Librarians With Hickeys. They are run by a husband and wife team who also make up the band The Armoires. If you order CDs or vinyl from them, your music comes with a nice handwritten note from one of the two of them. I highly recommend ordering one or all of the CDs from their Big Stir Singles series. This playlist features songs by Big Stir artists, along with a song by the Rookies from my other favorite indie label Bloodshot Records.
I find power pop irresistible, unlike soft rock whose unalloyed sweetness is too much for me in large doses. I am hooked by the sweetness of the melodies of power pop, and I am sustained by the power of its guitars.
The two genres – soft rock and power pop – have a clear affinity in their sweetness. They came together in the 1990s, when indie power pop artists covered classic soft rock songs. Check out “If I Were A Carpenter, ” featuring covers of The Carpenters’ songs by indie bands, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, featuring covers of songs like Leaving on a Jet Plane and Country Roads. Almost nothing makes me happier than listening to Shonen Knife’s cover of “Top of the World” or Me First’s cover of Loggins and Messina’s “Danny’s Song.”.