My Amazon Reviews: The Empty Hearts "The Empty Hearts"

A Power Pop Supergroup
4 Out Of 5 Stars

First off, there's the pedigree. Wally Palmar of the Romantics on lead vocals, rhythm guitar, and harmonica; Elliot Easton of the Cars on lead guitar and vocals; Andy Babiuk of the Chesterfield Kings on bass and vocals; and Clem Burke of Blondie on drums and vocals. Then for bonus cool points, they were given their name by Steven Van Zandt. The freshly minted The Empty Hearts were birthed by the 60's British Invasion and filtered through 80's power pop cool and then fed through a garage band. The band themselves are wearing their influences on their sleeve, or at least their t-shirt...dig The Who shirt on the CD cover. Make no mistake, this is the real deal.

"The Empty Hearts" is a first rate power popper's dream. The garagey "90 Miles An Hour Down a Dead End Street" careens into a ripping harmonica solo courtesy of Palmar and the band chiming in on chipper 'dit dit dit' background vocals for an ace hook. "No Way Out" cops from The Kinks and The Who. Dig the fuzzed out guitar in "Perfect World." Elements of The Beatles, maybe a touch of The Stones, and certainly a tiny touch of the elements of everyone's band kick in here and there through The Empty Hearts, and it feels completely natural. That could come from the album's immediacy, the whole thing was hammered out in five days, frequently the whole band playing live and catching the first take. Credit producer Ed Stasium for helping capture lightning in a bottle, he used to do the same for the Ramones.

One other thing; no-one here is trying to re-invent the wheel. The band has already stated in interviews that they just wanted to bring back the fun of listening to classic songs and being in a band that enjoyed doing what they do best. When the final "Uh Huh!" brings "Meet Me Around The Corner" to a close (just after a gnarly solo from Easton, I should add), I just want to start the whole thing over from the beginning. "The Empty Hearts" plows through its twelve songs and you wish there were more. I can't think of any better way to describe this little chunk of garage-pop nirvana. I just wanna hear it again. Power Pop lives.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Enya "The Very Best Of Enya"

The Queen of New Age Romanticism
5 Out Of 5 Stars

After serving time with some family members in the Celtic pop band Clannad, Enya decided they were becoming too pop and set out for a solo career. It may have taken her two albums to perfect the sound she's become famous for, but when "Orinoco Flow" became an international hot single and propelled her 1988 album "Watermark" to multiplatinum status, Enya became an international pop star. Which is something of a misnomer, as what Enya records is anything but traditional pop. She utilizes old folk and Celtic sounds, lush overdubbing and multi-layered harmonies to create music that no-one else has ever come close to duplicating.

That is why "The Very Best of Enya" is essential listening. The songs on this CD bent the arc of popular music and she became the best known musician of what was then called "New Age" music. More to the point, she transcended the faddish nature of the movement and continues to make music that resonates with the public to this day. While her music is gentle, she still has a dynamic sound. "Storms in Africa" ebbs and flows, building to its climax. "Only Time" (made popular after 9/11 as something radio used to calm listeners) gently lulled it's way into the top ten Billboard charts. her music is graceful and never disruptive, but she does so without resorting to the kind of Adult Contemporary radio bombast or condescending wimpiness. Enya creates music that comforts and brings the listener an experience in elegance.

If there are any qualms here, it's that I probably would have been just fine without the Christmas Carol "Oiche Chiuin," as it disrupts the originality of the rest of Enya's work. Also because the elegiac goodbye of "May It Be" would have brought the collection to a far more satisfying conclusion. "The Very Best of Enya" is music that transcended all the tropes of modern pop music and still stands as fresh and gorgeous as it has on the albums it's been culled from.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Romantics "The Romantics 2013 Reissue"

What We All Like
3 Out Of 5 Stars

They may not have been the most original of the skinny-tie bands of the era, but when it came to pure hi-intensity energy, few could beat the 1980 debut album by Detroit's The Romantics. Fusing bar-band guitar fury with power-pop, this album contained the now classic "What I Like About You." While it may not have broken the top 40 for The Romantics themselves, it's become something of a sports-staduim and TV commercial staple.

This was The Romantics' original lineup of singer/guitarist Wally Palmar, singer/drummer Jimmy Marinos, guitarist Mike Skill, and bassist Richie Cole. (Skill would exit after the second album.) This was an album that reveled in the period's quick and dirty recording methods, as the album took a mere three weeks. It made the sound quality a bit spotty, like the way the harmonica overwhelms the audio in "What I Like About You" or the flatness of the drums overall. Still, that couldn't hold back the energy of "When I Look Into Your Eyes" or a cover of Ray Davies' "She's Got Everything." Red leather suits and all, "The Romantics" remains one of the better calling cards in the American New Wave movement.

There are, however, some problems with the Culture Factory re-issue that are frustrating (and drop my rating from an A to a C). At the end of "What I Like About You" and "She's Got Everything," there's a digital hiccup of some sort that repeats a fraction of the second of the song's ending. I therefore can only recommend The Romantics to collectors and completists.