June 16, 2021 Playlist

Sir Paul of Wings

The Self-Indulgent Birthday Special

Featuring Sir Paul McCartney

"Help!" by The Beatles (1965)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
The Beatles "Help!"  1965 (UK)
Sir Paul McCartney turns 79 years old this week, and your humble narrator Dave 3000 was born the day he turned 29 (do the math). Back in the sixties, Paul was in a band that was a pretty big deal. They recorded a dozen studio albums (and a couple movie soundtracks) which are all classics for one reason or another. In 1965, the Fab Four had already conquered Europe and America and were touring all over the globe, attaining new heights of pop superstardom which had barely been conceivable before they came along. Artistically, they were pretty much done with cover songs at this point as Lennon-McCartney were the hottest songwriters in the world, and they were branching beyond music with the release of their second motion picture film Help! Though their first film is the Beatle film most often acclaimed by film critics, arguably Help! was even more groundbreaking. It is a goofy, loose spoof on spy films (James Bond was red hot at the time) with a lot of offbeat quips and non sequitor gags that basically make it the prototype of genre-based parodies like Airplane!, The Naked Gun, etc. But even more importantly (because it was the sixties maaan), 1965 was the year Bob Dylan introduced them to "the devil's lettuce" so a lot of The Beatles' antics on screen, as well as the sounds they were getting in the studio, were some of the earliest stirrings of psychedelic rock. The album yielded a batch of ultra-classic Beatle songs, including three international chart-topping hits: Lennon's "Help!" and "Ticket To Ride" and McCartney's pseudo-classical ballad "Yesterday" (a precursor of progressive rock?)
"POPPY.COMPUTER" by Poppy (2017)
  
2nd bonus CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Poppy "POPPY.COMPUTER"  2017 (USA)
For my self indulgent birthday special, we have a second bonus CAOTW. Poppy was the most interesting American pop music sensation of 2016-2018, and this is my favorite of her records (so far). I think her electro-pop music is super-catchy, her lyrics make me chuckle, and the singer's breathy-girly ASMR voice is hard to resist. It was Poppy who sent me down the rabbit hole of contemporary Japanese pop music (or "J-pop", which is a million times more interesting than "K-pop" which I promise you will never hear on Kosmik Radiation.) Basically, at this point in her career Poppy was taking most of her musical cues from Japanese pop (in particular the delightful Kyary Pamyu Pamyu) and adding a dose of good ole American irony and sarcasm. Poppy may be a parody of a pop star, but she is a genuine master of pop music as well. The "real person" who inhabits the Poppy persona, Moriah Pereira, co-writes every song on all her albums, so she is not the vacuous waif she pretends to be. In more recent years, she has dyed her hair back to it's natural dark color and added a lot of heavy metal to her sound - apparently she always wanted to be Marilyn Manson?! (Though when she began to "go metal" I sussed that Poppy's true inspiration might be the very popular J-pop metal band BABYMETAL.) But if the past is any indication, she'll probably change her style and do something new before long. I like to think someday she will do an acoustic country music album! (She was raised in Nashville, so I bet she would be a natural.)
While we're on the subject of J-pop, here's a couple new items of interest: First, Yasutaka Nakata's longest-running project CAPSULE released their first new song in about 6 years this week, "Disco Of Light". Secondly, as I mentioned last month Dempagumi.inc recently had their first concert as a 10-member group after they added 5 new girls earlier this year (actually it was a 9-girl gig since Mirin Furukawa is on maternity leave). The first clip from that show has appeared online, and it's a brand new song called (something like) "1,000,000,000 Radio Wave Seat!" (sic! the B-side of their recent single). It continues to give me the impression that they will be more of a Broadway-style musical theater group during this phase of their history. I can live with that (in fact the new songs' choreography is better than ever), but can't help feeling that their glory days as a prog-pop big band with 6 lead vocalists are over for good. So let's flash back with this emotional performance of "I'm Sure, I'm Sure" (by the transitional 5-girl lineup of late 2017).
And one more old school pop star! Tom Jones released a great new album this year at the age of 80.
(N) = New Release
   
Artist Song Album Year Country
David BowieChangesHunky Dory1971UK
Van der Graaf GeneratorMan-ErgPawn Hearts1971UK
Alice CooperUnder My WheelsKiller1971USA
Paul McCartney & WingsJunior's FarmA-side single (Wing's Greatest compilation)1974UK
Tom JonesResurrection ShuffleShe's A Lady1971UK (Wales)
Tom Jones No Hole In My Head (Malvina Reynolds)Surrounded By Time (N)2021 (S Curve / EMI)UK (Wales)
 
 
Haru Nemuri Inori Dake Ga Aru
("There Is Only Prayer")		single (N)2021 (TO3S)Japan
Grave Flowers Bongo Band Lazy RiverStrength Of Spring (N)2021 (Castle Face)USA
Silver Synthetic Out Of The DarknessSilver Synthetic (N)2021 (Third Man)USA
Triptides It Won't Hurt YouAlter Echoes (N)2021 (Alive Naturalsound)USA
Purple Elephant Navel GazingAdolescent Gaze (N)2021 (self released)USA
Paul McCartney
 		Seize The DayMcCartney III (N)2020 (Capitol)UK
   
 
The BeatlesThe Night BeforeHelp!
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		1965UK
The BeatlesTell Me What You SeeHelp!
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		1965UK
The BeatlesI've Just Seen A FaceHelp!
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		1965UK
The BeatlesHelter SkelterThe Beatles (aka "The White Album")1968UK
PoppyMetal (Gary Numan)non-album single2018USA
PoppyComputer BoyPOPPY.COMPUTER
 2nd bonus CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		2017USA
PoppyBleach Blonde BabyPOPPY.COMPUTER
 2nd bonus CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		2017USA
PoppyMoshi Moshi
("Hello" in Japanese)		POPPY.COMPUTER
 2nd bonus CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		2017USA
   
 
Dempagumi.incKitto, Kitto Ne
("I'm Sure, I'm Sure")		GOGO DEMPA2016Japan
Dempagumi.incYume Sasu Ashita
("Dream Point Tomorrow")		GOGO DEMPA2016Japan
Dempagumi.incChouzetsu Ultra☆Happy Days
("Transcendence Ultra Happy Days")		non-album single2015Japan
Dempagumi.incNantettatte Shangri-La
("Oh My God, Shangri-La")		World Wide Dempa2013Japan
Pinky! Noora & Petra
(Ayane "Pinky!" Fujisaki from Dempagumi.inc)		Koisuru Helsinki
("They Come To See Helsinki")		Aurora To Peace EP
("Aurora And Peace")		2017Japan/Finland
Mirin Furukawa
(before Dempagumi.inc)		Loop RougeRimocon Disco EP
("Remote Control Disco")		2009Japan
Kyary Pamyu PamyuChodo Iino
("Hey That's Good")		Moshi Moshi Harajuku EP
("Hello Harajuku")		2011Japan
DAOKOSunny Boy, Rainy GirlShiteki Ryoko
("Private Trip")		2018Japan
Capsule Hikari No Disco
("Disco Of Light")		single (N)2021 (Warner Japan)Japan
   
 
Naked AggressionMoney5-song demo cassette1990USA
Black BarryThe Great American Tranquilizerunreleased demo2003USA
DethkorpzE.S.P. Rock CorpseApocalypse 1999:66612000USA
VosellglaasAugenblick / Sei Still
("Blink Of An Eye / Be Still" in German)		DREIII
("THREEE" in German)		2008USA
Dave 3000Tired Of Fightin'unreleased recording2016USA
Dave 3000Your Mind Tonightunreleased recording2017USA
Dave 3000I Saw The Light (Todd Rundgren)from unfinished unreleased covers album "Great Songs Of The Seventies"2017USA
   
 
Tom Jones I'm Growing Old (Bobby Cole)Surrounded By Time (N)2021 (S Curve / EMI)UK (Wales)
Tom Jones Lazarus Man (Terry Callier)Surrounded By Time (N)2021 (S Curve / EMI)UK (Wales)
             
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