Retro Music Review | Oldies, Reissues and New Releases with a Retro Sound

Resurrectionists - Here Hope Flows Like Blood From The Nose (Self-Released)

The footprints of the Resurrectionists can be found along the same dusty path traveled by the Alternative Tentacles act Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. Backwoods hellfire and brimstone serves as powerful inspiration for both bands. Their songs also share a steely guitar twang, a Southern note-bending style that adds a creepy twist to every lyric. Still, the Resurrectionists are not merely Slim Cessna Part Two. There’s a bit of Tom Waits here as well, not to mention a heaping helping of originality… READ MORE

Smithereens - B-Sides The Beatles (Koch; KOC-CD-4504)

Fame may come and go, but good music is forever. While The Smithereens aren’t in the national spotlight anymore, they are still cranking out some of the finest retro pop records ever. The band’s sound was always a mixture of the best of old and new, blending vintage mod, rock, folk, and beatnik sounds with a contemporary touch that can only be described as Smithereens… READ MORE

Michael Nesmith - Pacific Arts (CD/DVD; Edsel; EDSX 3004)

During his stint in the Monkees, Michael Nesmith spent a lot of time fighting the good fight for creative control. After leaving the manufactured pop group, he proceeded to demonstrate just how creative he could be, once he had control. Forming his own media company, Pacific Arts, in the 1970s, he released albums, produced films and television, pioneered the concept of music video as an art form, and even sold a pilot to Time Warner that was the basis for the development of MTV. The Edsel label’s new Nesmith CD/DVD compilation, Pacific Arts, features some of the company’s finest output… READ MORE

Jay and the Americans - Live From The Cafe Wha? / Blockbusters (BGO; BGOCD791)

During the turbulent 1960s, Jay and the Americans existed in a kind of bubble world, immune to political, social and musical trends. For over a decade, the squeaky clean pop vocal group released singles and albums that sounded like a throwback to a more innocent time. Despite being a walking, talking, crooning anachronism, the Americans were also a nearly unstoppable hitmaking machine. How did they do it? The evidence can be found on BGO’s new 2-on-1 CD reissue of a couple of long out of print Americans LPs, 1962’s Live From The Café Wha? and 1965’s Blockbusters… READ MORE

Los Fabulocos Featuring Kid Ramos (Delta Groove Music; DGPCD125)

America’s rich multi-cultural and multi-ethnic musical heritage is beautifully represented on the self-titled Delta Groove label debut from California’s Los Fabulocos. Featuring legendary guitarist Kid Ramos, of Mannish Boys and Fabulous Thunderbirds fame, this Cali-Mex quartet blends rockabilly, rhythm and blues, country, and traditional Spanish and Mexican influences, to paint an ever shifting portrait of vintage rock and roll… READ MORE

Mott The Hoople - Roll Away The Stone (The Best of) (2 Discs; Music Club; MCDLX062)

Often cited as the granddaddy of glam, Mott The Hoople frontman Ian Hunter brought a unique sensibility to the early ’70s music scene. With all the grace of a ballerina swinging a sledge hammer, Hunter pounded out rock and roll songs of crude elegance and glorious excess. Nobody wrote about the trials and tribulations of being a rock star quite like Hunter. “All The Way To Memphis” and “Saturday Gigs” were classic tales of life in a band, presented in an appropriately grandiose manner. These two tunes and 33 others comprise this brilliant new collection, celebrating a time when hair was long and platform boots were all the rage… READ MORE

Jet Harris and Tony Meehan - Diamonds and Other Gems (RPM Retro; Retro 825)

Bassist Jet Harris is a master of the musical sonic boom, as evidenced on RPM Retro’s complete Decca singles collection, Diamonds and Other Gems. In the early 1960s, Harris and drummer Tony Meehan created sweeping soundscapes of infinite grandeur and exquisite beauty. Combining elements of pop, rock, surf, and even folk, they brought the rhythm section into the lead, while scoring several chart hits along the way… READ MORE

Michael Nesmith - The Prison (Edsel; EDSX 3002)
Michael Nesmith - The Garden (Edsel; EDSX 3003)

With The Prison and The Garden, Michael Nesmith takes the book and record concept to an entirely new level. As an artist, Nesmith has always been a big thinker, dealing with grand ideas and philosophical questions. On these two works, originally released in 1974 and 1994, respectively, he allows his penchant for soul searching to roam unfettered. Here is Nesmith at his finest, blending music and narrative in a way that is entirely unique… READ MORE

Mitch Woods - Jukebox Drive (El Toro Rhythm & Blues; El Toro R&B 206)

Whether “Boppin’ The Boogie” or serving up burgers at a “Boogie Woogie Bar-B-Q,” piano man Mitch Woods is the epitome of cool. He rocks those eighty-eights like crazy as a “Saturday Night Boogie Man,” then stumbles in the next morning with a “Blues Hangover.” The latter track is a thrilling rhythm and blues masterpiece, thanks in no small part to Woods’ first class backing band, The Lazy Jumpers. Drummer Blas Picon not only drives the tune furiously, he also delivers a killer harmonica break… READ MORE

Slim Cessna’s Auto Club - Cipher (Alternative Tentacles; Virus 383)

Every Slim Cessna’s Auto Club album represents a new and haunting vision of the American landscape. This country as seen through the eyes of Slim is a strange place indeed. Revival meetings and mason jugs and bullfrogs and highways being hacked to ribbons are set against a constant and curious chant, the drumming voice of the ignored and the dispossessed… READ MORE