PowerPopSquare Christmas (2015 Edition)

Advent season is coming: snow is falling, christmas marekts are opening - and it's only a month until Christmas Eve.

So here it is again - the PowerPopSquare Mix Tape - Xmas 2015:

 

So, these records don't exist, but you HAVE TO buy them!

Today is a strange kind of day. In my mail I found three records at a time. Three records that don't exist. So let's see:

Number One: Jim Boggia - Ukepop

Jim started a Patreon campaign more than a year ago (more information HERE). It's all about music and ukulele.
It works like this: You follow the artist. Every time he releases a new video or song, you pay for it automatically. You can pay different subscription levels - and get different rewards.

On November 2, 2015 he offered a CD called UKEPOP filled with his ukulele songs. It's exclusive for patreons and was available until November 15, 2015.
It's really sad that this isn't purchasable anymore (maybe it will be again in the future, you never know).

Track list:
01 Thunder Road
02 A Song For You
03 I Saw The Light
04 Over The Rainbow
05 With A Little Help From My Friends
06 Getting Better
07 If I Fell
08 Bus Stop
09 4th Time Around
10 Ode To Billie Joe
11 Love Will Keep Us Together

Number Two: The Candle Thieves - Chemicals Of The Imagination

I'm a fan of The Candle Thieves for some years now. Their latest record Chemicals Of The Imagination was available for preorder for a short time at their Official Website a few weeks ago.
Now it's not anymore. It's out. But just for those people who preordered.

It seems to get an official release sometime in 2016. I hope so!

Number Three: Emitt Rhodes & Chris Price - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart (7" red vinyl)

Following the Pledge Music campaign of Emitt Rhodes (more HERE) I researched and found a Record Store Day exclusive record of him from 2015.

It's a truly beautiful translucent red 7" vinyl of two Bee Gees covers:

A Emitt Rhodes - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
B Chris Price - Please Read Me

Limited to 1000 copies. Neither available digital nor on CD.
And to make it short: it's a gem.

Emitt Rhodes - Rainbow Ends

In 1973, after battling bad contracts and industry demands, Emitt Rhodes saw his last release, Farewell To Paradise. Emitt Rhodes never recorded another full-length LP. Until now.

Rainbow Ends coming February 26, 2016 from Omnivore Recordings - it is his first new album in 43 years.

Rainbow Ends will be out on CD, Digital and gatefold, colored vinyl. A PledgeMusic campaign has been set up for pre-orders, offering exclusive collectibles, the album itself, and even a day in Rhodes’ studio. Details are available at www.pledgemusic.com/emittrhodes

After connecting with producer Chris Price in 2013, Rhodes revived his home studio with help from Price and an all-star band, all of whom had been enamored of Rhodes’ work: Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Jason Falkner (both solo artists, members of Jellyfish, and currently in Beck’s studio and touring band), indie producer and musician Fernando Perdomo, Rooney’s Taylor Locke and New Pornographers’ drummer Joe Seiders. They would cut the new record live in that space.

More special guests appeared to make this momentous release even more special: Aimee Mann, Susanna Hoffs (Bangles), composer and producer Jon Brion, Wilco’s Nels Cline and Pat Sansone, Bleu, and Probyn Gregory & Nelson Bragg from Brain Wilson’s band, among others. What was achieved is more than what folks thought would ever happen.

Producer Price says, “I view this as a continuation album, meaning it isn’t meant to be recreating the sound from his first record, but instead what he might have sounded like after his third album, Farewell To Paradise, if he kept making music in the mid-to-late ’70s.”

According to Rhodes, “I had a spurt there, you know. I just wrote a whole bunch of songs. I’m just gonna write what my heart tells me, because that’s the only thing that really matters, isn’t it? Sometimes you don’t know, and then the light goes on and you do know.

The music is very good on this record. I think that these guys are all wonderful players and there’s all sorts of interesting stuff. I hope people like it, and I want you young guys to be able to get your due.

I think whenever it happens, it happens on time.”

It’s rare to have your dreams come true. For many, a new Emitt Rhodes recording has only been a fantasy. In 2016, the Rainbow Ends at a true pot of gold.

CD/LP/Digital Track List:
1. Dog On A Chain
2. If I Knew Then
3. If It Isn’t So
4. This Wall Between Us
5. Someone Else
6. I Can’t Tell My Heart
7. Put Some Rhythm To It
8. It’s All Behind Us Now
9. What’s a Man To Do
10. Friday’s Love
11. Rainbow Ends


Listen to Dog On A Chain:


Watch the Emitt Rhodes PledgeMusic trailer: