Album Notes

In the early to mid 2000´s, we released three compilations in the “Home Runs” series containing great and mostly obscure North American pop from the years 1975-85. This series was a great success, and now “Souvenirs” sort of continues that series. Now we have expanded the time limit to go up to 1995. If you like The Beatles, The Byrds, Big Star, The Plimsouls and many more, this is a CD for you. There´s so much great pop music that way too few people have heard, and it really deserves to be heard. This CD is pressed in a limited edition of 300 copies, so it´s sure to become a collector´s item before too long.

Some notes on some of the artists:

The Pointed Sticks track included is previously unreleased and was recorded during the band´s heydays back in the late 70´s. One of the main members of Beatosonics was Jim Diamond who now is a legendary producer in Detroit having produced The White Stripes and many more. 2 Minutes 50 was Duane Jarvis´ early popband. Duane later played with Lucinda Williams, John Prine, Dwight Yoakam, Dave Alvin and many more. Duane sadly passed away in April 2009. The Explosives have been the backing band for Roky Erickson for many years. Ric Menck was a member of both Choo Choo Train and The Reverbs. Ric later was in Velvet Crush and has played with lots of great artists, including Matthew Sweet and many more. Paul Chastain was also in Choo Choo Train, and he also was in Velvet Crush. Lions & Dogs was an early band for Todd Newman, and Todd Newman & The Leatherwoods included Tim O´Reagan who later became the drummer for The Jayhawks. Chaz & The Motorbikes main man is Charlie Chesterman who also was in Scruffy The Cat and has released several great records under his own name.

"Souvenirs – Little Gems of Pop" is the latest release on "Wall of Noise", a division of the Sound Asleep imprint and I haven’t heard such an effin’ effervescent collection of prime power pop in a long time. Pound for pound this pounds any overpriced retread into the dirt. I’m not saying this couldn’t have happened without those exponents, i’m just telling you that – in my opinion – this is better.

In addition to their being 21 great tunes on this bay, it’s also dedicated to the memory of our pal – Lennart Persson and also Duane Jarvis. I haven’t heard Flying Color or Manual Scan in forever and this reminds me how good they were. I’d never heard Choo Choo Train or The Explosives before at all and that’s been my loss. “A Girl like You” by the latter might be my sprightliest discovery since The Shivvers “Teenline”. The original version of “Not The Trembling Kind” by The Decoys is also here, the little number that would eventually be tackled by Ms Laura Cantrell. Todd Newman & The Leatherwoods “To Win You Back” is very “Too Busy Thinking ‘bout My Baby”-like and none the worse for it.

If you need something that’ll hit the spot like Dwight Twilley, Phil Seymour , The Shoes or top-flight Teenage Fanclub then this baby is a must have. Good to hear Philly greats, The Wishniaks again too (Shout out to Mr Snyder!). Whoever curated this deserves a commendation... Jerker – This means you! Bruce Bodeen’s liners are excellent too. The whole thing has put me in the mood to dig out my Guadalcanal Diary albums. That’s what cool music should do, make you feel like you don’t want it to stop. These little gems are right bobby dazzlers! This is a limited edition so don’t hang about.
Lindsay Hutton-The Next Big Thing