The week flew by, and I felt like I hadn’t listened to as many albums as I would in a normal week. Then I cut and pasted the list from the Numbers file into Pages and surprised myself with how much I had actually listened to. So what is the takeaway?

The Pogues are ok in small dosages. If I Should Fall From Grace With God is a good album; however, I don’t think I would listen to another album from them back to back. I enjoyed the references to The Troubles, a mini history lesson. I follow the album with the internet up and running so I can reference albums as I listen to them.

Fairytale of New York is a great song that pairs well with Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis from Tom Waits and Rudy by The Be Good Tanyas. I keep those three on my Christmas playlist.

What can I say? I had never heard of Clarence Ploof until I got the album in a mini Marketplace collection. Gaby Haas is well known in the Edmonton area as a very prolific musician; he made over 50 albums and 60 singles, mostly of polkas and waltzes. CFRN is a local radio and television station. The facade has changed, but the totem pole is still there. Gaby Haas Presents the 12-string Guitar of Clarence Ploof isn’t a bad album, but it isn’t really good either. It comes out of a different era, and taken in that context, it makes sense and is a listenable album, and Clarence Ploof is a competent guitar player. He plays the guitar better than I do and has made more albums than I have.
p.s. I don’t play guitar. I used to, but I was never good. I would play with people who were better players than I and keep my volume down. I have never made a record either.

p.s. I don’t play guitar. I used to, but I was never good. I would play with people who were better players than I and keep my volume down. I have never made a record eithe

Poco follows in the category of “I know who they are, but I don’t listen to them.” As I plow forward through the letter “P”, I came to Poco. I listened to it, but it didn’t have any effect. They should; they have an all-star band, loaded with talent. But it still didn’t click the right buttons. That happens occasionally. Rose Of Cimarron is a good album with some tracks that got my toes tapping, but not enough to make it onto my deserted album list.

The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers. This was a pick for my car. It will be in a future blog.

The Pointer Sisters are not a band that I would normally listen to. It’s not in the wheelhouse of what I usually put on the turntable. I have an open mind when it comes to music, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked their album, “Hot Together.” It isn’t a high-scoring album on the charts, but it makes nice background music.

The Police, Ghost In The Machine. I kind of like The Police, but not much. My favourite memories of The Police are seeing Sting with Peter Gabriel. That was a great show. I have listened to Peter Gabriel a lot over the years, but not Sting. They blended their songs to flow into each other’s and did duets that were magical. Another great memory was seeing Stewart Copeland perform live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. We had passes to the Symphony that we enjoyed attending over the years, featuring top-notch soloists. Stewart Copeland delivered a fantastic show. A show that was out of the ordinary, but very enjoyable.

Jean-Luc Ponty, Electric Collection
Jean-Luc PontyCosmic Messenger
Jean-Luc PontyIndividual Choice

I have a soft spot for the violin, especially electric violins. Jean-Luc Ponty took it to the next level. He is a versatile musician who can move seamlessly from Symphonic music to edgy, experimental music. These three albums give a brief overview of what he can do, with ‘brief’ being the key word.

Premiata Forneria Marconi, Photos of Ghosts. I stumbled upon this album while working at Record Collectors Paradise. They now occasionally grace my turntable. They are an Italian band, so I’ll have to see if I can get anything while in Italy.

Push Puppets, Tethered Together. New music from a band that is new to me, thanks to Shauna McLarnon over at Shameless Promotion PR. You should check out the roster of bands in their stable; lots of great music. This album has a retro feel, but is played in a modern way. That doesn’t make much sense, consistent with my dislike of blanket labels. Push Puppets give us some happy music, not sappy though. Rock, in a pop atmosphere. Alt without straying too far from their original sound. You really should give them a listen. I don’t think you would be disappointed.

‘Shake It Like You Mean It’  https://youtu.be/K5MNUTI5rJU
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/track/6V4GecCLBYPeu5b4EPoDGC
‘Tethered Together’ album https://bit.ly/3Cxaza9
CD order  www.pushpuppets.net/product/tethered-together-2025-cd
Bandcamp  https://pushpuppets.bandcamp.com/album/tethered-together
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/album/31xH5DRAHMKIAOnGemMOCW
‘Launching a Satellite’  https://youtu.be/G0lSAm1kyqw
‘Hearts Aren’t Souvenirs’  video  https://youtu.be/BCtbCI_RvK0
‘Similar’ video  https://youtu.be/gYnxtAaUiQM 
‘All Together on 3’ video  https://youtu.be/mPiiQjnZ0CY

POPSICKO, Off To A Bad Start. A good pop/punk album from Big Stir Records
Big Stir is proud to announce the long-awaited, first-time on vinyl reissue of OFF TO A BAD START, the 1994 debut and only full-length album from Santa Barbara, CA’s underground heroes of alternative rock and punk-edged power pop, POPSICKO. This deluxe edition packages the LP with a new book, TO WOULD HAVE BEENS: THE OFFICIAL ORAL HISTORY OF POPSICKO, edited by S.W. Lauden and featuring insights from all surviving band members and others who were there for the band’s meteoric and all-too-short career. The LP artwork and book also offer up a generous selection of never-before-published photos and memorabilia from the Popsicko archives and remembrances of the band’s frontman KEITH BROWN, whose tragic 1995 death in a car accident ended the band’s career far too soon. The reissue sees exclusive release as a strictly limited run Vinyl LP on April 28 and is up for pre-order at http://www.bigstirrecords.com and major online retailers now, landing on record store shelves worldwide on the street date.
Long out of print and previously issued only on CD in two versions with differing track listings, OFF TO A BAD START hits vinyl in its definitive and band-approved version. It’s been preceded by Big Stir’s release of a pair of Double-A-Side Digital 45s, including the lead single “Nastassja” and the non-album track “Ashtray Mouth”. With the vinyl album, the book, and the overdue bow of the tracks on all streaming services, the legacy of POPSICKO will finally be on display for those who remember, those just now discovering this lost chapter in ’90s alt-pop-rock history, and anyone seeking a treasure trove of enduring songs in the spirit of bands from peak-period Soul Asylum to Nirvana. “We were often described as Cheap Trick meets The Replacements, which I feel works as a quick and easy way to characterize Popsicko’s sound,” recalls guitarist Cullen, and OFF TO A BAD START captures that sound for the ages.
POPSICKO’s music has more than stood the test of time, as underground rock fans worldwide are about to discover. Brown was known to say of the band, “The description of our music is supposed to be in our name,” and the tunes on OFF TO A BAD START emphatically bear that out. Legends of their local scene and beloved on the road, POPSICKO possessed everything it took to rule the airwaves in the ’90s heyday of the alternative rock and pop punk sound: the jagged guitars and rocket-fueled rhythms, the indelible hooks, and, in Brown, an electrifying frontman capable of crafting indelible and often heartbreakingly beautiful tunes. Seemingly destined to join the ranks of Weezer and Green Day (both bands with whom they shared stages) on the charts, the band’s trajectory was tragically halted by Brown’s passing. The surviving members would go on to build impressive resumés of their own – guitarist Tim Cullen with his band Summercamp and solo career, bassist Marko DeSantis with Sugarcult and Bad Astronaut, and drummer Mick Flowers with stints in bands including The Rentals, and together as a side-project called The Playing Favorites. but the music they created with Brown has stayed close to their hearts.
Reflecting on the album today, bassist DeSantis says: “Off to a Bad Start is a well-rounded document of where we’d arrived after after a whirlwind two and a half years or so as a band. It showcases Popsicko’s sonic mood swings: upbeat barn burners like ‘Nastassja,’ ‘Dragging Me Down,’ ‘Getting’ Used to You,’ ‘Back It Up’ and ‘Distrust’ juxtaposed with gin-soaked ballads like ‘Story,’ ‘Starless’ and ‘To Would Have Beens,’ whose title fits the new Oral History book so perfectly. There’s also the heaviness of ‘Some Mother’s Son’ and ‘I Don’t Need You’ balanced by the bittersweet power pop of ‘Hard To Tell,’ ‘Same Old Me,’ and ‘No Better Time’.
“These songs are mostly short stories about the trials and tribulations of young adulthood; navigating the choppy surf of love and lust, ambition, guilt, recreation and occasionally drifting out past the buoys into the darker depths of self-destruction,” continues DeSantis. “I would tell you what each song is specifically about, but I would hate to spoil the fun of deciphering them for yourself! Some lines from Keith do stand out: ‘I’m washing down my pride with a bottle full of wine, and I’m forcing down my shame, and I’m chasing it with a life left of time’ from ‘Story’. And from ‘Some Mother’s Son’: ‘I lost myself so many times I can hardly recognize it.’ Those are lyrics that kinda sum up our worldview at the time, and they really cut deep in retrospect.”
Drummer Flowers feels much the same. “I still listen with teary-eyed nostalgia. I’m very proud of the end result,” he says. “Honestly, recording is where we shined.” The new reissue will be cherished by those who were there, and awaits discovery by those who love the perfect short, sharp, bittersweet pop song delivered with power and passion. OFF TO A BAD START is a revelatory work emblematic of POPSICKO’s charm and energy in their prime, and the potential for what could have been. “No doubt had Popsicko stayed together, they’d have been at the very forefront of the ‘90s pop punk explosion,” says Pat DiPuccio, co-founder of Flipside fanzine, and the contemporaneous reviews of the band’s celebrated live sets and eyewitness accounts collected in the companion Oral History back up that assessment handily. Anyone craving heartfelt and powerful guitar pop shot through with punk abandon and glam finesse will find a cure that’s been there all along in the music of POPSICKO. This is their story.