With this, the latest installment of his
"Yellow Pills" series, Jordan Oakes has hit for the cycle. Oakes,
when not working on his highly respected pop music magazine of the same name,
compiles and sequences the tracks and pens the liner notes for what has become
simply the finest series of power pop samplers available anywhere, at any
price. And as lofty as the standards set by the first three volumes of the
series might have been, Oakes has exceeded them on Volume 4.
As
per the usual, the album consists of a mixture of established artists, talented
newcomers, plus a surprise or two. "Yellow Pills" veteran Chris von
Sneidern (is this man capable of writing a bad song?) contributes
"Circles," a glorious tune that literally explodes into a thousand
swirling colors at the chorus. Jason Faulkner's frantically paced one-man-band
effort "My Home is Not a House" is a raucous delight, and DM3's
"Show You" fuses melody and sheer guitar power in a manner recalling
the Raspberries' best work. Lesser known (but no less talented) artists making
solid contributions include Four O'Clock Balloon, David Grahame, John McMullen
and Dan Markell.
Andrew
Gold (he of "Lonely Boy" and the theme from "Mad About
You") offers the stunningly beautiful, retro "Love Tonight."
Between the "wind chimes" reference in the song's first line, the
layered vocal harmonies and the syncopated, staccato bass straight out of "Here
Today," this track could easily pass for a long-lost Beach Boys' outtake,
circa 1967. On a sadder note, Material Issue's tight, slightly psychedelic take
on the Grass Roots' "Wait a Million Years" gives no indication of the
demons which would compel lead singer Jim Ellison to take his own life not long
after the song was recorded.
While
I could go through the rest of this album track by track, trying to describe
the joys of this music in (woefully inadequate) words, time would be better
spent--both yours and mine--if you were to rush out to your friendly
neighborhood music retailer and purchase this disc posthaste. You shan't be
disappointed.
--Rick
Schadelbauer