ARTiST: Greg Pope
ALBUM: Popmonster
BiTRATE: 198kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: Octoberville Records
GENRE: Rock
SiZE: 67.32 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 44min 32sec total
RiP DATE: 2008-11-21
STORE DATE: 2008-09-30
Track List:
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01. Sky Burn Down 2:07
02. I Got a Life 2:51
03. Lost My Friend 2:35
04. Playing Nashville 2:57
05. The Only Thing I've Got 1:56
06. Burden 3:33
07. All Day Long 4:17
08. Only One You 3:36
09. Footpath 3:09
10. Little Things 2:05
11. Magic Show 3:51
12. Reason With You 2:02
13. Rock and Roll Dream 2:26
14. New Song 2:26
15. Kickin' It 2:05
16. Backwards 2:36
Release Notes:
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Transmission: Please receive: ôONE OF 2008Æs VERY BEST!ö. Got it? Well, come in
give a try, give a listen û itÆs all here below if you donÆt believe. Stop what
yr doing û just dig the grooves, the sounds.
Now, Greg Pope is the leader of EdmundÆs Crown, long a fave here at Not Lame but
this ôPopmonsterö(indeed!) thing? Gawd, Lawdie, itÆs freakinÆ great! Listen to
Track #3 and #2 below for a bit of The Shazam. But thereÆs so much here for
*all* pop fans. Yes, The Shazam, Matthew Sweet, The Replacements(at their
finest!), The Grays(track #1 below), Terry Anderson or Bill Lloyd(Track #6) and
plenty of more of that where this comes from! Pope started this out seeking the
help of others with this solo reach, but scheduled proved to be tough with
buddies and he ended up playing all the instruments here û to its great credit,
it sounds like a band at work here thereÆs so much connection of the instruments
to the material. Big æole Talent? You betcha û in spades.
AbsolutePowerPopBlog nails it(as usual): ôPope lets loose a total of 16 tracks
here but there really isn't any filler. Opener "Sky Burn Down" lets you know
you're not in Kansas (or at least Tennessee) any more as he revs up a Robert
Pollard-style rocker in both sound and length (2:08). "I Got a Life" is another
infectious barnburner which recalls both Matthew Sweet and The Who in places,
while "Lost My Friend" and "Playing Nashville" travel in more familiar Edmund's
Crown territory. "The Only Thing I've Got" also clocks in around 2 minutes, and
has a definite Alex-Chilton-by-way-of-Paul-Westerberg vibe. Other standouts
include the aching Jon Brionesque pop of "Only One You", the jangly "Footpath",
the bright Americana-influenced "Little Things", and "Reason With You", another
track that would have fit on nicely on Regrets of a Company Man(EdmundÆs Crown).
A real tour-de-force and with Halloween approaching, this Popmonster will be
scaring its way up my year-end list.ö MASSIVELY, PROFUSELY Extremely Highly
Recommended!