CBR October 2009

Cybertron By the River (CBR) is one of the oldest bombing spots in Montreal. Its a dirty, muddy, and messy area soaked in tags, throw ups, and the occasional piece that has for the longest time been a place where writers can go just to throw up a few hits, hang out, blow off some steam, and practice some styles. Nothing stays up long at CBR as many toys tend to scribble all over the place but you'll probably at best get a shelf life of a week or two depending on the traffic that flows through.

What I like the most about this place is that every time you stop by to check it out it's different, changed, even if slightly. Someone is always getting up here. CBR is easily over a few hundred feet long and runs a little further down beyond the main wall as the ceiling height vanishes under a highway on-ramp. And it's completely covered end to end, top to bottom.

I've got many flicks of this place over the years, but here are a few recent shots I got while hanging with some members from MY (MontrealogY) Crew this past weekend. I got more flicks in the vault that'll be posted soon enough. Enjoy these for now.

Roy Loney & the Phantom Movers - Out After Dark - 1979

After a protracted layoff from music, Loney came back in a big way with his first solo record. With help from ex-Flamin' Groovies Danny Mihm and James Ferrell, this is a feverish little slice of rock & roll, with Loney's overwrought, hiccuping vocals adding just the right bizarre touch. There's a great cover of "Return to Sender" and plenty of terrific and often funny Loney originals ("Born to Be Your Fool," "Used Hoodoo" and "Scum City"). Fans of roots-rock and the Loney-led Groovies years will love this. -AMG



Roy Loney & the Phantom Movers - Out After Dark - 1979/rs
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Roy Loney & the Phantom Movers - Out After Dark - 1979/sb

The Knack - Serious Fun - 1991

Only half of this album title is factually correct, and it's a good thing: a "serious" Knack would be a big mistake. As for the "fun" part, that's right on the money; Serious Fun is an utterly unpretentious slab of power pop that has the emotional depth and artistic merit of a Little Lulu comic book. Musically, the songs are neat little packages of appropriately crunchy guitar hooks and harmonies, with all the Beatlesque elements that make the knack so beloved by their fans and hated by their detractors. The production, by Fieger's old high-school buddy Don Was, is terrific, adding some sorely needed oomph to Prescott Niles' bass and Billy Ward's drums and giving the whole thing a more vibrant presence than any of the Knack's first three albums had managed. -AMG

The Knack - Serious Fun - 1991/rs
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The Knack - Serious Fun - 1991/sb

Chris Richards - Mystery Spot - 2004

Chris Richards moves to the head of the modern-day power pop class with his first solo record, Mystery Spot. His work with the Phenomenal Cats and the Pantookas was solid and engaging pop, but this disc moves beyond that and should put him in the big leagues next to guys like Michael Penn, Matthew Sweet, and Velvet Crush. He has everything that those guys do. Hook-filled tunes you will be humming before they are half over, ringing guitars, soaring harmony vocals, heart-tugging lyrics about girls, girls, and more girls. Although the disc is on a microindie (or maybe because it is), the production is first-rate; Richards and Dave Feeny came up with a guitar-heavy sound that rocks, but has a light and poppy feel. Hmmm, power plus pop....That must be where they got "power pop" from back in the day. Tracks like the thudding "She Belongs to Me" and the chunky "Come Clean" are textbook examples of that sound. Elsewhere, Richards conjures the ghost of Marshall Crenshaw on "Everyday Girl," drops some sweet pedal steel into the mix on the pair of beautiful ballads "Draining" and "She's Just Falling Out of Love," sits behind the electric keys and brings it down a bit on the sweet "Gracefully," and rocks quite convincingly on the excellent opener "Is There Anybody Else?" The rest of the album is packed with great tracks, not a stinker in the bunch. If you dig Falkner, Sweet, Keene, or any of the other giants of the power pop continuum, you need to seek this record out.-AMG

Chris Richards - Mystery Spot - 2004/rs
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Chris Richards - Mystery Spot - 2004/sb

B.B.B.'s - The Best of the B.B.B.'s - 1998

This is an oddly fascinating record, as it covers the nearly two-decade career of a band all but unheard of outside of a 25-mile radius of Rochester, NY. As such, Best of the B.B.B.'s, Volume 1 shows why it is that some local bands stay local. This is not to imply that this band, a power pop group led by singer-guitarist Luther Holtzman, who's the only constant member on these tracks, is without merit or talent, merely that there's a notable lack of world-beating ambition on display here. These 25 tracks, recorded between 1982 and 1997, include such parochial standbys as a Christmas single (actually two of the best tracks here), a radio jingle for a local business, and a snippet of live tape recorded at a dance marathon at the University of Rochester. Holtzman's other songs are genial guitar pop along the lines of the Raspberries, Shoes, or other Beatles-fixated power poppers of the '70s, and they too have the relaxed "this is just a hobby" vibe of a guy making records intended to please no one but himself. In an age where most albums are micro-managed and focus-grouped down to the tiniest detail for maximum commercial impact, this genuine indifference is quirkily satisfying. -AMG

B.B.B.'s - The Best of the B.B.B.'s - 1998/rs
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B.B.B.'s - The Best of the B.B.B.'s - 1998/sb