Fave Records of 2007, part 2

The Stiv Bators Ghost Tour is but one of the many great songs on Notes From the Underground by a new band of underground pop/garage veterans with a pedigree in punk rock ...Deadbeat Poets. From the fertile musical stomping ground of Northeast Ohio and Western PA, Deadbeat Poets can boast former members of regional and national legends Blue Ash and the Latter Day Dead Boys, also known as the Stiv Bators Band.

That's Frank Secich below, a veteran of both Blue Ash and Stiv's morphing Dead Boys/pop group line-ups. He's an accomplished player, producer and songwriter and his labor of love is one of my favorite and best records of 2007.




Today's partial list of fave records is comprised of veteran pop/punk/garage rockers who have made contemporary and compelling albums that eclipse their youth, no matter how stellar they were and how brightly they beamed.



Peter Case, known as a member of the Nerves and Plimsouls and having hits with both bands has been a solo artist for longer than he was a band member... and in 2007, he received a Grammy Award nomination for his album Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John in the Best Traditional Folk album category. WHOO HOO!

This is a natural segue, because another two of my favorite 2007 albums all radiate from this... Richard Thompson, the venerable British folkie, Fairport Convention legend and solo artist/guitarist extraordinaire is a guest on Peter's album. Thompson also made one of the best records of 2007 - Sweet Warrior, simply another entry into his brilliant canon. Richard Thompson has a way with words and wordcraft. He can make doom and gloom sound bright and clever. The record is simply superb. If you are a Thompson fan, you will nod in approval that its just another consistently excellent collection of his music.

John Doe, esteemed co-founder of LA Punk Rock Royalty - X has been doing the solo acoustic thing just like his pal Peter Case, and for just as many years. 2007 saw a John Doe release called A Year in the Wilderness that I find has staying power and has kept its place on my playlist for most of this year.



Now that Christmas is FINALLY over - take your Christmas money and go out and buy these records if you don't already have them. Throw that tree in the trash (or recycle it) and get some retail therapy...