MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all of "Ice Cream Man" visitors from all over the world, I hope you all have fantastic holidays!

ICE CREAM MAN POWER POP AND MORE ALBUM OF THE YEAR!!!!!

2011 has been an excellent year for Power Pop releases, there is no top 100, 50, 25 or 10 here, 2011 has been a great year for Power Pop, there have been loads and loads of great releases,  but the one stand out album of the year, which I know has taken blood, passion, pain and tears to produce.....and it didn't just stop at an album, no, there was a fantastic film to accompany it as well! Ladies and gentleman I give you.............................................

THE TURNBACK - DRAWN IN CHALK.

A debut album to accompany a wonderful, moving film with the title "Drawing In Chalk", a film that will resonate with anyone who has ever tried....and failed, it is a little bit me and a little bit you, a little bit of each and everyone one of us, it is real life, and the soundtrack album is brilliant, a perfect piece of Power Pop with tunes to get your blood pumping, your heart pounding and your feet tapping, check the album out and also check the film out.....you are not the only one that has ever failed, but you will also discover that you can achieve if you believe!

Many congratulations to The Turnback, thank you for such an inspiring album and film, we at "Ice Cream Man Power Pop and More" look forward to hearing more from you in the coming year!

You can buy the album here: Here and you can get the film: Here

The Breakaways - Walking out on love. The Lost Sessions

Hot on the heels of Alive's first-ever formal reissue of the Nerves EP and a rare live set, comes this volume of demos cut by Peter Case and Paul Collins in between the demise of the Nerves and the formation of their respective bands, the Plimsouls and the Beat. As with the Nerves, Collins started out on drums and Case on bass, with various guitarists pressed into action for cassette- and home-made reel-to-reel recording sessions. Case and Collins handled the vocals and eventually took on guitar duties as well. The recordings vary in quality, but the enthusiasm of power-pop pals playing and singing their hearts out easily transcends moments of mono muddiness and under-mixed vocals.

The thirteen songs include a few that had been recorded by the Nerves such as "One Way Ticket" and "Working Too Hard," as well as originals that would become staples for the Plimsouls ("Everyday Things") and Beat ("I Don't Fit In," "Let Me Into Your Life," "USA" and "Walking Out on Love"). Even more interesting to fans are the originals that didn't make it past these rough demos. "Radio Station" features the deep reverb guitar and impassioned vocal Case would perfect with the Plimsouls, "Will You Come Through?" has the ringing guitar of a P.F. Sloan folk rocker, and "House on the Hill" shows off Case's rock `n' soul sound.

In addition to the songs Collins would re-record with the Beat, he offers the driving drums and Everly-styled harmonies of "Little Suzy" and the rhythm-guitar propelled "Do You Want to Love Me?" As Collins notes in the liners, "this is the sound of pop on the streets of Los Angeles circa 1978, no money, no deals, just the burning desire to make something happen in a town without pity." Case and Collins approached these sessions with the unbridled passion and total dedication of musicians without masters - no label, no audience, no radio stations, no managers or agents, just the muse of pop music. The recordings may be fuzzy in spots, but the invention is clear as a chiming bell. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Get it: HERE

The Nerves - One Way Ticket. Possibly the greatest power pop band ever!

“They could've been contenders had they stayed together long enough, but the Nerves, despite their brief existence, were one of the most exciting bands in power pop. Formed by Jack Lee, Peter Case, and Paul Collins in 1975, their career was over by 1978, but they produced a great EP that featured the power pop classic "Hanging on the Telephone," which was later recorded (and wonderfully so) by Blondie. Ultimately, having three talented songwriters in one band hurried the demise of the Nerves, and all three principals found greater happiness and success with their new bands; although Jack Lee (arguably the most talented songwriter of the three) had the shortest career and eventually dropped out of sight after a fine solo record (Jack Lee's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1) in 1981. Case went on to form the Plimsouls, who recorded two good records and a transcendent pop song, "A Million Miles Away." After breaking up in 1984, Case recorded as a roots rock solo act for the rest of the decade and into the '90s. Collins formed the Beat (later Paul Collins' Beat), who were merely OK, and has done little since the mid-'80s.” (From AllMusicGuide).

01_One Way Ticket 

02_Paper Dolls

03_Hanging on the Telephone

04_When You Find Out 

05_Working Too Hard 

06_Gimme Some Time  

07_The Breakaways - Walking Out on Love 

08_The Plimsouls - Thing of the Past (Live)

09_Jack Lee - It's Hot Outside

10_The Breakaways - Many Roads to Follow (Demo)

11_Are You Famous (Live) 

12_Why Am I Lonely (Live)

13_You Won't Be Happy (Live)

14_Any Day Now (Live)

15_Letter to G. (Live)

16_Come Back and Stay (Live) 

17_I Need Your Love (Live)

18_Stand Back and Take a Look (Demo)

19_Are You Famous (Demo)

20_Letter to G (Demo)

(1998 Alive Records)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HJVZFB56

The Extended Plays - Fruitful Shower FREE DOWNLOAD

Another great band from Spain, playing Psyche, Garage, Freakbeat sounds.  I am unable to find out much more information about them, but you can download all their songs for free over at bandcamp.

Get it:HERE

You can contact the band here: Facebook and here Myspace

Texas Flashback - Volume 1

Volume 1 in the series, filled with more great sixties garage punk, these albums along with the High's In The Mid Sixties set are absolutely indispensable to the garage connoisseur!

GET IT: FLASH 1

The Chords - So Far Away (1980)

“In later years, the Chords were often cursorily dismissed as little more than Jam copyists, and while there's no denying that the two groups travelled in very similar musical waters, both drawing from the British beat and Northern soul that filled their youths and sending it soaring through the prism of punk, it's there that the comparisons end. While Paul Weller coyly played footsy with both the punk and mod scenes, refusing to commit to either, there was no doubt that his soul lay with the latter, and regardless of the trio's aggressive punk-fueled delivery, his lyrics lacked punk's burning fury. Regardless of the class warfare related in "Eton Rifles," the racism reflected in "Down in the Tube Station," or the alienation of "Strange Town," no matter his country's evident flaws (and Weller etched them vividly), he still couldn't shake his love of his homeland and optimistic hope that her problems would eventually be solved. Guitarist and songwriter Chris Pope refused to see the world through the Jam's English rose-colored glasses, turning his own equally eloquent pen to scathing vignettes virtually the flip of Weller's own. In this respect, the Jam comparisons are red herrings, for if anything, Pope played the snottier, rebellious younger brother to Weller's more respectful good son.
This was apparent from the start with the Chords' debut 45, "Now It's Gone," where the group's dream of love is trampled underfoot, and driven home by its follow-up, "Maybe Tomorrow," which firmly puts the boot into the Jam's sanguine vision of Britain and turns it into a fascist horror. That single would kick off the group's sole album, So Far Away, 12 fierce tracks that defined mod's potential as punk's successor. Filled with fire and fury, the set skips from affairs of the heart to the pitiful state of the nation. Musically it's a revelation; the band's two guitarists give the group much more scope for aural assault than a trio, and with a much more aggressive rhythm section in tow, Far is as vociferous as many of its punk contemporaries. In fact, reviews threw bands like the Buzzcocks and the Undertones into the brew of the Chords' notable inspirations. For while the Chords' melodies were shaped by the '60s, their delivery was forged in punk, with even Sham 69's anthemic stomp stirred into the mix.” (From AllMusicGuide).

Get it:THE CHORDS