Well, the big news is that I’ve found myself a new craze and I’ve been enjoying it for nearly a month already. Bay City Rollers were the hottest Scottish teen idol boy-band of the 70s, and given my fondness towards bubblegum pop and well.. boy-bands.. it wasn’t such a big surprise I fell in love with this music.
These guys drove teenage girls wild 30 years ago, and I would be lying if I told they don’t look sweet when you look at their pictures. They were on the covers of every teen magazine, girls picked their favourite member.. That’s approximately what it was like when Backstreet Boys were on top of their fame and I was 12 and totally fond of them. However, their music doesn’t sound equally good compared to the Rollers’ music. Generally speaking, something about the late 90s boy-band/girl-band/bubblegum music was wrong. For me the most obvious thing is that it was too perfect soundwise - way too artificial. 70s bubblegum sounds much more pleasant even today.
Bay City Rollers came up with some excellent bubblegum pop. At first, they didn’t write songs and performed quite a few covers, but later they started writing their very own material, too. They scored a couple of #1 hits in the UK, Bye Bye Baby and Give a Little Love, and also succeeded well albumwise. The music pays a lot of respect to 60s bubblegum music, yet I sense some difference in the general sound compared to The Archies, 1910 Fruitgum Co. and others. The Rollers have a slightly more polished sound, and there are more violins than organ hooks in the music.
I’ve found The Very Best of Bay City Rollers a very entertaining collection of the group’s most popular songs. Among my biggest favourites are Saturday Night, It’s a Game, Shang-a-Lang, Remember (Sha-la-la), as well as Give a Little Love (that definitely deserves to be mentioned twice in this article!). I Only Want to Be With You is a really cool cover that always makes me wonder: “Geez, how can McKeown sound so brilliant?” Another song truly worth checking out is Love Me Like I Love You, a great representation of the group’s own songwriting, and it’s a wonderful song.
When it comes to the lead singer of Bay City Rollers, I’ve once again proved my true nature. It’s becoming more and more clear. The thing is, if you want to create music that will stay on the playlists of yours truly for the rest of her life, start a band and, as your first assignment, find a singer who sounds exactly (or at least very much) like Les McKeown. On the other hand, I really didn’t expect to find such a brilliant British (or rather Scottish) version of my #1 favourite singer this soon. What can I say, anyway? It’s another dream come true..
Bay City Rollers music at YouTube
First, it was Ohio Express, then 1910 Fruitgum Company.. Recently I’ve been focusing on The Archies, an animated bubblegum/garage band of the 60s that lived in the Archie universe and appeared in a TV show called The Archie Show. The music in gorgeous! There’s plenty of light-hearted sweetness, absolute catchiness, songs about sugar and pretty girls.. It is the most wonderful antidote against the rainy weather, darkness and coldness of early fall. Just like with all the other bubblegum bands I’ve listened to so far, the quality and entertainment value of the music is very high throughout an entire 24-song compilation (I managed to grab a release called Sugar Sugar..).Sugar, Sugar has been heard a thousand times already, but it’s still good. However, it takes about two minutes to find equally good (or better) Archies songs. I’ll mention Feelin’ so Good (S.K.O.O.B.Y.D.O.O.), Who’s Your Baby, Bang-Shang-a-Lang, Sunshine, Jingle Jangle, Sugar and Spice.. Today, a random song suddenly popped into my head, and I soon realized it was an Archies song called Bicycles, Roller Skates and You. I had listened to that song once five days earlier. My brain surely functions in weird ways, but that song is very good, I must say.I really don’t know where you could properly listen to these bubblegum bands on the internet. I recommend using your nearest library. That’s what I do.Update: YouTube seems to be a pretty good source of Archies music! You can even find songs that have never been released on LP or CD there.The Archies at YouTubeThe Archies at last.fm
Honeybus: She Flies Like a Bird – The AnthologyIt took me very, very long before I started listening to this. Good is worth waiting, they say.. This stuff is amazingly good, beautiful, melodic.. It’s everything you need from perfect pop. Beautiful instrumentation (those violins in (Do I Figure) In Your Life and She Sold Blackpool Rock!), excellent vocals and harmonies. It indeed is a huge shame if anyone ends up seeing this band as a one-hit wonder. I Can’t Let Maggie Go is certainly wonderful in every possible way, but there are a plenty of song that are equally good. I recommend Throw My Love Away, Girl of Independent Means, Would You Believe, Story, and Black Mourning Band for starters. I haven’t even listened to the second CD yet and I already feel I’ve got more than I ever could’ve hoped for.
Pink Floyd: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)A while ago I thought to myself: “Why not listen to some Pink Floyd?” I grabbed their debut album from 1967 and liked it very much right away. In fact, I liked it so much that I will certainly keep listening to this band. This stuff is magical. It’s psychedelic, it’s dark, it’s mysterious.. Something about this music is simply mesmerizing, it’s different from the stuff I usually have been listening. This band is famous for progressive rock (20-minute songs, concept albums and stuff). I’m seriously going to check that music out. I’m not afraid of long songs, especially when they sound so good (already listened to some other albums/songs, too).So, it’s a bit different from your basic pop, but it’s still very enjoyable. My favourite songs from the debut album are Matilda Mother, Flaming, and Chapter 24. 
1910 Fruitgum Company: The Best of 1910 Fruitgum Company – Simon SaysAh, here’s some very, very good bubblegum pop from the sixties. Goody Goody Gumdrops is my personal favourite. You really don’t encounter such catchiness all the time. However, Candy and Dee-Licious are also extremely brilliant songs that always bring a smile to your face. This compilation is actually very good all the way from beginning to end. There are no weak tracks.1910 Fruitgum Company sounds very much like The Ohio Express. They had a similar approach to bubblegum pop. Both recorded extremely catchy and fun songs with perfect melodies and careful instrumentation that featured organs (and saxophones). While this music is influenced by both garage rock and nursery rhymes, the lyrical content focuses quite often on sexual metaphors. It’s almost childlike music but I’m not sure if it really is suitable for kids.. Anyway, it’s perfect stuff for anyone who enjoys power pop.
One of the coolest things during the past few days has been 60s bubblegum pop. Listening to this music makes me understand how much it actually has common features with power pop. Catchy songs and great harmonies with utterly sweet and somewhat nasal singing – that’s exactly what some of my very favourite power pop is all about.All those features also appear in the music of The Ohio Express, a 60s bubblegum/garage band that partially consisted of studio musicians and partially of real band members. The Ohio Express reached good chart positions, and their most famous and successful song was Yummy, Yummy, Yummy. I’ve been listening to Yummy, Yummy, Yummy - The Best of The Ohio Express. It’s a nice 14-song compilation with awesome tracks. This music is so good that I always end up wondering: “Oh, did it end already?” Songs like Sweeter Than Sugar and Nothing Sweeter Than My Baby are so much about sugar and sweetness that I simply can’t help loving this stuff… My other favourites include Nighttime and 1, 2, 3 Red Light. She’s Not Coming Home is a more melancholic track, and it’s gorgeous.Man, I am so going to listen to more of 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Lemon Pipers, The Archies and who knows what! (I also accept recommendations.)
The Ohio Express at Last.fm
The Ohio Express at MySpace
