Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 08/26/2003
The
Rainbow Quartz Label Sampler 2003 is a 23-track look at the modern
power pop label's output for 2003 (and a few songs from previous years thrown in just to be confusing). It was a very busy year for the label with many releases, some good, some great, and some so-so. The disc is a mix of tracks from already released albums and previews of discs yet to come. The artists come from all over the globe: Canada (
the Telepathic Butterflies,
the High Dials), Norway (
the Jessica Fletchers,
the Lovethugs), Spain (
the Gurus,
Sidonie), England (
the Contrast), Sweden (
the Rhinos), the U.S. (
the Grip Weeds,
the Lackloves,
the Three 4 Tens,
Myracle Brah,
the Singles,
Denise James,
Outrageous Cherry), and that hotbed of
power pop sounds, Israel (
Rockfour). The sound is chiming guitars, plaintive vocals with loads of vocal harmony, and classic
guitar pop song structures cribbed from
the Beatles,
the Who,
the Kinks, and the like. Of the albums
Rainbow Quartz has already released, the winners are
the Telepathic Butterflies whose no-nonsense,
lo-fi attack is powerful and poppy (
power pop!),
the Singles, who imbue their
garage pop songs with teenage energy and verve,
Rockfour, whose
"Oranges" is a wonderful collision of lovely vocal harmonies, weird
psych-pop sound effects, and
Byrds-ian guitars, and
Outrageous Cherry, whose
"Stay Right Here for a Little While" is a ringing, pounding, hooky
pop nugget.
The rest of the bands tend to be either on the derivative side (
the High Dials,
the Lackloves,
the Gurus) or lacking in the songcraft department (
the Three 4 Tens,
the Contrast) but are never bad, just less than captivating. Of the forthcoming releases, the two
Myracle Brah songs are typical of the band, hooky, packed with loud guitars, and lighter than air.
The Jessica Fletchers' track
"Bloody Seventies Love" is a pleasing mash-up of mid-'60s
Beatles and British
psych-pop topped off with an infectious chorus.
The Rhinos are fairly derivative of
the Byrds, but that's not the worst thing a band could be and they are very good at it. Best of all are the two tracks from
Denise James from her untitled forthcoming record. They sound like they were produced by
Outrageous Cherry's
Matt Smith as they bear the hallmarks of his work: bucketloads of reverb and echo. He also provides backing vocals on the chugging
"Come on Home to Me." That song and
"Love Has Got Me Cryin' Again," a
girl group-styled weeper, should raise levels of expectation to a low-grade fever pitch. So, looking at the final tally,
Rainbow Quartz ends up batting about .500, and that is probably good enough to get you into the Hall of Fame. At the very least, it is enough to always give a
Rainbow Quartz release a listen.
~Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
;)
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