Four O'Clock Balloon - get high with Yellow Pills?
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Artist:
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Album:Yellow Pills 4
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Track:Stood In The Rain
(Third in a series)
Only one other commercially released CD featured anything by Four O'Clock Balloon - a compilation CD entitled Yellow Pills 4, which featured Stood In The Rain as the leadoff (and best) track on the power pop collection. It was released in 1997, the same year as the sole FOCB solo CD (see last post).
In those old pre-internet days, exposure to new music was a very hit-or-miss thing. Although I knew the artists and sound of the music that most attracted me, it never had a name - until I read (in Goldmine, I think) about a genre called Power Pop that was supposedly epitomized by Badfinger's hit single No Matter What. This rang all kinds of alarm bells in my head, and I soon discovered that a few power pop fanzines existed out there - Audities and Yellow Pills being two of them. In some cases, they sent out vinyl 45s along with the magazine. I obtained a couple of sample issues but somehow reading about music that I might (or might not) like was still a very inefficient way to find new music.
A much better way was (and is) to buy power pop compilation CDs - and the Yellow Pills CD series was one of the earliest and best. It is through the above CD and the track attached to this post that I first became aware of (and obsessed with) the Balloon. There have been a total of 5 Yellow Pills releases - 1 through 4 and a late addition a couple of years ago, a 2-CD set called Yellow Pills : Prefill. Besides the Balloon, I first became exposed to artists like Chris Von Sneidern, Brad Jones, Martin Luther Lennon and Greenberry Woods on those CDs.
Such a roundabout path.
Next up: tracks from the unreleased 2nd FOCB CD, and more commentary from Tommy Anthony, the leader of the band.
Comments (16)
Great Track! Compilations lead me to many artists I would not have otherwise known about, long before the days of the internet. I didn't find a lot of power pop compilations, but I used to keep my eye out for the WB and Columbia/Epic comps and learned of many bands of interest via these budget priced LPs.
Any time I'd see a label comp, I'd pick it up and learn about their roster, eventhough, in my younger years, I couldn't afford to buy alot of the LPs the songs came from.
Would love to hear more from your collection of p-pop comps.
I miss the idea of compilations, it seems in the digital age they have meerly become downloads and I hate that. I still go to the used record store and look through the millions of comps people have gotten rid of. Still a great way to find new music both new and old.
....Yeah, power pop. This has all kinds of sixties echoes bouncing around here, huh? I like it, how could I not?
The FOCB is still knockin' me out. And this cut is emblematic, dermahrk. Damn! How did they fall through the cracks?
Rawkkiddoh says: I miss the idea of compilations, it seems in the digital age they have meerly become downloads and I hate that. I still go to the used record store and look through the millions of comps people have gotten rid of. Still a great way to find new music both new and old.
Yup
MusicRX says: Great Track! Compilations lead me to many artists I would not have otherwise known about, long before the days of the internet. I didn't find a lot of power pop compilations, but I used to keep my eye out for the WB and Columbia/Epic comps and learned of many bands of interest via these budget priced LPs. Any time I'd see a label comp, I'd pick it up and learn about their roster, eventhough, in my younger years, I couldn't afford to buy alot of the LPs the songs came from. Would love to hear more from your collection of p-pop comps.
Yup
deadmandeadman says: ....Yeah, power pop. This has all kinds of sixties echoes bouncing around here, huh? I like it, how could I not?
WTF does he know?
Mike the Knife says: The FOCB is still knockin' me out. And this cut is emblematic, dermahrk. Damn! How did they fall through the cracks?
Yeah....How?
It should have been a hit. Maybe the label's rep didn't offer cocaine to the radio station programmers.
Spike...you're so jaded!
I'm as pollyanna-ish as my trusteds, so whatever cynicism I have is due to what I've heard about, and not due to the many things I've seen or done, kind of. Then there's Jonh Ingham's quoting Hunter Thompson:
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”
you mean it ain't like the Monkees?
.......................all my illusions................poof................up in smoke.
Smoke and illusions; I've heard about them. It sounds tempting.
They not only have the pop thing down, but they also rock pretty seriously. Hidden in all this is that the drummer is given a lot of room to maneuver in, and he makes the most of it.
Bill, did you see the post on their Latin roots? Or just didn't have anything (nice) to say?
http://www.mog.com/dermahrk/blog/1224786
I thought the Latin stuff was well done, and you know they would have put out live, but ultimately this genre of Latin music is not the one that stirs my inner Cuban. It sounds very Miami. Their destiny seems clearly to be in Anglophone pop....
Borne out by the fact that Tommy Anthony now spends most of his time in Gloria Estefan's band - the Miami Sound Machine.
Interesting - I was actually going to mention that the cut sounded like Gloria Estefan, but I thought it would sound snobby....