Founded in 1982 by singer, songwriter and guitarist Rick Gallego, the Singles went on to encounter a wealth of attention in and around their home base of Santa Cruz, Calif.
After years of countless requests, the band has finally been rewarded a retrospective. Compiled and released by Kool Kat Musik, L.O.V.E. From the Santa Cruz Archives ’82-’85 contains the band’s four-track EP Play It! – which initially appeared on the Big Cheese label in 1983 – along with 14 previously unissued cuts.
The term “power pop” has been widely overused and misused, but the Singles can positively be deemed poster boys of the idiom.
Rather than simply emulate the godfathers of the genre, the band embodied a modernized approach. The production on L.O.V.E. From the Santa Cruz Archives ’82-’85 casts a clean and bright new-wavish touch, while the strong and sharp vocals are often a deadringer for Plimsouls frontman Peter Case. A tip of the hat is also given to peers like the Rubinoos and the Romantics.
The disc gets the ball rolling with the quartet of songs from Play It! that are worth the price of admission alone.
Propelled by chattering guitars, pumping rhythms and clenching hooks, “Lookin’ Round for You” and “Just Another Girl” exude the kind of contagious exuberance required in all good power pop songs. As for “Sheena’s Got a New Hero” and “Nicole,” both these catchy tunes take on a calmer clip and boast a yearning quality.
On “Upside Down,” the Singles pinch parts of the Tommy James and the Shondells dance-floor raver “Mony Mony,” and hammer them into a swaggering glitter pop rock groove. Constructed of determined vocals, romping riffs and grabbing harmonies, “Love is a Last Minute Thing” jogs in as another cornerstone on the collection, as well as “Different Shades of Blue” that chimes with melancholic melodies.
A smooth and polished finish, carved of a power-popping funky soul beat guides the bubbly “Think It Over,” and “Staring at You” clocks in as a pert-and-peppy jingly jangler.
Consistently accessible, L.O.V.E. From the Santa Cruz Archives ’82-’85 serves as a spectacular sonic snapshot of a band that had the talent, drive and potential to attain commercial success. Back then, power-pop bands – or new wave, as such outfits tended to be marketed as – were a common occurrence on the charts.
The story of the Singles is detailed in the liner notes accompanying the anthology, with comments from Rick Gallego on each song.
Gallego eventually headed south to Los Angeles, where he continues to live today. Pretty much a one-man band, he has crafted excellent records under the names Jiffipop and Cloud Eleven, which have rightfully received high ratings from the alternative pop-rock crowd.
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