Got an email from my friend Melissa Berlin of Rock Ridge Music asking if I was gonna catch Kelley Ryan, former lead singer with astropuppees, when she plays the Living Room, February 16th, release party for her debut album.
I’ve never heard of Kelley Ryan or astropuppees.
Marti Jones and Don Dixon will be there.
Now you’re talking.
Jones first album was the superb Unsophisticated Time from sometime in the eighties and I loved it, Don Dixon? produced REMs first two albums. All these guys are what I consider a part of a the power pop paradise of the eighties. Mitch Easter, the dB’s… my beloved Amy Rigby, all came outta the same scene. The children of Crenshaw you could call em and hey, that is Marshall Crenshall Kelley is playing with on MC’s ridiculously ignored Jaggedland.
Now I am very, very interested. So Mellissa sent me the first single “About A Girl” from the soon come first solo album Twist.
This is what Kelley had to say about Twist on her website: “I had this idea: the record was only going to be about girls, be it the daughter I never had, a heroine of my mine, my grandmother or a woman who lived near me in Ireland
“It’s all from the feminine perspective. Even in the music – there’s no electric guitars, it’s just acoustic and loops and strings. I mean, I love three-minute electric-guitar pop songs, but I wanted to create something more comfortable for me and stay in that mood.”
Eek!! Concept album. And the first coupla spins of “All About A Girl” didn’t help it sink in. But I kept on thinking about the song and then I listened again. And what I figured was this lovely song was taking a big time pop fan like me awhile to hear because I was used to the hardsell while Kelley was waiting for me to arrive at the song by myself. Eventually I did, eventually the clangy acoustic guitars and background harmonies caught up with me. “All About A Girl” is a great song. Listen to it.