Bram Tchaikovsky - Strange Man Changed Man
I don't even know where to start. It's 1979, and there's a storm a brewin'. Everybody's about to hate disco, but which of the underground rock trends is going to take its place? It turns out none of them, synthpop will dominate the 80s in the mainstream. One of the real contenders though is this weird thing called Power Pop. It's the name The Who gave themselves, but The Who was only one component of the cocktail we call Power Pop. If you read a lot of rock criticism, you'll be completely confused because it's kind of a conglomeration of emulation: a gumbo of Beatles, Beach Boys, Who, and Byrds, like you and 3 friends are a garage rock band and you're not really a Punk or New Wave band, you much prefer the uptempo sunshine and vocal harmony of 60s Pop Rock. Critics and rock fans automatically think you suck, and dismiss you as the bandwagoning American reaction to the British Invasion. That's really confusing for a guy like you, because you're a British 29 year old and you thought you were just making a Rock and Roll album.
Now imagine my confusion when i put on the debut from Bram Tchaikovsky and thought "why is everyone such a moron? This is f-ing amazing!" Sure, i can hear all that stuff in there, but at the end of the day this is phenomenal. This isn't cheesy, there are no gimmicks, the rhythm guitars are smack-jangle trash rock, the solos are full on wailers. The only thing i can think of is that everyone hated the fact that Bram is a great singer, possibly pretending 29 is too old to form a new rock band in the process.
Again, i have to call out Christgau because he called it a mix of old-wave and new-wave cliches. Dude, that's what rock is: you pick up an electric guitar and clumsily bash your hands against it until it sounds sort of like the music in your brain. Most of that music in your brain is 10-15 years old because that's how brains work.
Luckily, in retrospect everyone gives this album 4.5 stars out of 5 (mostly because the bloated ballad Lady from the USA has no business being on this otherwise lovely album). I can see how at the time it might have come across as somewhat over produced and pandering, all the glamour none of the danger, not to mention the confusingly implied bonfire supposedly accelerated by the can of motor oil in his hand in the photo on the back, but actually listening to it it's really good.
Maybe it's because he was the guitarist for The Motors and the pretension of naming your new band after yourself was too much. But even there, who thought that was his real name?
So, is this the post-ironic British version of the ironic American version of the nostalgia of 60s British Pop Rock, or is this just late 70s Garage Rock from talented musicians/songwriters? Occam's Razor says it's the latter, but i stopped shaving years ago. Regardless, i found it so immensely enjoyable i flipped it back over and i'm giving it a second listen right now. Power Pop or no, this is good stuff.
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