Are you up on Shoes? They were a power-pop band who got started in mid-'70s Ohio. They had a few excellent minor hits in the late '70s, and they were early music video adapters, which meant that a bunch of their clips were in rotation on the day that MTV launched in 1981. Shoes never really became much more than a cult act, and they released a bunch of albums in the following decades, and they're still intermittently active. Now, frontman Gary Klebe is coming out with his first-ever solo album.
Old power-pop guys rarely lose the ability to crank out great songs, and this might be a perfect time for the world to rediscover Gary Klebe. He made his forthcoming album Out Loud almost entirely on his own, multi-tracking the instruments and acting as his own producer and engineer. (The only exception is the drums, which past Shoes/Gin Blossoms drummer John Richardson recorded in Nashville.) When Klebe finished his set of songs, one of the first people who he sent it to was his old friend Butch Vig, who has this quote in the press release:
I'm a sucker for pop songs. I always have been. I like hooks, whether it's a drumbeat or a bass line or a buzzy guitar or a melody. I love great harmonies. You can trace that all the way back to the Beatles, the Hollies, or the Byrds — just the gorgeous sound of voices blending together. When I listen to Gary's new record, I hear all that in the DNA. It's in the production and the songwriting. It's timeless, in a way. He's not trying to invent a new sound. He's taking all the elements of production and songwriting that he loves, and he's coming up with a new album. It's so retro that it sounds fresh, because it's not like anything on Top 40 radio. It's such an anomaly. He's made a timeless power-pop album.
Lead single "Not Tough Enough" truly is a timeless power-pop song, a crisp an propulsive hook-machine that could've plausibly been written at any point over the past 50 years. It sounds like the Cars or Matthew Sweet or Fountains Of Wayne, and that's meant as high praise. There's no old-guy energy on this one. (The cover art, though, yikes.) Here's what Klebe says about it:
A once over-confident guy who thought he knew it all has finally met his match and is now facing a thorough ass-kicking. Accustomed to gaining and holding the upper hand, for the first time, he is at the mercy of a woman who has other ideas. The feeling of helplessness is a new experience and not one he is enjoying. A lesson is being learned, the tables are turned and payback is a bitch.
Below, check out "Not Tough Enough" and the Out Loud tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Room To Breathe"
02 "Not Tough Enough"
03 "Love Beyond"
04 "Wrong All Along"
05 "Eyes Open Wide"
06 "Shake Me"
07 "No Afterglow"
08 "Bridges Are Burned"
09 "Won’t Quit On You"
10 "Invading My Space"
11 "In A Heartbeat"
Out Loud is out 4/10 on Black Vinyl Records; pre-order it here.
