Jellyfish -- "That Is Why" (1990)

In the power pop world, Jellyfish is considered the last "great" band of the genre. I'm not kidding. The Colorado-based Not Lame label even sells a double-CD tribute to the band where artists from all over the world contribute songs in the sequential order of the band's two albums.

When the debut album Bellybutton appeared on the Virgin-distributed Charisma label, the "power pop" description didn't enter my mind and it still really doesn't, despite the Not Lame insistence. Many old-time definition power poppers revere the Beatles through Revolver and The Who before Tommy. Jellyfish bares only a passing resemblance to them and the other "great" power pop bands like The Raspberries, Badfinger and Cheap Trick. There are no power chord arrangements wrapped up nicely in three minutes.

Jellyfish is more akin to Ambrosia and XTC -- melodic "art rock" utilizing a spectrum of instruments, both traditional and non-traditional. First of all, the album is called Bellybutton, so you know somehow these guys are pulling your leg in an "off" way. Secondly, look at that cover -- that's not the cover of a power pop band, but really a blend of psychedelics, fantasy, and lots of color.

The San Francisco-based quartet recorded Bellybutton with Alby Galuten, best known for being Barry Gibb's right-hand co-producer for all the last big Bee Gees run in America (including Saturday Night Fever), and his work with Barbara Streisand (Guilty), Diana Ross ("Chain Reaction") and Dionne Warwick ("Heartbreaker). Stylistically, there's nothing those acts had in common with Jellyfish, but they must have been on the same audio and conceptual page.

Bellybutton turned out to be a real "headphone" album, as the mix engineering was truly panoramic for what was an eccentric and slick pop record. You knew that from the very beginning, when you hear a very faint organ playing, and then it launches into the slow bluesy "The Man I Used To Be," with distorted guitar scratches, cinematic strings, and precise high bells like the kind you'd hear in a high school band.

This was a very ambitious band who sought to achieve a singular style unlike anybody else's, although you could certainly hear the influences of 70's acts like Supertramp, Queen and 10cc. It was almost as if they stepped out of that decade through a time machine, dressing in bell bottoms and a Cat in the Hat topper.

Jellyfish produced sophisticated pop which operated both traditionally and experimentally at the same time. Case in point is my favorite song from the album, "That Is Why," which has a breathtaking chorus underscored by Jason Falkner's counterpoint guitar. The verses are bouncy in the literal sense of the word, with Andy Sturmer's toms coming out for what may be best described as "licks" (!) at the end of each line.

Though it's hard to admit it's true
I've come to depend on you
You and your angelic shout
Loud enough for two

And that is why
I'll confide in you the truth this time
That is why
I just can't go on and live this lie

Yesterday all was right as rain
But now the forecast's not
It's partly cloudy with trouser stains
And his copy of enquiring minds

But that never meant that much to her
She chose to keep her nose too clean
She'd rather keep it pointed anyway
In the spine of a magazine

And when you say I trust in you
I promise you the truth
And when you say I bet you won't
You know I will
And it'll be better in the end

So when you think you've got it figured out
Then you know you don't
Like all the rest you'd like to sit and pout
But of course you won't


"That Is Why" was such a terrific song that Rhino included it on its Poptopia power pop compilations in the 90's.

With all kinds of band infighting, Falkner left after Bellybutton to start his own solo career, producing some of my favorite music of the last 10 years (and not enough of it, I may add). As a duo, Jellyfish recorded its second and last album, Spilt Milk, which some people consider an even better album (but not me). Drummer Andy Sturmer went on to produce the great Swedish power pop act The Merrymakers' Bubblegun album (discussed on this blog here), the Japanese pop band Puffy AmiYumi and compose for various animated TV series (like "Teen Titans").

Here are some wonderful Jellyfish videos. First, the official video for "That Is Why." You'll notice that drummer Andy Sturmer stood up while playing so he could sing and perhaps get more power that way. The second is a 1993 in-store all-acoustic version of the song while promoting Spilt Milk in Philadelphia. A third is the band performing their highest charting single, "Baby's Coming Back," live on German TV. The fourth is the official video for another favorite from Bellybutton, "The King Is Half-Undressed," which features outfits straight out of Dr. Seuss. And finally, Jason Falkner-era Jellyfish covering Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" in Frankfurt, Germany (that's the blond guy on the left playing the Telecaster).

"THAT IS WHY" (official video)

"THAT IS WHY" (1993 in-store performance in Philadelphia)

"BABY'S COMING BACK" (live performance on German TV)

"THE KING IS HALF-UNDRESSED" (official video from 1990)

"GO YOUR OWN WAY" (Fleetwood Mac cover, finale of Frankfurt, Germany concert)

Chicago -- "Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon" (1970)

Much like art rock band Ambrosia, which also became symbolic of 70's "soft rock" when they sugar coated their style, Chicago Transit Authority (aka Chicago) was very much a whole different band earlier on. They experienced quite a bit of commercial success early on with their then fresh merger of psychedelic rock, free form jazz, and horns, only to then go through the roof when they added syrupy stuff with each new album.

When they came on the scene in 1969, Chicago was considered very hip because of their unusual sound at the time. Blood Sweat & Tears were also pioneering the jazz/rock genre, except they were a little less on the "rock" and more on the "bebop jazz." Chicago wasn't afraid to let their Hendrix-worshiping guitarist Terry Kath loose with an overheated Strat and lots of feedback.

Although it was technically called Chicago, their second album became known as Chicago II because of the band's habit for numbering their albums. The album's centerpiece, following the wonderful "Fancy Colors," with its unusual multiple-take one chord faded ending, was an 18-minute multi-song epic called "Ballet For a Girl From Buchanon," written by trombonist James Pankow. Several pieces blended into one, some of them short instrumentals, this lengthy workout actually produced two hit singles -- "Make Me Smile," an edit of the song that begins and ends the "Ballet," and "Color My World," a pretty ballad with a flute solo that's right in the middle.

Changing keys and tempo along the way, "Ballet For a Girl In Buchanon" is full of dissonance, angst and conflict, resolved by sheer joy. Chicago took the unusual step of cranking out double albums right from the beginning, Columbia Records allowing them to not hold back the band's creative roll. Not that all of these albums were great from beginning to end... they could have easily been sliced down to one album each.

"Make Me Smile" was notable for drummer Danny Seraphine's acrobatic moves around his kit, the very melodic middle horn break, and Kath's solo during the Em-A7 break. I used to go to music stores, study the sheet music, and then play the whole thing on the piano, solos and all. Starting from the Ab buildup, changing from E major to G major and then three unusual chord stabs, and into C minor. Woosh!

Children play in the park, they don't know
I'm alone in the dark, even though
Time and time again I see your face smiling inside

I'm so happy
That you love me
Life is lovely
When you're near me
Tell me you will stay
Make me smile

Living life is just a game so they say
All the games we used to play fade away
We may now enjoy the dreams we shared so long ago.

I'd put "Color My World" in the same category as Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "From The Beginning" and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" -- a song you had to know to show off your chops on your instrument. For "Color My World," it was the very simplistic Fmaj7-Aminor-Bb, etc. single note pattern, that made it one of the biggest prom songs of the 70's. And you had to know the flute solo as well to make the grade. Yes, this was a corny song, I'm not denying it, but it impressed the chicks.

I give Chicago a lot of credit that to this very day when they tour, they play the entire "Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon," not just the two individual hits, and often open up their shows with it.

From 1970, just as Chicago II was released and "Make Me Smile" was already a hit single, here is the two-part video of "Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon." Note how the band was ragged, long-haired and hippie-ish, with Kath leading the group. The first part ends just as the band is about to go into "Color My World." For whatever you think about Chicago, these videos are a truly invaluable early look at this band's early power and impact with Kath front and center, several years before the charismatic guitarist accidentally shot and killed himself.

The B-52's --- "Private Idaho" (1980)

One of the all-time most original rock bands ever, The B-52's remain alive and well to this date, proving that you can be completely true to yourselves and your music, no matter what trends come and go, and have joyful longevity.

Bursting out of the same late 70's Athens, GA rock scene that gave birth to REM, The B-52's couldn't have been more different than what you would envision a rock band to be and sound like. The music blended a number of early 60's influences from surf guitar and girl groups to cheesy garage and frat rock. Doctor Seuss lyrics. A serious love of kitsch. The two women wore tall beehive hairdos you'd expect to find at the corner beauty shop. The lead singer, Fred Schneider, well, he really couldn't sing or perhaps he could, but somehow, it sounded perfect for what they were doing. And who produced this very American band but former Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno, before he turned his attention to U2.

They were an interesting counterpart to the Talking Heads at that time, who combined African rhythms and art rock, dressed like students, also had a debatable but distinct singer, and that same love of kitsch (especially tabloid news).

In grad school, my roommates and I came armed with the first two B-52's records to every party we went to, commandeered the turntable and put one of them on, who cared whose house it was. We were not going to tolerate a party where the music was like that mopey Stephen Bishop character who strummed a guitar on a staircase in "Animal House," crooning "I gave my love a cherry, that had no stone!" Hell, no. We wanted a real party and The B-52's were going to deliver.

Heavy on that surf grinding Strat, "Private Idaho" was typical B-52's danceable nonsense, in the best possible sense. That stinging guitar and snappy snare, the girls piping in with their "hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo." Like "Seinfeld," the B-52's were going to teach you nothing. There was no lesson. It was artificial and silly, with a great dance beat.

My favorite part of "Private Idaho" was after every chorus, when there was a rumbling tom-tom surf beat , building up with the twangy guitar and then five monsterously deep slams on the drums before jumping right back in to the song's main riff.

You're living in your own Private Idaho
Living in your own Private Idaho
Underground like a wild potato.
Don't go on the patio.
Beware of the pool,
blue bottomless pool.
It leads you straight
right throught the gate
that opens on the pool.
You're living in your own Private Idaho.
You're living in your own Private Idaho.

Keep off the path, beware the gate,
watch out for signs that say "hidden driveways".
Don't let the chlorine in your eyes
blind you to the awful surprise
that's waitin' for you at
the bottom of the bottomless blue blue blue pool.

You're livin in your own Private Idaho. Idaho.
You're out of control, the rivers that roll,
you fell into the water and down to Idaho.
Get out of that state,
get out of that state you're in.
You better beware.