Kover Albums: Drink A Toast To Innocence

Through the looking glass of Facebook, I've been able to make contact with some musicians & regular fan folks who enjoy a fun musical sub-genre known as Power Pop. Who can resist strong, positive, melodic rock with killer harmonies and more songwriting hooks than a fishing lure? Not me. I'm in!

One day, I happened upon a Facebook page for a concern known as Monsters Of Lite Rock. The page is essentially an ongoing playlist for their favorite songs from the mid to late 1970's when pop singles got a little.. fluffy. Think of groups like Firefall, Little River Band, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Seals & Crofts and The Carpenters, along with the many individual one hit wonders and you'll have a handle on their concept. If there's a radio station in your town with any resemblance to the word 'magic' in their call letters, there's a solid chance it's a lite rock station.

Well, sure enough, the folks at MOLR have decided to produce a full length tribute CD filled with choice cover versions of classic soft rock singles. The title, "Drink A Toast To Innocence" is a nod to a lyric from one the softest of the soft-rockers, Dan Fogelberg. The album is scheduled for release in the spring, so it isn't available quite yet, but so far, the lineup looks like this:

Linus Of Hollywood - "More Than I Can Say" (Leo Sayer)
Vegas With Randolph - "Cool Change" (Little River Band)
An American Underdog - "Thunder Island" (Jay Ferguson)
Eytan Mirsky - "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" (Rupert Holmes)
David Myhr - "The Things We Do For Love" (10cc)

Brandon Schott - "Thank You For Being A Friend" (Andrew Gold)
Mike Viola - "Steal Away" (Robbie Dupree)
The Popdudes - "Magnet & Steel" (Walter Egan)
The Sonic Executive Sessions - "On & On" (Stephen Bishop)
Paul Bertolino - "Just Remember I Love You" (Firefall)
Willie Wisely - "So Into You" (Atlanta Rhythm Section)
Throwback Suburbia - "I Love You" (Climax Blues Band)
The Davenports - "Just When I Needed You Most" (Randy VanWarmer)

And that's just who's in so far. Apparently, there will be a bunch more. If the names of the artists doing the covers aren't familiar to you yet, please trust me, they're all really great! There aren't any audio samples out yet, but I do have a K-Tel inspired video preview for you, direct from MOLR and it's pretty darn snappy. Enjoy!

If the rest of the album is half as good as these teasers, it'll be a must-add to the Phillydog's Kovers Kollection! I don't know yet if the album is going to be available on vinyl, but if it were, I'd be really happy about that. I have doubts that we'll see 8 tracks or cassettes though.

I'll put up a post on the Kool Kovers Facebook page when I hear about a solid release date. By the way, if you visit that page and "Like" it, you'll get a notification whenever there's a new post on this blog! So please head on over and do so. Sure would appreciate it. Thanks!

Anyway, now that you've had a proper introduction, here's a YouTube link to a bonus full-length video from the album! It's Australia's finest, Michael Carpenter, with his awesome cover of Cliff Richard's 1979 hit, "We Don't Talk Anymore". Crank this one up! I seriously think this version is way better than the original.