Tinted Windows - Tinted Windows
Tinted Windows is one of the oddest supergroups you’ll find. That’s James Iha, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins, on guitar, Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger on bass and 57-year-old Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick on drums. The singer? Taylor Hanson, the middle brother from Hanson. Not surprisingly, this is power pop (emphasis on the pop). Say what you will about Hanson, but the guy can sing a hook that’ll stick with you like a melted Blow Pop. While the mid-tempo stuff kinda sucks (“Dead Serious,” “Back with You”), zippier tracks like “Messing with My Head” and “Can’t Get a Read on You” are irresistible. As a whole, though, it’s too much. Power pop is always sugary. That’s part of the fun. But this is like pouring syrup on your Lucky Charms.
It was the Camden Crawl at the weekend. I wasn’t much interested in this year’s festival, but it’s the perfect time to mention a CD I found the other day when clearing out a bunch of old stuff. The free Camden Crawl compilation from 1997.
Things were different then. No big-name headliners. No cider sponsorship or BBC backing. No long queues to get into venues. Just a handful of scruffy Camden venues and a bunch of scruffy indie bands, and being 1997, some big beat outfits as well. It seems a bit sad looking back, but at the time it was pretty exciting. For me anyway.
These were headier times. I had only been in London for a month or so. I already knew all about Camden from the pages of the NME, as Britpop’s spiritual home, and I was desperate for a piece of the action. So there I was, on the streets with some friends, freshly-snapped on wristbands, all ready for the post-Britpop indie action.
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