I've Got Mine Together Too

Thanks to Alex over at Clicks and Pops for a bunch of great links in a recent post. There are so many great music blogs that I am beginning to lose track. Via those links I came across a couple of excellent posts on one of my favorite "should have been" contenders from the 1990s - Jellyfish. From Australia, Peter's Power Pop Why I Adore Jellyfish, and My hmphs has a three part My Ode to Jellyfish. Both give a fine overview of the band.

Reading those posts got me to thinking about the amazing talent in that band. Possibly the most talented musician of the bunch is guitarist Jason Falkner, who bailed after the first album, rumored to be due to the unwillingness of his bandmates to perform his songs. Remind you of any other bands wherein a fine musician/guitarist/songwriter had trouble getting his tunes on their albums?

Mr. Falkner stepped out into a solo career that has had its ups and downs. His most recent work was released only in Japan, although a comment by artintodust over at Burning Wood Jason Falkner - All Quiet on the Noise Floor indicates that this will be rectified with a couple of USA releases in 2010.

I own only one Falkner album, but what a doozy it is. Can You Still Feel? from 1999 is a guitar-driven power pop paradise. Sometimes I listen to Holiday an unnatural number of times in a row. I will not even attempt to enumerate the number of hooks in this song. This live performance lacks the sound quality of the studio version but gives a glimpse of his awesome guitar work. The baroque contrapuntal section that appears out of nowhere about two minutes in is simply to-die-for. And when he takes the melody up an octave in the last couple of runs through the chorus - well it just sends shivers down my spine. 2010 cannot get here quickly enough.