Energetic, Boisterous, Rollicking, Rousing, Confident, Manic, Quirky

Jules & the Polar Bears “Good Reason” – Sound quality on this is admittedly horrible (mp3 from LP) but worth persevering through and crank it the eff up. Jules Shear hasn’t ever had a hit, but he sure has created them for other people, most notably “All Through the Night” for Cyndi Lauper and “If She Knew What She Wants” for the Bangles. The thing is, he’s burdened with this voice that a lot of people can’t get past, but this song (off J&PB’s second album, Fenetiks, which is as out of print as it gets and may not ever have been on CD) at least is super ticky-tocky and of its time (1979) and danceable in a white-boy way, and it’s even got good lyrics, which is pretty much par for the course. You might be able to pick up a copy of his Best Of here in the used section, which has some of these early cuts, and here’s the full selection of what’s available CD-wise. You’d probably be best off digging through the dollar bin at a rekkid store.

Zumm Zumm “By 30 Years Your Money’s Gonna Ruin Everything” – 45 seconds of Athenian cute punk goodness. I know almost nothing about these guys. They play occasionally here in town, and I haven’t made it to a show yet. I think their lyrics could turn a lot of people off, as they’re pretty standard anti-corporate bla bla, but when they’re hard to understand, you don’t even have to. I have a big weakness for a tempo this fast. Plus, you can order the little CD this is off of (Gerald Bronson) for a mere $5. What’s not worth $5?