Looking at his resume, you can only conclude that Ken Sharp leads an enviable life. He writes best selling music books, contributes to music magazines, works on music documentaries, and has done liner notes for music releases, in all cases together or about artists and bands that you and I can only dream about. Somehow he also manages to make some pretty good music himself. Lots of pretty good music. His new (7th) album I’ll Remember the Laughter contains no less than 50 songs – thanks to extra time and an inspiration boost during the pandemic, but even more so thanks to unbridled creative intelligence. Quantity and quality go hand in hand. Sharp is responsible for the relatable lyrics, the versatile vocals and most of the many instruments, assisted by Fernando Perdomo with whom he co-produced the LP.
In essence these are classic, radio friendly power pop songs, but Sharp knows how to incorporate countless influences from other genres – the whole spectrum between Big Star and Beck. The vast majority of the 50 tracks are originals, but you’ll also hear well-chosen covers of The Kids are Alright (The Who), Girl (Davy Jones), Mr. Make Believe (Gene Simmons), and Comic Book Heroes and I’m Your Superman (Rick Springfield, who guests here). Appealing, warm and catchy. I need some more time to take it all in, but we can already put the label Very Impressive on it.
I’ll Remember the Laughter is out now digitally, on 2CD and 4LP through Jet Fighter Records.
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