Pop Treasures, The Half-Cubes’ latest album, is just that -- a treasure chest of great pop/rock covers from the 70s to the 90s. I thoroughly enjoyed it, discovered some people that I’d heard of but never had heard, and reconnected with old favorites. I think you will too.

Gary Frenay and Tommy Allen, who are The Half-Cubes, were kind enough to answer some questions for me.

 

Andrea Weiss: How did you pick the songs on Pop Treasures?

Gary Frenay: We’re huge music fans, so there is no end to our list of favorites. One of us would come up with an idea, and we’d discuss it, mainly to see if it was possible. For me at 71 now, and as the vocalist, I’m always careful about attempting to sing vocals that were originally created by singers - mostly - still in their 20’s. Yikes! But I’m really proud of how these came out and we only lowered the keys, by one full step, on three of the songs. I’ll leave it to the die-hard musicians out there to guess which ones!

Tommy Allen: After we had finished Pop Masters there were several songs that were on the list of covers that were not necessarily appropriate for The Flashcubes, but Gary and I still wanted to do them. Once we began this "phase 2" of our covers sojourn we were knocking out a song a week, which was a pace that The Flashcubes were unable to do, and we were having a blast recording some of our very favorite songs!

AW: There are a lot guests on the album, which is great, and it sounds like everyone wanted to pitch in, so who was invited and/or wanted to be included?

GF: I think we tried on nearly every track to find a connection to someone associated with the original song. We hit several dead ends (Flo & Eddie, anyone?), but often the original artist was happy to join in and flattered that we were doing their song which, as a songwriter myself, I can relate to. it’s the ultimate compliment!

TA: As for the guests, we made every effort where possible to invite the original artists to join us. Some did and were enthused about the project, some didn't, but cheered us on, and some didn't respond to our overtures! We are thrilled to have been able to enlist some of our heroes on their great songs!

AW: Was it hard to cover the well known songs like, say, Jason Faulkner’s “I Live?”

GF: That was a particularly tough one. Such a unique arrangement. And we wanted to pay homage to the amazing way Jason did the song, but put our own touches on it, as well.

AW: How hard was it to cover The Pursuit Of Happiness’s “She’s So Young,” and get Moe Burg, their band leader, to play on it?

GF: Tommy might say otherwise, but that one came together pretty easily, for me. Great song, and what a treat that Moe joined in. The icing on the cake was having Maura Kennedy (of The Kennedys) sing the backing vocals on the choruses. So perfect!

TA: “She’s So Young” is a pop masterpiece! I reached out to my friend Ed Stasium, who had produced The Pursuit of Happiness, and he gave me Moe's contact info. I sent Moe a workmix of our version and asked if he'd like to play the guitar solo, and we are happy he said yes!

AW: The 70s shine on here, which is wonderful. Did you draw from the whole decade or just one part of it?

GF: Well, that is our time, the loins from which we sprang, so to speak. So we’ll always have a great affinity with tunes from that era. But as lifelong pop fans, for us, the hits just keep on coming. A great song is a great song, no matter the decade. And they’re still out there, just never - it seems - on commercial radio anymore. Thankfully, there are so many other avenues to find music now!

TA: our choices weren't based on any particular decade, we simply picked songs we love!

AW: All of these songs are relationship songs. Were any other subjects considered?

GF: Interesting observation! If you combed through the catalog of our own songs as records we’ve released over the past 45 years as The Flashcubes, Screen Test, and my own solo records, I would guess 95% are relationship songs. That’s just what I’m drawn to as a songwriter, and what Tommy and I are drawn to as musicians: boy/girl trumps all! 

TA: Lots of pop songs are about relationships. Our goal was to honor our favorite songs. Lyrical content wasn't a consideration.

AW: Was there any band you wanted to stay away from?

GF: When a song would come up for discussion, one of us would invariably start scouring the internet to see if anyone else had already covered it. If it had been covered, and successfully, we moved on. So not a specific band that we stayed away from, but obvious favorites like Beatles, Beach Boys, Who, Kinks, etc, who have been covered and “tributed” to death, didn’t need us to shine any light on them. Whereas lesser known artist like Beagle, Bertolf, The Sinceros, OMD, Trashcan Sinatras, and many others we covered, greatly deserve to be heard again.

TA: Well, we love The Beatles, but never included any of their songs!

AW: What bands would you recommend people start with if they like what they hear, but are new to power pop?

GF: Well, there’s a great Rhino power pop series that highlights bands from each decade: 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Also, their earlier DIY series of US and UK power pop, which The Flashcubes were featured on. But for me, the best starting point is what I consider the Mount Rushmore of Power Pop: Rasperries, Badfinger, Big Star, and Dwight Twilley Band. Can’t go wrong there!

TA: Any fan of the power pop genre could start with the catalogues of the artists we've covered on Pop Treasures."There's gold in them thar hills!!!"