Product Description
Power-pop legend Tommy Keene returns with the follow-up to 2009's In the Late Bright and 2010's double album retrospective with what can easily be described as one of his most accomplished releases of his career. Behind The Parade is classic Keene and surely will have his hard-core fan base wanting more.

1. Deep Six Saturday
2. Already Made Up Your Mind
3. Behind The Parade
4. Nowhere Drag
5. La Castana
6. Running For Your Life
7. The Long Goodbye
8. Factory Town
9. His Mother's Son
10. Lies In My Heart

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CAAUIK/?tag=imwan-20

I love Tommy Keene.

Bumping this one up. Well turned out guitar/power pop albums are a rarity these days, so albums that are devoted to craft, feeling and guitars that chime, albums like this one, are a breath of fresh air. Keene has operated under the radar (much like Richard X. Heyman) for years, and is still at it. To me, that speaks of power pop love and dedication. He ain't re-inventing the wheel here, but damn, this is a fine album for devotees of the form.

I'm not really looking for re-invented wheels anyway. Rock on, Tommy.

Haven't picked up the new Tommy Keene yet though I'm looking forward to hearing it.. But, speaking of Richard X. Heyman, I enjoyed his most recent release, the double disc Tiers/And Other Stories. Both Keene and Heyman have a knack for releasing quality music that rarely if ever disappoints.

Somehow I missed Tiers/And Other Stories, but after listening to all the sound samples on iTunes, I just ordered the CD. A departure, but an excellent one! You're absolutely right about both Tommy Keene and Richard X. Heyman; they are both tremendously under appreciated!

Sounds really good....
http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/5 ... keene.html

I think this is his best album since Based On Happy Times, and he's released a lot of good material in between.

I'm loving this more and more as I listen to it. For me, it's shaping up to be a great album, one of the year's best. It's just so well paced, the songs are right on the money and it sounds amazing for a home recording. It's a shame that guys like Keene and Heyman have to exist on the margins these days, but as long as they're out there making music as good as this, the world is a better place.

That's a bit harsh, Greg.

Said tongue-in-cheek, of course. Because Greg posted "Best Tommy Keene album since Based On Happy Times. And there have been many good ones" on the Hoffman site, and got the following response:



This new disc (which is great, by the way), has gotten me to go back and listen more to the Keene Brothers disc Blues and Boogie Shoes, Tommy's collaboration with Robert Pollard. I am starting to appreciate it more, even though I was never much of a Guided By Voices fan, because of the consistency of Tommy's playing (Tommy plays nearly all the instruments, too). It's definitely worth a listen, if you haven't heard it.

Yeah, that one had me scratchin' my head. I was being "harsh" because I said the new one was better than those? Go figure.

Anyway, listening to this made me go back and pick up the retrospective (Tommy Keene You Hear Me, A Retrospective 1983-2009), which I hadn't bought mostly because I have almost all of Tommy's stuff. As it turns out, not only does it have some nice tracks that you can't get anywhere else, it's probably the best single piece of evidence for how good this guy is. It's a great collection that just keeps coming at you with one terrific song after another. Highly recommended for anybody who's new to Tommy Keene and also to the long-time fan.

Sometimes a best-of collection is worth it even if you have all (or almost all) of the material somewhere else, because not only does it condense most of the good tracks into one or two discs, but the different context makes them sound fresher.