If you're a long-time reader of Stubby's, you know Brad Marino...even if you don't know that you know Brad Marino. Back in 2011, we had a great free Christmas song from a New Hampshire group, The Connection. The Connection followed up with a Christmas song in 2013 and a whole freaking Christmas album in 2014, "A Christmas Gift For..." (still one of my favorite Christmas Rock albums since this blog started). The Connection is/was a band that just understood how to make excellent feel-good classic radio radio Power Pop music...especially Christmas music. They were/are something like a mad concoction of the Rolling Stones, the Ramones and the Raspberries (with maybe just a drop or two of Bay City Rollers added for sweetness). Brad Marino was the lead vocalist and chief songwriter for The Connection and, much to our great fortune, he still digs making Christmas records. And he still makes 'em good, too, as this name-your-price three-song EP, "Almost Here", amply demonstrates (emphasis on the amp). The title track is actually a mid-tempo made-for-radio Pop song. But "Merry Christmas Happy New Years" rocks like a Power Pop hurricane. The set closes with a cover of "Blue Christmas" (nice try, Brad, but that song can't be saved).
I'm not sure what this means for The Connection. They did have a new album in April, "Wish You Success", but the cover art has a weird "I buried Paul" vibe to it and Brad's been putting out lots of solo music this year (all of which you can find on Bandcamp, btw). (You might also recall that Kris Rodgers left The Connection a while ago and had a pretty awesome Christmas EP of his own a few years back with his group The Dirty Gems). Well, solo or together, these cats know how to Rock our Christmas world. Keep up the good work, Brad Marino. Don't be a stranger. Christmas time is "Almost Here" after all. Name-your-price at Bandcamp.
I'm not sure what this means for The Connection. They did have a new album in April, "Wish You Success", but the cover art has a weird "I buried Paul" vibe to it and Brad's been putting out lots of solo music this year (all of which you can find on Bandcamp, btw). (You might also recall that Kris Rodgers left The Connection a while ago and had a pretty awesome Christmas EP of his own a few years back with his group The Dirty Gems). Well, solo or together, these cats know how to Rock our Christmas world. Keep up the good work, Brad Marino. Don't be a stranger. Christmas time is "Almost Here" after all. Name-your-price at Bandcamp.
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