100 Records Vol. 1, 2, & 3

Sonny Smith is the guy behind outstanding SF pop-rock (country-rock on their 2012 album) group Sonny and the Sunsets; this album comprises three volumes of tracks from his ambitious “100 records" project where he wrote A- and B-sides to 100 singles from 100 fictional bands before putting them all together with artwork in a jukebox that went on display in galleries in SF and NYC. Loads of variety of consistently high quality. Vol 1 focuses on variety, 2/3 have most of the standouts for single-track play.
RIYL: 60s pop music, any kind of indie pop, either Sunsets' album we have, Earth Girl Helen Brown (represented here), Your Imaginary Friend's interview of Sonny at Outside Lands '11.

Vol 1. [Disc 1]
*1 (2:10) Intoxicating spoken female love address to you (maybe actually you, maybe an alien), over whimsical mid-20th century film soundtrack music.
2 (1:53) Bassy instrumental w/ whistles, which are a bit too nauseating for me.
3 (1:40) Faux-live, contemplative, mellow acoustic guitar instrumental piece with PA intro/outro (“from Berkeley, California� and later a suggestion to go smoke a doobie during intermission)
4 (0:53) Overly loud drum solo, tape hiss.
5 (3:38) Slower, country-influenced pop. Echoey backing vocals, 60s folky feel.
6 (3:50) Spacy instrumental that would become the backing track to Earth Girl Helen Brown’s “Story of an Earth Girl.�
7 (3:30) Beat poem about life on the streets + pleasant acoustic guitar backing.
8 (2:05) How proto-punk might have sounded if it started during the British invasion.
9 (3:23) An absolutely great song but it's from the Sunsets’ first album.
10 (2:42) Another great song, but also from the EGHB EP that we have.
11 (3:20) Nice instrumental, strummed guitar over whirring ambient backing track. Late night anti-pop DJ pick.
Vol 2. [Disc 2]
****12 (2:34) Oh fuck is this ever awesome, Heidi Alexander of the Sandwitches takes lead vox on this ridiculously catchy, bouncy piece of pop perfection. Piano/guitar driven with all kinds of fantastic backing vox.
*13 (2:14) Feat. Ty Segall, catchy, upbeat slightly surfy pop with lots of handclaps and “oh-oh-oh-ohhh�s.
14 (2:11) Spanish vox excepting the chorus/title, sounds just like The Kinks’ “All Day and All of the Night�.
*15 (2:26) Straightforward but great guitar/piano piece, Alex Chilton style vocals, harmonies on the chorus, fake fade-out.
16 (FCC “fuck� a couple times, 5:45) Quality track; first-person narrated short story about being a broke artist over slow, bluesy country-pop backing.
17 (3:18) Fast-paced rock out, deep vox complementing Sonny’s, a bit of interplay between Sonny and the band, and Doorsy organ.
18 (3:36) Slower, sadder, just a bit stony; sounds like using vices to cope.
19 (1:45) Driving bass and drums, 60s poppy about a girl lyrics.
*20 (2:29) Mid-60s Dylany, just a little melancholic as guitar licks/organ/piano/woooooo’s bounce the track along.
Vol 3.
*1 (2:06) Fun, driving, surfy track with a great drum intro, nice riffs, and some fuzzy organ.
2 (2:23) Simple bluesy country piece with humming for vox.
**3 (3:25) Forlorn love song driven by organ; ‘65 Dylan meets dub.
4 (2:18) 1/2 is rollicking British Invasion, then driving organ/handclaps
5 (1:40) Nice little strummy acoustic/electric jam instrumental. Would make a good kitty adoption PSA soundbed.
6 (2:17) Late 60s country-influenced pop-rock, chorus ahhhh-ahhhh-ahhh-oooooh, that kind of thing.
7 (FCC “space fuck�, 2:08) Cheesy 60s spacey feeling, slurred echoey vocals.
8 (3:20) Slightly melancholic acoustic guitar instrumental.
9 (5:22, Early version of a standout from 2012’s Longtime Companion. To steal the Hervey Okkles description: “More of a straightforward twangy Marty Robbins type. Shaggy, halfassed (but charming) story of animals ("In the year of the cock, I was the flea") Attempts at Dylanesque wordplay.�
**10 (3:37) Charmingly narrated short story about not having sex, read over acoustic guitar. Americana-tinged, some backing hums, really successful.
11 (1:51) Bluesy pop singing of the title over and over again over acoustic guitar.
*12 (3:00) The promo single; driving beat, a mid 60s protest song with calls to bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
**13 (3:12) Electric romp with simple drum beat, similar to but just a bit more straightforward than the Sunsets’ work.
*14 (2:14) A more melancholic slower acoustic piece, country influence.
15 (3:22) Mid-tempo instrumental focused on acoustic guitar and a whistling organ, with hints of whispers here and there.