Mawkish Twaddle with Bob N., No. 322, 12/23/23

This week’s Twaddle includes arguably the best Knickerbockers pastiche, a song produced and co-written by Leon Russell that no one knows, back-to-back tracks featuring prominent mallet instruments, possibly the most prominent harpsichord in a Guess Who song, a Roger Nicholls cover but no James Brown or Kraftwerk covers, examples of US bubblegum and Italian prog, my favorite cut from the most underrated Belle & Sebastian album, a very small number of tracks recorded this year (just 22 percent), and one Christmas tune. New: Cynthia Nelson Band; Search Results; Baumarkt; The Half-Cubes; Keichi & The Coconut Groove; Schwund; Gabriel da Rosa; Soft Covers; The Reds, Pinks And Purples; Bory; and Brenda I Funky. Previously unreleased: Primal Scream. Newly reissued: Meat Joy. Newly compiled: Omertà. From sometime between 1956 and 2017: Ray Conniff And The Singers, Lollipop Train, The Dentists, Pain Teens, Stuart Moxham, The Yummies, Daryll-Ann, Fat Tulips, Hartley C. White, The Sundowners, Those Lovely Hula Hands, Gerry Morris, Jon Brion, Starbuck, The Chesterfield Kings, Blank Statements, Frank Sinatra, Frank Chickens, Belle And Sebastian, Pink Military, The John Merricks, Christmas, Delirium, Orlie And The Saints, Vivian Weathers, The Guess Who, The Birthday Party, Jo Bisso, Le Cirque, The Charade, The Boyfriends, Jonathan King, The Associates, Stew Lane & The Untouchables, and George Torrence & The Naturals.