The Tradewinds

1) The Tradewinds were a highly addictive and obscured pop-punk from Tempe, AZ circa 2008. Featuring members of Foot Ox, Splinter Cake and the "French Quarter" live band, this is unpolished, upbeat and "real", in the vein of The Bananas and for fans of Lehigh Valley's late 90's scene. 2) In 1965 a striking single called "New York's a Lonely Town" by a group called the Tradewinds flitted briefly across pop radio. Telling the story of a California surfer stuck in New York for the winter, the song was beautifully produced, echoing some of the studio techniques then favored by Brian Wilson, and although the song's premise seems even more ridiculous now than it did then, "New York's a Lonely Town" has such a memorable, lilting melody and projects such willful yearning and innocence that it is somewhat of a lost pop treasure. The Trade Winds were actually Peter Andreoli (he is also known professionally as Peter Anders) and Vincent Poncia Jr., a pair of Rhode Island songwriters who had a minor doo wop-inflected hit with "Mr. Lonely" in 1960 while calling themselves The Videls, and who had written "(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up" and others, for producer Phil Spector and The Ronettes. The Tradewinds put out a few additional singles (including "Mind Excursion" and the pretty "I Believe in Her") and an album before morphing into The Innocence and issuing a single under that name ("There's Got to Be a Word") late in 1966. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.