Bands in the "powerpop" chapter of the 1980 new wave guide I just bought for $2 off a seemingly homeless guy set up on the sidewalk of St Marks

People are always trying to revive the Shoes, maybe I read something at the old Perfect Sound Forever. They were from Zion, Illinois, no? Allegedly got their name from something George Harrison said: "We didn't have to be called the Beatles- we could've been called The Shoes"

What about The Plimsouls?

Chuck already mentioned them on this thread.

And how 'bout the Shoes? Some guy took his Shoes Lps into Amoeba the other day. He was in front of me in the buyer/seller line. And they didn't want 'em!

And where are the Sidewinders and Piper? Or the Nervous Eaters? I saw a CD by them in Amoeba but it was way too high-priced, apparently only having been made for sale in Barcelona.

George, you passed up a Stackwaddy record?

Yeah, I know. I suffered a seizure, a moment of weakness. I was embarrassed the instant I put the Records CD in the car player back in the parking lot.

funnily enough, that's the exact lineup for the next international pop overthrow festival in LA.

are you talking about when this happened in the '80s? or when this happened, like, last year?

The Briefs. Kind of over before they had a chance to be briefly gotten over.

Sadly missing from list (and the entire book): Moon Martin, who had an even (much) better top 40 hit ("Rolene") than Ian Gomm in 1979.

I actually think the FIRST Shoes album (before Black Vinyl Shoes) was self-released, just to a few friends in Zion, wasn't it?

I saw Pezband play in the late 70s, their albums really didn't do justice. Look for the live EP 30 Seconds Over Shaumburg.

Same with the Romantics, basically, though I'd recommend their s/t debut to anybody who likes some bands on the above list. Of course "Talking In Your Sleep" is a deathless radio classic.

Someone--Josh Goldfein, maybe--told me recently he ran into the guy from the Records in NYC doing some kind of rock and roll act for his kid's schoolmate's birthday party, and I think the guy was dressed up like a clown for these kids. Anyway, Josh made me a CD that had this Coke ad the Records did, "Teenarama" of course, with the line about Co-co-ca-cola." That one and "Starry Eyes" and "All Messed Up and Ready" off the first album are decent enough, but they were basically ropey.

The Scruffs I had the first album by, and they could not sing, pure formalism, so I got rid of it, since I couldn't listen to the damned thing. But "Revenge" is sort of a good song. Never could understand why Christgau gave that one his A minus or whatever the grade was.

Ian Gomm wasn't terrible, but his "Gomm with the Wind" was such an uneasy mix of pop and bad production, always seemed almost deliberately lame, and if I recall he left out the *bridge* on his cover of the Beatles' " You Can't Do That." But I always liked Nick Lowe, who I guess is powerpop enough, before he turned into a roots-rocker. He always had a nice light touch, and "Cruel to Be Kind" is one of the few "powerpop" singles that really hit big.

A lot of those other bands are on the Rhino powerpop comps from around ten years ago, like 20/20, whose "Yellow Pills" is pretty good. I never quite saw the allure of the Paley Brothers. The Romantics were all right as a single(s) band. I like the genre partly because most of its practitioners seemed a bit confused as to what it was they were doing in the first place!

Apparently they recorded three full-length albums before BVS. Their website has a self-released double CD with most of this stuff. (I happen to be rediscovering the Shoes lately, but I'm not paying $45 for it.)

"Come On Let's Go" from the Rock 'n Roll HS soundtrack was great. I haven't heard anything else of theirs.

The Romantics were all right as a single(s) band. I like the genre partly because most of its practitioners seemed a bit confused as to what it was they were doing in the first place!

The Romantics' first album is actually quite good. "First In Line" and "Tell It To Carrie" in particular are fine songs. "What I Like About You" was great before it became the soundtrack to ten thousand Eighties Nights and frat parties.

Best Romantics album by far (way better than the debut, which is good nonetheless, and which thanks to not only "What I Like About You" but also their debut local indie hit "Tell it To Carrie" was a much bigger hit in Detroit and elsewhere) is *National Breakout*, where they do "21 And Over" and "Tomboy" and get their Unrelated Segments thang on.

Is this the Bay City Rollers' attempt to lose the teen idol status, a la "NKOTB" years later? Or someone else?

*National Breakout* (which of course was *not* their national breakout; that didn't happen to a couple years later) also had the great "Stone Pony". "Friday at the Hideout" was its U-Segments cover.

And yeah, I think Rollers = Bay City Rollers, I think.

Right about 30 Seconds... re Pezband. It doesn't even fit with things like Laughing in the Dark and the debut, being totally carnivorous by comparison. A listen to it and one asks if it's the same band.

so OTM. Like, what, 1/3 of these bands have played IPO?

Nope. Top 100, though, maybe.

I liked their "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" way better than the Ramones song of the same name. Don't remember much about them otherwise.

Jonathan's song "The New Teller" on that album is one of his greats. For some reason, I thought that was him backed by the Rubinoos, but the last time I listened to it it sounded like his band.

"Well, everybody in the bank line knows
That I've got a crush on the new teller"

Speaking of which, the Raspberries became so much better when they let other members write and sing lead. Listen to those last two 'Berries albums (SIDE THREE and STARTING OVER) - they're not as schlocky as the other two elpees they did.

I found Van Duren's '78 album w/ Jon Tiven today for three bucks. On London. four great songs: "Grow Yourself Up," "Chemical Fire," "New Year's Eve" and "For a While." And a lot of pretty tepid shit.

and no, I do not know about the Mutantes stuff...and I guess I will have to hear it. I like them, altho not as much as I like Gilberto Gil...who is also probably better than anyone we've talked about on this thread.

yeah, but he wasn't power-pop, so let's save him for the "Rolling Country 1965 Thread" or something. the man had his moments, though - the way he used to scat-sing, he sounded like a hillbilly King Pleasure.

doo-doo-doot-doot-doot-doot-doo-doo-bom!!

I Wanna Be With You - Pure power popper. good song.

Goin' Nowhere Tonight - Power twanger. And totally what Big Star could have come up with if they were signed to Capitol and someone put a gun to their heads. Good song.

Let's Pretend - Yes, some mushy Eric, but the harmonies are great and he gets tough at the end (cuz he liked to ape McCartney's mumble to a yowl approach.). Good song.

Every Way I Can - Uptempo pop-rock. Cool guitars. Good song.

I Reach For The Light - Total McCartney action. Mushy? Yeah, but jaunty and there are synth horns!. A complete and utter Beatles rip. And I like those. Great harmonies too and Eric actually does his best macca here. Good song.

Nobody Knows - Acoustic guitar driven power pop. Nice!

It Seemed So Easy - More acoustic guitar driven power pop. Nobody Knows & It Seemed So Easy being some alternate universe Beatles single.

Might As Well - How about one more acoustic guitar driven power pop song! Wally sings this one. It's great!

If You Change Your Mind - The second of only TWO full-on ballads. And there isn't a piano in sight. This is the one track I don't need. It's too long (the whole album is probably just about 30 minutes. Maybe shorter.) and it doesn't really go anywhere.

Drivin' Around - Hey, let's mix things up and rip the Beach Boys! It's okay. Mostly for the line about drivin' around blastin' his tapedeck. lyrical concerns that would form the basis for 50% of all future power pop.

2 BALLADS! Out of 10 songs. I wouldn't consider I Reach For The Light a ballad. Too many shifts in tempo and too many cool effects. it's a down-tempo pop take on Abbey Road-era Beatles.

I wish I could have seen their reunion.

* With the disclaimer once again that I only ever had the 2nd Big Star LP

Now, as far as them other tunes...I don't rightly recall whether they were slow or fast...I usually run the needle through the three songs I actually like...but getting back to those others, I remember there being more pop than power. Just wasn't feelin' it.

Yeah, what Scott says on the sound of the Big Star 2-fer CD. #1 Record is more immediate, maybe more pop. Radio City is a grower...

Like I say, I haven't heard the whole 1st album. Maybe you can understand where I'm coming from, though. I'm looking at the liner notes on the Raspberries Greatest Hits LP just now and there's that one article called "What the Critics Said." Check this out:

"When reviewing the 'Tonight' single, Eric Rudolph said in Rock magazine, 'You hear the slashing opening and wonder why other people, who are supposedly a lot 'heavier' than the Raspberries, can't make rock 'n' roll as compelling at that."

"Nick Charles, when reviewing the tune that many critics expected to follow 'Tonight' as a single, became somewhat extremist when he said in Hit Parader, ''Ecstasy' is a thrilling gut-kicker with Wally tossing off jagged Who lightning bolts. No band has ever been better than this song."

I just can't imagine people saying things like this about Big Star.

I didn't hear much on the record that didn't draw heavily from American older pop music, including the cover. And I liked it. Some of it sounded a lot like Blondie in a foreign language, which isn't unusual at all.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0335,eddy,46551,22.html

Also, just realized that the title of the catchiest track on Dengue Fever's debut, "I'm Sixteen," is also a very memorable chorus from the 2nd Shakin Street album. Coincidence??

Sound-wise? Surely, Shocking Blue had way better songs.

So Will Birch of The Records wrote the liner notes for the new Jesus Of Cool reissue?

Max here, bass player for Cargoe.. Sept 2010, we just released our first "follow-up" to the 1972 Cargoe... it took us 38 years to finally get it together.. but these are many songs that would have been on the '73 follow-up, had there been one.. check it out on iTunes and Amazon.com as starters.. we tried to be authentic 70's... all original members except for new Lead Guitar, Steve Thornbrugh... Check it out and pass the word please.. /Cheers, Max.. Bill.. Tim.. and Steve.. www.cargoemusic.com

What? No Racey?

The Racey songs I've heard are great. But nope, they're not in the book.

In other news, I actually found a dollar copy of the Jags LP with "Back Of My Hand" this weekend!

Best 80s powerpop?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2jRez9_mwE