POX: Power Pop Albums

Raspberries Best Featuring Eric Carmen
The Sweet - "Little Willy" 45
The Sweet - "Fox on the Run" 45
The Rubinoos - Back to the Drawing Board LP
The Quick - Untold Rock Stories CD
The Knack - "Good Girls Don't"
Jeff Scot and Josef Marc - America's Newest Hitmakers EP
The Records - "Starry Eyes"
Big Star - "September Gurls"

And for 10 I'll go with the first Blue Ash album which I've never heard!

and, js, friend, I shall endeavor to give you endless grief over your inclusion of Elvis Costello after all of the aspersions cast my way in your youth.

That whole album is great. Other excellent power pop songs:

The Wake Ups: Nobody Slows
Tommy Hoehn: Blow Yourself Up
Redd Kross: Lady In The Front Row & Jimmy's Fantasy off Phaseshifter

Yeah the greatest hits thing almost seems like cheating (i.e. Cars Greatest Hits vs. s/t) but what a great best of...

1. Skylarking - XTC
2. Woodface - Crowded House
3. High Land, Hard Rain - Aztec Camera
4. Temple Of Low Men - Crowded House
5. No Sleep Till Famous - The Merrymakers
6. A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles
7. Together Alone - Crowded House
8. Free Peace Sweet - Dodgy
9. A Night At The Opera - Queen
10.Nonsuch - XTC

Yellow Pills (Pre-fill) if anthologies count.

Aren't there a bit too many synths on this one to classify it as power pop? Personally I wouldn't, with two Eddie Rayner instrumentals and all.

Well, I don't think synths are so overwhelming there. At least it's more power pop than the psych-folky Skylarking or the slow and elegiac Nonsuch.

That's not really Power Pop, now is it?

Don't forget Marshall Crenshaw!

knack - get the knack
adverts - crossing the red sea with the adverts
buzzcocks - singles going steady
vibrators - pure mania
the sweet - desolation boulevard
slade - sladest
cheap trick - heaven tonight
kix - kix
nick lowe - pure pop for now people
the beat - the beat

or maybe the cars. or the pop. or the raspberries. or the bay city rollers. or, like i said, lots of other things.

the Vibrators' Pure Mania is a great record I guess could be called powerpop. Jellyfish's Spilt Milk is nice, too. Cheap Trick's first three records are all great. Certainly the Flamin Groovies' first Epic LP, their Dave Edmunds stuff, that is good as well. The first three Shoes records are nice. The Undertones were really good, too. The first Scruffs record is pretty good, the singing isn't so hot. Van Duren, also from Memphis in the '70s, put out one called Are You Serious that is about half-good. Then there's Artful Dodger and Blue Ash, both quite good. But beyond maybe the Trick records and the Vibrators', I am not sure if any of these work as albums, altho the first Shoes and the Groovies' Shake Some Action or perhaps Now are consistent. I like the New Pornographers just fine, altho they seem a bit icy to me. Anyway, if powerpop is about loss-of-being as expressed thru loss-of-girl if not loss-of-mind or loss-of-car keys (Field Day by Crenshaw takes place in taxis, in the subway or on foot, and he has the good sense to just collapse on Monday morning after a hard weekend, and fuck his brains out before going to sleep), then it seems obvious that Field Day and Radio City are the best. Todd's record has some real powerpop on it, like Couldn't I Just Tell You, but the whole attitude is classic smart-ass teen. So that list is actually stretching it a bit.

I could come up with 500 singles, though.

The Shazam - Godspeed The Shazam
Sloan - One Chord To Another
Brendan Benson - One Mississippi
Jon Brion - Meaningless
The Waxwings - Low To The Ground
Brett Rosenberg Problem - Destroyer
The Merrymakers - Bubblegun
Jellyfish - Bellybutton
The Bigger Lovers - How I Learned To Stop Worrying
Joel Plaskett Emergency - Down At The Khyber (Thrush Hermit's Clayton Park deserves plaudits as well but is not as consistent)

... and I shamefully didn't even fit in The Posies Frosting on the Beater or Teenage Fanclub's Grand Prix

2. Shooting Star - S/T (Virgin - 1979)

3. Alessi - S/T (A&M - 1976)

4. Moxy - Under The Lights (Mercury - 1978)

5. Jigsaw - S/T (Chelsea - 1975)

6. Song - Album (MGM - ?)

7. Circus - S/T (Circus - 197?)

8. Barnaby Bye - Room To Grow (Atlantic - 1973)

9. Roulettes - S/T (Takoma - 1981)

10. The Motors - Tenement Steps (Virgin - 1980)

11. The Records - S/T (Virgin - 1979)

12. The Headboys - S/T (RSO - 1979)

13. The Dudes - We're No Angels (Columbia - 1975)

14. Ian Gomm - Gomm With The Wind (Stiff/Epic - 1979)

15. The Rumour - Frogs Sprouts Clogs And Kraut (Arista - 1979)

and the Headboys album is one of my favorite albums of the year. so fuckin' great!

and that Barnaby Bye album is bobby and billy alessi's old band before they put stuff out under their own name. that album has grown on me even if their cover of she's leaving home isn't as good as ian gomm's cover of you can't do that.

I'm reintroducing Sloan into this thread because (a) they don't get any love on ILM and (b) Twice Removed is a power pop beauty of an album.

Pete Townshend invented the term Power Pop, and I'd say some of The Who's work was musically very close to what Power Pop would be about too. "I Can't Explain" may well be the first Power Pop song, and "I Can See For Miles" is certainly Power Pop.

I'm sorry, but I don't get into an argument with someone who doesn't exist. :)

Also, I want to nominate the A's for something. And Moon Martin.

And add that Bryan Adams's early hits sound more powerpop than Crowded House (and several of the other power-free acts on this thread) to my ears.

Had totally forgotten that record! might even still own it.

If pressed I would define power pop as being derived from a specific and circumscribed set of influences, very much a self-counsciously second generation look at pre-psychedelic Beatlepop. So in my book it begins with Badfinger. And I guess the Raspberries, who certainly aren't the presence on this thread one might've expected.

So many great power pop oneshots, from "Blow Yourself Up" by Tommy Hoehn to Plimsouls' "A Million Miles Away." Were their LPs good?

fun p/p fact: The Knack played at my wife's LA high school in 79.

some other favourites:
matthew sweet, girlfriend
the shazam, godspeed the shazam
joel plaskett emergency, down at the khyber (esp. for 'clueless wonder')
sloan, between the bridges

except for cheap trick that'd be very select households

tommy hoehn was another memphis guy, on london, I think. apart from "blow yourself up" and one or two others, it's kind of bland and forced. instructive: compare him doing his chilton-cowritten "she might look my way" to alex c. doing it offhand and demoed in the late '70s, and you see how casual sorta works in this case. and yeah, bryan adams and many others are "powerpop" enough--there are a whole lot of powerpop songs, and I don't even try to "define" it any more.

billy nicholls did a thing called "love songs" that has three/four great powerpop songs. "winter rose" and a couple more, and he sings sort of like the guy in thunderclap newman.

and certainly chris bell's one record is essential, really; it defines that whole southern powerpop thing as well as the big star records, and is far more defenseless and crazed. the hot dogs, also on ardent from memphis, were not bad either.

and ian gomm's record is great. the one where he does the beatles' "can't do that" and he *leaves out the bridge*, which I consider a statement. and of course, nick lowe's "labour of lust" is one fantastic record.

still for my money crenshaw's first two records and the first two big star records define the genre as far as '70s/'80s contrast goes. the '60s, as scott says, the easybeats, whose baroque madness was way ahead of its time, they and the move are the under-appreciated, maybe, guys. in terms of forcing a lot of stuff into a small funnel and having it come out different, just so mannered. "friday on" and "pretty girl" and "wait a minute" by the easybeats are all prime pop; their "good time" is one of the best soul powerpop songs ever, a real classic. I listen to them a lot, actually; don't like their later stuff where they just went motown or something, cabaret, it's pretty strident and just formally nuts, but probably not in a good way.

xps

i wouldn't mind hearing this. i have a single by them that's pretty cool. the single is on a major, i'm guessing that the ep isn't?

also, though I can't it right now the Scratch Band LP with Rock n' Roll Love letter was pretty fine

it's on PVC (the label as well as polyvinylwhatevs). a pseudo-major label. the EP is live and livlier than their two LPs IIRC. Pezband played in Cincinnati around the same time I first saw Cheap Trick, they definitely were more pop than the power-charged early Trick. "Baby It's Cold Outside" - is that the single you have?

there was definitely a little proto power-pop scene in Chicago clubs pre-dating the late 70s power pop explosion. Cheap Trick, Pezband, d'Thumbs (later Off Broadway)plus the Shoes recording in their Zion, Illinois living room. I saw the Shoes play some godforsaken club in suburban Detroit when their first Elektra LP came out, it was good.

The Moondogs - Talking In The Canteen
Salford Jets - Manchester Boys
The Jags - Back Of My Hand (By the way who knew that 'Twink' of the Pink Fairies/Pretty Things/Deviants was the guitarist on this?)
The Jook - King Capp
Tonight - Drummer Man
The Vapors - Turning Japanese
The Motors - Forget about You
Flintlock - Sooner Or Later
Regents - 7-Teen
Arrows - Touch Too Much
The Freshies - I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk
Starjets - War Stories
Yachts - Suffice To Say
Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him
Banned - Hey Little Girl
The Boys - First Time
Public Zone - Naive
Radiators - Let's Talk About The Weather
The Records - Starry Eyes
The Jolt - I Can't Wait
Radio Stars - No Russians In Russia
The Carpettes - Johnny Won't Hurt You
The Chords - Maybe Tomorrow
Trevor White - Crazy Kids
Holly and The Italians - Tell That Girl To Shut Up
Eddie Mooney and The Grave - I Bought Three Eggs
The Out - Who Is Innocent
The Pleasers - Lies
The Distractions - Boys Cry

from Dublin - not UK and weren't Holly and the Italians Yanks?

Anyone care to guess on which record Stewart Copeland was the drummer?

1. "September Gurls" - "Big Star"
2. "Overnight Sensation" - Raspberries
3. "Scream" - Artful Dodger
4. "Walking in the Rain" - Jay and the Americans
5. "I Saw the Light" - Todd Rundgren
6. "Never Thought It Would Happen" - Rubinoos
7. "Badge" - Cream
8. "Metro Jets" - Nick Gilder
9. "Real Big Man" - Greg Kihn
10. "When the Lights Are Out" - Call and Response

can't get over how friggin' great that song "the last letter" is on the milk & cookies reissue. been playing it for months and i don't think i'll ever get sick of hearing it.

I want scott seward's list upthread.

there's some VERY limited shoes japanese remasters and scored tongue twister and it sounds so damn lovely. and from there i sussed their site and un dans versailles was given a German re-ish. hope to be lucky 'nuff to score a copy. what a GREAT Zion-ist powerpop outfit. "powerpop" is vague but great music ain't

"Yes or No"'s my favourite from Tongue Twister.

Good thread. I'm enjoying this Kings album I haven't heard since I was a kid.

Hey Judy, get1 Judy
Ya said to call you up and I was feelin' moody
Hey little Donna, ah still wanna
Ya said to ring ya up when I was in Toronto

I have lots of friends that I can hang at anytime
In moments have some laughs with just one call
Like a bunch of lunatics with action way that's done
Sure we'll be rockin' till our strength is gone
Yeah, this beat goes on

. . . And. segue to Switchin' to Glide. WNCX in Cleveland plays this every Friday afternoon to start the 5pm hour, right after they play "Born to Run." They used to play Earth Quake's cover of "Friday On My Mind," but the switch to Kings is a welcome one.

I'm not surprised Cleveland does that. How cool. However, I am glad I haven't listened to this in thirty some years, it's fresh to me.

chuck warner was just in my store and he says he is working on a multi-volume regional power pop thing with numero group. vinyl! would buy.

Their "Titan: It's All Pop!" compilation is totally amazing, can't wait for the next installment.

I got the "Kings Are Here" CD some years ago, but I'm still bothered by the fact that the Beat/Switchin' on that doesn't sound like what I remember from when I was young. Maybe it's just me misremembering, but I'm still curious if the single released to radio was different.

Lotsa Kings talk on this thread from 4 years ago, starting here; you raised the same question then, but I don't think we ever answered it:

Rolling Hard Rock 2008 Thread

Guess I just have to buy an old single and find out...

What's happened to Geir? He should be here laying down his rules about what is and isn't powerpop.