Entertainment For Lively Minds
Power Pop
Posted by SimonL on 6 August 2009 - 1:58pm.
My iPod threw up three blinders in a row today:
Feel A Whole Lot Better - The Byrds
Don't Burst My Bubble - The Small Faces
Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
Whilst not strictly genre 'power pop' they are surely three absolute classic examples of what I feel power pop to be.
Come on, your power pop classics, genre or otherwise.
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The Raspberries
How about geographical sub-genres?
That Ed Ball....
American Girl
Tom Petty
Them Again
When you said them -
Thought you meant Them. Power O'Pop - or what?
Gloria is the best record ever made period. Oh wait - maybe it's "Here Comes the Night"?
Feck it - knock yerself out
http://open.spotify.com/user/sheevmaster/playlist/1dlJQBYTWSF4XZCJPs6iTh
My favourite is 'The Story Of Them'
Van's first great story song
I've already done The Fags to death. So..
They just should have been the biggest band ever and they're still the finest live act I've seen. It can only be Jellyfish.
And for more high-octane stuff
Great
track - and great to hear it again after the longest time.
My poor old lame brain conflates it with Near Wild Heaven by the REMsters which is also not exactly bad
Jellyfish
made 2 of my favourite albums.
Bellybutton and Spilt Milk
are both fantastic records.
A clear winner for the 90s?
I was looking for Now She Knows Wrong by Jellyfish but the youtube sound is terrible on the uploaded live version.
http://open.spotify.com/track/0ukbRYcU1hDzoqMdzLx3So
Neil Jung tops it by a whisker I'd say..
And I looked at Now She Knows She's Wrong as well. I wonder why none of the original videos are up there? The live stuff all seems to be from the same gig.
Boys Wonder
who later got the Acid Jazz bug..
Class of 78
Buster Collins' favourite band
Boys Wonder
I'll presume that's The Action as my office firewall isn't being very friendly.
Meanwhile Ben from Boys Wonder is drumming for the reformed Moment and producing some recordings for them, which apparently the intent is to produce the definitive powerpop tune...
Shadows & Reflections
You can see how rapidly my, at first glance, eclectic Power Pop offerings are unraveling into a single strand of associated modernist music. Where's the Direct Hits button Simon?
The Scene
A class piece of Mod power pop if we're going to go there...I did think Modesty Blaise by The Direct Hits, but that's been posted before..
Those fine "Flamin Groovies"
and "Shake Some Action"
http://open.spotify.com/track/3GqP6bUY1XHVlThBoQQk0z
The Records - Starry Eyes
The Cars
... always spring to my mind when the term Power Pop is evoked. And there is certainly nothing wrong with their first album. Likewise, Martha and the Muffins.
Here's another genre defining classic:
I consider...
...Power Pop to be a distinctly American phemonena. I picked up this compilation a few years ago;
http://www.amazon.com/D-I-Y-Come-American-Power-1975-78/dp/B0000032YM/re...
it contains this beauty. You may have heard it elsewhere...
This one's also brilliant. It can be found on the Children of Nuggets boxset and a recently released Nerves compilation.
Not entirely American
eg:
In fact of British origin really
...you may have heard of these guys:
Small Faces - as mentioned by OP
All or Nothing - and on Morecambe & Wise too.
As British as fish & chips, a pickled onion and and a bottle of (power) pop
Anglo- American collaboration?
When You Walk in the Room - the Searchers via Jackie De Shannon
More recently these guys
Although with that name they were NEVER going to be a hit in the UK. Great band, and really nice guys too, shame they called it a day.
I merely comment to prove that I have read this thread
Because apparently, I don't comment on enough "other threads".
4.31pm
noted.
C'mon Andrew..
... what's YOUR favourite power-pop artist? :-)
Yeah, but
you're only here because you've been at a no Herring, no podcast loose end though, haven't you?
I've been missing my fix this week, especially as the in car one last week was so very silly.
And this guy....
Can only be Big Star
...and September Gurls:
Oh absolutely..
Jolly nice, that. Interesting, though because most of Big Star's stuff sounds like the only guitar is a Strat. September Gurls has lead and rhythm with, obviously, a Les Paul at the front.
The late great Kirsty MacColl
and this:
Does this count?
yes
it counts, slices, and dices. nice one.
Or you could try
The Loud Family
Bloody 'ell!
Someone else likes The Loud Family! I thought I was the only one...
Behind the Wall of Sleep
The Smithereens
http://open.spotify.com/track/4T5Rcn6qefZOUMgDb8AkEt
Have we heard from Canada?
Three frozen power pop fossils from the days of white socks roaming the planet, aimlessly.
drummer's verse is SOLID YUKON GOLD!!!
Bloody 'ell!
Someone else likes The Sloans! Thought I was etc... (see Loud Family post)
Methinks Sloan are Power Pop Personified. Here's another top tune:
Sloan
Someone else loves 'em too
Only know
this McCartney cover version by them, but it's pretty good...
Another classic from The Raspberries
Have we heard from Oz?
Mr Jackson gave good PP
back in the day:
Power Pop faves...
Here's some of my favourite "power pop" albums":
Matthew Sweet "Altered Beast"
Fountains Of Wayne first album
Velvet Crush "Teenage Symphonies To God"
Boss Martians "The Set Up"
Minus 5 "At The Organ"
The Singles "Better Than Before"
Plimsouls "Everywhere At Once"
Apples In Stereo "Tone Soul Evolution"
Teenage Fanclub "Bandwagonesque"
dB's "Stands For Decibels"
1990's "Cookies"
Cheap Trick "Rockford"
Raspberries "Starting Over"
Marshall Crenshaw "This Is Easy"
Big Star "#1 Record/Radio City
The Romantics "What I Like About You"
Redd Kross "Show World"
Spongetones "Oh Yeah"
Paul Collins' Beat "Kids Are The Same"
Greenberry Woods "Rappled Apple"
Gigolo Aunts "Flippin' Out"
Splitsville "Complete Pet Soul"
Posies "Frosting On The Beater"
Nada Surf "Let Go"
Myracle Brah "Life On Planet Eartsnop"
That should be enough to be getting on with...!
Velvet Crush
What a great album that is - nice to know I wasn't the only person who bought it.
Just thinking about it makes me smile.
I think pretty much all of those records
will put a big smile on your face - not much urban angst in that lot!
Home at last!
My kinda thread... a few late entries (can't access the you-tube links etc so I don't know if they've been covered?):
Zumpano - Goin' Through Changes
Green Pajamas - Strung Behind The Sun (feat. Dr Dragonfly - one of the best psych-Beatles pastiches ever)
Daryll-Ann - Weeps
Papas Fritas - Helioself
Cotton Mather - Kontiki
Guided By Voices - (say) I Am A Tree, Glad Girls (and many others)
Also, anyone mentioned Badfinger?
not on this thread
but yes on the "Current best record" one
The Posies
Glad to the The Posies get a mention on this thread at last."Flavour of the Month" is the epitome of power pop,to my ears anyway.
Spongetones
Glad to see my favorite band, The Spongetones, listed here! Started a blog which can be found here:
http://www.spongetunes.com Please visit!
Power Pop songs
How about Shake Some Action by the Flaming Groovies?
The Hermans Hermits of Hair Metal