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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 21, 2023 11:10:38 GMT
The Heats I Don't Like Your Face (1980)Of the (many) things wrong with Rock and Roll in 2023 - the absence of really mean songs is one of them - so I'm going to post a mean obscure song a day through Thanksgiving because I don't like your face
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 3, 2023 19:58:37 GMT
Flamin' Groovies I'll Cry Alone (1978)
One of the great Power Pop songs - and one of the strangest productions of any Power Pop song ever - by Dave Edmunds - who seems to willfully create the atmosphere of a crackling, distant rain storm with vocals above everything that then seems muffled or like an old memory..........like a lot of Power Pop the song is singular by what is - at least on the surface - the sound of the recording being fncked up........and people who know this song love it in many cases in spite of - or maybe because of - that specific and odd production choice.......
You could argue it as the beginning of the low-fi aesthetic ......
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 9, 2023 23:13:37 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 12, 2023 22:45:37 GMT
Cheap Trick Oh Candy (1977)
The biggest Power Pop band maybe - after that term was started anyway.......Cheap Trick typified so many things it was almost funny:
A band of 4 guys who didn't look like they should be in the same band - maybe didn't even all know each other actually, who never really made a great album but made lots of striking songs - they are the band that defined the cliche that the genre is a "singles" medium.........and often they wrote very dark songs with sunny melodies "Oh Candy" a song that sounds like um, Candy but is about heroin's nice nickname - the song is about a death by overdose and it was way outside of the boy-girl Power Pop formula
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 13, 2023 22:22:49 GMT
The Muffs I Don't Know About You (2011)
One of the great problems with Power Pop is that the greatest bands just dabble in it -sometimes........... The Muffs were like that - they weren't expressly that kind of band but sometimes they were the best band in this style you ever heard........no one wrote bridges like Kim Shattuck - weird and memorable and they make her Power Pop songs special........
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 27, 2023 17:47:50 GMT
Thoughts on Alex Chilton on his (a little early) birth date - December 28, 1950 (deceased March 17, 2010) - and Brian WilsonTo some people Pet Sounds starts Power Pop - but like all things Pet Sounds related - this is sort of a lie........to others Big Star's Radio City perfected Power Pop - although like all things Alex Chilton related this is sort of a different kind of lie ........the next Big Star record is better imo but less Power Pop actually and less perfect Both artists - had brief great periods ...........both suffered nervous breakdowns.......both took a lot of pills........Wilson wrote great music mostly .........Chilton wrote great lyrics mostly........both artists have large myths and cults around these 2 records........and at one point the one covered the other with my favorite song from Pet Sounds - and my favorite version of the song........where he references "Charley Manson" - offhand, casual, smart-ass at the start - and weirdly makes a sweet, positive song sound somehow bittersweet and deeply sad too........ Alex Chilton turned that kind of effect into his very own kind of reckless Art
Happy Birthday to the GOAT - RIP
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 7, 2024 18:11:45 GMT
Starter Jackets Dark Days (2019)
This is Lanny Durbin's "other band" when he doesn't do his own thing Local Drags - but the co-leader here Luke Mitchell who is also in The Copyrights is kind of like Durbin is - a small time "genius" except not as good as Durbin - but sometimes their collaborations are terrific and you think they might make something as good as Local Drags did on Mess of Everything (2023) - last year's best Power Pop record.........they can't edit themselves and release too much but they scatter a lot of good stuff across singles, EPs, albums - and the songs sound like they were just written - they are that spontaneous ......this is one of Mitchell's but the guitar solo is Durbin........
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 28, 2024 16:12:50 GMT
The Umbrellas When You Find Out (2024)
The Twee Indie Pop Sensitive Artistes fresh off a sort of guilty pleasure pacinoyes positive album review on MAR (?!?) in their Hard-Rocking (ha!) 80s Jangle Power Pop style ...........which is their best style btw
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 29, 2024 19:51:49 GMT
The Beaches Blame Brett
In the great tradition of much Power Pop - bratty females singing about being bratty females...........utterly disposable except for the 3 minutes that it is on.......... and of course more timeless than the "Serious Art" it absolutely ignores anyway........pffft
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 23, 2024 20:02:16 GMT
Only slightly overrated but still one of the great Power Pop albums ..........and one of the few that can rival Alex Chilton for sloppiness which goes against the music in the best way....most people think this IS Big Star
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