Spring Forward Soundtrack: Power Pop

Slowly catching up so forgive staleness of commentary. Dave, no surprise about jangliness of the Soft Boys because Robyn Hitchcock was its frontman,

bub said:

Slowly catching up so forgive staleness of commentary. Dave, no surprise about jangliness of the Soft Boys because Robyn Hitchcock was its frontman,

And don't forget Kimberley Rew, "the six-string guardian of old England," as Mr. Hitchcock put it.

DaveSchmidt said:

bub said:

Slowly catching up so forgive staleness of commentary. Dave, no surprise about jangliness of the Soft Boys because Robyn Hitchcock was its frontman,

And don't forget Kimberley Rew, "the six-string guardian of old England," as Mr. Hitchcock put it.

Who wrote "Going Down to Liverpool" and Walking on Sunshine."

90's pop/rock band fronted by Sonya Aurora Maden (from New Delhi) - the thickest British accent you'll ever hear:

Dave - I know you dug the David Mead entry a few pages back. Here's two more from his debut CD The Luxury of Time. This guy should give a songwriting course...

cuethesun said:

This guy should give a songwriting course...

Thanks! From the looks of the CD cover, he may have taken one.

These Brits were onto something early.

These wonderful boys could jangle up a guitar but definitely not in the service of happy, teen dreamy music:

Hook overload. Standing down.

Not that it settles who are the originators of PP, don't think anyone has pointed out that Pete Townshend coined the phrase

http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2002/09/07/power-pop-the-70s-the-birth-of-uncool/

More of my faves, some straddling the punk pop line..

Greatest guilty pleasure single ever?

Bass player on this lives in S.O.

Train_of_Thought said:

Bass player on this lives in S.O.

Liked that a lot, enough to look up Mach Five on Allmusic.com. And what did I discover there? That they recorded this at Ardent Studios.

Hmm. I wonder who else recorded at Ardent? And who manages it now?

DaveSchmidt said:

Train_of_Thought said:

Bass player on this lives in S.O.

Liked that a lot, enough to look up Mach Five on Allmusic.com. And what did I discover there? That they recorded this at Ardent Studios.

Hmm. I wonder who else recorded at Ardent? And who manages it now?

PM'ed you.

Butch Walker before the many great solo releases, production and songwriting credits:

Dk: Terrific article!

From that article: Ken Sharp, author of books on the Raspberries, Cheap Trick and power pop itself, says it best: “Power pop is the Rodney Dangerfield of rock ‘n’ roll. It is the direct updating of the most revered artists—the Who, the Beach Boys, the Beatles—yet it gets no respect.”

More from Ken Sharp (it's a happy accident that dk's post made it dawn on me he's the same guy):

Dave is right that you can't go at this at a constant pace, with the dangers of sweetness toxicity and whatnot, but don't let it die.

I would refine, perhaps differ a little, on the supposed lack of respect. First, many rock critics are reverential about at least certain power pop over the years, not that I hang on the words of critics, so its not external lack of respect that is the defining factor. I think its the artists' own attitude about it that is . . . I'm struggling for the right word. Most these people are much more musically sophisticated, skilled and informed than the simpler more innocent pop music they are referring back to in their own PP songs. There's a loving, nostalgic but not entirely serious nod and a wink quality about it. Like "Hey, I used to play abrasive, profanity filled punk rock and now I sound like the teen singer of the Left Banke on Walk Away Renee! For 3 minutes and 30 seconds,we can be kids again like on the Ed Sullivan show!" And that's fine with me.

bub said:

I think its the artists' own attitude about it that is . . . I'm struggling for the right word.

"Self-conscious"? It can be a hard habit to break.

Thanks for that thoughtful post. You would've been welcome to join me and my dateless pals at the movie theater for "A Hard Day's Night" (remastered re-release) on prom night.

"Self-conscious." That is the word. Sorry for the long winded substitute.

Don't know why something from this not obscure band didn't show up earlier. Perhaps this cut from the great "It's a Shame About Ray":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR4_IC8qb9g&sns=em

(URLs from my tablet don't seem to be working anymore. Will try to embed from my desktop when I can.)

Dave - we were in the middle of a fix - temporarily had to remove the ability to autolink and youtube embed. We just restored a previous version - hope to have a more stable fix tomorrow.

Thanks, @jamie. (I noticed it sometime yesterday, but then the embed code on my desktop did the trick. Suspected a fix might be going on. Anyway, way above my acumen. Thanks again.)

Was not a big fan of this band in its stardom years but this cut from their first album is a PP gem: