quote:

Originally posted by less_success:
I've been listening the Replacements' "Alex Chilton" 10 times a day for like a week. I'm not all that familiar with this style of music, and I wanted to make a nice mix tape of similiar songs. So, I'm looking for some suggestions from a group of experts. ^^

Here's some tracks I think would be pretty cool on a mix with "Alex Chilton".

1. "Anything, Anything" - Dramarama.
2. "Postcards from Paradise" - Flesh for Lulu.
3. "No Myth" - Michael Penn
4. "Your Love" - The Outfield
5. "A Girl Like You" - The Smithereens
6. "Somebody to Shove" - Soul Asylum
7. "Prettiest Whore" - East River Pipe
8. "September Gurls" - Big Star. Actual Alex Chilton.
9. "Since You're Gone" - The Cars
10. "Jessie's Girl" - Rick Springfield. Seriously.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
10. "Jessie's Girl" - Rick Springfield. Seriously.

Great list, e., and nobody should ever hesitate to list "Jessie's Girl." It's a great, great single.

I've put together a few power pop mixes for friends lately that draw heavily from the sadly out of print Rhino collections (Poptopia, the D.I.Y. series). Here are a few tracks from the 70s, which was near at hand that might fit the bill:

Big Star "September Gurls" <-- it bears repeating
Eddie and the Hot Rods "Do Anything You Wanna Do"
The Flamin' Groovies "Shake Some Action"
The Rubinoos "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"
The Records "Starry Eyes"
The Cars "Just What I Needed" <-- in addition to e's suggestion, just about anything from their debut will do
Cheap Trick "Surrender"
Nick Lowe "Cruel to Be Kind"

I'd love to recommend some Blue Ash, but I think everything from their catalog is out of print right now.

Now, you just need to get crazed and pE to check in. They're walkin', breathin' power and jangle pop encyclopedias.

Now Playing: "The Block Tied to My Ankles" Hot Pink Karma The Future is Vintage

I can't disagree with any of the choices so far.
Super-special bonus points to ericg75 for putting "Postcards from Paradise" on that list. That is one of my top 5 ALL TIME songs, and not that many people know it, sadly. You get a lifetime cool pass from me, ericg75, no matter how much of an old cane-shaking fogey you've become.

I could add several, some more obscure than others:

1. "Go All the Way" The Raspberries
2. "What I Like About You" The Romantics
3. "Yellow Pills" 20/20
4. "Good Girls Don't" The Knack'
5. "Rock and Roll Girl" The Beat
6. "In The Street" Big Star (most people know this as the theme to "That 70's Show")
7. "So It Goes" Nick Lowe
8. "Whole Wide World" Wreckless Eric
9. "Teenage Kicks" The Undertones
10. "Hanging on the Telephone" The Nerves
11. "Wayside" Artful Dodger
12. "Zero Hour" Plimsouls
13. "Back of My Hand (I've Got Your Number" The Jags
14. "Girl of My Dreams" Bram Tchaikovsky


That's all late 70's/early 80's.

In thinking about 80's through present, I'd have to offer up Matthew Sweet, Jellyfish, the Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Fountains of Wayne, the Hangups, Tommy Keene...so many more. I'd have to think on it.

If the reference point is Replacements-y power pop, though, I'd throw out several bands that wear that influence on their sleeves:

1. You Am I
2. The Star Spangles
3. The Goo Goo Dolls (earlier rather than later: the 3rd and 4th records are classic 'Mats records made by the Dolls)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: philosopherEric,

Great lists! Nice to see Artful Dodger mentioned. I'd love to have their albums on cd. As for Blue Ash, there's an excellent collection from them still available called Around Again. I believe Not Lame and Kool Kat Records still offer it and it's worth every cent.

Here's a list of power pop/jangle pop songs I enjoy that one might like (or not) if they also dig the "Alex Chilton" track. Always nice to explore them regardless.

1. "1x2x Devastated" -DM3
2. "The Ballad of El Goodo" -Big Star
3. "You Could've Told Me" -Tim Lee
4. "Someday Soon" -The Waking Hours
5. "Slipping (Into Something)" -The Feelies
6. "Janet Greene" -Sun Sawed in Half
7. "Love Is for Lovers" -the dbs
8. "Ju Ju Man" -Dave Edmunds
9. "She's My Kinda Girl" -The Summer Suns
10. "Silver Lakes" -The Lolas
11. "Kim the Waitress" -Material Issue (the original) or the Green Pajamas (very nice cover)
12. "Racing After You" -Richard X. Heyman
13. "Can't Put a Price on Love" -The Knack
14. "Hold On" -Ian Gomm
15. "Sitting on a Porch in L.A." -Ken Sharp
16. "Anna" -The Spongetones
17. "So Right" -Orange Peels
18. "So It Goes" -Nick Lowe
19. "Follow You All over the World" -Marti Jones
20. "In a Pinwheel Spin" -The Rooks

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:
...Teenage Fanclub...

Teenage Fanclub were oddly absent from my other list. Weird, since they made one of my all time favorite power pop albums, Bandwagonesque. While that entire album is great, I'd especially recommend "Alcoholiday", "December", or the epic opener "The Concept" as a great addition to any jangly, power pop mix.

I also second anything from Fountains of Wayne's self-titled debut, which blows the doors off of "Stacy's Mom", especially "Sink to the Bottom" or "Please Don't Rock Me Tonight"

I'm a little more at home with the experimental weirdo stuff, but I'm really enjoying the dbs along with the only ones and a couple others mentioned on here. Here's a couple more I think might qualify:

Beulah - Handsome Western States and When Your Heartstrings Break are both worth checking out.

Has someone mentioned the Kinks before? They get grouped with the british invasion much more often than power pop, but I think they fit the definition nicely (or at least just my power pop ideal).

I'd like to second the motion on xtc (I think I saw them mentioned earlier). They've been pretty much my favorite band for the last 3 months. Albums: White Music (I think the dismemberment plan is happily reminiscent of early xtc.), drums and wires, black sea, skylarking. I'm not a huge fan of english settlement - not sure why.

Do you have the single or double album of English Settlement? It probably doesn't matter; keep playing whichever one you have.

The new covers disc by Michael Carpenter, SOOP #2 (Songs of Other People) is a collection of Aussie power popper Carpenter's favorite songs and artists on the bill at the International Pop Overthrow Festival.

It's loaded with gems from people I don't really know, but also from the power pop elite: Robbie Rist, Myracle Brah, The Shazam, etc.

Ace tracks: Sutliff's "Long Red Bottle of Wine" and the Shazam's "Super Tuesday."

Order now: SOOP #1 went OOP ASAP.

I agree with pE about Michael Carpenter's SOOP #2, it's an excellent cover album. Lucky I was to get the first set as well.

The v/a comp Spanish Poppers is a very nice collection of either Spanish power-pop artists (singing in English or Spanish) or mostly US artists that record for the Spanish label, Snap.

One of the best finds on this album is The Winnerys with two very Beatlesque demos. Los Nervios conjures up a great cover of "Suspicious Minds". Plus there are two tracks each from two of my favorite power-pop bands, Suzy & Los Quattro and Bubblegum. Quite a few new-to-me bands on the disc that I'll be hunting down some recorded material.

I think somebody on this thread mentioned Not Lame Records (notlame.com) as a pretty good source for power pop. It's definitely worth checking out.

I ordered a 40-song "sampler" CD from them earlier this year for like $5, and the hit-to-miss ratio is surprisingly good.

quote:

Originally posted by Arthur2Sheds:
I think somebody on this thread mentioned Not Lame Records (notlame.com) as a pretty good source for power pop. It's definitely worth checking out.

I ordered a 40-song "sampler" CD from them earlier this year for like $5, and the hit-to-miss ratio is surprisingly good.

Not Lame is great, both as a retailer and a label. But be warned: every single thing on the site is "extremely highly recommended!" which often leads to blind purchases of stuff that may be, well, mediocre. In particular, I've been burned by stuff that was compared to XTC and Jellyfish, but was merely odd and/or overly produced. Most of the time, though, they're pretty good.

quote:

Not Lame is great, both as a retailer and a label. But be warned: every single thing on the site is "extremely highly recommended!" which often leads to blind purchases of stuff that may be, well, mediocre. In particular, I've been burned by stuff that was compared to XTC and Jellyfish, but was merely odd and/or overly produced. Most of the time, though, they're pretty good.

Speaking of Jellyfish, I've seen their name pop up a few times, both here and in other discussion boards. Where's a good place to start with them?

Well, you can't go wrong with either of their two albums, but I still prefer the first one, Bellybutton. Although you can hear plenty of Beatles influences, it seems to have better songs and more of a unique personality. I believe I'm in the minority though because Spilt Milk seems to have a better reputation. It's a fine album; the production is much-bigger, and they literally throw in everything but the kitchen sink. They also really get into some Beach Boys and Queen-type vocal harmonies. I'm sure pE will respond and talk about all the offshoots too.

I'm in agreement with mark...you should get both. But start with Bellybutton, which is ten perfect slices of power pop. Spilt Milk does add a whole lot of Queen to the mix, but it's a nice addition. The offshoots of Jellyfish are, to some degree, not adding much to the legacy. Singing drummer Andy Sturmer hasn't done much. Roger Manning has done a few things (The Moog Cookbook, Imperial Drag) but I've not liked them. He does have a solo record coming out that, based on the version I've heard, could be pretty good. The best of the Jellyfish-related solo stuff comes from Jason Falkner, who was only on Bellybutton, and whose solo records are all excellent.

I was never that crazy about Jellyfish, but I'd say Bellybutton is light years better than Spilt Milk, unless you're a huge Queen fan. For some reason, they decided to make the transition from Beatlesque pop band to Queen tribute band between the two albums.

Thanks for the feedback. I ordered both CDs from Amazon today for a grand total of only $11.

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:
Roger Manning has done a few things (The Moog Cookbook, Imperial Drag) but I've not liked them.

Hey, pE, check out his new on for this year, The Land of Pure Imagination. I've been spinning it for almost two months and am liking it lots and lots. I don't know why it's received so little attention. Outside of an interview on the Rhinocast earlier this year, I've not heard boo about it.

Now Playing: "Thank You" Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II <-- I am on the biggest LZ kick right now. I don't know why...

Now Playing: "Thank You" Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II <-- I am on the biggest LZ kick right now. I don't know why...[/QUOTE]

I was always kind of dismissive of Led Zeppelin–probably because they were so unavoidable all through high school–but then I picked up How the West Was Won on a whim (nice alliteration there) a while back, and haven't looked back since.

Still can't stand Stairway to Heaven though...

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:

Not Lame is great, both as a retailer and a label. But be warned: every single thing on the site is "extremely highly recommended!" which often leads to blind purchases of stuff that may be, well, mediocre. In particular, I've been burned by stuff that was compared to XTC and Jellyfish, but was merely odd and/or overly produced. Most of the time, though, they're pretty good.

Very true about the "extremely highly recommended!" labels at Not Lame. I been burned on cds compared with the Byrds and the Beach Boys. Such albums may feature Beach Boys-like harmonies on a song or two but that's where the comparison ends. But I have learned to listen to more samples than the ones NL offer for the albums they sell.

Two more great sites for power-pop cds is Kool Kat Musik and Jam Records. Like Not Lame, both have very friendly service and can recommend/special order stuff you're looking for.

Yeah, most of my Not Lame duds came from the era before song samples online. I used to print out and religiously read their monthly new release lists. I just don't have the time now.

All of the labels you mention are great for power pop. Kool Kat generally has the better pricing, and Ray's a really nice guy.