Power Pop
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Raspberries
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, July 1972
RASPBERRIES opens with the finest burst of lightweight English rock I've heard all year, a raunchy 16-bar guitar intro, and followed by a verse that ...
Raspberries, The: The Story of the Raspberries
Interview by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, October 1972
"I couldn’t say what I wanted to say till she whispered 'I Love You', so please, baby, go all the way..." ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Fresh (Capitol)
Review by Mark Shipper, Phonograph Record, December 1972
THEY'RE A monument to youthful exuberance, a triumph of pure adolescent joyousness over post-teen disillusionment, and maybe just the last straw it's gonna take to ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Fresh
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Creem, February 1973
IT STARTS off with that unforgettable drum fill from ‘Loco-Motion’, now over a decade old, and then right into the opening chords from ‘One Fine ...
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, June 1973
I WISH, I wish, I wish. There's this song, 'I Remember A Time', on Blue Ash's debut album. Not that the whole album isn't magnificent, ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Side 3
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, October 1973
SINCE THEIR last time out, the Raspberries must have heard Blue Ash, or some vaguely threatening noises from the other side of Ohio, because a ...
Blue Ash: Can Blue Ash Sing The Whites?
Report by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, January 1974
YOU REMEMBER Blue Ash. They put out an album last year that all the critics loved. It was sort of Beatle-Byrdsish, yet quite original in ...
Review by Gary Sperrazza!, Shakin' Street Gazette, March 1974
OK, HERE'S THE STORY: Alex Chilton, fresh from his Memphis residence with the Boxtops ('The Letter', 'Cry Like A Baby', 'Sweet Cream Ladies') heads to ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Starting Over (Capitol)
Review by Gene Sculatti, Zoo World, September 1974
MAYBE YOU had 'em pegged wrong, in the matching mod suits, Eric Carmen mincing like the late Paul McC with an Ohio accent. But hey, ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Starting Over
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1975
APPARENTLY UNKNOWN to most of the British pop press and record buyers alike, the Raspberries have made six highly successful singles (five of them made ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Starting Over
Review by Dave Marsh, Let It Rock, April 1975
A YEAR AGO, the Raspberries seemed like nothing so much as a prefabricated rock band in the tradition of the Monkees. ...
Kinks, The: The Kinks: Schoolboys In Disgrace
Review by Miles, NME, January 1976
I LIKE THE KINKS a lot, but have to say that this album is a pretty uninspired collection of product. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, June 1976
ABOUT EIGHT OR nine months ago I was preposterously drunk in the Bottom Line club in New York watching the Roger McGuinn Band. ...
Interview by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, March 1977
NORMALCY FADES into obscurity as insurgents seek deliverance. Abruptly the backbeat returns. Then it all seems so clear. The Nerves are at one with the ...
Rubinoos, The: The Rubinoos: The Rubinoos
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1977
THE RUBINOOS, Beserkley Records' hot new quartet of Bay Area teenagers, lead off their debut album with a new version of Tommy James' 1967 classic ...
Rubinoos, The, Greg Kihn: Greg Kihn: Again; The Rubinoos: The Rubinoos (Beserkley)
Review by Paul Rambali, NME, June 1977
JOHNNY RAMONE recently pointed out that, if they had come out now instead of the mid-60’s, 'You Really Got Me' and 'Doo Wah Diddy' wouldn’t ...
Rubinoos, The: The Rubinoos: The Rubinoos
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, July 1977
THE RUBINOOS sing a song all about how rock & roll is dead. It shouldn't really worry them either way, because in Rubinoo-land everyone's a ...
Dwight Twilley: Twilley Don’t Mind
Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, August 1977
EVERYBODY KNOWS that people who write record reviews are supposed to complain every so often about what a crummy year it’s been for music, and ...
Dwight Twilley Band: Twilley Don't Mind (Shelter)
Review by Nick Kent, NME, October 1977
ALL THE OMENS seem up there in the ascendant for Dwight Twilley. All the rock critics love him to death and even the most austere ...
Dwight Twilley: The Dwight Twilley Band
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1977
EVEN ACROSS thousands of miles of trans-Atlantic telephone cable and several time zones Dwight Twilley exudes excited confidence. He's sure the time has come for ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, November 1977
ANYTHING BUT a cheap trick, in fact. You may wonder why you keep seeing this bunch mentioned in esoteric magazines like Who Put The Bomp ...
Greg Kihn: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, NME, December 1977
BY WAY of introduction, says Greg Kihn, short, smiling, bopping, "We're from Berkeley; that means we don't give a shit about nothing". ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, NME, January 1978
(AND YES, THEY DO WANT TO BE TEEN IDOLS...) ...
Power Pop part 1: Suddenly, Everything Is Power Pop!
Overview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, February 1978
A BRAND NEW YEAR and a brand new word for the media to fool about with, eh? What's it all about then, this Power Pop ...
Power Pop part 2: The C&A Generation In The Land Of The Bland
Comment by Jon Savage, Sounds, February 1978
TICK TOCK f – the clock/the pendulum swings...Oh it's so inevitable in post-punk letdown – the Pistols' 'split': sooooo symbolic – that attempts would be ...
Guide by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
If one may hazard an absurd guess based on no real information, it will probably be around November of this year when some smart punk ...
Cheap Trick: Heaven Tonight (Epic)
Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, August 1978
DANIEL AND GLORIA met at a rock flea market when their hands reached for the one over-priced copy of Hackamore Brick's One Kiss ...
Interview by John Tobler, Blank Space, 1979
AND DON'T forget that title – it’s not The Shoes, but simply the plural of the footwear without the definite article. There are four Shoes, ...
Cheap Trick, Fundamental Ache And The Concept Of Divine Effort
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, February 1979
SINCE THE onset of 'serious' rock criticism in the late Sixties there seems, for the most part, to have been a parting of the ways ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Best Of The Raspberries (Capitol)
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, March 1979
THE ONE clever thing that Eric Carmen's earlier outfit did was to put Overnight Sensation out in the summer, the one time the record could ...
Knack, The: The Knack: Starwood, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, New York Rocker, April 1979
ONCE UPON a time, The Knack was a movie starring (I believe) Michael Caine and Rita Tushingham. Set in swinging London, the plot revolved around ...
Retrospective by Dan Matovina, Trouser Press, May 1979
WHAT WOULD eventually become Badfinger started out as a part time local band in Swansea, Wales during the post-Mersey beat boom of 1964-66. Back then ...
Knack, The: The Knack: How You'll Be Getting It
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, June 1979
I LEANED over and whispered in the ear of the blank-looking blonde girl seated next to me: "I'm a stranger in this town, so maybe ...
Cheap Trick: An Afternoon Of Reality Therapy With Rick Nielsen & Cheap Trick
Report and Interview by Richard Riegel, Creem, July 1979
"IT'S LIKE I always tell people," says Rick Nielsen, "'I'm not a conservative, I'm a realist'." ...
Cheap Trick: Wake Up, Rick – You're The First Superstar of the '80s
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, NME, September 1979
LET'S NOT mince words. The basic premise here is the why, wherefores and whatevers backing up the simple contention that within the next 12 months ...
Knack, The: The Knack: Get The Knack
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, October 1979
PREAMBLE: In these inflationary (and indifferent) times, one expects a great deal from the investment of his/her time and/or money. Consequently, I have designed this ...
Report by Richard Riegel, Creem, January 1980
PACKS FEW FACTS, JACK (BUT STACKS OF TRACKS PUT THE PAX ON FLACKS' YAKS) ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, March 1980
"Nothing's been inflated and nothing's been enlarged/What you're looking at, baby, is the original model..."— Will Birch, 1977 ...
Profile and Interview by Steven X Rea, Trouser Press, March 1980
LAST SUMMER, holed up in Sound City Studios in the industrial pits of the San Fernando Valley, four musicians known collectively as 20/20 were deep ...
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, March 1980
HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20/20. In '79-'80, a pop renaissance is supposedly under way, stirring itself from a long hibernation like a groggy Boo Boo Bear, ...
Romantics, The: The Romantics: The Romantics
Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, April 1980
I CAN'T ACCEPT Shelley Hack as a Charlie's Angel (Spelling-Goldberg should burn in Nielsen purgatory for rejecting Claudia Jennings, who proceeded to smash up her ...
Beat, The (U.S.): The Beat (US): Beating For Pleasure
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, April 1980
THE KNACK without the goofball, Tom Petty without the peroxide and angst, the Beatles without the suffix. ...
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, April 1981
IT WAS IN 1977, The Year of the Anti-Christ, that Shoes released their official debut, Black Vinyl Shoes, on their own private label. In its ...
Altered Images: Pinky Blue (Epic)
Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, May 1982
IF THE jolly-jolly blancmange and Jellytot frills on the cover of Happy Birthday didn't, like the kid at the party who stuffed all the eClares, ...
Marshall Crenshaw's True Pop Ways
Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, September 1982
"I don't try to hang anybody up or get anybody over-involved in my hang-ups. I don't try to bore people with my problems. The main ...
Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall's Law
Interview by Richard Cook, NME, December 1982
ELVIS COSTELLO LOVES HIM... BUT NOBODY ELSE HAS EVER HEARD OF HIM! WE BRING YOU MARSHALL CRENSHAW – THE MOST ANONYMOUS NAME IN POP. SNAP: ...
Essay by Tom Hibbert, History of Rock, The, 1984
IN THE MID SIXTIES, within the music of groups like the Kinks, the Byrds and the Who, musical aggression and melodic invention had co-existed. But ...
Shake Some Action! The bands that put the Bomp in U.S. beat
Retrospective by Tom Hibbert, History of Rock, The, 1984
IN THE mid-Sixties, within the music of groups like the Kinks, the Byrds and the Who, musical aggression and melodic invention had co-existed. But with ...
Live Review by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, November 1993
AT THE BACK OF the hall stood a tall and bulky figure, taking light refreshment and delivering his expert verdict on the performance of the ...
Peter Case, Plimsouls, The: The Soul of the Plimsouls
Report and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Bob, The, October 1995
HOW IRONIC that it took a film about an RTD bus careening through the spaghetti network of Los Angeles freeways, unable to slow below 50 ...
Marshall Crenshaw, Amy Rigby: Marshall Crenshaw/Amy Rigby: Park West, Albany, NY
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996
ON THE first date of an East Coast mini-tour, Marshall Crenshaw and Amy Rigby are playing things semi-safe: Park West is a club sandwiched between ...
Cheap Trick: Light of the Trick
Interview by Tom Cox, Uncut, August 1997
The return of the pioneering power-pop band. ...
Review by Paul Lester, Uncut, August 1997
Cheap Trick: meta-metal power pop ...
Scruffs: The Scruffs: Wanna Meet The Scruffs?
Review by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, May 1998
THE MOST part of the whole wave of CD reissues is seeing these obscure gems that you're positive no one else could possibly care about ...
Posies, The, Ken Stringfellow: The Dandy: Getting Romantic with Ken Stringfellow
Interview by Everett True, Stranger, The, 1999
CONFESSION: I never liked the Posies. Felt they were too much in thrall to the sweet, spiked pop of Big Star. Disliked their skinny ties ...
Real Kids, The: It's Been Real: The Real Kids
Interview by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, 1999
WHEN I FIRST picked-up a dog-eared copy of that issue of Big Star in a Melbourne store in 1981 I was 16 and hooked on ...
Posies, The: Blooming In The Afterlife: The Posies
Retrospective and Interview by Mac Randall, launch.com, August 2000
IF YOU MEASURE a band's activity by the complexity of its release schedule, then you'd have to conclude that the year 2000 has been an ...
We Have the Power: A novice’s passport to the glorious sonic world of Power Pop
Guide by William Higham, Rock's Backpages, May 2001
"Power pop is what we play. What the Small Faces used to play and the kind of pop the Beach Boys played in the days ...
Gary Pig Gold's Top Ten All Time Power Pop People (in Chronological Order)
Guide by Gary Pig Gold, fufkin.com, July 2001
CERTAINLY WE COULD all be arguing blue-faced until that mythical Next Big Thing finally arrives over just what exactly IS "Pop," Powerful or otherwise. ...
Skinny Tie Heaven! The RBP Power Pop Top 100
Guide by William Higham, Rock's Backpages, August 2001
Chiming and choogling, winsomely pretty and archly melodic, freshfaced and faux-naif... yep, it's that formidable sub-genre POWER POP, a blissful marriage of melody and energy ...
Skinny Tie Heaven! The RBP Power Pop Top 100, Part 2! (50 - 1)
Guide by William Higham, Rock's Backpages, September 2001
William Higham concludes his epic list by nominating the Top 50 PP classix of all time... ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: Rebirth Of The Cool
Guide by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, November 2002
Who are they? The inspired combination of two of Cleveland's finest unsung rock bands of the late '60s – Cyrus Erie and The Choir – ...
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, Goldmine, 2003
MENTION THE NAME of the Jook a decade or so ago, and chances are, you'd be met with a blank gaze from anybody outside of ...
Big Star: Big Star Story (Rykodisc)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, January 2004
Mildly unsatisfactory smattering of tracks by genius Memphis quartet/trio – the acme of twisted '70s power pop. ...
Emitt Rhodes: Happy Happy, Joy Joy: Emitt Rhodes
Retrospective and Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA CityBeat, January 2004
EMITT RHODES still doesn’t know what hit him. Thirty years ago, he was the new Paul McCartney, an ambitious kid who craved the perfect pop ...
Badfinger: Magic Christian Music/No Dice/Straight Up
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, August 2004
TAKING THEIR NAME from the working title for 'With A Little Help From My Friends', it's ironic that Badfinger's famous pals could also be a ...
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, October 2005
WITNESSES TO BIG STAR'S comeback shows in 1993 would often find themselves shoulder-to-shoulder with sundry teary-eyed power poppers whose own bands owed a huge debt ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: House of Blues, Los Angeles
Live Review by Bill Holdship, LA CityBeat, October 2005
IN 1972, NOTHING sounded quite like the Raspberries' 'Go All the Way' and 'I Wanna Be With You' when they came roaring out of mono ...
dBs, The: Spies In The House Of Pop: The dB's and their star-crossed third album, Like This
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, June 2006
BY THE SUMMER of 1982 things were looking a bit grim for the dB's. ...
Overview by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, August 2006
(Note: the following piece was written prior to the recent release of the wonderful UK 2CD set At Full Speed: The Complete Sire Recordings, which ...
Chris Stamey, dBs, The, Peter Holsapple: Peter Holsapple: An Interview
Interview by Jeremy Gluck, Bucketful of Brains, Fall 2009
IN '82 WE WERE all listening to the dBs' second album, Repercussion. The Barracudas, having been shown the ejection seat by EMI, were in a ...
Dwight Twilley Band: Live From Agora (Gigatone)
Review by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, 2010
POWER POP ICONS the Dwight Twilley Band shared a number of attributes with Big Star apart from the obvious '70s power pop connection. Both band's ...
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