Jason whipped I Can't Go On, I'll Go Onby The Broken West my way last spring. I love it. This is wonderful, pure, Power Pop sent from the clouds. The Broken West, out of sunny LA, open the album with one of the best tunes of the last five years, "On the Bubble." This track makes any brilliant pop cassette even better. It gives a striking opening punch to any comp you put together. The rest of the album is just amazing and as much as I repeat "On The Bubble," "You Can Build An Island" is my favorite track. There's great guitar work here, brilliant harmonies, and this is such a strong, kick ass debut, that I'm going to stand in the street and scream about it.
Their sophomore effort, Now Or Heaven, has just been released. I haven't heard it yet but that's going to be part of my life's work for the next few days.
Here's an abstract from Angelo, the man responsible for taking us to Power Pop Heaven. Thanks, Angelo.
If you're blogging around, now you know there's a list of the 200 most essential power pop recordings of the last +35 years. John M.Borack has put together the list for the excellent "Shake Some Action" book published by Bruce Brodeen and Not Lame. John Borack is one of the preeminent writers/reviewers covering the power pop/pure pop musical style we all know and love. You may or may not agree with the list (IMHO i do agree mostly with that list, even though mine would have been different) but i guess it would be interesting to post a complete "Best" of the ultimate power pop guide. So, i picked one song from each album selected by John Borack. My picks were totally subjective, so you won't get any "September Gurls", Rock'n'Roll Girl"', "Tomorrow Night" or other all-time classics. I tried (but not always) to not chose the songs you could already find on some famous power pop compilations ("Yellow Pills", "Poptopia" or the Rhino "DIY Series" and many others...).
Ah, the opening track on "Fresh." You can't beat an album that opens with a simple drum roll that segues into chiming, open chords, and lyrics about teenage romance. "I Wanna Be With You" makes Vietnam seem like a distant memory, even if it's 1972. Just think about it, there you are in your Duster driving to the "Stop n Shop" thinking about Vietnam, if only for a minute, and the DJ spins out this nugget of pure powerpop shang-a-lang. You can't help but go faster, turn up that factory-in dash stereo, and drive straight to your girlfriend's house or trailer. Chances are she's got a cooler car. Dad bought her that Nova.
And you knew that tonight would feel so right didn't you? I mean you've been seeing her for what four months and she hasn't given it up? Well Eric Carmen's made everything alright for you... He's given you an in. There's nothing that would make a 1972 Ohio evening perfect and all that silly war crap go away than you and your girl, in the back of her car, with "I Wanna Be With You" blaring the hi-fi. It's like Eric Carmen is Cyrano. He's taking the panties off for you. He's so convincing. Your love could really live forever, tonight.
But be careful. For while "I Wanna Be With You" is one of the greatest powerpop songs of all time, I mean all the ingredients are there, it's all harmonies, a walking bass line, chimey guitars, the verses are only two frickin' lines, the song does have one of rock's signature lyrics encouraging date rape...
"Hold me tight
Our love could live forever after tonight
If you believe that what we're doing is right
Close your eyes and be still."
Or it's the best line to get into a girl's pants EVER!
A Missouri based blogozine covering music, politics, Clown Mouse, and other things. Featuring essays, reviews, recommendations, rants, things you would've learned had you not been listening to ________, and you may now lick the spoon.
Jason whipped I Can't Go On, I'll Go On by The Broken West my way last spring. I love it. This is wonderful, pure, Power Pop sent from the clouds. The Broken West, out of sunny LA, open the album with one of the best tunes of the last five years, "On the Bubble." This track makes any brilliant pop cassette even better. It gives a striking opening punch to any comp you put together. The rest of the album is just amazing and as much as I repeat "On The Bubble," "You Can Build An Island" is my favorite track. There's great guitar work here, brilliant harmonies, and this is such a strong, kick ass debut, that I'm going to stand in the street and scream about it.
