A review of Bill Lloyd – Working the Long Game.
Bill Lloyd returns with a smart new album that will appeal to the PoP Faithful with its sophisticated take on Power Pop Rock N Roll. Lloyd is a Nashville based songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer who is most often remembered as half of the late ‘80’s RCA country-rock duo, Foster and Lloyd.
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Lost within the hype, attention and brouhaha over the 50th anniversary re-issue of The Beatles “White Album”, is First Collection 2006 – 2009, a retrospective on the early Fleet Foxes recordings.
After the success of last year’s Sgt Pepper remix reissue, this 50th anniversary edition of my favourite Beatles album was the one to look out for!
Hard rock revival? I fuckin’ hope so! Add another band to the burgeoning list – Ontario’s The Castor Troys.
Seattle new wave revivalists Spirit Award are back with a new album, Muted Crowd.
It’s impossible to be objective about Bohemian Rhapsody as I have been a Queen fan since 1977.
The Rachets (Ashbury Park, NJ) sound like a cross between The Clash, The ‘Mats and The Hold Steady. Which is fine with me!
A rare thing indeed to come across a pop song that addresses the social issues of Singapore but Shannon Luke has done exactly that with his latest single, “The Survey”.
Photo credit : James Omara
EC fans received a bit of a scare after the singer-songwriter cancelled a clutch of live dates due to ill health. But news of his recovery and the release of Look Now – one of Costello’s best albums of recent times – must have cheered diehard followers!
There is a pleasing new wave of music artists taking the bold step of making ‘real’ music again. The old-fashioned way, so to speak. Like Texas-based singer-songwriter Molly Burch.
Philly indie rockers Restorations return from a 4 year hiatus to deliver a powerful new album, LP5000.
In 2018, retro pop rock still has relevance though probably not for millennials and younger generations. But it matters not. I know that the PoP Faithful will enjoy these releases. Good enough!
Songwriting duo Scott McPherson and Jamie Grant present a debut album that lives up to its name.
Continuing our lookback at our publishing history with a decade-old review of Brass Bed!
BRASS BED Midnight Matinee (Self released)
I’m guessing that Brass Bed got their name from Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay but I could be wrong.
When Trump became President, there was lots of talk about how resistance to his administration would inspire loads of protest music similar to the 80s with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Has not quite panned out that way, so thank goodness for Seattle’s The Refusers!
The moment one gets into Ken Sharp’s latest album, Beauty in the Backseat, one is transported back to the ’70s, where pop-rock was king of the airwaves.
Once again, Bittersweet Machines (a.k.a. Matt Mocharnuk) delivers another potent shot of melodic adrenaline infused with 80s pop-rock sensibilities of the highest order!
Faithful visitors to Power of Pop will know how much I am a fan of the music of young singer/songwriter/guitarist Huxley Rittman.
Blast from the distant PoP past – 15 years on…
THE JAYHAWKS Rainy Day Music (Lost Highway/American)
After the greater pop emphasis of Sound of Lies and Smile, the Jayhawks return to the roots rock approach of their earlier albums (especially Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass) with this, their first album with the Lost Highway label (also home of that other alt-country standard bearer, Ryan Adams).
If you are a rabid fan of Power Pop Rock N Roll, then Addison Love‘s new album (out now on Big Stir Records) is an easy sell.
Risk-taking is such a rare thing in the contemporary music scene, that when it does happen it hits us like a lightning bolt!
An ELO review from 2001!
If the announcement of a new ELO album, after a 15-year absence, raised eyebrows, then the realisation that Zoom is essentially Jeff Lynne playing everything caused many brows to furrow.
Photo Credit : Jim Jennings
London rockers The Swagger release their new single “Heart ‘N’ Soul” which continues in the vein of their debut EP (2016) i.e. a ballsy amalgam of ’90s Britpop and ’00s garage-punk that deserves our attention!
The Dahlmanns return with “American Heartbeat”, a teaser for upcoming new album of the same name, dropping at the end of the month!
Another new release from a member of the Pop Underground – this time, it’s Kerry Kompost Chicoine!
