Film. TV. Music. Comics. Reviews and Analyses.
FUR When You Walk Away
Fur is a British rock band based in Brighton and is intent on recapturing the Britpop excellence of The Beatles, The Kinks, The Jam and Blur. When You Walk Away represents the band’s first full-length album after a series of well-received EPs and singles.
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The Verve Pipe is an American rock band from Michigan. It was formed in 1992 in East Lansing by Brian Vander Ark, Brian Stout and Donny Brown. Threads is the band’s latest album and contains the usual melodic rock that fans have grown accustomed to in its almost three decades’ history.
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What’s Yours and Mine is the long awaited and much anticipated third album from seminal Singapore indie rock band, The Oddfellows. Released thirty years on from Teenage Head, the band’s landmark debut album, What’s Yours and Mine is an excellent comeback which while keeping everything The Oddfellows are beloved for but adding also a layer of maturity and confidence to the mix as well.
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beabadoobee is the first artist under this fresh continuing series (hopefully) covering young bands/artists making new music that qualifies as Power Pop Rock N’ Roll. Yes, despite our protestations to the contrary, it does seem that there are young people out there still stubbornly utilising guitars, bass, drums (and keyboards) to write and record music. Not a review so much as a discovery feature that will shine a spotlight on deserving bands/artists who produce the kind of music that Power Pop Rock N’ Roll fans of all ages will enjoy and appreciate.
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So, Chris Church is a Facebook ‘friend’ and I am only now finding out that he is a Power Pop Rock N Roll singer-songwriter of the highest order? Dayum.
Church’s new album, Backwards Compatible, is exactly what we need to cope with the clusterfuck that Covid—19 has turned the world into.
For music fans out there who still hold the 90s Pop Underground close to their hearts, Backwards Compatible is a literal godsend, evoking the likes of Cheap Trick, Guided By Voices, Splitsville, Fountains of Wayne et al with 12 gorgeous gems that bear repeating.
C’mon, anyone who has ever read my music writing will know what I dig – memorable melodies, heavenly harmonies, pommeling percussions of course guitars that gleam, jangle and crunch!
And Chris Church’s Backwards Compatible ticks every single box. And how!
Not much else I need to say – if like me you swear by Power Pop Rock N Roll, this album is for YOU!
… still there’s more …
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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Songwriting duo Scott McPherson and Jamie Grant present a debut album that lives up to its name.
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.
Now this is more like it! A band that self-identifies as a punk band and none of that fuckin’ “pop-punk” bullshit!
Faithful visitors to Power of Pop will know how much I am a fan of the music of young singer/songwriter/guitarist Huxley Rittman.
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.
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!
My favourite music revels in eclecticism – taking basic building blocks and constructing wildly imaginative creations that impress and surprise even the most jaded of music experts.
I have previously covered the music of DC power trio Dot Dash and will always be pleased to do so as they competently encapsulate everything Power of Pop stands for.
Photo credit : Suzi Carmichael
There’s a slinky 60s pop vibe around L.A. band Livingmore that is simply irresistible.
The Pop Underground lives on in new Power Pop Rock N Roll releases like Michael Slawter’s Last Call for Breaking Hearts.
10 year old review!
P. HUX Kiss the Monster (Nine 18)
My 1st encounter with P. Hux came in the unlikeliest places. A discount CD store somewhere in a Sydney suburb in 1997. That’s where I found Deluxe, which I consider to be one of the finer power pop albums in that pristine period of pop renaissance that was the late 90s.
Photo credit : Aloysius Lim/LAMC Productions
It says a lot about the current state of the live music scene in Singapore that Northern Irish power trio, ASH’s display of melodic crunch last night at the Hard Rock Cafe was a rare occasion for music fans to truly rock out in an intimate setting!
Our kind of music is under threat! But thank heavens ASH will be in town this coming Tuesday to give us a timely reminder of what the music world is missing!
Continuing our look back at our review history. Here’s one from 2002!
XTC
Coat of Many Cupboards
(Virgin)
Be warned! This 4-CD box is NOT for neophytes but for the diehard fans who can’t wait to get their grubby hands on any XTC material.
Photo credit: Nate Burrell
Another authentic Power Pop Rock N Roll treasure dropping our way soon with Summer Magic’s Sharks and Other Dangers!
Another blast from the past out of the PoP archives. One of our favourite albums of 2001!
THE ROSENBERGS
Mission: You
[DGM]
The Rosenbergs have created a bit of brouhaha with their turning down a spot on Jimmy (Iovine) and Doug’s (Morris) Farmclub.com due to unfavorable contractual terms in favor of a more progressive deal with Discipline Global Mobile, the label co-owned by Robert (King Crimson) Fripp and David Singleton.