Volume two shifts to the USA, which in the late 70’s, deep in the thrall of Jimmy Carter, John Travolta and cheap cocaine, often lacked the lean edge of desperation which propels the best power-pop. However, the SSA team expertly juxtaposes the different facets of America’s Me Decade Pop Underground. We certainly get our share of nonthreatening low-power-pop (like Gary Charlson), which at its worst sinks to the Boston-on-a-budget AOR sound of Arlis! (and their annoying exclamation mark). Then there's a slew of Beatles worshippers, like Revolver, The Pop and the Boys (who may not be the bands you think they are) which help connect America and England on some mondo-retro level. Also on the Anglophillic side of things, we have the more sneering, propulsive Elvis Costello-like bands like the Reaction Formation, the Puppet Rulers and the Re-Runs. Best of all, representing a kind of power-jangle, Anglo-American fusion, are bands like Shivvers who kick off this comp with Teenline, which builds to a full-throttle crescedo and The Marshals who somehow managed (despite little else to recommend them) to write the most soaring attack on dead-air radio ever, in the magnificent pop song, A.M. Check out Teenline, followed by A.M. in the players below and then enjoy the whole deal, even if you have to cut through the flabby stuff.
Download V. 2
P.S. Fans of American Power-pop are hereby advised to check out the Ascenders
P.P.S. The songs I upload to DivShare do not play on my computer but do when I check from other computers. Can everyone else listen to the songs? Please let me know.
Hey Jeffen, when I try to download V2, I get a message:
ReplyDelete"Firefox doesn't know how to open this address, because the protocol (tp) isn't associated with any program."
Both the DivShare songs appear to load, but don't play, (but are downloadable) and the V3 ones say they are password protected.
Anyhow, thanks for V1 & 3...
Your Strummer/Anger and Power post included a track from the Alarm, and that rekindled an old love for that band. The songs by Seventeen on these comps is the icing on the cake!
I fixed the link - thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteRe DivShare - so you can't play the songs on that little jukebox thing in V. 3? (God I gotta solve this stupid player problem.)
P.S. I love the Alarm - I had all that old stuff on vinyl.
My first reaction to hearing 17 (without knowing anything about them)was "This is cool, this is great, this is...the Alarm!".
Great band.