D.I.Y. - Starry Eyes: UK Pop II (1978-1979)

We''ll end the never clearly-ordered D.I.Y. series with Starry Eyes: UK Pop II. Calling it "more of the same" would be ridiculous, like dismissing oxygen or orgasms as old hat. It's hit-after-glorious-hit and it just happens to include THE GREATEST POWER-POP SONG EVER! (Wait for it...)

We've gone over-board on the videos once again to illustrate the difference in the push UK power-pop bands got (most of these bands played to millions on Top of the Pops) - imagine finding this much professional video footage of so many seventies American power-pop bands.

The Buzzcocks

The Undertones

Joe Jackson

XTC

Squeeze

The Jags

The Records

The Purple Hearts

The Searchers

For maximizing hummability and rockingness within the confines of 3:23, I now declare The Jags "Back of My Hand" THE GREATEST POWER-POP SONG ever. Leave us a comment with your own nominee, I know mine changes regularly.

Starry Eyes: UK Pop II link is in the comments

D.I.Y. - Teenage Kicks: UK Pop I (1976-1979)

The two volumes of UK Pop are, in my estimation, the D.I.Y. series' apex. With such a rich vein of music to mine, this volume doesn't comes up short, even with its errors of omission (The Chords, Elvis Costello, The Flys) and its errors of commission (two of the first three songs are Nick Lowe - I'm a devout Nick fan but that's an awkward start to a various artists compilation). Whatever my nit-picks, it plays amazingly well. How could it not with all of this:

Eddie and the Hot Rods

The Motors

Tom Robinson Band

Squeeze

XTC

The Boys

The Rezillos

Rich Kids

The Yachts

The Pleasers

The Skids

Another fixed Teenage Kicks link is in the comments.

D.I.Y. - We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene (1976-1979)

We're Desperate divides much of it's playing time between radio-ready L.A. power-pop like the Motels, The Pop, The Quick and The Zippers, and punishing punk rock like The Dils, The Weirdos, The Germs.

While a strong entry to the series, especially when it adds crucial bands like The Plugz (who who would briefly, gloriously back-up Bob Dylan), The Zeros, X, and The Dickies it does feels a bit diffused, as if we're jerking into the early hardcore era (which Rhino would do with Faster, Louder) documented in Penelope Spheeris' The Decline of Western Civilization.

MRML Readers: What's best about the L.A. scene the power-pop or the punk bands? Leave us a comment!


D.I.Y. - We're Desperate: The L.A. Scene link is in the comments


No Thanks: The Seventies Punk Rebellion available at Amazon

D.I.Y. - Shake It Up: American Power-Pop (1978-1980)

The second D.I.Y. to cover American power-pop, Shake It Up has less of the flouncey, cutesiness that crept in around the edges of the prior volume and includes a slew of gutsy power-pop bands like The Beat, Holly & the Italians, The Romantics, Chris Stamey & the DB's and The Plimsouls as well as wussier-but-still-great ones like Shoes, 20/20, The Rubinioos and and unfortunately The Now - basically The Knack but shittier - and their tepid tune, "I Like Girls".

MRML Readers: Did American power-pop get better of worse as the seventies wore on? Leave us a comment!


Shake It Up: American Power-Pop link in comments

D.I.Y. - Come Out and Play: American Power-Pop (1975-1978)

I’ve always advocated for the choppier British take on power-pop over the softer American version of the style. Despite my prejudices, on Come out and Play Rhino once again demonstrated their ace compiling skills. Here they cherry-pick the more muscular bands (Real Kids,he Nerves, The Flamin' Groovies, Cheap Trick), add some great tunes from other-wise okay bands (Pezband, Earthquake) and steal The Diodes delicious "Tired of Waking Up Tired" from Canada. (I still think British punters of the late seventies would’ve driven Fotomaker and their pleasant a.m. pop-stylings over the white cliffs of Dover.)

MRML Readers (hello?): UK or US? Whose power-pop is the best? Leave us a fuckin' comment with your choice!


Come Out and Play link is in the comments section

P.S. Oh and for those of you partisan about such things, it should be noted that "I Am the Cosmos" is a glorious, yearning slice of teenage melodrama.

P.P.S. Thanks to Longy from Punk Friction and Marky Dread from King Rocker Rocks On for making me decide not to quit posting the DIY series.

D.I.Y. - The Modern World: UK Punk II (1976-1977)

The next volume of D.I.Y. is titled The Modern World UK Punk II and, unwieldy title aside, it’s another hit-riddled journey to punk’s dark heart. Band-wise, there is some overlap here, as X-Ray Spex, Wire, The Buzzcocks, The Jam and Generation X re-appear from the previous volume (still no Clash!) They join MRML favourites like Stiff Little Fingers, The Rezillos and 999. Once again there’s no weak tracks, though this volume is less loudfast than before, with Magazine, The Fall, Siouxsie and the Banshees,Subway Sect and The Soft Boys all promising the idea of a more experimental, so called post-punk, sound to come.



{So MRML readers leave us a comment, with your take on the highs and lows of the DIY series.}


D.I.Y. - The Modern World: UK Punk II

D.I.Y. Anarchy in the U.K. - UK Punk I

The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Stranglers, The Jam, The Buzzcocks, The Adverts - hell - it's tempting to call the long out-of-print Anarchy in the UK a flawless introduction to the key punk bands of '76/'77!



Flawless, except for that one cataclysmic omission, stiffly noted inside; "Due to licensing restrictions recording by The Clash were unavailable for inclusion in this collection." A bit of black mark for Rhino which was once the master at getting around inter-label conflicts. If you can forgive that loss, it's a thrilling listen even if many of you reading this already own most of these albums. And if you don't own most of these albums, maybe it's time to go out there and support some bands! While this set is long out-of-print, a replacement, of sorts, in Rhino's No Thank box-set, which has a comparable track listing only this time they couldn't get the right to The Sex Pistols material - !

D.I.Y. Anarchy in the U.K. - UK Punk I


No Thanks: The Seventies Punk Rebellion available at Amazon

DIY Massachusetts Avenue: The Boston Scene 1975-1983

I've never been big on Boston (blame Tom Scholz and co.) No slight is intended to the legion of great bands from Boston, but their collective weight never used to seem the equal of London, New York or L.A. or even Vancouver. That said, Volume Eight of the DIY series (which has the longest timeline) makes a pretty stopping argument for Boston's diversity and depth with high points like The Real Kids, The Cars (!) and The Dangerous Birds (more to come).



So here's to Boston Rock from The Standells to The Queers to The Freeze to The Pixies to The Dropkick Murphys!


Massachusetts Avenue CD

Blank Generation: The New York Scene (1975-1978)

"Each of the bands at CBGB was like a little idea. It wasn't that kind of style of punk rock that happened when England took over. Here it was all like little art projects....There was no one dominant thing."

Lenny Kaye

When you stop and consider Patti Smith, Suicide, The Heartbreakers, Television, Blondie, The Ramones, Richard Hell, Mink Deville and Talking Heads, what really united them? Aside from geography, we could add a rabid individualism, a strong sense of image, a distrust of the machinery of pop stardom and a backward-lookingness combined with a fervor for new sounds. But as far as the records they cut, no party line emerged from NYC. That utter non-uniformity keeps this era ever-fascinating.




So this long out-of-print Rhino collection (sans Talking Heads) not only makes for good listening it also goes a long way towards proving Kaye's argument.

1. Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones
2. (I Live for) Cars and Girls - The Dictators
3. Ask the Angels - Patti Smith
4. All for the Love of Rock & Roll - Tuff Darts
5. Let Me Dream If I Want To - Mink DeVille
6. Max's Kansas City 1976 - Jayne County, Wayne County
7. X Offender - Blondie
8. Blank Generation - Richard Hell
9. See No Evil - Television
10. In the Flesh - Blondie
11. Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille
12. Venus - Television
13. Sonic Reducer - Dead Boys
14. Chinese Rocks - The Heartbreakers
15. Sheena Is a Punk Rocker - The Ramones
16. Crocodile Tears - The Mumps
17. Love Comes in Spurts - Richard Hell & the Voidoids
18. Born to Lose - The Heartbreakers
19. Cheree - Suicide


D.I.Y. Blank Generation: The New York Scene CD (Includes full booklet)
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