Power Pop

Power Pop #5: Velvet Crush – Hold Me Up

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After mentioning the legendary power pop drummer Ric Menck in the previous Old Californio post, there’s only one place this power pop section can take me next. It’s obviously Velvet Crush, who were/are led by Ric and Paul Chastain. A really great classic power pop band from Rhode Island that has released so many wonderful pop songs that I could keep this section up for a few weeks just by using their material and the quality wouldn’t drop. The dearest Velvet Crush album to me is their second album Teenage Symphonies to God that came out on Creation Records in 1994. Hold Me Up is the great opener of that record.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqD6Z8KYUGw]

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Power Pop

Power Pop #4: The Late Show – What Can I Do

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One more for tonight (Don’t worry. I’ll soon forget this whole thing and after that it’s more like once a month than once or twice a day). Anyway, I was just searching information about songs that I will feature on this thing and noticed that one US power pop classic, Portable Pop by The Late Show will be reissued later in the year by Trashy Creatures Records (at least if things go as planned). I’m rather excited about this, because I haven’t even heard the full album (never before on CD and vinyl is obviously out of print). I think this song called What Can I Do is the only song I’ve heard from it. I downloaded it from some power pop website probably 7-8 years ago and I really love it. If the rest of Portable Pop is even half as good, it must be a great album. Portable Pop was originally released in 1980. Based on that Trashy Creatures site they also recorded a second album that was never released, but it will finally see the light of the day sometime next year. The band is also back together. Check out more information on their Facebook page.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZTz2dn48Xw]

The Late Show at Facebook

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Power Pop

Power Pop #3: Gentleman Jesse and His Men – All I Need Tonight (Is You)

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Moving on to fairly new stuff. Gentleman Jesse and His Men released their debut album in 2008. However, If I didn’t know that I might assume that it is a lost power pop / punk rock treasure from the late 70s. While playing records at Flavour of the Month club I often play Gentleman Jesse and Stiv Bators solo material one after another, because I think they just contain similar kind of rockin’ power pop with a hefty dose of punk and I just love that kind of stuff. All I Need Tonight (Is You) is the song that made me buy this fantastic record back in 2008.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq4xTyn1XFg]

Gentleman Jesse & His Men at Facebook

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Power Pop

Power Pop #2: DM3 – One Time Two Times Devastated

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Moving on to 90’s Australia. At this point, power pop guru Dom Mariani had already made plenty of pop classics with The Stems and The Someloves (these fantastic bands will definitely get an entry of their own) and DM3 continued on the same level of brilliance. My first introduction to DM3 and Dom Mariani was most likely this wonderful song One Time Two Times Devastated, because it is a real Räkärodeo classic (well many of these songs will be, because Miettinen gave me my power pop education) and it got a lot of air time even after I started to listen the show in the spring of 1997. The song is from the first DM3 album One Time Two Times Three Red Light that was released back in 1993. A great pop album even though DM3’s biggest masterpiece is probably the second album Road To Rome.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s-FKisf7Js]

Dom Mariani Website

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