Five Essential Power Pop Albums

By David Bash

Please indulge me for a moment while I preface the body of this article: first off, limiting a list of essential power pop albums to five entries is almost as difficult as trying to decide which one of your children you love most.  So, basically, upon the advice of a friend, I’m going to choose the first five which come to mind.  Secondly, there are very few true “power pop” albums; most “power pop” albums contain only a few songs which can truly be called power pop, and are often filled out by ballads and other melodic pop which doesn’t quite fall into the genre.  Power pop is, first and foremost, a “singles” phenomenon.  Finally, many albums which are classified as power pop really aren’t; they are melodic pop to be sure, but often lack the power or the urgency that true power pop requires.  Essentially these albums fall into the category of “discs power pop fans would love, but aren’t power pop in the strictest sense of the word”.  Among my five might be one or two which fall into this category.

Ok, those caveats notwithstanding, here we go:

1. Wish You Were Here–Badfinger (1974): anyone who grew up in the early ‘70s remembers power pop gems like “No Matter What” and “Baby Blue” gracing Top 40 radio, and while Badfinger’s hits are what are generally most fondly remembered, it’s their sixth album, Wish You Were Here, which stands as a monument to the band’s immense talent and power.  With songs like “Know One Knows”, “In The Meantime/Some Other Time” and the ultra-intense, “Dennis”, Wish You Were Here is a window into the tortured souls of a band who lived the primer of being screwed by the record industry. An absolutely majestic testimony to an amazingly talented, ill-fated band.

2. Present Tense–Shoes (1979): More than anything, power pop is about girls; the girls you love, the girls you long for, and the girls who done you wrong.  This Zion, Illinois band with a trio of amazing songwriters really wrote the book on the fairer gender with this album which is, my caveat notwithstanding, chock full of power pop goodness.  Tracks like “Tomorrow Night”, “Too Late”, “Cruel You” and “Now And Then” are packed with the urgency of post-teen angst, with gorgeous vocal arrangements and awesome melodies.

3. Green Thoughts–The Smithereens (1988): Fans of this New Jersey quartet might opt for their first album, Especially For You, but as great as that disc is, it’s a bit less focused in terms of power pop.  Green Thoughts almost never strays the course, as “Only A Memory”, “House We Live In”, “The World We Know” and “Drown In My Own Tears” pack more punch than Muhammad Ali in 1965, and “If The Sun Doesn’t Shine” proves that Beach Boys-styled harmonies can live in a power pop world.

4. Sound On Sound–Beagle (1992): Not power pop in the strictest sense, but power pop fans are guaranteed to love the stellar songwriting, melt-in-your-mouth hooks and intricate chord changes by this Swedish band.  Highlights include the sparkling ballad “The Things That We Say”, the Left Banke inspired “Everything Will Work Out In The End”, the sprightly “A Different Sunday” and the absolutely beautiful “Slow Down”.  Fans of The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Left Banke and Crowded House would absolutely love this one, and since we can agree that power pop fans are enamored of those bands, they would be equally enamored of Sound On Sound.

5. La Di Da–Gladhands (1997): And, since I’m bringing the International Pop Overthrow festival to Chapel Hill this week, let’s conclude with the finest disc by a band who, for a long time, called Chapel Hill their home.  Again, not power pop in the strictest sense, but it certainly contained enough power and more than enough pop, along with some startling chord changes that often seemed to come out of left field!  You’ve gotta love the album opener “Kill ‘Em With Kindness”, the soulful “Smallsville”, the tongue-in-cheek “(Gore Girls) Gimme More” and their killer cover of the best song Nazz ever recorded, “Forget All About It”, among the 12 gems that make up this tantalizing disc.