pierson

no relation to the late '80s Dirty Looks... the power pop Dirty Looks were a trio from Staten Island... their 1st album was released in the US on Stiff/Epic in 1980... it sounds like the Knack on steroids (Peter parker drums like a mo-fo).... their 2nd album was only released in the UK it's inferior (by a long stretch) to the classic debut...

the term "power pop" and the concept of "albums" don't really jive... and truth be told, POWER POP is about the 3 1/2 minute song that nails you to the wall and is immediately unforgettable... and there really is no such thing as a "power pop" album... although the Ramones come very close to keeping the power up for both sides in the early days but were, of course, a wee bit punkish in attitude... as do some of the bands that arose in the skinny tie era like Shoes, 20/20, Dirty Looks, Romantics etc... at least, by then, there was a clear aesthetic in place... Raspberries had 2 other songwriters besides Eric Carmen which usally meant there were side roads taken... although "Starting Over" may be a good example of a power pop album, although by then they were progressing into headier pastures w/ songs more epic in scale... bands/artists who made albums with lots of power pop songs on them: Material Issue Cheap Trick (1977-1979) Myracle Brah Tommy Keene Adam Schmitt Plimsouls The Beat (Paul Collins) Velvet Crush Dancing Hoods 20/20 (first album)

and boy did that Sonny Geraci get around.... first as lead singer of The Outsiders (w/ "Time Won't Let Me") and then w/ Climax ("Precious & Few")... who woulda thunk he'd reappear in the '80s as "Peter Emmett" doing some EC tunes...

probably not 'cause like a lot of songs that were played to death when they were hits (i.e. "Aquarius" & "Love Is Blue") these days & even over the past 15 years, at least, they're hardly played at all... unlike "I Can't Help Myself" by The Four Tops... or "Build Me Up Buttercup"

well JACK is exactly a result of what we're complaining about... ALTHOUGH, JACK-FM plays their songs with nary a thread or concept... just a bad mish mash of tunes that were once well known, but now aren't played on the radio as much as the ones we've been killed with for the past 10 years....refreshing but not something that's cool or exciting give me your AM Canadian oldies stations MARVIN anyday... at least there I hear unpredictable songs by Bread, 3 Dog Night along w/ Pagliaro, April Wine, A Foot In Cold Water & Andy Kim... in NJ we do have a sometimes decent AM station in the Hackettstown area (WMNJ 1510) which, when left to playing oldies completely (without on air interupption) can be amazing... although i still have yet to hear the Raspberries on it... they do, however bust out Looking Glass's "Jimmy Loves Mary Anne" once in a while

there are ZILLIONS of great "cover" versions and of course, lotsa crap... ANYTHING Dusty Springfield sang was usually a "cover"... a lot of what Nilsson did was covers... and The Byrds & The Monkees and Hermans Hermits & the Hollies & early Beatles & Rolling Stones... great covers: Nilsson- Snow (Randy Newman) Trashcan Sinatras- Snow (Randy Newman) Trashcan Sinatras- Alfie (Bacarach/David) Dramarama- Memo From Turner (Mick Jagger/Stones) David Bowie- Wild Is The Wind (?) Robyn Hitchcock- Bells Of Rhymeny (via The Byrds) Led Zeppelin- When The Levee Breaks Cheap Trick- Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace (Terry Reid)

funny... some people's choices aren't played that much here on the east coast (even Kathy's)... i rarely if ever hear "Yesterday" on the radio... also: anthen schmanthem; if it gets played too much, it becomes annoying... the worst offenders over the past 5-10 years are... "Sweet Home Alabama"- Lynyrd Skynyrd "Hotel California"- Eagles "Hey Jude" & "Get Back"- Beatles "Old Time R&R"- Bob Seger "Bad To The Bone"- George Thorogood "Layla" most of "Dark Side Of The Moon"- Pink Floyd "Baba O'Reilly" & "Won't Get Fooled Again" (although I like them a lot, like 'Dark Side'...) "Fly Like An Eagle" Jet Airliner"- Steve Miller "Maggie May"- Rod Stewart "You Shook Me All Night Long"- AC/DC "Start Me Up"- Stones "Piano Man"- Billy Joel "When A Man Loves A Woman"- whoever "Respect"- Aretha "Unchained Melody" & "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" R. Bros "Bad Girls"- Donna Summer "Stayin' Alive"- Bee Gees "Dancing Queen"_ ABBA the whole first "Boston" album, especially "More Than A Feeling" "I Love R&R"- Joan Jett "Another Brick In The Wall"- Pink Floyd "Bohemian Rhapsody"- Queen

well, what i should have said was slick... both Boston & The Outfield took pop/rock to a more polished & less exciting place than our beloved Raspberries.... both bands have vocals that are WAY too overtweaked (or over dubbed)... and the guitars are very layered... it never sounds like you're hearing a bass, drums & guitar/s as it truly is...

still... both periods embraced a certain energy & definitely captured the MOD zen... ergo power pop

yes... definitely on songs like "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" (although the lyrics don't match) and "Do Ya" (not the ELO version).... also their live version of "So You Wanna Be A R&R Star".... The Move had a lot more "Who" in them than ELO

like Boston, they sound too much like a studio band (i.e. overproduced) to have the desired impact that is truly POWER POP which is why the RASPBERRIES are so special... they learned from the Who, Kinks, Beatles, Small Faces etc, that you need to capture that element of live rock and roll on your records... which sounds easier than it actually is... bands who blend "pop" with "rock" without an edge are basically "pop/rock" bands... the needed power, energy, edge, intensity is the fleeting rare ephemeral magic to make something power pop... pure magic in a bottle... it's the reason why a band like the Raspberries created POWER POP and ELO didn't...

GO ALL THE WAYGO ALL THE WAY GO ALL THE WAY GO ALL THE WAY after that it's: PLAY ON TONIGHT ECSTASY I WANNA BE WITH YOU other Raspberries songs, like "Let's Pretend," fall into the pop category... songs like "Party's Over" and "I Don't Know What I Want" are rock...

my first was pretty amazing: Cheap Trick in Kingston, Ontario (summer 1979) others: Screen Test @ The Jab 1982 (after seeing a very lame Police show at The Carrier Dome in Syracuse)... Screen Test was/is 3/4s of The Flashcubes & introduced me to the true power of live power pop & the insenity of the club performance vs. the disconnect & excess of the arena rock experience... they opened w/ "I Get Restless"... Tommy Allen on drums & Gary Frenay on lead vox (Arty Lenin on mega guitar) Jon Brion @ Largo 2003 (& other times) Dictators @ The Ritz 1986 Raspberries @ BB Kings 7/24/05 w/ all of Screen Test in the audience... Hamell On Trial w/ Wilco @ Mercury Lounge Radiohead @ Tramps 1995 Radiohead @ Irving Plaza 1997 Flashcubes @ IPO (numerous times)... most recently at The Paradise in Boston w/ Bernie, Kathy & Dennis Ferante in attendance... Tommy Keene @ Maxwells 1985 Roger McGuinn @ Stanhope House, NJ 1983 Colin Blunstone w/ Loser's Lounge @ Fez circa 1999 Trashcan Sinatras @ Fez 2001 Dramarama @ Q Fest circa 1992 w/ Wonder Stuff

all due mostly to the shoreline on 3 Mile Point (on Chaumont Bay/Lake Ontario).... those kids who feasted on CKLC & CKWS more than myself... led by Bob Allen & Jack Miller and Mike Lively (who turned me on to Pagliaro) & Tommy Allen of course... i just played catch up

Pag was hardly on the same label twice... and some things were reissued on different labels some of Pagliaro's early 1970s French recordings (i.e. the 1972 LP "Pag" and "Pag Live") were on RCA Victor Canada the "Pagliaro" album was released on Much (Canada) and reissued on Amber (Canada)... I think Columbia (Canada) released "Pagliaro II" (w/ "What The Hell I Got") and the "Time Race" album

Matthew, fyi... in the case of early '70s Canadian artists (and UK ones)... the discographies can be VERY sketchy and not accurate... some times you can find singles by artists up for sale on www.musicstack.com also, in the case of Pagliaro, there may be some US singles that were only released as promos for radio... I do remember seeing one... Pye released "Loving You Ain't Easy" in the UK

Columbia at least one or two.... no albums

RASPBERRIES- Go All The Way BIG STAR- September Gurls BADFINGER- Baby Blue TODD RUNDGREN- Couldn't I Just Tell You DWIGHT TWILLEY BAND- Looking For The Magic CHEAP TRICK- I Can't Take It RASPBERRIES- Tonight RASPBERRIES- Ecstasy RASPBERRIES- Play On THE DBS- Black & White

And that's the problem with such lists.... and obviously they know that... but there should be a rule that you don't include posthumous collections and just include albums of all new material that made their impact during their time and after... almost all of the GREAT '50s rock & roll pioneers made more influential singles than albums... and rarely, if ever made strong albums... although some, like Little Richard released debuts with everything on them (LR's debut is the best of the early bunch) Still, "Elvis Presley" MUST be included... and "Chuck Berry Is On Top" is almost as amazing as Little Richard's debut other problems: no Pink Floyd "Dark Side Of The Moon" or "Wish You Were Here" no Buddy Holly no Everly Brothers no Roy Orbison no Jerry Lee Lewis no "Led Zeppelin II" no "Meet The Beatles" the Rolling Stones at least deserve another inclusion for Let It Bleed or Beggars Banquet a Byrds inclusion would be nice (i would choose "Mr. Tambourine Man") lame critics/biased inclusions: Pavement PJ Harvey Lucinda Williams DJ Shadow Stone Roses none of these rate or deserve inclusion before the aforementioned names

overall... Eric Carmen Paul Mccartney Robin Zander Frank Sinatra Bryan Ferry Roy Orbison Phil & Don Everly David Bowie Neil Young Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout)

as far as beautiful voices go.... Joe Pernice Carl Wilson Brian Wilson Todd Rundgren Colin Blunstone Frank Reader (Trashcan Sinatras) Harry Nilsson John Lennon Ed Harcourt Elliott Smith Flo & Eddie

Marvin, definitley check these out.. Chris Rainbow- On My Way High Llamas- Gideon Gaye (LP) definitely Wondermints' version of "Guess I'm Dumb" is godhead.... as is Darian's single "Do You Have Any Regrets" which is a cover of a Brian Wilson song that was on the unreleased follow-up to "Brian Wilson" called "Sweet Insanity" also: Shaun Cassidy's "It's Like Heaven" (penned by Brian Wilson) Flo & Eddie- "Keep It Warm" AND THE MOST OBVIOUS BLATANT OMISSION SO FAR (Eric was keeping quiet on this one...) ERIC CARMEN- My Girl

(early) Paul McCartney- Mary Had A Little Lamb John Lennon- Whatever Gets You Through The Night (early) Elton John- Honky Cat Eagles- Hotel California, Life In The Fastlane, Heartache Tonight Bruce Springsteen- Cover Me, Dancing In The Dark David Bowie- Let's Dance Kiss- Beth Stevie Wonder- I Just Called To Say I Love You Hollies- Carrie-Anne (despite being about Marianne Faithful... just too corny) Elvis Presly- Return To Sender, In The Ghetto Yes- Owner Of A Lonely Heart Queen- Another One Bites The Dust Pink Floyd- Another Brick In The Wall Bee Gees- Tragedy Fleetwood Mac- Don't Stop

but it was a smash hit... Marvin's asking for songs like Eric's "It Hurts Too Much" which sound like bona fide top 10 hits but missed the charts.... Pagliaro's "Loving You Ain't Easy" definitely... if i'm correct, i think Columbia released "Loving You.." and "Some Sing Some Dance" as singles in the US, but definitely NO albums by Pag... same thing goes for Pilot's "Get Up & Go" from their 4th album "Two's A Crowd"... Arista released the single in the US, but didn't release the album when the single flopped... others: Turtles- "Can I Get To Know You Better" Peter Frampton- "Baby (Somethin's Happening)" Piper- "Can't Wait" Aerosmith- "Same Old Song & Dance," "SOS (Too Bad)," "Spaced" & "Toys In The Attic"

& mine too. easily hands down the best artist (Joe Pernice) of the 00s'.... he continues to grow... "Live A Little" (the new CD is a masterpiece) also Bob Allen's brother Tommy's band The Flashcubes, although, I would say that Screen Test (the Flashcubes minus Paul Armstrong) were THE band (in 1981-1982) that was AMAZING in peak form... and should've been signed & released that one GREAT album during the heyday.... others: Dramarama Ed Harcourt Marjorie Fair Trashcan Sinatras Mood Six Jon Brion Dictators Smart Brown Handbag Dirty Looks 20/20 Van Duren Aluminum Group The Blakes/ Readymade Breakup Hamell On Trial