At International Pop Overthrow every year, event founder David Bash releases a generous three-disc collection featuring many of the artists who perform at the power pop fest. This massive collection has 66 bands spread out on 3 discs. Like other previous collections, it’s a mixed bag of familiar artists and some new artists, but the high quality of songs compared to other compilations is what makes it special.
Disc 2: More Fab stuff from old stalwarts Twenty Cent Crush and even Peter & The Penguins’ laments in “There goes Pete Best.. the unluckiest bastard in the world.” It gets a power pick-up with The Dirty Royals “Josephine” and the Rolling Stones-like “Charged by The Minute” by The Respectables. More standout tracks here include, Preoccupied Pipers, The Romeros and Steve Caraway.
Disc 3: You would expect fatigue to set in, but it doesn’t as The Afternoons give us the Kinks-ian “Don’t Turn Back” with flowing guitars and harmonies. All Right Tokyo’s “Jessica, Jessica” and The Issue’s “All Or Nothing” have a bit of punk mixed into the lead guitar riff and it stands out here (The Ramones’ spirit lives on!). Garfield’s Birthday’s recent albums best track “Molly” is here too. Fan favorite Chris Brown adds his “Ordinary Day” to this collection, and a retro sounding gem comes from Black Jones & The Trike Shop. Not to be forgotten, Fireking does a great job with the heavy guitars on “A Sentimental Education.”
There are a few mediocre tracks on the third disc, but for the most part you are getting an “instant” power pop collection that would normally cost a pile of money, all here for a small pittance. Always well worth the investment, I reap the dividends of following a few groups here to great full length albums in the near future.
My Space | Not Lame