Category: Power Pop Review

Formed in 2001, Tilly and the Wall are an outgrowth of a Conor “Bright Eyes” Obert project. They sound alot like Of Montreal with a combo of boy/girl harmonies and hand claps. “Bad Education” is a highlight here. With a flamenco melody and heavy tap stomping, it sounds great. Occassionally the melodies remind me of a mix not unlike Banarama meets Kate Bush on a few tunes. The ballads here are very dark lyrically “Love Song” being a perfect example. This is an album that needs to be heard more than one time for the pop tunes to stick. “Sing Along Songs” is another tap-happy tune. With “Black and Blue” there is a feeling of triumph and joy in this song. If you remember the 1989 band Red Box and the album “The Circle and the Square” – well I was totally reminded of this. (Good luck finding that out-of-print gem, you can hear a sample of it here). Sometimes, the foot-stomping gets a little played out and this brand of indie pop may not be for everyone, but not much else comes out of Omaha. Visit the band’s website or the myspace page. On sale at Amazon.com

The Oohs are a group of veteran musicians who do a great job putting together MOR-styled power pop. They borrow liberally from The Beatles, Todd Rundgren, and the Beach Boys to come up with original songs. The whole Llama theme is a bit like Andrew Gold’s “The Fraternal Order of the All,” although the songs don’t really follow a strict “concept album” sequence. The song “Pretty” is a great Beatlesque teaser that literally pulls riffs and melodies from several Beatle songs. This opening gives way to a varied group of different styled rock tunes. “I will love” is an excellent Utopia-styled song complete with a cascading chorus. Occasionally, the band tends to veer in to a Vegas-styled lounge act in the song “More than meets the eye.” Another great song, and my favorite is “To Be in Love” – it rivals the best of Doug Powell’s work. Just about all the songs on Llamalamp are good, but something is missing on a few tunes. Brian Curtis does the heavy lifting here (singing, songwriting, engineering), but my biggest complaint here is the mixing. Some vocals sound like they are recorded in a tunnel. Other vocal performances just don’t work as well as others (i.e. “What have you done with my girl” could have been better). That takes nothing away from awesome songwriting and musicianship here. If you like power pop you won’t let this album pass you by. You can get this album at notlame.com, cdbaby or itunes

Although it was in the news, I don’t think enough people have seen it. A fire destroyed the home of rocker Question Mark, who with his band, the Mysterians, had a No. 1 hit in 1966 with “96 Tears.” The singer lost 40 years worth of memorabilia, including a gold record award and an organ believed to have belonged to Pink Floyd. Question Mark had lived in the Flint, Mich. home for nearly four decades. He didn’t have insurance. Locals are now trying to organize a benefit concert.

Here’s an old favorite of mine, with a new Power Pop Classic. Ed James has been rockin’ since the 90s and I see no drop off in quality here. Opening with the Elastic-styled guitar riff “Out of this town” Ed let’s us know he’s taking no prisoners. The next track “She’s The One” is a perfect sugary love song. Excellent musicianship, strong melody and heavenly harmonies are all over this one. This is what I count on when I hear Ed James. “Miss Polly” is another gem. Similar to my Aussie friend Michael Carpenter, every song here is worth the listen and most tracks deserve repeats in your ears. “Second” is an amazing mid-tempo tune that has great lyric and reminds me of classic 10cc. This vibe continues with the ethereal ballad “Layna.” It’s not perfect though, the lightweight “Star Trek Girl” is like a Rubinoos parody and “Lullaby” rips off the Beatles “Yesterday” a bit — but this is really nitpicking. If you want a classic of the genre, look no further. It is for sale at CD Baby or get it from the Itunes store here.

Drake Bell is the next big “pop star” from the Disney talent stable. As the star of the TV series Drake and Josh, Bell came out with an album last year. Ever since Britany Spears hit it big years ago, the Disney crew has put out dreck after dreck, that appeals to the tween set and makes the rest of us vomit. Please, I don’t need to hear another “Kidz Bop” album and if I see one I will use it for target practice at the gun range. Nor do I need to hear an Aaron-Carter-Cheetah-Girls-Backstreet-Boys-cloned prepackaged, premarketed piece of crap either.

Now that my rant is over, let me talk about Drake Bell. “It’s Only Time” is a great power pop album. That’s right. Bell takes from all the right influences – Jellyfish and Roger Manning Jr. primarily with a bit of early Taxiride. This album is a refreshing throwback to the kind of freely creative musical roots that are lost on most artists of Drake’s generation. “Rusted Silhoutte” and “Break me Down” has an amazing intensity, as a song that’s melodic and full of amazing production techniques. Not one bad track here. It does all the right things The Click Five should have done. Okay, the last track “End it Good” sounds like a goofy vaudville number, but after 9 great tracks it’s forgiven. It’s hard to believe that fans of traditional Disney fare (Jesse McCartney) will like this stuff though. I can hear them complaining now – “Wahhh! Daddy, this is more like your music!” What else can I say? The boy has good taste and I hope he makes more music like this. Visit his site to hear 2 tracks or visit his myspace page to hear more. Count this as a rare opportunity for power pop to be released on a major label (universal/mowtown).