Looking For The Magic: American Power Pop In The Seventies

Power pop began right about the time that psychedelia turned to meandering jams and the back-to-basics movement took all the poppy fun out of music. Bands who didnt want to travel down either of those paths turned back to the mid-60s for inspiration, mixing the sunny hooks of the Beatles with the charged-up power of the Who to craft a new and somewhat nostalgic sound. Numerous collections have been released over the years focusing on the style; most of them have focused mainly on the skinny-tie groups that sprang up in the late 70s, when the sound evolved to serve as a more melodic version of punk. Looking for the Magic: American Power Pop in the 70s does a good job tracking the American arm of the power pop movement from the beginnings of power pop and following it as it evolved (a little) and grew up (a bit) throughout the decade. It kicks of with a clutch of songs from pioneers like the MC5, Flamin Groovies, and Big Star, groups who definitely had all the hooks, energy, and style to get the ball rolling in style. The entire first disc takes place prior to punk, and songs like Blue Ashs hard-rollicking "Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)," Milk N Cookies "Little Lost and Innocent," the Wackers "Its My Life," and the Raspberries "Play On" give lie to the commonly held belief that the music scene was a total wasteland before the safety-pin brigade rode in to save the day. Once the landscape changed, power pop continued along next to punk, sometime crossing boundaries but more often sticking to the more melodic side of the street, or instead mixing with AOR (Cheap Trick and Blue Oyster Cult) or soft rock (Andrew Gold). Basically, anything hooky and energetic was fair game, and the set even stretches to include Television’s "See No Evil" and NRBQs note-perfect "Ridin in My Car." Once the "power pop" sound became more codified, it became a little more predictable -- if still occasionally transcendent -- and the songs here from late 1978 on tend to be more homogenic. Most of the bands took cues from the group that gives the collection its title: The Dwight Twilley Bands "Looking for the Magic" is a cornerstone that piles on reverb, sharpens its hooks to a fine point, and relies on vocal harmonies to send the sound to pop heaven. The Scruffs "She Say Yea" is another perfect nugget that sounds like Big Star if they had made it to the punk era. The third disc captures power pop as it hit the big time with the Cars and the Knack; ropes in the Ramones; checks in with one of the originators of the sound, Badfinger; and digs up a few should-have-been classics like Segarinis "Gotta Have Pop," the Lasts jangling psychedelic pastiche "She Dont Know Why Im Here," and "She Said" by the improbably named Cheese. The collection does a great job digging up lesser-known tracks that even a serious power pop buff might never have heard as well as hitting all the big names (and not picking obvious songs by them, sticking to deep cuts instead.) Its hard to sum up a movement or a sound or an era in a way that doesnt either come across as too obvious or too obscure for hipness sake; what the makers of this collection have done is hit right at the sweet spot where education and entertainment meet. Theyve captured this magical era of music in a way that truly makes it come to life, and when paired with their similarly excellent trio of releases -- Miles Out to Sea, Harmony in My Head, and Kids on the Street -- that examine the British power pop era, comes darn close to being definitive. That being said, there are enough great bands and songs not included to justify a second volume, but until then, anyone looking to revisit or discover some great pop music will find much to love here. ~ Tim Sendra