Bash On Pop-The Power Pop Hall of Fame
With all the hoopla and brouhaha surrounding the recent inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I thought it might be fun to put together a list of artists who I feel worthy of inclusion in a Power Pop Hall of Fame. I urge you to please read the entire article (aka, “the disclaimers”) and not merely the list, so that, while you ultimately may not agree with my selections and even call me an “American Idiot,” (hint, hint) you’ll at least know where I’m coming from with some of the more controversial ones. First of...
read moreBash On Pop – March 2015
Ladies and gentlemen, the past couple of months have been a very rough road. As many of you know, I suffered a heart attack on January 27, and had to have two arteries unblocked and two stents inserted into my heart. Ever since then I’ve been in recovery, which involves going to Cedars Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills three times a week to do cardio exercises, along with several appointments with my Internist and my Cardiologist (yikes, I never thought I’d have one of those). As of this writing my heart seems to be doing well, and I thank...
read moreBash On Pop: David Bash’s Favorite Albums of 2014
Hi Everyone, I hope you’re doing well. I thought I would make my first Bash On Pop column of 2015 a list of my favorite albums of 2014. I’ve decided to make Bash On Pop a monthly thing; beginning in February the columns will be news regarding what’s happening in pop music, including recaps of various IPO festivals,and/or reviews of new releases/reissues. Until next month, enjoy this recap of 2014! As is my usual custom, I’ve broken my lists into several categories, as I’m just not comfortable ranking unlike...
read moreIPO Volume 17 reviewed by The Second Disc!
Holiday Gift Guide Review: “International Pop Overthrow volume 17” written by Ted Frank and originally posted in The Second Disc on December 18, 2014 We’d like to extend a big welcome to the newest member of our Second Disc family, author Ted Frank. Ted, a self-described “power pop-a-holic,” kicks off his contributions to The Second Disc with a review of the latest collection from the fine folks at The International Pop Overthrow Festival. The Festival’s seventeenth volume (yes, seventeenth – congratulations,...
read moreMy Top 10 Songs of All Time
My Top 10 Songs of All Time by David Bash Without any ado, and with no reservations whatsoever… 10. Chalkhills and Children-XTC (1989): The first of two “last song on their album” in my Top 10. Andy Partridge and company had recently tackled that “Beach Boys influenced thing” on their Dukes of Stratosphear guise with “Pale and Precious”, and while I think that one is great as well, I love this one even more, maybe because it doesn’t seem as much like a direct cop. It’s...
read moreDavid Bash’s Favorite Albums of 2013
Hi Everyone, Here are my lists of favorite albums of 2013. As is my usual custom, I’ve broken this down into several categories, as I’m just not comfortable ranking unlike entities on one list. Contemporary Categories Those marked with an * are LP-only releases, those with a **are download-only. I. Top 100 Albums As always, I listened to a lot of albums this year, and there were significantly more than 100 which I thought were quality discs. I could have extended this list to 200 and still...
read moreThe Greatest Thing: 20 Must-Hear Elvis Costello Tracks
The Greatest Thing: 20 Must-Hear Elvis Costello Tracks by John M. Borack and Olivia Frain As co-producers of the upcoming tribute collection Beyond Belief: A Tribute to Elvis Costello, we are obviously dyed-in-the-wool Costello fanatics. Many a day has been spent burning up the phone lines discussing and spinning Elvis discs, with each of us interjecting a “Listen to this lyric!” or a “How does he DO that?” as we discuss the man’s extensive, varied and always entertaining back catalog. Whether it’s...
read moreDavid Bash’s Favorite Albums of 2012
Hi Everyone, Here are my lists of favorite albums of 2012. As is my usual custom, I’ve broken this down into several categories, as I’m just not comfortable ranking unlike entities on one list. Contemporary Categories Those marked with an * are LP-only releases and those marked with an ** are download-only releases. I’m hoping I didn’t forget to include some of the download-onlies: my filing system for them isn’t too efficient. I’ve probably obtained more albums in 2012 than I have in three or four years,...
read moreRoll Up for the Magical Mystery Tour (again)
Roll Up for the Magical Mystery Tour (again) By Aaron Kupferberg www.powerpopaholic.com On September 1967 The Beatles embarked on making their third film, with help from Richard Lester who directed A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965). The band was in uncharted waters after the death of long time manager Brian Epstein, and to prevent additional tax levies by the the government the band formed Apple Corps. “Magical Mystery Tour” was the first film project directed by the entire band under that banner. It was a...
read moreThe Shoes Still Fit
The Shoes Still Fit By Aaron Kupferberg www.powerpopaholic.com Some say that the 1980’s were a “lost decade” for power pop, with the decline of Badfinger, Big Star and The Raspberries, there was yet to be a band that could pick up the mantle for the genre. The influences of punk and new wave were just starting to take hold of the public’s attention in 1977. It’s into this that Shoes emerged with “Black Vinyl Shoes,” a homemade demo album that generated such critical praise it started the next...
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