The mix starts off with one of the best pop songs ever. The La's also recorded two earlier versions of the song that didn't chart before the third version became a hit on their debut album. There was a controversy about the song because some people interpreted the lyrics to contain references to using heroin. Band members denied the accusation and you can tell by this Boo Radleys version that this song is about the joys of loving that girl.
Nick Lowe's Cruel To Be Kind is another stone classic pop song. I saw him perform the song again recently at a solo acoustic performance at Asbury Hall in Buffalo. Marshall Crenshaw is a great interpreter of classic pop songs as well as a great songwriter and he creates a nice version of this classic.
What ever happened to The Knack? They had that one great song My Sharona back in 1979 and really nothing after that although they tried a few comebacks. This cover of the great Badfinger song came off of one of their late 90s reunion albums. Lead singer and leader Doug Fieger died in 2010 so there won't be anymore new material from The Knack. However, a live album was released in 2012 that documents their club shows in 1978 before they became overnight sensations in 1979 and has-beens by 1981.
The Smithereens do a kick ass version of the T. Rex classic The Slider and The Dickies do likewise to The Left Banke's Pretty Ballerina. Redd Kross really roughs up that ABBA gem and Bill Lloyd does a nice job on the Bobby Fuller song that Marshall Crenshaw also covered in the 80s. Bill Lloyd has made some wonderful power pop albums during the 90s after the breakup of Foster & Lloyd.
Next up is a couple of covers of The Troggs. First with Alex Chilton formerly of The Box Tops and Big Star followed by The Ramones. Two great cover versions. Shoes does a nice cover of Buddy Holly's Word of Love and I really like those harmonies. Jeremy was a power pop musician in the 90s who went on to do Christian rock and here he does a fine cover of a Neil Diamond song that was a hit for The Monkees. Material Issue makes another power pop gem out of an old 60s hit from The Grass Roots. Wonderboy was a power pop group from the 90s that made a couple of decent albums and he they cover one of the 60s hits of The Foundations.
A lot of bands have covered Sonny & Cher's I Got You Babe but The Cynics do a very cool punk/pop version with those crunching guitars followed by a couple of bands with recent cover albums that include Hotrats doing The Velvet Underground and Nada Surf covering Depeche Mode. Both albums by these bands have some interesting selections of cover songs and are definitely worth a listen. Matthew Sweet, who has made many classic power pop albums, has teamed up with former Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs to create a couple of very entertaining albums of cover songs. The first covered songs from the 60s and the second covered the 70s. The song here is The Raspberries great hit from their debut album in 1972.
The next set of songs wouldn't be considered power pop but rather take some songs from the 60s and make something different with them in quirky ways starting with Yo La Tengo's take on The Beach Boys' classic Little Honda followed by The Cure doing The Doors and then The Grip Weeds doing The Move's LSD inspired riffing romp I Can Hear The Grass Grow. So it wasn't much of a stretch to follow that up with The Beatles' Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by the very beatlesque Mercury Rev and then The Pretenders doing Jimi Hendrix.
Little Black Egg was a very quirky song that was recorded in 1965 by The Nightcrawlers but only slightly dented the charts in 1967. I always loved this song and was happy to hear it turn up again on an album by the alt-country dream pop band Tarnation in 1997.
Back to power pop with 20/20 from the 80s doing a Badfinger song and then with The Bongos masterfully covering T. Rex from their debut album Drums Along The Hudson from 1982. A great way to close out the mix.
1. The Boo Radleys - There She Goes (So I Married An Axe Murderer Soundtrack, 1993)
2. Marshall Crenshaw - Cruel To Be Kind (Labour Of Love: The Music of Nick Lowe, 2001)
3. The Knack - No Matter What (Re-Zoom, 1998)
4. The Smithereens - The Slider (Resurrection of the Warlock: A Tribute To Marc Bolan & T. Rex, 1995)
5. The Dickies - Pretty Ballerina (Idjit Savant, 1995)
6. Redd Kross - Dancing Queen (Secret Life, 1997)
7. Bill Lloyd - Let Her Dance (All In One Place, 2001)
8. Alex Chilton - With A Girl Like You (19 Years: A Collection of Alex Chilton, 1991)
9. The Ramones - I Can't Control Myself (Acid Eaters, 1993)
10. Shoes - Words of Love (Every Day Is A Holly Day, 1989)
11. Jeremy - A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You (A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You: An Indie Tribute To Neil Diamond, 2005)
12. Material Issue - I'd Wait A Million Years (Yellow Pills Vol. 4, 1997)
13. Wonderboy - Build Me Up Buttercup (Abbey Road To Ruin, 1996)
14. The Cynics - I Got You Babe (I Got You Babe, 1992)
15. Hotrats - I Can't Stand It (Turn Ons, 2010)
16. Nada Surf - Enjoy The Silence (If I Had A Hi-Fi, 2010)
17. Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Go All The Way (Under The Covers Vol. 2, 2009)
18. Yo La Tengo - Little Honda (Little Honda, 1998)
19. The Cure - Hello I Love You (Join The Dots: B-Sides & Rarities 1978-2001, 2004)
20. The Grip Weeds - I Can Hear The Grass Grow (The Sound Is In You, 2003)
21. Mercury Rev - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Essential Mercury Rev: Stillness Breathes 1991-2006, 2006)
22. Pretenders - Bold As Love (Pirate Radio, 2006)
23. Tarnation - Little Black Egg (Mirador, 1997)
24. 20/20 - Day After Day (Come And Get It: A Tribute To Badfinger, 1997)
25. The Bongos - Mambo Sun (Drums Along The Hudson, 1982)
