Various Artists - Looking For The Magic: American Power Pop In The Seventies Various Artists

Comprehensive 3CD overview of the American power pop scene’s evolution throughout the 70s. • Featuring the genre’s major bands, cult names, hits, rari7es and several previously unissued tracks. Although the power pop genre wasn’t named and codified until late 1977, the sound and spirit had been slowly gathering steam throughout the decade. Surrounded by heavy metal and introverted singer/songwriters, the likes of The Raspberries, Big Star, Blue Ash and The Wackers spearheaded an early 70s return to the spiky, three-minute pop urgency of the mid-60s British Invasion bands. While only The Raspberries charted, such bands established a musical template that was adopted by a new raft of slightly younger acts including the Dwight Twilley Band, The Rubinoos and Shoes. The tide had turned by the late 70s, with such names as Cheap Trick and The Cars achieving success as the American music industry embraced power pop as a radio-friendly alternative to punk. When The Knack emerged from nowhere to dominate the summer of 1979 with the single ‘My Sharona’ and the album ‘Get The Knack’, it was clear that the decade was ending with power pop established as a significant commercial proposition. A chronologically-arranged set, ‘Looking For The Magic’ traces power pop’s development throughout the Seventies as largely unsuccessful bands were afforded cult status by the burgeoning grass-roots fanzine network that nurtured them. As well as featuring all of the aforementioned acts, we include the likes of Todd Rundgren, Flamin’ Groovies, Sparks, Ramones and the USA-based 1979 revamp of Badfinger, one of the seminal prototypal power pop bands at the start of the decade. We also focus on a huge number of cult names and little-known acts, showcasing many tracks that were unissued at the time and even several cuts now gaining a first-ever release. Housed in a clamshell box that includes a heavily annotated and illustrated 48-page booklet, ‘Looking For The Magic’ is a fascinating, highly entertaining celebration of a genre that went under the radar for most of its formative years. - 1 - 1. Shakin Street - Mc5 2. Go Back - Crabby Appleton 3. Egg Carton Wall - the American Dream 4. We Gotta Get You a Woman - Todd Rundgren 5. Moon Tears - Grin 6. Down On My Knees - Bread 7. You Tore My Down - Flamin Groovies 8. To Be Your Friend - Sid Bradley (Erik) 9. When My Babys Beside Me (Alternative Mix) - Big Star 10. Top of the City - Stories 11. Its My Life - the Wackers 12. I Like Girls (Bearsville Version) - Sparks 13. Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?) - Blue Ash 14. Must Be Love - Bang 15. Friday On My Mind - Earth Quake 16. Play On - the Raspberries 17. I Dont Mind - Athanor 18. Some Kind of Jerk* - Fox Pass 19. Ahead of My Time - the Droogs 20. I Dont Want To Know - Nils Lofgren 21. Little Lost and Innocent - Milk N Cookies 22. Rock and Roll Love Letter - Tim Moore 23. Government Center - Jonathan Richman 24. She Might Look My Way (Take 2) - Alex Chilton 25. Familiar Faces - Target 26. Last Night - Eric Carmen - 2 - 1. American Nights - the Runaways 2. (Dont Fear) the Reaper (Single Edit) - Blue Vyster Cult 3. Downtown Menagerie - Hollins Ferry 4. All In All* - Just Boys 5. When You Find Out - the Nerves 6. If Youve Got the Time - the Babys 7. Lonely Boy - Andrew Gold 8. To Stay - John Scoggins 9. See No Evil - Television 10. I Trust You* - the Meyce 11. Oh, Candy (Single Mix) - Cheap Trick 12. Ridin In My Car - Nrbq 13. Boys Dont Lie - Shoes 14. She Say Yea - the Scruffs 15. Shes the One - the Marshalls 16. Love In Action - Utopia 17. Alright You Boys - Venus & the Razorblades 18. Looking For the Magic - Dwight Twilley Band 19. Ecstasy - Paley Brothers 20. Forgive and Forget - Marbles 21. All For the Love of Rock and Roll - Tuff Darts 22. You, Yeah You - the Quick 23. New Years Eve - Van Duren 24. Mind of My Own - the Leopards 25. Walk In the Rain - the Pop 26. Decline and Fall - Sneakers - 3 - 1. My Best Friends Girl - the Cars 2. Losing You To Sleep - Tommy Hoehn 3. The First One - Gary Valentine 4. Leave the Past Behind - the Moberlys 5. I Wanna Be Sedated - Ramones 6. Let Her Dance - Spitballs 7. You Just Dont Wanna Know - Jules & the Polar Bears 8. Gotta Have Pop - Segarini 9. Say Girl - Robert Johnson 10. Come Back - Fotomaker 11. Dont Listen To Them - Bill Kern 12. Love is Gonna Come At Last - Badfinger 13. Drivin Music - Rubinoos 14. Rendezvous - the Greg Kihn Band 15. Your Number or Your Name - the Knack 16. Poly Vinyl - the Mumbles 17. Rolene - Moon Martin 18. Get Im Outa Town - the Laughing Dogs 19. She Dont Know Why Im Here (Album Version) - the Last 20. Slip Away - Ian Lloyd 21. Should Have Known Better - Richard Lloyd 22. No More Heartbreaks* - the Names 23. She Said - Cheese 24. Cheri - 20/20