power pop criminals

Friday, January 11

SHAKE SOME ACTION 2.0

An Updated Guide To The 200 Greatest Power Pop Albums 1970-2017

(an unauthorized best of)

VOLUME 7

Shake Some Action 2.0 will be laid out in similar fashion to a Billboard chart: albums have slid up or down the chart, with new efforts from 2008-2017 replacing those that have fallen out of the top 200.

Here's the second part (logically titled "Volume 7") of the SSA 2.0 collection. Eleven albums weren't part of the first SSA generation. Two of them "Sorrows' Teenage Heartbreak" and "The Jags' Evening Standards" have not been reissued in CD format even though all the Jags songs are available on their "Best Of". The "Sorrows' Teenage Heartbreak" will never be reissued on CD because it seems the original masters have been destroyed or lost.

Special note: This compilation comes complete with the usual full set of artwork suitable for jewel case CD. It is now available in lossy and lossless formats.

lossy ZS (189 mb)

lossless; ZS1 + ZS2 (567 mb)

151->175
click on the album title to get more info

151 Kyle Vincent - Kyle Vincent (1997)

152 The Colors - Teenage Furniture (2007)
153 The Blondes - Swedish Heat (2003)
154 The Sun Sawed in 1/2 - Fizzy Lift (1997)
155 The Blow Pops - American Beauties (1994)
156 Jason Falkner - Presents Author Unknown (1996)
157 D.L. Byron - This Day And Age (1980)
158 Blue - Blue (1973)
159 The Singles - Better Than Before (2003)
160 Teen Machine - After School Special (2000)
161 Ryan Hamilton - Hell of A Day (2015)
162 The Shambles - Clouds All Day (1996)
163 Vibeke Saugestad - The World Famous Hat Trick (2007)
164 Brendan Benson - One Mississippi (1996)
165 The Finkers - Fresh Set-O-Prints (1999)
166 The Tories - Wonderful Life (1997)
167 Tommy Hoehn - Losing You To Sleep (1978)
168 The Jetz - Cracked Up (2015)
169 Chopper - Slogans And Jingles (1993)
170 Sorrows - Teenage Heartbreak (1980)
171 The Jags - Evening Standards (1980)
172 Jim Basnight & The Moberlys - Seattle-New York-Los Angeles (2000)
173 The Grip Weeds - How I Won The War (2015)
174 Lisa Mychols - Above, Beyond & In Between (2013)
175 The Tickets - The Tickets (2006)

The book can be ordered here

Tuesday, January 1

SHAKE SOME ACTION 2.0

An Updated Guide To The 200 Greatest Power Pop Albums 1970-2017
(an unauthorized best of)
VOLUME 8

John Borack wrote his first look at all things power pop, Shake Some Action in 2008, and it struck a chord, selling out 4 reprints. Well, it’s ten years down the road, and Borack has updated his debut work with Shake Some Action 2.0: 200 Greatest Power Pop Albums 1970-2017 – and it’s even more complete than before! At over 400 pages, fans of jangly guitars, skinny ties and all things pop will find so much to love here.

Shake Some Action 2.0 will be laid out in similar fashion to a Billboard chart: albums have slid up or down the chart, with new efforts from 2008-2017 replacing those that have fallen out of the top 200.

Those familiar with the early days of PPC will remember the popular series "The Ultimate Power Pop Guide" (a.k.a The Unauthorized best of the John M. Borack list) based upon the first book "Shake Some Action". So ten years later, i have thought it would be nice to make an update to the guide.

Once again, i'm gonna pick one song from each album selected by John Borack, except this time i'm gonna start by the end of the list going to the top of the top... if everything goes well.

Special note: This compilation comes complete with the usual full set of artwork suitable for jewel case CD. It is now available in lossy and lossless formats.

lossy ZS (189 mb)

lossless; ZS1 + ZS2 (577 mb)

176->200
click on the album title to get more info

176 David Myhr - Soundshine (2012)

177 The Cowsills - Global (1998)

178 Yorktown Lads - Songs About Girls and Other Disasters (2014)

179 Seth Swirsky - Circles and Squares (2016)

180 The Tremblers - Twice Nightly (1980)

181 The On and Ons - It's The On and Ons Calling (2015)

182 The Favourites - New Feeling (2017)

183 Vance or Towers - Vance or Towers (1975)

184 The Wigs - File Under Pop Vocal (1981)

185 The Vandalias - Mach V (1995)

186 Sitcom Neigbor - Shag (2017)

187 Farrah - Moustache (2001)

188 Scott McCarl - Play On (1997)

189 Locksley - Don't Make Me Wait (2007)

190 Derrick Anderson - A World of My Own (2017)

191 Diamond Hands - Diamond Hands ((2016)

192 Kenny Howes - Second Album (1995)

193 Ray Paul - Whimsicality (2016)

194 The Cry! - The Cry! (2011)

195 The Chevelles - At Second Glance (1998)

196 Nick Piunti - 13 In My Head (2013)

197 The Nines - Wonderworld of Colourful (1998)

198 Corin Ashley - Broken Biscuits (2017)

199 Plasticsoul - Therapy (2017)

200 Promise - Promise (1980)

The book can be ordered here

Monday, December 31

Thank you for all your messages.

See you next year.

Saturday, December 15

VARIOUS - SAD CHRISTMAS (2018)

Christmas 2018 is a sad one, my beloved Mother has passed away last November.

You know that PPC wasn't really active during the past two years and a half, but i wanted to take care of my Mother.

Even though she never was a music fan, I will always remember the day when my Mother once told me "You should try to listen to the Beatles" at the time of "Abbey Road", and i will always remember she liked more Lennon than McCartney.

This compilation is dedicated to my Mother.

Sad Christmas is available in both lossy and lossless formats. All the songs included on this collection were compiled from CD's or official digital downloads.

Full artwork included

lossy: ZS (320 lame 3.99) (188 mb)

lossless: ZS1 + ZS2 (FLAC 8) (568 mb)

Volumes 1-11
Only a few (2013->2017) of the previous twelve volumes are available
(follow the links below)

"A Christmas Blog Gift For You" (2006)

"Another Christmas Blog Gift For You - Born To Greet" (2007)

"Dreamland With The Pop Snowflakes" (2008)

"Santa Claus & The Powerpop Criminals (2009)

"The Magnificent Seven" (2010)

"Sleigh Bells In The Snow" (2011)

"Christmas VII The Final Episode" (2012)

"Tic Tac Mistletoe" (2013)

"Mas Christmas!" (2014)

21st Century Santa (2015)

So Long Christmas (2016)

Very Merry Christmas (2017)

Tuesday, October 9

John Wicks of The Records (1953-2018)

An album to pay tribute to the late John Wicks

ZS (180mb)

originally posted in 2007 here

Saturday, June 23

VARIOUS - LONG PROMISED BEACH (2018)

Two days late...
but one more Summer compilation brought to you by PPC

this beachy collection is available
in both formats: lossy + lossless

with the usual PPC set of artwork

Summer 2018

320 lame 3.99 (192 mb): here
(unzip with 7-ZIP which is freeware)

FLAC 8 (562 mb): 1 + 2

Click on pix for the details of the bands involved

All the previous PPC summer compilations

are still available (320 mp3)

you can visit the pages linked

2009 Summer Songs (details here): 1 + 2

2010 Summer Songs Vol. 2 (details here): 1

2011 Back To The Summer Of... (details here): 1

2012 Hooks On The Beach (details here): 1

2013 In Search For The Perfect Hook (details here): 1

2014 Summer PowerPop Man! (details here): 1

2015 Lonely Summer (details here): 1

2016 Summer Party! (details here): 1

2017 Summer Takes It All (details here): 1

Monday, May 7

SPECIAL NOTE - UPDATE

Obviously there was a problem in the RAR process of "Tributes or Not Tributes Vol 3" with song 14 on CD2, because the original mp3 is flawless. So, for the ones who'd like to get it fast here it is

SONG 14 CD2

I've read some messages dealing with the RAR process (empty ones or anything else). As i have experienced the same problem on other sites, i found the solution by using the lastest version of WINRAR 5.50 (shareware) or using 7-ZIP (which is freeware)

Finally, remember the password is: password

I only use a password to protect the archives from the robot that could automatically delete the links.

Saturday, April 21

BEATLESQUE

MEET THE BEATLESQUE (2007) + BEATLESQUE AGAIN (2011)

Originally posted in 2007 / 2015 and 2011

full details here there and not everywhere

re-up

Meet The Beatlesque (381 mb)

Beatlesque Again (384 mb)

VARIOUS - BEAT PARTY (1997)

Originally posted in 2008 (August 2nd)

full details here

Re-up

Beat Party! (479 mb)

Friday, April 13

SPARE CHANGE - LONELY SUITS (1979)

Spare Change formed among Adelaide ex-pats in Amsterdam. Back in Adelaide, the band coalesced in 1973 as a pre-punk powerpop unit. The initial line-up included John Dowler (vocals), Chris Langman (guitar), Bob Kretschmer (guitar), Tony Murray (keyboards), and John Wilkenson (drums). Wilkenson was soon replaced by Graeme Perry, and this would remain the definitive Spare Change line-up. After a solid couple of years playing Adelaide pubs, Spare Change relocated to Melbourne in early 1975. There, the band recorded "The Big Beat" which was issued as a single at the end of 1976 (b/w Classified Ad). Aided and abetted by Henry Vyhnal, the band continued recording until March 1977 with the intention of an LP release, but broke up before that eventuated. The posthumous Lonely Suits LP was released in late 1979, and included both sides of the earlier single.

NEVER REISSUED ON CD

mp3: ZS (125 mb)

FLAC: ZS (309 mb)

Songs
1 The Big Beat / 2 Classified Ad / 3 Hold Me Tight / 4 Saigon / 5 Restless Nights / 6 In The Garden Of My Father / 7 Ski Patrol / 8 Falling / 9 The Party´s Over / 10 Let´s Get Rich Together / 11 Francoise / 12 Down On The Boulevarde

Recorded At Armstrong 24 Studio 2 Nov '76 - March '77
Album Finally Released Nov '79
more info here