Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Material Issue - International Pop Overthrow - 1991


Material Issue were on the great shining lights in the power pop scene in the early 90`s when there was not much to it. This debut was their best selling(supposedly sold 300,000).
MI married the tight and melodic commercial appeal of acts like Cheap Trick and the Knack with the jangly guitars and cockiness of early-`90s Britpop. "4 1/2 stars... singer/songwriter and guitarist Ellison and partners Ted Ansani on bass and Mike Zelenko on drums sound like power pop classicists, worshiping at the altar of Big Star, the Raspberries, and the Scruffs, though Ellison`s melodies are leaner and more direct than those of his obvious inspirations, and his willingness to turn up the tempos and let the guitars distort reminds all listeners that punk influenced good pop as much as pop influenced good punk.. he production by Jeff Murphy (whose band Shoes was doubtless another key influence on MI`s sound) is clean and uncluttered, but maybe a bit too much so -- while nothing gets in the band`s way, the group rarely displays as much power as it deserves, and the boomy sound could stand to be balanced with a bit more top-end crunch. But anyone who was looking for the future of power pop in 1991 might well have imagined these guys were it, and not without reason -- International Pop Overthrow is smart, hooky, and not afraid to sound edgy or let the amps go into the red."-AMG

If you like "International Pop Overthrow" get it here!

3 comments:

wkc said...

another great record that will live forever through it's namesake's festival that continues to grow and impress thanks to the wonderful David Bash -thanks

Anonymous said...

I was happy to find this - I have the album but don't have access to it now - but . . . no password? Rrrrr. Please?

Anonymous said...

Never mind about the password - I had the wrong file. Thank you. Now that I've found your blog, I'm going to explore all the great music.

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