Jules & The Polar Bears - Got No Breeding - 1978

Though it is packed with memorable hooks and Jules Shear's subtle twist of phrase, Got No Breeding was virtually ignored upon release, due in part to Columbia Records mismarketing the band as part of the new wave. The Polar Bears were, in reality, just a good, hard-working rock band jamming with a sometimes overenthusiastic Shear. The songs are among Shear's finest and the album is one of his most consistently enjoyable. After the demise of the Funky Kings, singer/songwriter Jules Shear formed his own band consisting of Stephen Hague (keyboards and, later, a noted producer), Richard Bredice (guitar), David White (bass), and David Beebe (drums). They were signed to Columbia Records in 1978 solely on the basis of Shear's demos -- at the time, the band had never played live together. They recorded their first LP, Got No Breeding, in 1978, which quickly found critical acclaim, drawing favorable comparisons to Jackson Browne, the Kinks, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen. Unfortunately, it failed to sell when Columbia tried to lump the band in with its new wave promotion."-AMG.

If you like "Got No Breeding get it here!

Jules & The Polar Bears - Got No Breeding - 1978

The dB'S - Like This - 1984

Stands for Decibels..

" Like This was a departure from the band`s previous albums, as it was treated to production from Chris Butler (Tin Huey, Waitresses) that sent the music booming with trademarks of the time: shimmering synthesizers, moaning male choruses, echo washes, loud drum mixes. But even in this sonic hall of mirrors, it`s Holsapple`s songs that stand out--check the heartbreaking "Lonely Is (As Lonely Does)," giddy "A Spy in the House of Love" and country-tinged "Amplifier." It wouldn`t be long before R.E.M. took the jangle-pop crown but these forbearers definitely helped lay the groundwork."-Harp. "From the opening notes of "Love Is for Lovers," this is obviously no ordinary dB`s record. The group, now pared down to a trio fronted by Peter Holsapple, have stripped away the arty quirks of the first two albums, opting instead for straight-ahead, rootsy rockers and country-rock romps. Amid the more muscular, guitar-based sound, Holsapple turns in his same instantly endearing melodies, especially on the album highlight, "Lonely Is as Lonely Does," their most beautiful song to date."-AMG

If you like "Like This" get it here!

The dB'S - Like This - 1984

P. Hux - Deluxe - 1995

Parthenon Huxley, aka P. Hux, has been dubbed a "pop visionary", "rock's most underrated pop genius", a songwriting "master" as well as the guy with the "monumental name." Call him whatever, the singer/guitarist just wants to make memorable music. P. Hux has recorded eight full-length albums

As a member of other bands, P. Hux has contributed as writer and producer to three albums: The Blazers "How To Rock"; VeG "VeG"; and The Orchestra "No Rewind." VeG was called "marvelous stuff" by Mojo Magazine and No Rewind has been recognized as a more than worthy member of the ELO pantheon. Huxley performs live as a solo artist; with his three-piece band (also called P. Hux); and with The Orchestra, the group he joined in 1998 that includes three original members of ELO. As guitarist and singer with The Orchestra, Huxley has played some of the world's great stages (Royal Albert Hall among them) in more than twenty countries.

Parthenon Huxley is a true craftsman, an artist that the ability to make the spine tingle, to trigger a tear, to move a dusty part of the human soul and, just as easily, rock you skyward, launch the listener off the couch and grab the person next to you and scream "LISTEN TO THIS!!". He's a treasure and you just do not want to miss out on any of his music and, right now, this is the one to take fully in!-NotLame Recording Company

Joe Jackson - Look Sharp - 1979

A brilliant, accomplished debut, Look Sharp! established Joe Jackson as part of that camp of angry, intelligent young new wavers (i.e., Elvis Costello, Graham Parker) who approached pop music with the sardonic attitude and tense, aggressive energy of punk. Not as indebted to pub rock as Parker and Costello and much more lyrically straightforward than the latter, Jackson delivers a set of bristling, insanely catchy pop songs that seethe with energy and frustration. Several deal with the lack of thoughtful reflection in everyday life ("Sunday Papers," "Got the Time"), but many more concern the injuries and follies of romance. In the caustic yet charming witticisms of songs like the hit "Is She Really Going out With Him?," "Happy Loving Couples," "Fools in Love," and "Pretty Girls," Jackson presents himself on the one hand as a man of integrity seeking genuine depth in love (and elsewhere), but leavens his stance with a wry, self-effacing humor, revealing his own vulnerability to loneliness and to purely physical attraction. Look Sharp! is the sound of a young man searching for substance in a superficial world — and it also happens to rock like hell.-All Music Guide

Mediafire

The Headboys - The Headboys - 1979

From Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1977, the Headboys released an album of power pop in 1979 on Robert Stigwood's RSO label. The LP was produced by Peter Ker (Motors, Bram Tchaikovsky). The first single, "The Shape of Things to Come" coupled with "The Mood I'm In" was a minor hit and the band planned a U.S. tour to support the album and join the New Wave craze that they reluctantly became a part of. But they soon decided that they were not ready for touring and retreated to the Scottish countryside to record another album. The album was not released and the band split up. Headboy keyboardist Calum Malcom has owned Castle Sound Studios in Scotland where the Headboys album was recorded for over 28 years and has produced records for The Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout and others.-Eric Lostbands

Ripped from vinyl @ 256. Hope you enjoy it!

Mediafire

The Undertones - The Undertones - 1979

The best band ever to come from Northern Ireland, the Undertones took youthful adoration for glam-rock and gave it the stripped-down simplicity and energy of punk to create truly wonderful albums of pop/rock (and, toward the end, soul) with a difference. The band's body of work reveals rapid creative growth; each album clearly shows a different stage in its development. The quintet's 1983 demise, as unavoidable as it was disappointing, resulted from a lack of sustained commercial success and the inability to shake the public's first impression of them as an Irish Ramones.

The Undertones — guitar-playing brothers Damian and John O'Neill, bassist Mickey Bradley, drummer Billy Doherty and singer Feargal Sharkey — started out writing simple, fetching melodies with lyrics about teenagehood and playing them fast and raw on basic guitars, bass and drums. With Sharkey's piercing, quivering Irish tenor out front, songs on the first album ("Jimmy Jimmy," "Here Comes the Summer," "Girls Don't Like It") are spare and efficient pop gems that are as infectious as measles, suggesting a bridge between teenybop and punk. (The original US edition, wrapped in completely different color Xerox artwork, adds the crucial "Teenage Kicks" and "Get Over You" from the band's first two 7-inches; a limited-edition English 10-inch released at the same time combined those two tracks plus a pair from the LP. The 1994 reissue adds seven bonus cuts — mostly contemporaneous B-sides — to the original album. The 2003 edition musters six of those and four more non-LP singles sides, including the classic "You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?)."-[Ira Robbins] Trouser Press

If you like "The Undertones" get it here!

The Undertones - The Undertones - 1979

The Only Ones - Special View - 1979

Led by singer/songwriter Peter Perrett, England's Only Ones combined the energy of the punk movement and a more traditional sense of rock craft, with Perrett singing his goodnatured tortured-romantic lyrics in a distinctive (and not unpleasant) whine. The quartet's mix of youthful spunk and seasoned experience (drummer Mike Kellie was a member of Spooky Tooth and bassist Alan Mair's résumé stretched back to the early '60s) helped gain the Only Ones quick prominence, but only one song — the much-covered "Another Girl, Another Planet" — earned the highly touted group any lasting acclaim.

Special View picks tracks off their first two albums, Even Serpents Shine (CBS) 1978 and The Only Ones (CBS) 1978 and adds the two sides of the band's self-released 1977 debut single for an introductory lesson in The Only Ones' early oeuvre.-[Ira Robbins / Scott Schinder] Trouser Press

If You like "Special View" get it here!

The Only Ones - Special View - 1979

Hutch - Turn It Around - 2002

With Kinks-bred pop-rock songs , Los Angeles based Hutch deliver the hooks on their debut, Turn It Around. An infectious blend of classic AM pop and modern mid-tempo rock, Hutch turns pop music on its head. Danceable, hip-shaking beats and plenty of sing-along choruses to be found, This is a pop record consists of equal parts pop and rock, a solid 11-song entertainment value for your buck that will hold its own . Subsequently, it will remain on your play list for quite awhile.

If you like "Turn It Around" get it here!

Hutch - Turn It Around - 2002

Dwight Twilley Band - Sincerely - 1976

What can you say...

Sincerely was the debut album from the Dwight Twilley Band, recorded in 1974 and 1975 and released in 1976 on Shelter Records. The songs on Sincerely come from three distinct recording periods: the band's first Tulsa and Los Angeles sessions for Shelter Records in 1974, which produced both of the first two singles (the top-20 hit "I'm On Fire" and "You Were So Warm"), a recording session produced by Robin Cable in London , and the band's sessions in Tulsa after returning from London.

"I'm on Fire," one of the finest pop singles of the '70s, reached #16 on the charts in 1975 with relatively little promotion, but Shelter had no distribution deal to release anything in 1975, due to the split between Leon Russell and Denny Cordell, Sincerley was not released for over a year. When the album was finally released in 1976, it surprisingly failed.

Long considered a Power Pop Masterpiece, anyone who loves '70s power pop should have the two Dwight Twilley Band albums in their collection.

If you like "Sincerly" buy it here!

Dwight Twilley Band - Sincerely - 1976

The Fags - Light 'em Up - 2006

Don't Let the Name Fool You...


If Cheap Trick and Butch Walker had a musical love child, the end result would have to sound an awful lot like The Fags. The members of this Detroit trio have been around the block more than a few times: frontman/guitarist John ‘Speck’ Liccardello did major label stints with the bands Hoarse and Paw, bassist Tim Patalan has produced countless albums for bands such as Lovedrug, Fretblanket and Watershed, and drummer Jimmy Paluzzi’s seen time in Hoarse, Sponge and the Orbitsuns, amongst many others.


The band members’ storied musical backgrounds reflect in the fact that nary a note is misplaced throughout Light ‘Em Up. Screw em, screw pop-punk – this is pop-rock at its finest, with emphasis on the ‘rock’. The Fags have hooks in spades, but there’s not much candy-coating poured over these guitars to help them go down sweetly.

If you like "Light 'em Up" get it here

The Fags - Light 'em Up - 2006

The Heat(er)s - Have An Idea - 1979

Seattle's Original Power-Pop Band!

Let's go back in time...It's November of 1978, and three long time friends (Ken Deans, Keith Lilly and Steve Pearson) have decided to 'do a band'. Thinking it would be pretty cool to have a second guitar player, Pearson introduces Don Short. All four hail from the Seattle's eastside, holding rehearsals in a freezing basement in Kenmore. By Spring '79 this foursome is known as The Heaters. Bursting into the local club scene, the group quickly becomes a
favorite in the Seattle area with their danceable, original songs. It seems a week doesn't go by without press coverage, fan followings, and more and more prestigious gigs. They are paid top dollar, audiences LOVE them, and critics predict them to be the next big thing. They legally change their name to The Heats, as a band in California already released an album under The Heaters. Managed by Albatross Productions, the guys are sent out on the road to open for The Knack and Heart. While opening for Heart, they earn the honor of being the first rock band to perform at Radio City Music Hall. Everything is going well for the boys, but they have yet to be signed.
Their first recording experience a 45, "I Don't Like Your Face/Ordinary Girls" sells 18,000 copies in the Puget Sound area. "Have an Idea," the Heats first album, is produced by Howard Leese, a member of Heart. It sells 15,000 copies and is eventually named as "one of the top 50 power-pop albums of all time!!" by Goldmine.

Growing up near Seattle in the late 70's I had the opportunity to see The Heaters at the aforementioned Knack show as well as others and they "were THE hottest, funnest, catchy-friggin'-song-writinest' band in the West". Their album was not a let-down either. These incredibly catchy songs are as fresh today as they were then. I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do.

If you like "Have An Idea" get it here!!

The Heat(er)s - Have An Idea - 1979