Looking For The Magic: American Power Pop In 70S Looking For The Magic: American Power Pop In 70S CD

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 it's formative years.

1. Shakin' Street - MC5 2. Go Back - Crabby Appleton 3. Egg Carton Wall - the American Dream 4. We Gotta Get You a 5. Woman - Todd Rundgren 6. Moon Tears - Grin 7. Down on My Knees - Bread 8. You Tore My Down -Flamin' Groovies 9. To Be Your Friend - Sid 10. Bradley (Erik) 11. When My Baby's Beside Me 12. (Alternative Mix) - Big Star 13. Top of the City - Stories 14. It's My Life - the Wackers 15. I Like Girls (Bearsville Version) - Sparks 16. Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?) - Blue Ash 17. Must Be Love - Bang 18. Friday on My Mind - Earth Quake 19. Play on - the Raspberries 20. I Don't Mind - Athanor 21. Some Kind of Jerk- Foxpass 22. Ahead of My Time - the Droogs 23. I Don't Want to Know -Nils Lofgren 24. Little Lost and Innocent-Milk 'N' Cookies 25. Rock and Roll Love Letter - Tim Moore 26. Government Center -Jonathan Richman 27. She Might Look My Way (Take 2) - Alex Chilton 28. Familiar Faces - Target 29. Last Night - Eric Carmen 30. American Nights - the Runaways 31. (Don't Fear) the Reaper 32. (Single Edit) - Blue ?yster Cult 3 Downtown Menagerie -Hollins Ferry 33. All in All* - Just Boys 34. When You Find Out - the Nerves 35. If You've Got the Time -The Babys 36. Lonely Boy - Andrew Gold 37. To Stay - John Scoggins 38. See No Evil - Television 39. I Trust You* - the Meyce 40. Oh, Candy (Single Mix) - Cheap Trick 41. Ridin' in My Car - NRBQ 42. Boys Don't Lie - Shoes 43. She Say Yea - the Scruffs 44. She's the One - Themarshalls 45. Love in Action - Utopia 46. Alright You Boys - Venus ; the Razorblades 47. Looking for the Magic -Dwight Twilley Band 48. Ecstasy - Paley Brothers 49. Forgive and Forget -Marbles 50. All for the Love of Rock 51. And Roll - Tuff Darts 52. You, Yeah You - the Quick 53. New Year's Eve - Van Duren 54. Mind of My Own - the Leopards 55. Walk in the Rain - the Pop 56. Decline and Fall -Sneakers 57. My Best Friend's Girl - the Cars 58. Losing You to Sleep -Tommy Hoehn 59. The First One - Gary Valentine 60. Leave the Past Behind -The Moberlys 61. I Wanna Be Sedated -Ramones 62. Let Her Dance - Spitballs 63. You Just Don't Wanna 64. Know - Jules ; the Polar Bears 65. Gotta Have Pop - Segarini 66. Say Girl - Robert Johnson 67. Come Back - Fotomaker 68. Don't Listen to Them - Bill Kern 69. Love Is Gonna Come at 70. Last - Badfinger 71. Drivin' Music - Rubinoos 72. Rendezvous - the Greg Kihn Band 73. Your Number or Your 74. Name - the Knack 75. Poly Vinyl - the Mumbles 76. Rolene - Moon Martin 77. Get 'Im Outa Town - the Laughing Dogs 78. She Don't Know Why I'm 79. Here (Album Version) - the Last 80. Slip Away - Ian Lloyd 81. Should Have Known 82. Better - Richard Lloyd 83. No More Heartbreaks* -The Names 84. She Said - Cheese 85. Cheri - 20/20