David Bash's Best of 2017.

As always the highlight of the year-end list-making in the power pop community is International Pop Overthrow's David Bash's exhaustive lists.

I usually reproduce them in whole here, but rather than do that I'm just going to link to David's Facebook post with them:

David Bash's Best of 2017

As always there's new stuff to discover that even obsessives like myself overlook (for example I had no idea The Virtues released a new album in 2017, as it looks like it was a Europe-only release) and of course it's helpful to get a somewhat different perspective (David's more into psychedelic, garage and 60s-ish pop/rock than I am for instance).

David Bash's Best of 2016.

Mr. International Pop Overthrow, David Bash, asked me to share his best-of-2016 lists with the Absolute Powerpop readership so again I'm happy to bring you his lists as well, which are even more comprehensive than my own. He's gone 125 deep with his main list, plus you get reissues, compilations, etc. You'll see quite a few differences from my list as David is much more into psych-pop and 60s-style/garage rock than I am so if you ever felt I neglected those subgenres here's you're chance to see what's what there. Anyway, it's time to give David the floor:

Here are my lists of favorite albums of 2016. As is my usual custom, I've broken this down into several categories, as I'm just not comfortable ranking unlike entities on one list.

Those marked with an * are vinyl-only releases.
Those marked with an ** are cassette-only releases.

Contemporary Categories

I. Top 125 Albums

Disclaimer alert: I heard A LOT of fine albums this year, perhaps even more than 2015, which surprised me…but even paring it down to 125 was a daunting task. If your album doesn’t appear on this list, please trust me when I say that it in no way means I didn’t think it was good, so please don’t be hurt (assuming you even care what I think) if your album isn’t listed here (or, for that matter, if it received a lower ranking than you were hoping for/expecting). There were at least 50 more albums I could have included and still felt as if I enjoyed listening to everything on the list, but I wanted to keep it at no more than 125 so as not to overwhelm; with all the other lists I have here, there’s enough sensory overload happening!

There may be a handful of albums on this list which appear to be from 2015, or in fact were “released” at the tail end of last year. As anal as I am about my lists and about the year in which releases should be placed, I also try to be sensible about it and take into account the fact that one needs a bit of lag time to become aware of several releases, especially those indie releases which take up most of my list. If you have any complaints about this, please keep them to yourself-I’ve heard ‘em all. ;-)

Lastly, I did not include download-only releases on any of my lists. I know this might seem a bit churlish, but there’s something about download-only releases that just doesn’t quite seem “legitimate” to me. While I like several of those I heard in 2016, and even love some of them, I’m still old school and still believe in physical product. Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against download releases, but I believe that there should also be options to obtain physical product. Yes, I understand that printing up CDs and (especially) vinyl is costly, but these days it really is doable for every band because manufacturing houses are all willing to do limited runs of product, particularly CDs, so that a band can do as few as 100, which should be easy to sell out of at shows, via boutique sites like Kool Kat and Jam, CD Baby, etc…I am very troubled by the possibility (some might say inevitability) of the CD going by way of the dinosaur, but I feel like I need to do my part, as little as that might be, to keep them alive. I will say I am encouraged by the number of bands who did release physical product in 2015, so hopefully all will continue to be well with the world.  Note: if any download-only releases I’ve heard see physical release in a future year, they will be eligible for ranking in that year. There you are, bands: a little incentive to keep the physical release alive and well. 

Ok, without further ado, here you go!

1. Trolley-Caught In The Darkness (Easter)
2. Seth Swirsky-Circles and Squares (Self-Released)
3. The Explorers Club-Together (Goldstar)
4. The Nines-Alejandro’s Visions (TAS Gold)
5. The Junipers-Red Bouquet Fair (Self-Released)
6. Michael Collins-Last Laugh (Self-Released)
7. Ulysses-Law and Order (Black Glove)
8. Erik Voeks-So The Wind Won’t Blow It All Away (Hanky Panky)
9. Mimi Betinis-Music Sounds (Self-Released)
10. Rocket Bureau-Phantoms Ringing 67-73 (Kool Kat)
11. Coke Belda-Nummer Zwei (Rock Indiana)
12. The Jayhawks-Paging Mr. Proust (Sham)
13. Miracle Glass Company-Miracle Glass Company (Self-Released)
14. The Vow-Ghost Writer (Slug)
15. The Fast Camels-Tales of The Expected (Magic Optician)
16. The Monkees-Good Times! (Rhino)
17. Ken Sharp-New Mourning (Jet Fighter)
18. Diamond Hands-Diamond Hands (You Are The Cosmos
19. The Well Wishers-Comes and Goes (ThatWasMySkull)
20. Champagne-Beach Closed (Rock Indiana)
21. Faux Know-Tactics (Sonorous Conglomorous)
22. The Legal Matters-Conrad (Omnivore)
23. Michael Carpenter-The Big Radio (Big Radio)
24. Pacific Soul LTD.-The Dance Divine (Karma Frog)
25. Ebbot Lundberg & The Indigo Children-For The Ages To Come (Akashic)
26. Somerdale-Shake It Maggie (FDR)
27. The Chemistry Set-The Endless More and More (Cindi)
28. Nada Surf-You Know Who You Are (Barsuk)
29. Wade Jackson-Whiskey Alpha Delta Echo (Half A Cow)
30. Cotton Mather-Death of The Cool (Star Apple Kingdom)
31. John Macom-Unforseen Circumstances (American Nostril)
32. Octubre-Mouseland (Self-Released)
33. Greg Pope-Guiding Star (Octoberville)
34. Tommy and The Rockets-Beer and Fun and Rock ‘n’ Roll (Kool Kat)
35. Brian Curtis-Brain Circus (Electric Bozo)
36. Gothic Chicken-Lift The Cobweb Veil (Pink Hedgehog)
37. Men of North Country-This City (Acid Jazz)
38. The Dowling Poole-[One] Hyde Park (Self-Released)
39. The Flat Five-It’s A World of Love and Hope (Augiedisc)
40. The Mergers-With A Carrot and A Stick (Soundflat)
41. Cupid’s Carnival-Everything Is Love (Cherry)
42. Death By Unga Bunga-Pineapple Pizza (Jansen)
43. Dressy Bessy-Kingsize (Yep Roc)
44. The Hanging Stars-Over The Silvery Lake (Self-Released)
45. The Lemon Twigs-Do Hollywood (Self-Released)
46. Jeffrey Foskett-Classic Harmony (Vivid Sound)
47. Charlie Faye & The Fayettes-Charlie Faye & The Fayettes (Self-Released)
48. Green Day-Revolution Radio (Reprise)
49. David Brookings and The Average Lookings-David Brookings and The Average Lookings (Byar)
50. Stay-The Mean Solar Times (Rock Indiana)
51. Emitt Rhodes-Rainbow Ends (Omnivore)
52. Tuns-Tuns (Royal Mountain)
53. Gerry Beckley-Carousel (Blue Elan)
54. Arvidson & Butterflies-Arvidson & Butterflies (Kool Kat)
55. The Nobility-Ashford Castle (Self-Released)
56. The Jangle Band-Edge of A Dream (Off The Hip)
57. Ex Norwegian-Glazer/Hazerr (Dippy)
58. Paul Iwan-Reveal (Self-Released)
59. Garden Gate-Dark Harvest (Golden Brown)**
60. Cullen Omori-New Misery (Sub Pop)
61. The Lazy Lies-The Lazy Lies (Bird With Vertigo)
62. Those Pretty Wrongs-Those Pretty Wrongs (Ardent/Burger)
63. Stephen Steinbrink-Anagrams (Melodic)
64. Swedish Polarbears-The Great Northern (Sound Asleep)*
65. Ray Paul-Whimsicality (Permanent Press)
66. The Luck of Eden Hall-The Acceleration of Time (Headspin)*
67. Automat-Turn The Music Up (Self-Released)
68. Simon Felton-Return To Easton Square (Pink Hedgehog)
69. The I Don’t Cares-Wild Stab (Self-Released)
70. Nick Piunti-Trust Your Instincts (Jem)
71. Warm Morning Brothers-A Bunch of Weeds (Other Eyes)
72. Winterpills-Love Sounds (Signature Sounds)
73. EZTV-High In Place (Captured Tracks)
74. The Claypool Lennon Delirium-Monolith of Phobos (Prawn Song)
75. The Weeklings-Studio 2 (Jem)
76. Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms-Basement Punk (Save Your Generation)
77. Radio Days-Back In The Day (Rock Indiana)
78. The Honeydogs-Love & Cannibalism (Simon)
79. Jon Lindsay-Cities & Schools (File 13)
80. Kurt Baker Combo-In Orbit (Wicked Cool)
81. Mystic Braves-Days of Yesteryear (Lollipop)*
82. The Expected-One (Self-Released)
83. The Rebels of Tijuana-The Rebels of Tijuana (Le Pop Club)
84. Mari Wilson-Pop Deluxe (WG)
85. Joel Sarakula-The Imposter (Self-Released)
86. Jason Berk-Everything Old Is New Again (Self-Released)
87. Fernando Perdomo-Voyeurs (Self-Released)
88. Dodgy-What Are We Fighting For (Cherry Red)
89. John Howard-Across The Door Sill (Occultation)
90. Clockwise-This Is Now and…Then (Self-Released)
91. Latvian Radio-Until Tomorrow Gets In The Way (Belpid)
92. Propeller-Fall Off The World (Moving Wall)
93. The Minus 5-Of Monkees and Men (Yep Roc)
94. Quilt-Plaza (Kemodo)
95. Tommy Who-Love Fades Away (Lonesome Whippoorwhill)
96. Soft Hearted Scientists-Golden Omens (The Hip Replacement)
97. Gleeson-Curse My Lucky Stars (Almost There)*
98. The Armoires-Incidental Lightshow (Black Market Glamour)
99. Teenage Fanclub-Here (Merge)
100. Butch Young-Mercury Man (Little Christmas)
101. Cait Brennan-Debutante (Black Market Glamour)
102. Kirk Adams-Undertown (Sattelites Group)
103. French Boutik-Front Pop (CopaseDisques)
104. The Ratkellers-Beat & Roll Mit The Ratkellers (Marlowe)
105. Chris Bolger-No Promises (Self-Released)
106. Tommy Sistak-A Good Hat Indeed (Self-Released)
107. Michael Macrone-Icicles and Sand (Fiesta Red)
108. Michael Carpenter & The Cuban Heels-Ain’t Nothing Left To Say (Big Radio)
109. Cheap Trick-Bang Zoom Crazy…Hello (Big Machine)
110. M. Ross Perkins-M. Ross Perkins (Sofaburn)
111. Pauw-Macrocosm Microcosm (Caroline)
112. The Pynnacles-My Oblivion (Whomp!)*
113. The Jeremy Band-Hit You With A Flower (Jam)
114. Metropolitan Farms-Oafish Twist (Braxeling)
115. The Forz-Running From The Past (Self-Released)
116. The Urges-Time Will Pass (Self-Released)
117. Spygenius-‘Pacephale (Whammo Whammo Whammo Excellent)
118. The Reverberations-Mess Up Your Mind (Screaming Apple)*
119. Gretchen’s Wheel-Behind The Curtain (Futureman)
120. The Ace-Riot of Sound (We Dig This)
121. Dropkick-Balance The Light (Rock Indiana)
122. Speed The Plough-Now (Self-Released)
123. Twins-Square America (Maximum Ames)
124. Shennon and Lotton-PM Songs (Rock Indiana)
125. Peter Buzzelle and The Academy-Devil Love (Self-Released)

II. Top 5 EPs

Disclaimer alert: I’m not a big fan of EPs, as they always seem to leave me wanting more. For this reason, I never seek them out the way I do full-length albums, and 2016 was no exception. A few of them came my way, regardless, and I will list those I particularly enjoyed.

1. Cabinessence-A Place For Playing Games (Self-Released)
2. Pezband-Women & Politics (Frodis)*
3. General Mojo’s-How Hollow A Heart (Self-Released)
4. Steve Ramone-Snowballs In The Summer (Blast O Matic)
5. B Leaguers-Death Of A Western Heart (Kool Kat)

III. Top 4 Compilations-Single Artist

1. The Anderson Council-Assorted Colours (Jem)
2. Bill Lloyd-Lloydering (SpyderPop)
3. Greg Pope-Favorites (Octoberville)
4. Fernando Perdomo-Picks (Self-Released)
5. Blame The Bishop-New & Used Collected Recordings: 2009-2015 (Self-Released)

IV. Top 5 Compilations-Various Artists

1. International Pop Overthrow Vol. 19 (Pop Geek Heaven)
2. Twelve String High: A New Jingle Jangle Adventure (You Are The Cosmos)
3. Pop Parade Vol. 7 (Rock Indiana)
4. Big Stir- Power Pop and More at CIA: The First Year (Minco)
5. Unsigned, Sealed & Delivered-No. 9 The Songwriters Notebook (Bullseye)

V. Top Tribute Disc

If It Feels Good Do It-A Sloan Tribute (Futureman)

VI. Biggest Disappointment

Look Park-Look Park (Yep Roc). It’s not that I don’t like this album, but I expect more than a late ‘70s James Taylor sound-a-like from Chris Collingwood.

VII. 2017 Releases I’ve Heard And Like (In Alphabetical Order)

Brent Cash-The New High
The Flywheels-I’m For The Flowers
Pseudonym-Pack of Lies

Reissue Categories

I. Top 50 Proper Albums

For this category, at least one of the following criteria must be met for the album to qualify:

a. those that are on CD for the first time
b. those that had been previously issued, but are now out of print or difficult to find
c. those in whose current issue have lots of bonus tracks, or some other unique feature
d. those reissued on LP where they never had been
e. those which were previously unreleased but are “old” enough to where they should be considered reissues.

What I did NOT include were “garden variety” reissues of popular albums (i.e. the ELO reissues on colored vinyl)

A CD or LP which contains exclusively previously unrelesed material which is not from current times is still considered a “reissue” in my ranking structure.

With the above in mind, while quality is the major factor in determining the rankings, other factors such as number and type of bonus tracks, liner notes, sound quality, etc…do come into play. So, if you see a classic album ranking lower than one with less of a rep (or one you know I like a bit less), it’s because of the other factors.

1. The Hollies-Evolution: Mono/Stereo (Parlophone)*
2. XTC-Skylarking: The Surround Sound Series (Ape House)
3. R.E.M.-Out Of Time: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Universal)
4. Game Theory-The Big Shot Chronicles (Omnivore)
5. The Move-The Move (Esoteric)
6. Anthony Phillips-Wise After The Event: Deluxe Edition (Esoteric)
7. The Go-Go’s-Talk Show: Deluxe Edition (Edsel)
8. Barclay James Harvest-Gone To Earth (Esoteric)
9. Paul Revere & The Raiders-The Spirit of ’67: Deluxe Mono/Stereo Edition (Now Sounds)
10. The Hollies-Butterfly: Mono/Stereo (Parlophone)*
11. Crowded House-Woodface: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
12. Game Theory-Lolita Nation (Omnivore)
13. Soft Hearted Scientists-Uncanny Tales From The Everyday Undergrowth (Self-Released)
14. Milk ‘N Cookies-Milk ‘N Cookies (Captured Tracks)
15. Status Quo-On The Level: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
16. Crowded House-Crowded House: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
17. The Go-Go’s-Beauty and The Beat: Deluxe Edition (Edsel)
18. The Move-Shazam (Esoteric)
19. The Toms-The Toms (Burger/Frodis)**
20. Pugwash-Almond Tea (Sugarbush)*
21. Nelson Bragg-Day Into Night: 10th Anniversary Edition (Steel Derrick)
22. Spanky & Our Gang-Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhyme Or Reason (Universal Japan)
23. Crowded House-Time On Earth: Deluxe Edition (Lester)
24. Idle Race-Idle Race (Parlophone)*
25. Brinsley Schwarz-The New Favourites Of…Brinsley Schwarz (Parlophone Japan)
26. The Move-Looking On (Esoteric)
27. Barclay James Harvest-Everyone Is Everybody Else (Esoteric)
28. Otis Redding-Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul (Rhino)
29. Hudson Ford-Nickelodeon (Big Pink)
30. Crowded House-Temple of Low Men: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
31. Klaatu-347 E.S.T.(Conveyer)
32. Cotton Mather-Kontiki (Star Apple Kingdom)*
33. Eclection-Eclection (Esoteric)
34. Clear Light-Clear Light (Big Beat)
35. Benny Hester-Benny… (Moraine Music Group)
36. Spanky & Our Gang-Spanky & Our Gang (Universal Japan)
37. The Easybeats-Good Friday (Varese Sarabande)*
38. The Move-Something Else (Esoteric)
39. Crowded House-Together Alone: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
40. Status Quo-If You Can’t Stand The Heat: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
41. Hudson Ford-Free Spirit (Big Pink)
42. Anthony Phillips-Sides: Deluxe Edition (Esoteric)
43. Gary Wright and Wonderwheel-Ring of Changes (Esoteric)
44. The Remains-The Remains: Mono Edition (Sony)*
45. Madrigal-Sunshine (Axe)
46. The Kinks-Everybody’s In Show Biz: Legacy Edition (Legacy)
47. Paul Roland-House of Dark Shadown (Klang)
48. Judy Henske & Jerry Yester-Farewell Aldebaran (Omnivore)
49. Spanky & Our Gang-Like To Get To Know You (Universal Japan)
50. Tommy Roe-Dizzy (Universal Japan)

II. Top 30 Compilations, Single Artist

1. The Fifth Dimension-The Complete Soul City/Bell Singles 1966-1975 (Real Gone)
2. The Mamas and The Papas-The Complete Singles 50th Anniversary Collection (Real Gone)
3. The Turtles-All The Singles (Manifesto)
4. Grapefruit-Yesterday’s Sunshine: The Complete 1967-1968 London Sessions (RPM)
5. The Korgis-Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime: The Complete Rialto Recordings 1979-1982 (Cherry Red)
6. The Lee Kings-Bingo!! For The Lee Kings: Expanded Edition (RPM)
7. Cloud Eleven-Garden of Obscure Delights: A Retrospective 1996-2015 (West Coast)
8. Velvet Crush-Pre Teen Symphony (Omnivore)
9. The Beach Boys-Becoming The Beach Boys: The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions (Omnivore)
10. The Avengers-Everyone’s Gonna Wonder (RPM)
11. Andy Partridge-The Fuzzy Warbles Collection: Volumes 7-8 and Hinges (Ape House)
12. Jeffrey Foskett-The Best Of Jeffrey Foskett (Vivid Sound)
13. The Brotherhood of Lizards-Lizardland: The Complete Works (Captured Tracks)
14. Crowded House-Afterglow: Deluxe Edition (Univeral)
15. Steve & The Board-The Complete Steve & The Board (Playback)
16. The Ashes-Selective Amnesia: A Warmfuzz Compilation (Warmfuzz)
17. Andy Partridge-The Fuzzy Warbles Collection: Volumes 4-6 (Ape House)
18. The Bangles-Ladies and Gentlemen…The Bangles! (Omnivore)
19. Syreeta-The Rita Wright Years: Rare Motown 1967-1970 (Kent)
20. Harpers Bizarre-The Complete Singles Collection 1965-1970 (Now Sounds)
21. The Valentines-The Sound of The Valentines: The Complete Recordings 1966-1970 (RPM)
22. John Howard-These Fifty Years: The Best of John Howard Vol. 1 (Kid In A Big World)
23. George Usher-The End and The Beginning 1990-2009
24. Chad & Jeremy-Yesterday’s Gone: The Complete Ember/World Artist Recordings (RPM)
25. The Cats-The Golden Years of Dutch Pop Music (Universal)
26. Andy Partridge-The Fuzzy Warbles Collection: Volumes 1-3 (Ape House)
27. The Quick-Untold Rock Stories (Burger)*
28. Prix-Historix 1975-76 Ardent Studios (Hozac)
29. Ray Columbus-Now You Shake: The Definitive Beat R’N’B Pop Fever Recordings 1963-1969 (RPM)
30. Justine-Tales of Justine: Petals From A Sunflower Complete Recordings 1967-79 (Grapefruit)

III. Top 20 Compilations, Various Artists: Individual

I tried something new this year: separating the various artist comps into “Best Individual” and “Best Series”, as this year it was just too difficult to rank volumes in many of the series. If this seems a bit vague, it will become clear when you see the lists.

1. The Girls Want The Boys!: Sweden’s Beat Girls 1964-1970 (Ace)
2. Svenska Shakers-R & B Crunchers, Mod Grooves, Freakbeat and Psych/Pop From Sweden 1964-1968 (RPM)
3. This Is Fame: 1964-1968 (Kent)*
4. Let It Be-Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison (Ace)
5. Move On Up Volume Two: The Very Best of Northern Soul (Universal)
6. Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults (Rhino)*
7. Scratch My Back!-Pye Beat Girls 1963-1968 (Ace)
8. Kinked!: Kings Songs & Sessions 1964-1971 (Ace)
9. Girls On 45 Vol. 4: A Selection of Girl Group, Girlie Pop and Soulful Ladies 1962-1967 (Teensville)
10. Curiousity Shop Volume Three: A Rare Collection of Aural Antiquities and Objets D’art 1968-1971 (Particles)
11. One Track Mind-More Motown Guys (Kent)
12. Curiousity Shop Volume Four: A Rare Collection of Aural Antiquities and Objets D’art 1966-1969 (Particles)
13. Where The Girls Are-Volume 9 (Ace)
14. Love Hit Me!: Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970 (Ace)
15. Mixed Up Minds-Obscure Rock & Pop From The British Isles 1970-1974 (Particles)
16. Classical Gassers-Pop Gems Inspired By The Great Composers (Ace)
17. California Soul-Funk & Soul From The Golden State 1967-1976 (BGP)
18. Upside Down Volume Five: 1966-1971 Coloured Dreams From The Underworld (Particles)
19. Super Duper Love: Mainstream Hits & Rarities 1973-76 (Kent)
20. Northern Soul Weekender: Russ Winstanley Presents The Ultimate Weekender (Charly)

IV. Top 5 Compilations-Various Artists: Series

1. Cornflake Zoo (Particles)
2. Beatfreak! (Particles)
3. Warner Pop Rock Nuggets (Warner Japan)
4. Loma: A Soul Music Love Affair (Future Days)
5. Warner Girl Group Nuggets (Warner Japan)

V. Top 2 Soundtracks

1. The Beatles-Live At The Hollywood Bowl: A Ron Howard Film: Eight Days A Week The Touring Years (Universal)
2. Harry Nilsson’s The Point (Varese Sarabande)

VI. Top 30 Box Sets: Single Artist

1. Pink Floyd-The Early Years 1965-1972 (Legacy)
2. The Kinks-The Mono Collection (Sanctuary)*
3. The Rolling Stones-In Mono (ABCKO)
4. The Who-My Generation: Super Deluxe (Universal)
5. David Bowie-Who Can I Be Now?: 1974-1976 (Rhino/Parlophone)
6. The Beach Boys-Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary (Universal)
7. Elvis Presley-The Album Collection (Sony/RCA/Legacy)
8. The Monkees-The Monkees 50 Classic Albums Collection (Rhino)
9. Marvin Gaye-Volume Two 1966-1970 (Universal)
10. The Turtles-The Complete Original Album Collection (Manifesto)
11. Paul McCartney-Pure (Concord Music Group)
12. Lush-Origami (4 AD)*
13. Fleetwood Mac-Mirage: Super Deluxe (Rhino)
14. Todd Rundgren-The Complete Bearsville Albums Collection (Rhino)
15. The Cars-The Elektra Years 1978-1987 (Rhino)
16. The Ramones-The Ramones: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Rhino)
17. Marvin Gaye-Volume Three 1971-1981 (Universal)
18. Graham Parker-These Dreams Will Never Sleep: The Best Of Graham Parker 1976-2005 (Universal)
19. XTC-Skylarking: Super Deluxe (Ape House)
20. Rubettes-The Albums 1974-1977 (Caroline International)
21. The Lords of The New Church-The Complete I.R.S. Collection (Real Gone)
22. The Archies-Sugar Sugar: The Complete Albums Collection (Goldenlane)
23. Led Zeppelin-The Complete BBC Sessions (Rhino)
24. XTC-English Settlement: Super Deluxe (Ape House)
25. The Long Ryders-Final Wild Songs (Cherry Red)
26. NRBQ-High Noon: A 50 Year Retrospective (Omnivore)
27. Sloan-One Chord To Another: Super Deluxe (Two Minutes For Music)*
28. The Association-Original Album Series (Rhino)
29. Jethro Tull-Stand Up: The Elevated Edition (Warner)
30. The Spencer Davis Group-Taking Out Time: Complete Recordings 1967-1969 (RPM)

VII. Top 5 Box Sets: Various Artists

1. Let’s Go Down and Blow Our Minds-The British Psychedelic Sounds of 1967 (Grapefruit)
2. Still In A Dream-A Story of Shoegaze (Cherry Red)
3. Another Splash of Colour-New Psychedelia In Britain 1980-1985 (RPM)
4. Looking Stateside: 80 Mod, Soul & Garage Nuggets (RPM)
5. C87 (Cherry Red)

VIII. Top 5 Reissue Labels (non-major)

1. RPM
2. Omnivore
3. Kent
4. Ace
5. Real Gone

IX. Top 5 Reissue Labels (Major)

1. Rhino
2. Universal
3. Legacy
4. Warner Japan
5. Parlophone

Best of 2014 Power Pop Lists, Combined

I've been meaning to do this since early January when David Bash's lists came out, and now I've finally gotten around to it. I wanted to combine the top lists of Bash, myself, and Powerpopaholic into one consensus power pop ranking for 2014. As Powerpopaholic only went with a top 50, I limited myself to my own and Bash's top 50, and to be ranked here a disc had to be in at least two of the three lists. There were two discs that all three of us had almost eerie agreement on. One was at the top (Linus of Hollywood where we all went top six) and one was at the bottom (Rick Hromdaka's Trippin' Dinosuars came in at 40-39-40). There was a lot of diversity with only 11 releases appearing in all three lists, although part of that might be due to David Bash's refusal to rank download-only releases. I had 23 in common with Powerpopaholic and 12 in common with Bash (The Pearlfishers was the only one Bash & I had that Powerpopaholic didn't), while Powerpopaholic had 18 in common with Bash.

To compile the combined list, I averaged the rankings with the lower averages the better. I took a screenshot of my Word doc since I stink at creating tables (click to embiggen). (Legend: PP-Powerpopaholic, DB-David Bash, AP-Absolute Powerpop)

David Bash's Best of 2013, Part 2.

Here are the remainder of the 2013 lists from David Bash. All comments are his:

III. Top 2 Compilations-Single Artist

1. The Grip Weeds-Inner Grooves (Rare And Under-Released Tracks) (Ground Up)
2. Ben Jones-Retrospective: A Collection (Self-Released)

IV. Top 5 Compilations-Various Artists

1. International Pop Overthrow Vol. 16 (Pop Geek Heaven)
2. Christmas Without Cancer (Vandalay)
3. Sweet Relief 3: Love Is Everywhere (Jam)
4. Power Pop Planet Volume Two: 30 Bands, 30 Smiles (Pop Geek Heaven)
5. Pop Garden Radio Presents The Rock On The Road Show Season 4 (Pop Garden Radio)

V. Top 4 Tribute Discs

1. Drink A Toast To Innocence: A Tribute To Lite Rock (Self-Released)
2. The Records Tribute: Starry Eyed (Zero Hour)
3. Skrang: Sounds Like Bobby Sutliff (Cool Dog)
4.. Pop Garden Radio Presents: Legacy/A Tribute To Rick Nelson Vol. 1 (Pop Garden Radio)

VI. Biggest Disappointment

Fitz And The Tantrums-More Than Just A Dream (Elektra)

VII. 2014 Releases I’ve Heard And Am Excited About (In Alphabetical Order)

Note: some of these have been available for download in 2013, but a little birdie told me that these will be released as physical product in 2014…so that’s why they’re in this category. I’m always going to favor physical product, and so if there’s a physical release, that’s the year in which they will be ranked. I want to do my part, small as it is, to keep the physical release alive and well. 

The Belltower-Day Breakaway
Adrian Bourgeois-Pop/Art
The Cry-Dangerous Games
The Fast Camels-Dead Rooms And Battery Dreams
Peter Fedofsky-False Ties and Nice Hoods
Jimmy Haber-New Bondi Hippies
The Hot Place-The Language Of Birds
The Len Price Three-Nobody Knows
The Brothers Restaino-Have Issues
Valley Lodge-Use Your Weapons

Reissue Categories

For this category, at least one of the following criteria must be met for the album to qualify:

a. those that are on CD for the first time
b. those that had been previously issued, but are now out of print or difficult to find
c. those in whose current issue have lots of bonus tracks, or some other unique feature
d. those reissued on LP where they never had been
e. those which were previously unreleased but are “old” enough to where they should be considered reissues.

A CD or LP which contains exclusively previously unrelesed material which is not from current times is still considered a “reissue” in my ranking structure.

With the above in mind, while quality is the major factor in determining the rankings, other factors such as number and type of bonus tracks, liner notes, sound quality, etc…do come into play.

I. Top 50 Proper Albums

1. XTC-Nonsuch: The Surround Sound Series (Ape House)
2. Chilliwack-Lights From The Valley (Mushroom)
3. The Mamas & The Papas-The Mamas & The Papas (Sundazed)
4. Abba-Ring Ring: Deluxe Edition (Polar)
5. Tee Set-Emotion: The Album, The Rarities (Pseudonym)
6. Tears For Fears-The Hurting: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
7. Los Brincos-Contrabando (El)
8. Ian McNabb-Truth And Beauty (Cherry Red)
9. The Vogues-Sings The Good Old Songs And Other Hits (WEA International)
10. The Serendipity Singers-Love Is A State Of Mind: Deluxe Stereo/Mono Edition (Now Sounds)
11. The Sugar Shoppe-The Sugar Shoppe (Now Sounds)
12. Dave Edmunds-Subtle As A Flying Mallet: Expanded Edition (RPM)
13. The Supremes-Sing Holland, Dozier, Holland (Culture Factory)
14. Small Faces-There Are But Four Small Faces (Varese Sarabande)
15. Bananarama-Bananarama (Rhino/Edsel)
16. Chilliwack-Dreams, Dreams, Dreams (Mushroom)
17. The Mamas & The Papas-Deliver (Sundazed)
18. The Alan Parsons Project-I Robot (Legacy)
19. The Boys-Alternative Chartbusters (Fire)
20. Family-Bandstand (Snapper)
21. The Kinks-Muswell Hillbillies: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
22. Reggie King-Looking For A Dream (Circle)
23. We All Together-We All Together (Repsychled)
24. Nektar-Down To Earth (Purple Pyramid)
25. R.E.M.-Green: Deluxe Edition (Rhino)
26. Sandie Shaw-Reviewing The Situation (Salvo)
27. Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera-Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera (Grapefruit)
28. The Seeds-A Web Of Sound (Ace/Big Beat)
29. The Association-The Association: Deluxe Expanded Edition (Now Sounds)
30. FM-Black Noise (Esoteric)
31. The Gods-Genesis (Esoteric)
32. Hep Stars-It’s Been A Long, Long Time: Expanded Edition (RPM)
33. Richard Barone-Cool Blue Halo (Digsin)
34. The Seeds-Future (Ace/Big Beat)
35. The Primitives-Lovely (Cherry Red)
36. Bananarama-Deep Sea Skiving (Rhino/Edsel)
37. The Flaming Ember-Westbound # 9 (Solid)
38. The Boys-The Boys (Fire)
39. The Blue Aeroplanes-Beatsongs: Deluxe (Cherry Red)
40. Spirogyra-Bells, Boots, and Shambles (Esoteric)
41. The Gods-To Samuel A Son (Esoteric)
42. The Seeds-The Seeds (Ace/Big Beat)
43. Doris-Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby (RPM)
44. The Bongos-Phantom Train (Jem)
45. Fairfield Ski-Fairfield Ski (Guerssen)
46. Kenny O’Dell-Beautiful People (Real Gone Music/Varese Sarabande)
47. The Headboys-The Lost Album (Pop Detective)
48. Sly & The Family Stone-There’s A Riot Goin’ On (Sony)
49. Barclay James Harvest-Turn Of The Tide (Esoteric)
50. Alan Munson-Good Morning World (Guerssen)

II. Top 10 Two-Fers, Three-Fers, Four-Fers, and Five-Fers: Proper Albums

1. Paul Revere & The Raiders-Something Has Happened! 1967-1969 (Raven)
2. Badfinger-Badfinger/Wish You Were Here/In Concert At The BBC 1972-3 (Edsel)
3. Greenfield & Cook-Greenfield & Cook/Second Album (Universal)
4. Paul Revere & The Raiders-Evolution To Revolution: 5 Classic Albums (Raven)
5. The Bee Gees-The Festival Albums Collection 1965-67 (Festival)
6. The Strawberry Alarm Clock-Incense And Peppermints/Wake Up…It’s Tomorrow (Tune In)
7. Little Anthony & The Imperials-On A New Street/Hold On (Soul Music)
8. The Swimming Pool Q’s-The A&M Years 1984-1986: The Swimming Pool Q’s/Blue Tomorrow (Bar None)
9. Lake-Lake/Lake II/Paradise Island (BGO)
10. Tommy James and The Shondells-Hanky Panky/It’s Only Love/I Think We’re Alone Now (BGO)

III. Top 25 Compilations, Single Artist

1. Michael Fennelly-Love Can Change Everything: Demos 1967-1972 (Sundazed)
2. The Beatles-On Air: Live At The BBC 2 (Capitol Universal)
3. The Beatles-Live At The BBC (Capitol Universal)
4. Pete Ham-Keyhole Street: Demos 1966-67 (Without You Music)
5. Big Star-Nothing Can Hurt Me (Omnivore)
6. Pezband-Dangerous People: Unreleased Tracks and Demos 1979 (Air Mail)
7. Del Shannon-The Complete UK Singles (and More) 1961-1966 (Ace)
8. The Three O’Clock-The Hidden World Revealed (Omnivore)
9. The Stained Glass-A Scene In-Between 1965-1967 (Big Beat)
10. Giorgio Moroder-Schlagermoroder Vol. 1: 1966-1975 (Repertoire)
11. The Paley Brothers-The Complete Recordings (Real Gone Music)
12. The Fourmyula-Inside The Hutt: New Zealand’s Pop/Psych Kingpins 1968-1969 (RPM)
13. The Aardvarks-Sinker, Line & Hook: The Anthology 1987-1999 (Cherry Red)
14. The Bee Gees-Morning Of My Life: The Best Of 1965-66 (Festival)
15. Neal Ford & The Fanatics-Good Men (Big Beat)
16. Jellyfish-Radio Jellyfish: Live Radio Broadcasts 1993 (Omnivore)
17. The Fleur De Lys-You’ve Got To Earn It (Acid Jazz)
18. Tim Andrews-Something About Suburbia: The Sixties Sounds (RPM)
19. The Primitives-Everything’s Shining Bright: The Lazy Recordings 1985-1987 (Cherry Red)
20. Honey LTD.-The Complete LHI Recordings (Light In The Attic)
21. John’s Children-A Strange Affair: The Sixties Recordings (Grapefruit)
22. Tandyn Almer-Along Comes Tandyn (Sundazed)
23. Lynsey De Paul-Sugar and Beyond: Anthology 1972-1974 (RPM)
24. Ruthann Friedman-Windy: A Ruthann Friedman Songbook (Now Sounds)
25. Athenor-Flashback (Guerssen)

IV. Top 15 Compilations, Various Artists

1. Mixed Up Minds, Part Seven: Obscure Rock & Pop From The British Isles 1969-1974 (Particles)
2. Book A Trip 2: More Psych Pop Sounds Of Capitol Records (Now Sounds)
3. Power Pop Prime Volume Three: 2000-2001 (Pop Geek Heaven)
4. Era Northern Soul (Kent)
5. Pop Muzik: The Stories Of 70s Pop (Universal)
6. Fading Yellow-Volume Fifteen: Sunshowers U.S./Canadian Pop Psych & Other Delights (Flower Machine)
7. Alice In Wonderland: The Great Lost Southern Popsike Trip (Charly)
8. Piccadilly Sunshine Part Fourteen: British Pop Psych And Other Flavours 1965-1969 (Particles)
9. Piccadilly Sunshine Part Fifteen: British Pop Psych And Other Flavours 1967-1971 (Particles)
10. Born To Be Together: The Songs Of Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (Ace)
11. 94 Baker Street Revisited: Poptastic Sounds From The Apple Era 1967-1968 (RPM)
12. Sophisticated Boom Boom!-The Shadow Morton Story (Ace)
13. Mixed Up Minds, Part Six: Obscure Rock & Pop From The British Isles 1971-1974 (Particles)
14. Piccadilly Sunshine Part Thirteen: British Pop Psych And Other Flavours 1967-1970 (Particles)
15. Piccadilly Sunshine Part Sixteen: British Pop Psych And Other Flavours 1966-1972 (Particles)

V. Top 25 Box Sets: Single Artist

1. The Beach Boys-Made In California: 1962-2012 (Capitol)
2. The Moody Blues-Timeless Flight (Universal)
3. Sparks-New Music For Amnesiacs: The Ultimate Collection (Lil’ Beethoven)
4. Nilsson-The RCA Albums Collection (Sony Music)
5. Four Tops-50th Anniversary: The Singles Collection 1964-1972 (Hip-O-Select)
6. Yes-The Studio Albums 1969-1987 (Warner Music)
7. Sly and The Family Stone-Higher! (Sony)
8. Fleetwood Mac-Rumours (Warner Bros.)
9. The Monkees-Present (Rhino)
10. The Shadows-The Early Years Expanded Edition: Their Complete Studio Recordings 1959-1966 (Parlophone)
11. The Zombies-In Stereo (Repertoire)
12. Scott Walker-Scott: The Collection 1967-1970 (Universal)
13. Family-Once Upon A Time (Snapper)
14. *Fleetwood Mac: 1969-1972 (Rhino)
15. Showaddywaddy-The Complete Studio Recordings 1973-1988 (Edsel)
16. Donovan-Breezes of Patchouli: His Studio Recordings 1966-1969 (EMI)
17. The Who-Tommy: Superdeluxe (Universal)
18. Marc Bolan at The BBC: Radio Sessions and Broadcasts 1967-1977 (Universal)
19. Van Morrison-Moondance: Deluxe Edition (Rhino)
20. Leo Sayer-The Complete Studio Recordings 1971-2006 (Edsel)
21. Duane Allman-Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective (Universal)
22. Stephen Stills-Carry On (Rhino)
23. Paul McCartney and Wings-Wings Over America: Superdeluxe (Hear Music)
24. Elvis Presley-Elvis At Stax: Deluxe Edition (Legacy)
25. Be Bop Deluxe-At The BBC 1974-1978 (Parlophone)

VI. Top 10 Box Sets: Various Artists

1. Lee Hazlewood Industries-There’s A Dream I’ve Been Saving 1966-1971 (Light In The Attic)
2. The Sound Of Young America: The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 12 A 1972 (Hip-O-Select)
3. The Sound Of Young America: The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 12 B 1972 (Hip-O-Select)
4. The Millennium-At Last (Sony Japan)***
5. Oh Yes We Can Love: A History Of Glam Rock (Universal)
6. Love, Poetry and Revolution: A Journey Through The British Psychedelic and Underground Scene 1966 to 1972 (Grapefruit)
7. Scared To Get Happy: A Story Of Indie-Pop 1980-1989 (Cherry Red)
8. Cooler Than Ice-Arctic Records and The Rise Of Philly Soul (Jamie/Guyden)
9. Los Nuggetz-‘60s Garage & Psych From Latin America (Rockbeat)
10. Looking Good-75 Femme Mod Soul Nuggets (RPM)

***was released in Japan only in Sept. 2012, but I decided to rank it in 2013 because nobody I know, including me, had been aware of it until 2013. I know it doesn’t look like a various artists box, but it includes all the solo issues by various members of The Millennium.

VII. Top 5 Reissue Labels

1. Ace/Big Beat
2. Now Sounds
3. Particles
4. Hip-O-Select
5. RPM

David Bash's Best of 2013.

Once again we're happy to bring you the Best-of-2013 lists from David Bash, Mr. International Pop Overthrow. Today I'll run his top album and EP lists, and tomorrow (or Monday) I'll post his miscellaneous lists. As always, as comprehensive as I think I am, I can't hold a candle to David as I see numerous releases that passed me by this year, and so like many of you I have a lot of discovery ahead of me. I'll turn it over to David now, with this prefatory comments that I wholeheartedly agree with regarding late-year releases:

Those marked with an * are LP-only releases, those with a **are download-only.

I. Top 100 Albums

As always, I listened to a lot of albums this year, and there were significantly more than 100 which I thought were quality discs. I could have extended this list to 200 and still liked what I’ve heard, but after 100 I decided to stop as I had a difficult time distinguishing between, e.g. 101 and 110. Anyway, if you released an album this year and it’s not on my list, it certainly doesn’t mean I didn’t think it was good. 

There may be a handful of albums on this list which appear to be from 2012, or in fact were “released” at the tail end of last year. As anal as I am in making my lists, I also feel the need to be sensible about this issue, and rank these albums in 2013. As it is with most indie releases, it takes a few months for awareness to be created, and if I don’t follow what sense dictates, I am left with two alternatives, neither of which are viable to me:

a. I wait until June of a given year to post my list of the best of the previous year, when nobody cares anymore.
b. These albums simply never get ranked, which would be a damn shame.

So, I choose to do it this way. If you want to scream bloody murder that some of my fave albums of 2013 were “released” in late 2012 (“released” is in quotes, because often that means a download on the artist’s bandcamp page), then by all means, get your jollys. Me, I’m going to do what makes sense.

1. Mothboxer-Three (Self-Released)
2. Ben Jones & The Rifle Volunteers-Shangri La (Rifle Tone)
3. Nick Piunti-13 In My Head (Self-Released)
4. The Maureens-The Maureens (Self-Released)
5. The Grapes Of Wrath-High Road (Aporia)
6. Lee And The Lovedaddies-Lee And The Lovedaddies (Self-Released) *
7. The Resonars-Crummy Desert Sound (Burger) *
8. Neighbours-Prime Numbers (Get Hip)
9. Shake Some Action!-Full Fathom Five (Sattelite 451)
10. Alfa 9-Gone To Ground (Blow Up)
11. The Nines-The Nines (TAS Gold)
12. Glenn Case-Throw Money (Self-Released)
13. Wiretree-Get Up (Self-Released)
14. Miles Kane-Don’t Forget Who You Are (Sony)
15. Phenomenal Cat-Postcards From The British Empire (Self-Released)
16. Greg Pope-Pop Motion Animation (Octoberville)
17. Liar’s Club-Come And Go (Charlatan)
18. Surf School Dropouts-Summer Is A State Of Mind (Sunny Day) *
19. Eureka Machines-Remain In Hope (Wrath)
20. Ulysses-Kill You Again (Black Glove)
21. Agony Aunts-Big Cinnamon (Mystery Lawn Music)
22. The Cherry Bluestorms-Bad Penny Opera (Roundhouse)
23. Groovy Uncle featuring Suzi Chunk-One Vowel Away From The Truth (Trouserphonic)
24. Mikal Cronin-MC II (Merge)
25. The Sun Sawed In ½-Elephants Into Swans (Self-Released)
26. King Washington-The Overload (Self-Released)
27. The Connection-Let It Rock! (King Yum)
28. Brendan Benson-You Were Right (Readymade)
29. The Most-Auto Destructive Art (CopaseDisques)
30. Eric Barao-Eric Barao (Self-Released)
31. The Popdogs-Cool Cats For Pop Dogs (Self-Released)
32. Radio Days-Get Some Action (Rock Indiana)
33. Adam Marsland-The Owl And The Full Moon (Karma Frog)
34. London Egg-If It Takes Forever (Self-Released)
35. Michael Mazzarella-Love In Laureltide Green (Angelica)
36. The Bottle Kids-Such A Thrill (Kool Kat)
37. Vegas With Randolph-Rings Around The Sun (Caged Giant)
38. Dynamo Bliss-Poplar Music (Self-Released)
39. The Cherry Drops-Everything’s Groovy (Musick)
40. Jacco Gardner-Cabinet Of Curiosities (Trouble In Mind)
41.Stephen Lawrenson-Obscuriosity (Kool Kat)
42. Harper Simon-Division Street (PIAS)
43. The Orange Peels-Sun Moon (Mystery Lawn)
44. The Playmates-Soul Cookin’ (Green River)
45. Wyatt Funderburk-Novel And Profane (JollyRonnie)
46. Phil Angotti-Life And Rhymes (ouR House)
47. Lisa Mychols-Above, Beyond & In Between (Vandalay)
48. Paul Bertolino-Where The Buildings Hit The Sky (Self-Released)
49. Raymond Meade-Fables And Follies (Self-Released)
50. Schnauser-Where Business Meets Fashion (Self-Released)
51. Maxi Dunn-Edmund & Leo (Dabooboo)
52. Scissors & The Cuts-3 July (Trashy Creatures)
53. Gleeson-Gleeson II (Almost There)
54. Andy Klingensmith-Pictures Of (Futureman) **
55. The Mergers-Monkey See Monkey Do! (Soundflat)
56. David Brookings-The Maze (Byar)
57. Laurie Biagini-Sanctuary Of Sound (Self-Released)
58. Colleen Green-Sock In To Me (Hardly Art)
59. 8x8-Azalia’s Room (Self-Released)
60. Dana Countryman-Pop! The Incredible, Fantastic Retro Pop World Of… (Self-Released)
61. The Yum Yums-…Play Good Music (Screaming Apple) *
62. The Histrionics-Cannon (Self-Released)
63. Third Of Never-Downrising (Jam)
64. John LT-Suburban Superstar (Mother West)
65. Secret Friend-Time Machine (Odd Tunes)
66. Jackdaw4-Dissecticide (Too Many Robots)
67. Bubblegum Orchestra-The Discovery (Out Of This World)
68. Of Montreal-Lousy With Sylvianbriar (Polyvinylrecords)
69. Chris Degnore and The Black Drops-Cinema (Self-Released)
70. The Junior League-You Should Be Happy (Greenleaves)
71. Corin Ashley-New Lion Terraces (Murray Hill)
72. Sugar Stems-Can’t Wait (Screaming Apple) *
73. Smith Westerns-Soft Will (Mom & Pop)
74. The Temponauts-The Canticle Of The Temponauts (Other Eyes)
75. The Bye Bye Blackbirds-We Need The Rain (Self-Released)
76. Tudor Lodge-Stay (Cast Iron)
77. The Tor Guides-Lots Of The Pops! Volume 1: Caught In A Sweet Refrain (Digit)
78. Adam Daniel-Pop Baby (Self-Released)
79. Andrea Perry-Four (Self-Released)
80. Beachwood Sparks-Desert Skies (Alive)
81. Paul McCartney-New (Concord)
82. Fonda-Sell Your Memories (Minty Fresh)
83. Beady Eye-Be (Sony)
84. The 88-Fortune Teller (Self-Released)
85. The Beat Rats-Have Mersey! (Cavern/Kool Kat)
86. Magic Eight Ball-Sorry We’re Late But We’re Worth The Wait (Magic Cat)
87. The American Professionals-We Make It Our Business (Charlie In The Box)
88. Et Tu Brucé-Suburban Sunshine (Worldwide)
89. Joe Symes & The Loving Kind-Joe Symes & The Loving Kind (Truly Independent)
90. Esa Linna-This Is Who I Am (Teosto)
91. Richard X. Heyman-Richard X. Heyman (Turn-Up)
92. The Bamboo Trading Co.-The Bamboo Trading Co. (Self-Released)
93. The Contrast-A Sinister Flick (Angel Air)
94. Nektar-Time Machine (Purple Pyramid)
95. Goodfellows-The Name Of These Girls (Self-Released)
96. Blue Cartoon-Are You Getting On? (Aardvark)
97. JoDee Purkeypile-Messenger (Self-Released)
98. NRWY-Negatives (Self-Released) *
99. Mount Pressmore-Enjoy (Self-Released)
100. Pete MacLeod-Rolling Stone (359 Music)

II. Top 5 EPs

Disclaimer alert: I’m not a big fan of EPs, as they always seem to leave me wanting more. For this reason, I never seek them out the way I do full-length albums, and 2013 was no exception. At the end of 2012 I promised myself that I would more actively seek out EPs, but unfortunately I didn’t. For this reason, I’m limited to a Top 5 that I particularly enjoyed, but please don’t take this list as an end-all be-all; there are plenty of other fine EPs out there!

1. The Junipers-Euphonious Trolley (Self-Released) **
2. honeychain-Futura (Self-Released)
3. The Well Wishers-Dunwoody (That Was My Skull)
4. The Head-Girls & The Yukon (Self-Released)
5. The Real Numbers-1 2 3 4 5 (Self-Released)

It's IPO Time Again!

One of my favorite annual power pop traditions is the release of the new International Pop Overthrow compilation. This year sees compilation #16 from David Bash, the man behind the festivals and the discs. As always, the IPO compilation works on two levels - one as a sampler of some of today's best independent power pop artists, and the other as a chance to sample new artists in the scene. The former is represented by tracks (new and old) from the likes of Lannie Flowers, Dave Rave, Jeremy, Adam Daniel, The JAC, Didn't Planet, Lisa Mychols, Laurie Biagini, Stephen Lawrenson and Private Jets.

Among the new artists, the tracks that caught my ear (and will lead me to investigate these artists further) are Mothboxer, whose "Shame it Always Rains" leads off the compilation and boasts a groovy, psych-pop sound that recalls The Green Pajamas; the straight-ahead power pop of the Cronin Tierney Band's "Harmony", Hawk Bjorn's piano-popping "Who Do You Say I Am"; Cool Whips' "Boom Shang-a-Lang" which you might guess is goofy fun; the edgy, mod sound of Norrish Reaction's "Let it Go"; the fine garage rock of Gooey's "Watch Out"; the Ray Davies-esque "Mrs. Reginald" courtesy of John McMullan; and the jangly pop of Salvadore Dali Llama's (love the name) "City in the Sky".

Head on over to the official IPO site to hear a nice sampler of tracks from the compilation - maybe some of those will strike your fancy. The IPO comp always make a great holiday gift for the power popper on your list, or of course a fine gift from you to yourself.

Kool Kat | Amazon

David Bash's Best of 2012, Part 2.

Here's Part 2 of David Bash's comprehensive year-end lists. Today's installment covers 2012's best reissues.

*********************************************************
Reissue Categories

For this category, at least one of the following criteria must be met for the album to qualify:

a. those that are on CD for the first time
b. those that had been previously issued, but are now out of print or difficult to find
c. those in whose current issue have lots of bonus tracks, or some other unique feature
d. those reissued on LP where they never had been

A CD or LP which contains exclusively previously unrelesed material which is not from current times is still considered a “reissue” in my ranking structure.

With the above in mind, while quality is the major factor in determining the rankings, other factors such as number and type of bonus tracks, liner notes, sound quality, etc…do come into play.

Those marked with an * are LP-only.

I. Top 75 Proper Albums

1. Small Faces: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake: Deluxe Edition (Universal/Decca/Charly)
2. The Beach Boys-Today! Mono/Stereo (Capitol)
3. Paul and Linda McCartney-Ram: Deluxe Edition (MPL)
4. The Beach Boys-Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!): Mono/Stereo (Capitol)
5. The Byrds-Younger Than Yesterday: Mono/Stereo (Sony Japan)
6. The Beach Boys-Pet Sounds Mono/Stereo (Capitol)
7. The Beach Boys-Sunflower (Capitol)
8. The Beach Boys-Surf’s Up (Capitol)
9. Durocs-Durocs (Real Gone)
*10. Jellyfish-Spilt Milk (Omnivore)
11. Klaatu-Hope: 2012 Remaster (Klaatunes)
12. Rick Springfield-Beginnings (Real Gone)
13. Sugar-Copper Blue: Deluxe Edition (Edsel)
14. Small Faces: The Immediate Album: Deluxe Edition (Universal/Decca/Charly)
15. Daughters Of Albion-Daughters Of Albion (Now Sounds)
*16. Paul and Linda McCartney-Ram: Mono (MPL)
17. Kirsty MacColl-Desperate Character (Salvo)
*18. Jellyfish-Bellybutton (Omnivore)
*19. Shoes-One In Versailles (Numero)
20. Del Shannon-Home & Away (Now Sounds)
21. The Byrds-The Notorious Byrd Brothers: Mono/Stereo (Sony Japan)
22. Small Faces: From The Beginning: Deluxe Edition (Universal/Decca)
23. The Alan Bown-Outward Bown (Grapefruit)
24. Kirsty MacColl-Kite (Salvo)
*25. Shoes-Black Vinyl (Numero)
26. The Late Show-Portable Pop (Trashy Creatures)
27. Curved Air-Air Cut (Repertoire)
28. The Beach Boys-All Summer Long Mono/Stereo (Capitol)
29. Gilbert O’Sullivan-I’m A Writer, Not A Fighter (Salvo)
30. Spider-Spider (Air Mail)
31. The Byrds-Mister Tambourine Man: Mono/Stereo (Sony Japan)
32. Cotton Mather-Kontiki: Deluxe Edition (The Star Apple Kingdom)
33. The Jam-The Gift: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
34. Harpers Bizarre-Anything Goes (Now Sounds)
35. The Electric Light Orchestra-The Electric Light Orchestra 40th Anniversary Edition (EMI)
36. Kayak-See See The Sun (Esoteric)
*37. Octopus-Restless Night (Guerssen)
38. The Beach Boys-Shut Down Volume 2: Mono/Stereo (Capitol)
39. Small Faces-Small Faces: Deluxe Edition (Universal/Decca)
40. Strawbs-Of A Time (Witchwood Media)
41. Curved Air-Airborne (Repertoire)
42. Sugar-File Under Easy Listening: Deluxe Edition (Edsel)
43. Tir Na Nog-Strong In The Sun (Esoteric)
44. Candy-Whatever Happened To Fun…(Rock Candy)
45. Brewer & Shipley-Down In L.A. (Now Sounds)
46. Kayak-Royal Bed Bouncer (Esoteric)
47. Steve Miller Band-Brave New World (Edsel)
48. The Beach Boys-Smiley Smile Mono/Stereo (Capitol)
49. Gilbert O’Sullivan-Back To Front (Salvo)
50. The Byrds-Turn! Turn! Turn!: Mono/Stereo (Sony Japan)
51. Phil Seymour-1 (Fuel)
52. True Hearts-True Hearts (Kool Kat)
53. The Sex Pistols-Never Mind The Bollocks: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
54. Blur-Parklife: Special Edition (Food/Parlophone)
55. The Beach Boys-Little Deuce Coupe Mono/Stereo (Capitol)
56. Jamie & Steve-English Afterthought (Air Mail)
57. Lyres-On Fyre (Munster)
58. The Byrds-Fifth Dimension: Mono/Stereo (Sony Japan)
59. R.E.M.-Document: Deluxe Edition (Capitol)
60. The Spinners-Truly Yours: Their First Motown Album w/Bonus Tracks 1963-1967 (Kent)
61. T. Rex-Electric Warrior: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
62. Chubby Checker-Chequered (Sunbeam)
63. The Mamas & The Papas-People Like Us (Now Sounds)
64. Kayak-Kayak (Esoteric)
65. Curved Air-Phantasmagoria (Repertoire)
66. The Brotherhood Of Lizards-Lizardland (Kool Kat)
67. The Glitter Band-Listen To The Band (7 T’s)
68. My Bloody Valentine-Loveless (Sony Music)
69. The Tokens-It’s A Happening World (Real Gone)
70. Nervous Rex-Nervous Rex (Air Mail)
71. Sugar-Beaster: Deluxe Edition (Edsel)
72. Family-Music In A Doll’s House (Pucka)
73. The Beach Boys-Surfer Girl Mono/Stereo (Capitol)
*74. Rockin’ Horse-Yes It Is (Sing Sing)
75. Wally Tax-Love In (Relics)

II. Top 5 Two-Fers, Three-Fers, and Four-Fers: Proper Albums

1. Peter & Gordon-Peter & Gordon 1964/In Touch With/Hurtin’ ‘N Lovin’/Peter & Gordon 1966 (BGO)
2. 20/20-20/20, Look Out (Real Gone)
3. SRC-SRC/Milestones/Travellers Tale (BGO)
4. Sam & Dave-Hold On, I’m Coming/Double Dynamite (Edsel)
5. Peter & Gordon-Sing And Play The Hits Of Nashville/Woman/Hot Cold & Custard (BGO)

III. Top 25 Compilations, Single Artist

1. The Association-The Complete Warner Bros & Valiant Singles Collection (Now Sounds)
2. The Beach Boys-50 Big Ones: Deluxe Edition (Capitol)
3. The Byrds-Original Singles A’s & B’s 1965-1971 (Sony Japan)
4. Jellyfish-Stack-A-Tracks (Omnivore)
5. Shoes-35 Years: The Definitive Shoes Collection 1977-2012 (Real Gone)
6. The Critters-Younger Girl: The Complete Kapp & Musicor Recordings (Now Sounds)
7. The Pencils-Anthology (Kool Kat)
8. Every Mother’s Son-Come On Down: The Complete MGM Recordings (Now Sounds)
9. The Knack-Rock & Roll Is Good For You: The Fieger/Averre Demos (Zen)
10. The Fifth Estate-Anthology Volume I: The Witch Is Dead (Fuel)
11. The Jackson Five-Come And Get It: The Rare Pearls (Hip-O-Select)
12. Kaleidoscope-Further Reflections: The Complete Recordings 1967-1969 (Grapefruit)
13. The Hollies-Radio Fun (EMI)
14. Carole King-The Legendary Demos (Concord Music Group)
*15. Shoes-Pretense: Demos 1978-1979 (Numero)
16. Alex Chilton-Free Again: The “1970” Sessions (Ace)
17. The Knack-Time Waits For No One: The Complete Recordings (Now Sounds)
18. The Electric Prunes-The Complete Reprise Singles (Real Gone)
19. MC Squared-Tantalizing Colours: The Reprise Recordings (Now Sounds)
20. Jackie DeShannon-Keep Me In Mind: The Complete Imperial and Liberty Singles Vol. 3 (Ace)
21. Hotlegs-You Didn’t Like It Because You Didn’t Think Of It: The Complete Sessions 1970-1971 (Grapefruit)
22. The Move-Live At The Fillmore 1969 (Right Recordings)
23. Design-One Sunny Day: Singles and Rarities 1968-1978 (RPM)
24. Amen Corner-Round Amen Corner: The Complete Deram Recordings (RPM)
25. Christie-No Turn Unstoned (Angel Air)

IV. Top 20 Compilations, Various Artists

1. Buttons: From Champaign To Chicago (Numero)
*2. Fading Yellow Volume One: Times Pop-Sike & Other Delights 1965-1969 (Flower Machine)
3. Down Under Nuggets-Original Australian Artyfacts 1965-1967 (Warner Music)
4. Smash Boom Bang!: The Songs And Productions Of Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer (Ace)
5. Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 (Rhino)
6. Power Pop Prime Volume 1: 1996-1997 (Pop Geek Heaven)
7. Power Pop Prime Volume 2: 1998-1999 (Pop Geek Heaven)
8. Piccadilly Sunshine Part Ten: British Pop Psych and Other Flavours 1966-1969 (Particles)
9. Honey Honey: The Sound Of Bubblegum Pop (Sony Music)
10. All Kinds Of Highs-A Mainstream Pop/Psych Compendium 1966-70 (Ace/Big Beat)
11. Mixed Up Minds: Obscure Rock & Pop From The British Isles 1968-1972 Part Three (Particles)
12. Something Good: From The Goffin & King Songbook (Ace)
13. Da Doo Ron Ron: More From The Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry Songbook (Ace)
14. Piccadilly Sunshine Part 7: British Pop Psych and Other Flavours 1966-1970 (Particles)
15. Piccadilly Sunshine Part 9: British Pop Psych and Other Flavours 1964-1970 (Particles)
16. Fading Yellow-Volume 14: Spanish Pop Psych and Other Delights 1967-1973 (Flower Machine)
17. Mixed Up Minds: Obscure Rock & Pop From The British Isles 1969-1973 Part Two (Particles)
18. The Red Bird Girls-Very First Time In True Stereo 1964-1966 (Real Gone)
19. Sassafras & Moonshine: The Songs Of Laura Nyro (Ace)
20. Action!: The Songs Of Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart (Ace)

V. Top 20 Box Sets: Single Artist

*1. The Beatles-Stereo Vinyl Box Set (EMI)
2. Paul and Linda McCartney-Ram: Superdeluxe Edition (MPL)
3. Dusty Springfield-Goin’ Back: The Definitive Dusty Springfield (Universal/Mercury)
4. 10CC-Tenology (Universal)
5. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band-40th Anniversary (Creature Music)
6. The Searchers-Hearts In Their Eyes: Celebrating 50 Years of Harmony & Jangle (Universal)
7. The Kinks-At The BBC (Universal)
8. George Harrison-Living In The Material World (Universal)
9. The Beatles-Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol)
10. Blue Rodeo-1987-1993 (Warner Music)
11. Cheap Trick-The Complete Epic Records Collection (Sony Legacy)
12. Pink Floyd-The Wall: Immersion (EMI)
13. Green Day-The Studio Albums 1990-2009 (Warner Bros.)
14. Roxy Music-The Complete Studio Recordings (Virgin)
15. Bill Withers-The Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums (Sony Music)
16. Heart-Strange Euphoria (Sony Music)
17. T. Rex-Electric Warrior: Superdeluxe Edition (Universal)
18. The Velvet Underground & Nico-The Velvet Underground & Nico: 45th Anniversary Superdeluxe Edition (Universal)
19. World Party-Arkeology: Diary & Music Collection (Seaview)
20. The Yardbirds-Glimpses 1963-1969 (Easy Action)

VI. Top 3 Box Sets: Various Artists

*1. The Rubble Collection-Volumes 1 To 5 (Pilot)
2. Surf-Age Nuggets: Trash & Twang Instrumentals 1959-1966 (RockBeat)
3. Mind Expanders: 80 Rare Trips From The ‘60s & ‘70s (Particles)

VII. Top 5 Reissue Labels

1. Now Sounds
2. Futureman
3. Ace
3. Real Gone Music
4. Salvo

Note: Capitol and Universal would definitely be on this list somewhere, but since they’re not exclusively reissue labels, I decided not to include them.

Note 2: Some of the sharp-eyed among you might wonder how Futureman finished at #2 without having any albums place on any of my reissue lists. It’s because Futureman specializes in download-only releases, and for reissues I don’t wish to place download-only albums on my lists. Having said that, Futureman has done a wonderful job of bringing about awareness of several awesome powerpop albums from the last 10 years, by artists like Starbelly, Liquor Giants, Gladhands, Lisa Mychols, and so many others, and for that they deserve plenty of kudos (as well as a #2 ranking here!).

David Bash's Best of 2012, Part 1.

Just when you thought you were done with Best of 2012 lists, it's time once again to bring you David Bash's year-end lists, which are even more comprehensive than mine. To keep things manageable, today's post is limited to new material, and tomorrow I will follow up with his reissues lists. So without further ado, I turn the floor over to Mr. Bash:

******************************************************************

Hi Everyone,

Here are my lists of favorite albums of 2012. As is my usual custom, I've broken this down into several categories, as I'm just not comfortable ranking unlike entities on one list.

Contemporary Categories

Those marked with an * are LP-only releases and those marked with an ** are download-only releases. I’m hoping I didn’t forget to include some of the download-onlies: my filing system for them isn’t too efficient. 

I’ve probably obtained more albums in 2012 than I have in three or four years, and it definitely showed in the quality level. I’d planned to limit the first category to 100, but it quickly became clear that there were just too many releases I thought were list-worthy, so I kept going. I decided to stop at 125 because I didn’t want to test your patience (as if 100 wouldn’t do that!), but even then there were several albums I was sorry didn’t make the cut.

Ok, without further ado, here are the lists!

I. Top 125 Albums

1. Nelson Bragg-We Get What We Want (Steel Derrick)
2. Marty Graveyard-Summer Holiday (V2)
3. David Myhr-Soundshine (Lojinx, Thistime)
4. The Tor Guides-Strawberries & Chocolates (Self-Released)
5. Green Day-Tre! (Reprise/Warner Bros.)
6. Throwback Suburbia-Shot Glass Souvenir (Self-Released)
7. King Washington-The Gears (Self-Released)
8. Sweet Diss and The Comebacks-Emerald City Love Song (Thistime)
9. The Kik-Springlevend (Excelsior)
10. Sitcom Neighbor-Charmed (Gravy Works Music Group)
11. The dB’s-Falling Off The Sky (Bar None)
12. The Trashed Romeos-Where Dreamers Never Go (Trashy Creatures)
13. The Primitives-Echoes and Rhymes (Elefant)
14. Shoes-Ignition (Black Vinyl)
15. Jared Lekites-Star Map (Self-Released)
16. The Explorers Club-Grand Hotel (Rock Ridge Music)
17. Wanderlust-Record Time (Zip)
18. Green Day-Uno! (Reprise/Warner Bros.)
19. Kurt Baker-Brand New Beat (Collector’s Club)
20. Ruby Free-Introducing Ruby Free (Sodastar)
21. The Demos-Lovely (Thistime)
22. Chris Richards and The Subtractions-Get Yer La La’s Out (Gangplank)
23. Cliff Hillis-Dream Good (Tallboy)
24. Mark Crozer & The Rels-Mark Crozer & The Rels (Planting Seeds)
25. Uncle Green/3 Lb. Thrill-Rycopa (Self-Released)
26. Latvian Radio-Kill The Static (Belpid)
27. Secret Powers-More Songs About Her (Self-Released)
28. A.C. Newman-Shut Down The Streets (Matador)
29. Bryan Scary-Daffy’s Elixir (Paper Garden)
30. The Corner Laughers-Poppy Seeds (Mystery Lawn)
31. Redd Kross-Researching The Blues (Merge)
32. Wes Hollywood-Fantasy Arcade (Sweet Science)
33. Green Day-Dos! (Reprise/Warner Bros.)
34. The Breakup Society-So Much Unhappiness, So Little Time…(Get Hip)
35. The Moons-Fables Of History (Schnitzel)
36. The Junipers-Paint The Ground (Self-Released)
37. The Anderson Council-Looking At The Stars (Sinclair)
38. The Afternoons-Fan Fiction (Saturday)
39. Lannie Flowers-New Songs, Old Stories (Aaron Ave.)
40. The Mayflowers-Plymouth Rock (Rooster)
41. The Blood Rush Hour-Shrink (Nicola)
42. The Well Wishers-Dreaming of The West Coast (Thatwasmyskull)
43. Paul Rocha-Crayons (Crackback Flause)
44. Peter Baldrachi-Back To The Start (Prodigal Son)
45. Gavin Guss-On High (Fin)
46. The Housekeeping Society-Postcards (Self-Released)
47. Frederick Herrmann-Fairy Tale Musik (Self-Released)
48. Christopher Holland-Corner Green (Cosmic Harmony)
49. Lukah Boo-Calidad De Vida (Rock Indiana)
50. Kontiki Suite-On Sunset Lake (Self-Released)
51. Brendan Benson-What Kind Of World (Readymade)
52. Kevin Martin-Throwback Pop (Self-Released)
53. Holmes-Complication Simplified (Groove Gravy)
54. Three Minute Tease-Three Minute Tease (Untitled Music)
55. Hot Freak Nation-Lifetime To Lifetime (Trashy Creatures)
56. Oberon Rose-Wunjo (ThouArt)
57. Graham Gouldman-Love and Work (Rosala)
58. Rob Bonfiglio-Mea Culpa (Damask)
59. Bubble Gum Orchestra-II (Out Of This World)
60. The Sunny Boys-Freeboobin’ (Self-Released)
61. Jay Gonzalez-Mess of Happiness (Self-Released)
62. Ben Folds Five-The Sound of The Life of The Mind (Sony Music)
63. The Hi Risers-Hang Around With You (R &R)
64. The Jigsaw Seen-Gifted (Vibro-phonic)
65. Kjarr-Kjarr (Self-Released)
66. Jeremy-Love Explosion (Jam/Rock Indiana)
67. Ben Kweller-Go Fly A Kite (The Noise Company)
68. Sidewalk Society-Venus, Saturn and The Crescent Moon (Grandioso)
69. Marmalade Army-All Tomorrow’s Yesterdays (Modern Artichoke)
70. Trevor Childs-Spirit Guide (Self-Released)
71. Juan Antonio Ross-Durante El Fin Del Mundo (Clifford)
72. Goodfellows-Happynitol (Kzoo Music)
73. Eytan and The Embassy-Everything Changes (Self-Released)
74. Norman Kelsey-On The Rebound (Self-Released)
75. Brad Brooks-Harmony of Passing Light (Mouth Magic Music)
*76. Suzi Chunk-Girl From The Neck Down (State)
77. The School-Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything (Elefant)
78. Spygenius-The Comforting Suture (Whammo Whammo Whammo Excellent)
79. Metropolitan Farms-Our Hero Pleads His Flimsy Case (Braceling)
80. Stay-The Fourth Dimension (Subterfuge)
81. Peter Buzzelle-Museum of Peter Buzzelle (Self-Released)
82. The Condors-3 Item Combo (Vital Gesture)
83. Paul Starling-Shipwrecked Commotion (Tomboy & Twine)
84. The Breakups-Running Jumping Falling Shouting (Self-Released)
85. Dave Birk-Speed Queen Mystery Date (Self-Released)
86. Archie Powell & The Exports-Great Ideas In Action (Good Land)
87. The Cheeks-Featured Tigers In A Magic Zoo (Teen Sound)
88. Ed Tulipa-Pop Terapia (Lapro Duktiva)
89. The Catholic Girls-Exposed! (Cinema)
90. Salim Nourallah-Hit Parade (Tapete)
91. The Floorettes-Pocketfull Of Soul (Waterfall)
92. The Galileo 7-Staring At The Sound (State)
93. Michael Carpenter-SOOP #5 (Self-Released)
94. Cow-Dedicated To…The Mighty Drum (Self-Released)
*95. Kenny Howes-Tornadoes Here & Past (YEAH!)
96. The Flashcubes-Sportin’ Wood (Air Mail)
97. Grahame/Steinberg-Grahame/Steinberg (Dog Turner)
98. Vinnie Zummo-Swinging Guitar Sounds Of Young America, Vol. 3 (VAZ Music)
99. Kent-Jag Ar Inte Radd For Murkret (Universal)
100. The Lemon Clocks-Now Is The Time (Jam)
101. William Seen’s Transport Music-Can I Sit Here And Absorb? (Crane Lake)
102. Pony Taylor-How To Fold Paper In Half Twelve Times (SuperHomard/Clifford)
103. The Sick Rose-No Need For Speed (Rock Indiana)
**104. Peelgreems-Big Adventure
105. Nine Times Blue-Fading Slowly (Renegade)
**106. Andy Goldberg-Moonlighting
107. Beyond Veronica-Hard Times For Dreamers (Fetish Pop)
108. Matt Purcell & The Blessed Curse-Mathew Street (Self-Released)
109. The Standards-A Slight Distraction (Schnapps House)
110. The Jac-Faux Pas (Egomaniac Music)
111. Magatha Trysty-Your Clothes Will Wear Themselves (Self-Released)
112. The Sunchymes-Let Your Free Flag Fly (Self-Released)
113. Paul Bohan-For Now & Ever (1969)
114. Smash Palace-…Do It Again (Zip)
115. I Am Next-How To Tell The Phonies From The Phakes (Self-Released)
116. The Electric Mess-Falling Off The Face of The Earth (Self-Released)
117. The Pozers-The Sun’s Going Down (Mirror Town)
118. The Seasongs-Out Of The City (Self-Released)
119. Jeff Litman-Outside (Born Enormous Music)
120. Jason Karaban-Shift (Ascend)
121. The Jooles-To Mr./Mrs. (Waterfall)
122. Mark Lane-Something New (Orange Deuce)
123. Your Gracious Host-1Up 2Down (Meccanic)
124. The Honey Wilders-Singles For Singles (Rubber Bucket)
125. The Ace-Next Time Around: Images In Sound (Self-Released)

II. Top EPs

Disclaimer alert: I’m not a big fan of EPs, as they always seem to leave me wanting more. For this reason, I never seek them out the way I do full-length albums, and 2012 was no exception. A few of them came my way, regardless, and I will list those I particularly enjoyed, in alphabetical order. I realize my rationale for not actively pursuing EPs is anything but…rational…and I will definitely seek to change this in 2013.

The Freddie Steady 5-1000 Miles
The Iveys-Days & Nights
The Jellybricks-Suckers
Nushu-Joystick
Fernando Perdomo-Home Is Wherever You Are
*Sunday Sun-I, II, and III
**Talk Tonight-A Single Day
Two Sheds Jackson-The Collaboration Series, Movement One

Note: some people have combined the three Sunday Sun EPs and ranked the aggregate on their “best album” list. I’m not going to do that because I believe that the cream of these EPs will come out as an album in 2013.

III. Top 5 Compilations-Various Artists

International Pop Overthrow: Vol. 15 (Pop Geek Heaven)
Power Pop Planet: 30 Bands-30 Smiles (Pop Geek Heaven)
Powerpopaholic Fest-Original Soundtrack Vol. 1 (Powerpopaholic)
The New Sell Out (Futureman)
Pop Garden Radio-The Rock On The Road Tour (Pop Garden Radio)

IV. Best DVD

Beatles Stories-A Fab Four Fan’s Ultimate Road Trip, By Seth Swirsky

V. Some Fine 2011 Releases I Found Out About Too Late To Be Ranked Last Year (In Alphabetical Order)

The Ash & The Oak-Searching For The Soft Rays
The Broken Vinyl Club-The Broken Vinyl Club
Mark Carroll-In Silence
Ivan Mudd-Greetings Earthlings
The Hazey Janes-The Winter That Was
Ben Jones-Kaleidoscope
The Little Black Bottles-Let Them Eat Red Velvet Cake
The Sons-The Prime Words Committee

VI. 2013 Releases I’ve Heard And Am Excited About (In Alphabetical Order)

The Beat Rats-Have Mersey! (Cavern)
Paul Bertolino-Where The Buildings Hit The Sky (Kool Kat)
The Bottle Kids-Such A Thrill (Self-Released)
The Fast Camels-Dead Rooms And Battery Dreams
Goodman-What We Want
Stephen Lawrenson-Obscuriosity (Kool Kat)
Peachfuzz-Fall Down Dreaming
The Popdogs-Cool Cats For Pop Dogs (Self-Released)
The Resonars-Crummy Desert Sound (Burger)
Secret Friend-Time Machine
Chris Stamey-Lovesick Blues (Yep Roc)
Surf School Dropouts-Summer Is A State Of Mind

CD of the Day, 11/18/12: VA-International Pop Overthrow Vol. 15

One of the more welcome annual traditions in the power pop community is the release of David Bash's International Pop Overthrow compilation, guaranteed to be 3 CDs of top-shelf power pop with new tracks from old favorites and a wide variety of tracks from up-and-coming power poppers. Volume 15 is no exception, including many artists who have been featured on these pages such as The Condors, Private Jets, Clockwise, The Foreign Films, The Afternoon, Vegas With Randolph, Throwback Suburbia and The Shamus Twins. But it's the new discoveries that make these compilations special, even for those who consider themselves well-plugged in to the scene.

Disc 1 starts off, however, with one of the genre's icons. As most of you know, Shoes are back with the first album in ages and the fine "Head vs Heart" is one of the better tracks off their highly recommended return, Ignition. Among the lower-profile artists, the standouts here include the Stonesy rawk of Marvin Etzioni's "The Grapes of Wrath", Fireking's jangly "So You Say You Lost Your Baby", the Who-like power chords of The Seasongs' "New Love" and the 60s pop of "Yesterday" by The Secrets.

Disc 2 opens with the harmonic, melodic pop/rock of King Washington's "The Gears", and The Sunychmes' "Revelations in Her Mind" is a great introduction to their 60s California sound found on their latest disc, Let Your Free Flag Fly. Other treats include the Brill Building pop of "The Coast is Clear" from The Housekeeping Society, Norman Kelsey's 70s R&B-influneced "On the Rebound", and the 70s AOR of "No One to Blame" by the wonderfully-named Salvador Dali Llama.

Disc 3 features the great retro-pop of Portland's The Cry ("Modern Cinderella") and the Beat Rats ("Only 16"), the trippy psych-pop of The Pondhawks' "Drive", some fine Popicana from the (unfortunately-spelled) Pengwins in "Naive", and the bright 60s pop of The Airwaves' "Miracle". And things close on a high note with Ed Tulipa's "Barbie", a catchy midtempo Beatlesque tune. These IPO compilations always make a great holiday gift for the power popper on your list, and not a bad present to buy yourself.

Kool Kat | IPO site (with streaming IPO 15 tracks)

David Bash's Other Best of 2011 Lists

Here are the remainder of David Bash's lists, including best reissues, compilations, box sets, etc.:

II. Top 5 Compilations-Various Artists

1. International Pop Overthrow Vol. 14 (Pop Geek Heaven)
2. Pop Geek Heaven Presents Power Pop Prime Vol. 7 (Pop Geek Heaven)
3. Hi Fi Christmas Party Vol. 3 (Vandalay)
4. Pop Garden Radio Presents-The Rock On The Road Tour Season Two (Pop Garden Radio)
5. It’s Happening, Vol. 2 (Shindig)**

III. 2012 Releases I’ve Heard And Am Excited About (In Alphabetical Order)

Peter Buzzelle-Museum Of Peter Buzzelle (Self-Released)
David Myhr-Soundshine
Secret Powers-Album #5 (not actual title)
Stew & The Negro Problem-Making It
Throwback Suburbia-Shot Glass Souvenir
Uncle Green-Rycopa
The Well Wishers-Dreaming Of The West Coast

Reissue Categories


This was one helluva year for box sets!

Those marked with an * are LP-only.

I. Top 75 Proper Albums

1. The Beach Boys-The Smile Sessions (Capitol)
2. The Association-And Then…Along Comes The Association: Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition (Now Sounds)
3. The Left Banke-Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina (Sundazed)
4. Material Issue-International Pop Overthrow: 20th Anniversary Edition (Hip-O Select)
5. The Kinks-Something Else: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
6. The Kinks-Arthur: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
7. Harper’s Bizarre-Feelin’ Groovy: Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition (Now Sounds)
8. The Hollies-Evolution (Guerssen)*
9. The Resonars-Bright And Dark (Burger)*
10. R.E.M.-Life’s Rich Pageant: Deluxe Edition (Capitol)
11. Paul McCartney-McCartney: Deluxe Edition w/book (MPL)
12. Sandy Salisbury-Sandy (Rev-ola)*
13. The Byrds-Younger Than Yesterday: From The Original Master Tapes (Audio Fidelity)
14. The Monkees-Instant Replay: Deluxe Edition (Rhino Handmade)
15. The Association-Insight Out: Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition (Now Sounds)
16. The Supremes-More Hits By The Supremes: Expanded Edition (Hip-O Select)
17. Nick Heyward-Tangled (Cherry Red)
18. The Webstirs-Re Present: Smirk (Ginger)
19. The Beau Brummels-Bradley’s Barn: Deluxe Edition (Rhino Handmade)
20. Gerry Rafferty-City To City: 2 CD Collector’s Edition (EMI)
21. The Wombles-Keep On Wombling (Dramatico)
22. The Hollies-Butterfly (Guerssen)*
23. The 13th Floor Elevators-Easter Everywhere: Deluxe Edition (Charly)
24. The Kinks-Face To Face: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
25. The Mamas And The Papas-If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears (Sundazed)
26. Sugar-Copper Blue (RykoDisc)*
27. Traffic-John Barleycorn Must Die: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
28. The Hollies-Bus Stop (Sundazed)*
29. Gilbert O’Sullivan-Himself (Salvo)
30. Spirit-The Original Potatoland (Retro World)
31. The Kinks-The Kink Kontroversy: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
32. The Pretty Things-S. F. Sorrow: Collector’s Edition (Repertoire)
33. The Hollies-Beat Group! (Sundazed)*
34. Billy Joel-Piano Man: Deluxe Edition (Columbia/Legacy)
35. The Left Banke-The Left Banke Too (Sundazed)
36. Tudor Lodge-Tudor Lodge (Esoteric)
37. Gunhill Road-Gunhill Road (Wounded Bird)
38. The Leopards-Magic Still Exists (Bomp)*
39. The Modulators-Tomorrow’s Coming (Kool Kat)
40. The Kinks-Kinda Kinks: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
41. The Association-Renaissance: Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition (Now Sounds)
42. Dulcimer-And I Turned As I Had As A Boy (Repertoire)
43. Donovan-Sunshine Superman: Stereo Special Edition (EMI)
44. Sleepy Hollow-Sleepy Hollow (Aurora)
45. Ike & Tina Turner-River Deep, Mountain High (Hip-O Select)
46. The Wombles-Superwombling (Dramatico)
47. July-July (Guerssen)*
48. Caravan-In The Land Of Grey And Pink: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Deram)
49. The Collage-The Collage (Now Sounds)
50. Apple-An Apple A Day… (Guerssen)*
51. Tee Set-Emotion (Pseudonym)
52. Blues Magoos-Psychedelic Lollipop (Sundazed)
53. Phil Seymour-Archive Series Vol. 2 (Fuel)
54. Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera-Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera (Repertoire)
55. Butterscotch-Don’t You Know It’s Butterscotch (Angel Air)
56. The Kinks-Kinks: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
57. Abba-Super Trouper: Deluxe Edition (Polar)
58. Rainbow FFolly-Sallies Fforth (Guerssen)*
59. Wichita Fall-Life Is But A Dream (Tune In)
60. Hot Knives-Hot Knives (Grown Up Wrong)
61. Thin Lizzy-Jailbreak: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
62. Nick Heyward-The Apple Bed (Cherry Red)
63. The New Wave-Little Dreams: The Canterbury Recordings (Now Sounds)
64. Suzy Quatro-Suzy Quatro (7T’s)
65. Jethro Tull-Aqualung: 40th Anniversary Special Edition (EMI)
66. 13th Floor Elevators-Bull Of The Woods: Deluxe Edition (Charly)
67. Neighb’rhood Childr’n- Neighb’rhood Childr’n (Sundazed)
68. Wadsworth Mansion-Wadsworth Mansion (Fuel)
69. The Merchants Of Dream-Strange Night Voyage (Tune In)
70. The Wombles-Remember You’re A Womble (Dramatico)
71. Suzy Quatro-Quatro (7T’s)
72. The Leaves-All The Good That’s Happening (Grapefruit)
73. The Offhooks-Outside Looking In (State)*
74. Blues Magoos-Electric Comic Book (Sundazed)
75. The Wombles-Wombling Songs (Dramatico)

II. Top 10 Two-Fers and Three-Fers: Proper Albums

1. New Musik-From A To Be/Anywhere (Lemon)
2. The Hollies-Bus Stop/Stop, Stop, Stop (BGO)
3. Design-Design/Tomorrow Is So Far Away (RPM)
4. Al Stewart-Images: His First Three Albums (EMI)
5. Peter & Gordon-Lady Godiva/Knight In Rusty Armour/In London For Tea (BGO)
6. The Long Ryders-10-5-60/Radio Tokyo/5 By 5 (Primo)
7. The Lovin’ Spoonful-Do You Believe In Magic/Daydream (Edsel)
8. Design-Day Of The Fox/In Flight (RPM)
9. The Lovin’ Spoonful-You’re A Big Boy Now/Everything Playing (Edsel)
10. The Lovin’ Spoonful-What’s Up Tiger Lily?/Hums Of The Lovin’ Spoonful (Edsel)

III. Top 25 Compilations, Single Artist

1. R.E.M.-Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011 (Warner Brothers)
2. Roy Wood-Music Book (EMI)
3. The Zombies-Odessey & Oracle: The CBS Years 1967-1969 (Repertoire)
4. Dave Davies-Hidden Treasures (Universal)
5. Lesley Gore-Magic Colours: The Lost Album With Bonus Tracks 1967-1969 (Ace)
6. Katch 22-Major Catastrophe: The Katch 22 Story 1966-1969 (RPM)
7. Neil Diamond-The Bang Years: 1966-1968 (Legacy)
8. The Zombies-Begin Here: The Complete Decca Mono Recordings 1964-1967 (Repertoire)
9. The Critters-Awake In A Dream: The Project 3 Recordings (Now Sounds)
10. The Herd-Paradise Lost: The Complete UK Fontant Recordings (Grapefruit)
11. Nino Tempo & April Stevens-Hey, Baby! The Nino Tempo & April Stevens Anthology (Ace)
12. Jackie DeShannon-Come And Get Me: The Complete Liberty & Imperial Singles Vol. 2 (Ace)
13. The Poets-Wooden Spoon: The Singles Anthology 1964-1967 (Grapefruit)
14. Kippington Lodge-Shy Boy: The Complete Recordings 1967-1969 (RPM)
15. The Five Stairsteps-The Complete Curtis Mayfield Years (Outta Sight)
16. Kyle Vincent-C Sides: Rare & Unreleased Vol. 3 (SongTree)
17. Kiki Dee-I’m Kiki Dee: The Fontana Years 1963-1968 (RPM)
18. The Caravelles-You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry (RPM)
19. Rescue Co. No. 1-Life’s Too Short: The Singles Anthology 1971-1975 (Angel Air)
20. The Roosters-All Of Our Days (Break A Way)
21. The Girls From Petticoat Junction-Sixties Sounds (Real Gone Music)
22. The Pleasure Seekers-What A Way To Die (Cradle Rocks)
23. Mike Stuart Span-Children Of Tomorrow (Grapefruit)
24. Sandy Denny-19 Rupert Street (Witchwood Media)
25. The Velvet Illusions-Acid Head (Tune In)

IV. Top 10 Compilations, Various Artists

1. Sugar, Sugar: The Birth Of Bubblegum Pop (Sony)
2. Fading Yellow Volume 13-Lazy Days: U.S. 60s Pop Sike & Other Delights (Flower Machine)
3. Picadilly Sunshine, Part Six: British Pop Psych And Other Flavours 1967-1970 (Particles)
4. Fading Yellow Volume 11-A Pastiche Of U.S./Canadian ‘60s Pop Sike & Other Delights (Flower Machine)
5. Fading Yellow Volume 12-A Lighhearted Life: Another Collection Of Euro, UK & Australian ‘60s/Early ‘70s Pop Sike And Other Delights (Flower Machine)
6. Picadilly Sunshine, Part Five: British Pop Psych And Other Flavours 1966-1969 (Past & Present)
7. Our Loves Are Shaped By What We Love: Motown’s Mowest Story 1971-1973 (Light In The Attic)
8. Northern Soul’s Guilty Secrets (Kent)
9. Fading Yellow-Timeless Pop-Sike and Other Delights: Euro 45s 1968-1972 (Flower Machine)*
10. Where The Boys Are: The Songs Of Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield (Ace)

V. Top 20 Box Sets: Single Artist

1. The Beach Boys-The Smile Sessions Box Set (Capitol) (As If It Could Be Anything Else!)
2. The Hollies-Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years: The Complete Hollies April 1963-October 1968 (EMI)
3. The Kinks-The Kinks In Mono (Sanctuary)
4. E.L.O.-The Classic Albums Collection (Sony Music)
5. The Byrds-The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (Sony Music)
6. Elvis Presley-Young Man With The Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Masters (RCA/Legacy)
7. Diana Ross & The Supremes-50th Anniversary: The Singles Collection 1961-1969 (Hip-O Select)
8. The Who-Quadrophenia: Director’s Cut Super Deluxe Ltd. Edition Box Set (Universal)
9. The Temptations-50th Anniversary: The Singles Collection 1961-1971 (Hip-O Select)
10. Michael Mazzarella-Songwriter (Kool Kat)
11. Pink Floyd-The Dark Side Of The Moon Immersion Box Set (EMI)
12. Nivana-Nevermind: 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (Universal/Sub Pop)
13. Barclay James Harvest-Taking Some Time On: The Parlophone/Harvest Years 1968-73 (EMI)
14. Be Bop Deluxe-Futurist Manifesto 1974-1978 (Harvest)
15, Derek And The Dominos-Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs: 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Polydor)
16. The Smiths-Complete (Rhino)
17. Lindisfarne-The Charisma Years: 1970-1973 (EMI)
18. The Robbs-Before, Then, & After (Wet World)
19. Marshmallow Overcoat-The Complete Sound (Garage Nation)
20. 13th Floor Elevators-The Albums Collection (Charly)

The Michael Mazzarella collection isn’t actually a box set, but as it’s made up of five discs I really didn’t know where else it could go.

VI. Top 10 Box Sets: Various Artists

1. Circus Days: The Complete Series Volumes One-Six (Otherside)
2. Dutch Invasion-10 CD +DVD (BR Music)
3. Looking Back: 80 Mod, Freakbeat & Swinging London Nuggets (RPM)
4. Phil Spector Presents: The Philles Album Collection (Legacy)
5. Electric Sound Show-An Assortment Of Antiquities For The Psychedelic Connoisseur (Particles)
6. Titan!: It’s All Pop! (Titan)*
7. Electric Psychedelic Sitar Head Swirlers Vol. 6-10 (Past & Present)
8. Electric Psychedelic Sitar Head Swirlers Vol. 1-5 (Past & Present)
9. Filling The Gap Volumes 1-5 (Psychic Circle)
10. Ember Rock (Fantastic Voyage)

David Bash's Top 100 of 2011.

As has become a yearly tradition of late, I turn things over to the esteemed David Bash of International Pop Overthrow for his always-comprehensive year-end lists. Today we'll start by going right to his top 100; tomorrow, the ancillary lists. Take it away, David:

Hi Everyone,

Here are my lists of favorite albums of 2011. As is my usual custom, I've broken this down into several categories, as I'm just not comfortable ranking unlike entities on one list.

Contemporary Categories

The year 2011 marked the emergence of LP-only releases, as well as download-only releases (I’m not in favor of the download-only model, but I have to acknowledge it). Those marked with an * are LPs and those marked with an ** are downloads.

I. Top 100 Albums

1. Kurt Baker-Rockin’ For A Living (Stardumb)*
2. The Secret Powers-What Every Rose Grower Should Know (Self-Released)
3. Wiretree-Make Up (Cobalt Works)
4. The Nines-Polarities (TAS GOLD)
5. Groovy Uncle-Play Something We Know! (State)*
6. Cirrone-Uplands Park Road (Escape)
7. Brandon Wilde-Hearts In Stereo (Self-Released)**
8. The Story UK-Joyride On Memory Lane (Rainbow Quartz)
9. Vegas With Randolph-Above The Blue (Caged Giant)
10. Long Play 33 1/3-Being Nowhere (Self-Released)
11. Pugwash-The Olympus Sound (EMI)
12. An American Underdog-Always On The Run (Pop Factory)
13. Fountains Of Wayne-Sky Full Of Holes (Yep Roc)
14. The Galileo 7-Are We Having Fun Yet? (Teen Sound)
15. The Red Button-As Far As Yesterday Goes (Grimble)
16. The Smithereens-2011 (Eone)
17. The Wellingtons-In Transit (Zip)
18. Pyewacket-1967 (It’s About Music)
19. Brandon Schott-13 Satellites (Golden State)
20. Greg Pope-Blue Ocean Sky (Self-Released)
21. Michael Oliver & The Sacred Band-Yin & Yanxiety (Self-Released)
22. Suzy & Los Quattro-Hank (B Core)
23. Supraluxe-The Super Sounds Of Supraluxe (Self-Released)
24. Ulysses-Ulysses (Self-Released)
25. The Breakdowns-The Kids Don’t Wanna Bop Any More (Rock Indiana)
26. Janey And The Ravemen-Stay Away From Boys (Soundflat)
27. Phil Angotti-People And Places (Our House)
28. The Grip Weeds-Under The Influence Of Christmas (Rainbow Quartz)
29. Meyerman-Who Do You Think You Are? (Pretty Decent)
30. Dwight Twilley-Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
31. Beady Eye-Different Year, Still Speeding (Dangerbird)
32. Poplord-Poplord Vs. The Universe (Fowl Tone)
33. Jonny-Jonny (Merge)
34. Dum Dum Girls-Only In Dreams (Sub Pop)
35. Peter Berry & The Shake Set-Berry Go Round (Jansen Plateproduksjon)
36. The Liarbirds-Allegedly (Restless Wind)
37. The Turnback-Drawn In Chalk (Self-Released)
38. Daniel Wylie-Fake Your Own Death (Self-Released)
39. The Vinyl Skyway-Return Of The Dead Surfer (Self-Released)
40. The Dahlmanns-All Dahled Up (Pop Detective)
41. Trolley-Things That Shine And Glow (Easter)
42. The Pepper Pots-Train To Your Lover (Black Pepper)
43. Laurie Biagini-A Go Go Girl In A Modern World (Self-Released)
44. Meet Redondo Beat-Meet Redondo Beat (Self-Released)
45. R.E.M.-Collapse Into Now (Warner Brothers)
46. Simon Felton-Surrender Dorothy! (Pink Hedgehog)
47. Tan Sleeve-Too Big To Fail (Transparency)
48. Freddy Monday-Everything Anyhow (Self-Released)
49. Bubble Gum Orchestra-Out Of This World (Self-Released)
50.Tony Cox-On The Way (Self-Released)
51. Deleted Waverform Gatherings-Pretty Escape (Rainbow Quartz)
52. Allen Clapp & The Orchestra-Mixed Greens (Mystery Lawn)
53. Curtains For You-After Nights Without Sleep (Spark & Shine)
54. The Sugar Stems-Sweet Sounds Of The Sugar Stems (Dream On)
55. The Bad Examples-Smash Record (Waterdog)
56. The Higher State-Freakout At The Gallery (13 O’Clock)
57. Longplayer-Longplayer (Space Place)
58.Tommy Flake-Second Skin (Self-Released)
59. Maxi Dunn-The Neglected Gambit (Self-Released)
60. 8 x 8-The Anatomy Of An Apricot (Self-Released)**
61. Sara Lowes-Back To Creation (Self-Released)
62. The Jigsaw Seen-Winterland (Vibro-phonic)
63. Kelly’s Heels-Playing Into Your Hands (Warm Fuzz)
64. Brent Cash-How Strange It Seems (Marina)
65. Mumble-Happy Living (Marathon)
66. The Davenports-Why The Great Gallop? (Mother West)
67. The Anydays-Move! (Self-Released)
68. Kings Of Last Call-From Memory (Self-Released)
69. Peter Baldrachi-Tomorrow Never Knows (Prodigal Son)
70. Dropkick-Time Cuts The Ties (Sound Asleep)
71. The Ditchflowers-Bird’s Eye (Sunshine Drenchy)
72. The Foxes-The Foxes (Self-Released)
73. The Real People-Think Positive (Self-Released)
74. The Red Plastic Buddha-All Out Revolution (Space Cat)
75. The Color Bars-Prosopopoeia (Self-Released)
76. The Latebirds-Last Of The Good Old Days (Second Motion)
77. The Bangles-Sweetheart Of The Sun (Down Kiddie)
78. The Wags-The Wags (Self-Released)
79. The Cleaners From Venus-In Chimp World (Kool Kat)
80. The Cry-The Cry (Self-Released)
81. Fortune 500-Flavor Of The Year (Self-Released)
82. Skeleton Staff-Psychomorphism (Swizzle)
83. The Real Numbers-Welcome To The Numberhood (Self-Released)
84. 54321-What We Did With Our Days (Crazeology)
85. The Brights-A Trivial Pursuit (Lemon Pop)
86. Your Gracious Host-Sleepers Awaken (Self-Released)
87. Richard Snow & The In Laws-Am I Really That Boring? (Valley)
88. The Feeling-Together We Were Made: Double Album Edition (Universal)
89. The Handcuffs-Waiting For The Robot (OOFL)
90. Sexy Heroes-InterroBang (Pop Detective)
91. Gary Ritchie-Hum, Sing…Repeat! (Fancy Two Tone)
92. The Skywalkers-Year One (Self-Released)*
93. Bowling For Soup-Fishing For Woos (Brando)
94. The Wind-Hear, Em Skear’em (Self-Released)
95. Richard X. Heyman-Tiers and Other Stories (Turn Up)
96. Dreaming In Stereo-2 (Forward Motion)
97. The Bye Bye Blackbirds-Fixed Hearts (Rainbow Quartz)
98. Captain Wilberforce-Ghost Written Confessions (Self-Released)
99. The Cleaners From Venus-The Stopping Train (Kool Kat)
100. China Syndrome-Nothing’s Not Worth Knowing (Self-Released)
Kurt Baker’s “Rockin For A Living” was also released on Oglio as a 6-song EP, but it’s the 10 song full-length LP I’ve ranked here.

The David Bash Best of 2010 Lists, Part 4

And finally here is the top half of David Bash's Top 100 of 2010:

1. Secret Powers-Lies and Fairy Tales (Self-Released
2. Agony Aunts-Greater Miranda (Big Cinnamon)
3. The Royalties-The New Royalties (Music For Records)
4. The Grip Weeds-Strange Change Machine (Rainbow Quartz)
5. Nushu-Hula (Cactus Boy)
6. Jeremy Messersmith-The Reluctant Graveyard (Self-Released)
7. The Above-The Above (Self-Released)
8. The Lovedays-House Of Cards (Self-Released
9. Taylor Locke and The Roughs-Grain & Grape (Self-Released)
10. The Uncoventionals-Flower To The People (Western Songs)
11. Bastards Of Melody-Hurry Up And Wait (FDR)
12. Seth Swirsky-Watercolor Day (Grimble)
13. Fitz and The Tantrums-Pickin’ Up The Pieces (Danger Bird)
14. Laurie Biagini-A Far Out Place (Self-Released)
15. The Len Price 3-Pictures (Wicked Cool)
16. The Mayflowers-Red Balloon (Rooster)
17. Ben Jones-Echobox (Self-Released)
18. Timmy Sean-Sounds From & Inspired By Noisewater (Self-Released)
19. The June-Green Fields And Rain (Rainbow Quartz)
20. Smash Palace-7 (Zip)
21. Moon Safari-Lover’s End (Blomljud)
22. Radio Days-C’est La Vie (Tannen)
23. Oranjuly-Oranjuly (Self-Released)
24. POPFILTER-Pop This! (Self-Released)
25. The Genuine Fakes-The Genuine Fakes (Self-Released)
26. The Offbeat-In Love Field (Self-Released)
27. The Sunchymes-Shifting Sands (Self-Released)
28. The Passports-Is It True (Self-Released)
29. Lucky Soul-A Coming Of Age (Self-Released)
30. Duncan Maitland-Lullabies For The 21st Century (Indigoctagon)
31. Dom Mariani-Rewind and Play (Spider Music)
32. The Like-Release Me (Geffen)
33. The PondHawks-…Have Landed (Self-Released)
34. The Well Wishers-Post Modern Romantic (thatwasmyskull)
35. Farrah-Farrah (Rock Indiana)
36. Maple Mars-Galaxyland (Kool Kat)
37. Bleu-4 (The Major Label)
38. The Ugly Beats-Motor! (Get Hip)
39. The Rubinoos-Automatic Toaster (Self-Released)
40. Elvyn-The Decline (Little Wagon)
41. Taylor Locke & The Roughs-Marathon (Self-Released)
42. The Scruffs-Conquest (Scruffsville)
43. Gavin Guss-Mercury Mine (Obsolete Media)
44. Garfield’s Birthday-More Sense Than Money (Pink Hedgehog)
45. The Shamus Twins-Garden Of Weeds (Shamussongs)
46. The Third Men-Boost (Speed!)
47. The Slingsby Hornets-Something Old…Something New (Expedition Hot Dog)
48. SMASH Fashion-Don’t Pet The Sweaty Things (Electric Pudding)
49. The Posies-Blood/Candy (Ryko)
50. Deadbeat Poets-Circus Town (Pop Detective)

The David Bash Best of 2010 Lists, Part 3

It's now time to get into the main list. Here's the bottom half (51-100) of David Bash's 2010 full-length list. Tomorrow we'll have the top half.

51. The Sails-A Headful Of Stars (Rainbow Quartz)
52. The Young Veins-Take A Vacation (One Haven)
53. John Lindsay-Escape From Plaza Midwood (Chocolate Lab)
54. The School-Loveless Unbeliever (Elefant)
55. Lannie Flowers-Circles (Aaron Ave.)
56. Chris Corney-Sans Everything (White Wall)
57. Huw Jacob-Higher Every Day (Self-Released)
58. Sunrise Highway-Sunrise Highway (Songheads)
59. Geoff Smith-That’s Gravity (Self-Released)
60. The Malibooz-Queen’s English (The Pier Group)
61. Slumberjet-Slumberjet (Broken Lullaby)
62. The Silver Seas-Chateau Revenge! (Self-Released)
63. The New Pornographers-Together (Matador)
64. Paul Collins-King Of Power Pop! (Alive)
65. Matt Purcell & The Blessed Curse-Matt Purcell & The Blessed Curse (Other Tongues)
66. Mark Bacino-Queens English (Dreamcrush)
67. William Duke-…Presents The Sunrise and The Night (Kool Kat)
68. Blake Jones and The Trike Shop-The Underground Garden (Whisper-Ma-Phone)
69. The 88-The 88 (Rocket Science)
70. La Fleur Fatale-Silent Revolution (Killer Cobra)
71. Spygenius-Red Lounge (Whammo)
72. The Hot Rats-Turn Ons (Fat Possum)
73. Michael Pink-Michael Pink (Self-Released)
74. Skeleton Staff-Solipsism (Swizzlestick)
75. The Contrast-God Of Malfunction (Wicked Cool)
76. Zombies Of The Stratosphere-Ordinary People (Self-Released)
77. The Brigadier-The Secret Of No Success (Self-Released)
78. Dino-Fool’s Gold (Holy Cow)
79. The High Dials-Anthems For Doomed Youth (Rainbow Quartz)
80. Teenage Fanclub-Shadows (Self-Released)
81. Buva-Not Scary! Friendly (Hi-Fi In Motion)
82. Chapa-Creation Room (Self-Released)
83. Dave Rave-Live With What You Know (Bongo Beat)
84. The Paparazzi-Rococo (Self-Released)
85. Square Root Of Margaret-WYSIWYG (Marpy Menkle)
86. Joe Adragna-Fall Back (Green Leaves)
87. Steve Barton-Projector (Self-Released)
88. Horizontal Ladies Club-Galloping Into The Western Hemisphere (Songgram)
89. The Jigsaw Seen-Bananas Foster (Vibro-Phonic)
90. Rooney-Eureka (California Dreamin’)
91. The Gurus-Closing Circles (Rainbow Quartz)
92. Neil Nathan-The Distance Calls (Pirate Vinyl)
93. Bad Love Experience-Rainy Days (Mabel)
94. Thousands Millions-Rock Days (Tannen)
95. Casey Curry-Tidal Tales From The Other Side (Self-Released)
96. The Parties-Coast Garde (Rainbow Quartz)
97. Van Duren-Resonance Road (Three Cool Cats)
98. Jen Olive-Warm Robot (Ape House)
99. The Romeo Flynns-Masque Of Anarchy (What’s Left)
100. Susan Hedges-Kiss My Attitude (Self-Released)

The David Bash Best of 2010 Lists, Part 2

Before we start his main top 100 list tomorrow, here are the remainder of his various miscellaneous category lists:

Top Compilations-Single Artists

1. Why Isn’t Chris von Sneidern Famous?-Music Soundtrack From The Feature Film (Mastromonia)

Top 4 Compilations-Various Artists

1. International Pop Overthrow Vol. 13 (Not Lame)
2. Sweet Relief II-Hearts On Fire (Jam)
3. *It’s Happening: Volume 2 (Shindig!)
4. Staring At The Sun Vol. 8-A Compilation Featuring San Diego Music (Blindspot)

Top Christmas Discs

1. Kool Kat Kristmas (Kool Kat)
2. Rockin’ The Mistletoe (SideB)

Favorite Song Of 2010

*The Heath Robinson Five-Don’t Like To Say

Other Reissue Categories

Top 10 Two-Fers, Three-Fers, and Four-Fers: Proper Albums

1. The Guess Who-Wheatfield Soul/Share The Land/Canned Wheat (T-Bird)
2. Amazing Blondel-England/Blondel (BGO)
3. Walter Egan-The Collection: Fundamental Roll/Not Shy/HiFi/The Last Stroll
4. Jet-Jet/Even More Light Than Shade (RPM)
5. Middle Of The Road-Chirpy, Chirpy Cheep Cheep/Acceleration/Drive On (7T’s)
6. The Main Ingredient-Tasteful Soul/Bittersweet (SuperBird)
7. Paper Lace-And Other Bits Of Material/First Edition (7T’s)
8. Honey Cone-Take Me With You/Sweet Replies/Soulful Tapestry/Love, Peace & Soul (Edsel)
9. Clouds-Scrapbook/Up Above Our Heads/Watercolour Days (BGO)
10. The Hondells-Go Little Honda/The Hondells (T-Bird)

Top 20 Compilations, Single Artist

1. The Beatles-1967-1970 (Apple)
2. The Beatles-1962-1966 (Apple)
3. Paul Revere & The Raiders-The Complete Columbia Singles (Collector’s Choice)
4. John Lennon-Gimme Some Truth (EMI/Capitol)
5. Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin-Broken Records: The Singles (Broken)
6. The Knickerbockers-One Track Mind: The Garage Pop Sound Of The Knickerbockers (Grapefruit)
7. Sandy Denny & The Strawbs-All Our Own Work: The Complete Sessions Remastered (Witchwood Media)
8. The Jetset-Swings & Roundabouts: The Very Best Of The Jetset (Cherry Red)
9. The Mindbenders-A Groovy Kind Of Love: The Complete LPs & Singles 1966-1968 (RPM)
10. The Poppees-Pop Goes The Anthology (Bomp)
11. Tracey Ullman-More Over Darling: The Complete Stiff Recordings (Salvo)
12. The Drifters-First Loves: The Complete Drifters Singles 1972-1980 (Sony)
13. Bob Dylan-The Best Of The Original Mono Recordings (Sony Legacy)
14. Curved Air-Retrospective Anthology 1978-2008 (Repertoire)
15. Dee Long-1,2,3,5: Longevity Vol. 4 (Bullseye Songs)
16. Dave Berry-Picture Me Gone: The Decca Sessions 1966-1974 (RPM)
17. Carnival Season-Misguided Promise: Carnival Season Complete 1984-89 (Arena Rock)
18. The Chessmen-Collection 1964-1966 (Regenerator)
19. Jackie Lomax-Lost Soul: Lomax Alliance & Solo Singles & Demos 1966-1967 + Badger (RPM)
20. The Goodees-The Complete Goodees Condition Red! (Ace)

Top 20 Compilations, Various Artists

1. Fading Yellow Volume 10-The Better Side: A Collection Of Euro, UK & Australian ‘60s/Early ‘70s Pop/Sike and Other Delights (Flower Machine)
2. Book A Trip: The Psych-Pop Sounds Of Capitol Records (Now Sounds)
3. Piccadilly Sunshine: Part 4-British Pop-Psych and Other Flavours 1967-1969 (Past & Present)
4. Piccadilly Sunshine: Part 3-British Pop-Psych and Other Flavours 1967-1970 (Past & Present)
5. Rockin’ With The Pirates: Big Hits, Classic Tracks & Lost Gems From The Golden Era Of Off-Shore Radio (EMI)
6. A Cellarful Of Motown Volume 4 (Tamla/Motown/Universal)
7. Come And Get It: The Best Of Apple Records (Apple/EMI)
8. Fairytales Can Come True Volume 5-Steppin’ Through An Empty Time: 20 Slices Of British & European Pop-Psych Confections (Psychic Circle)
9. P.F. Sloan & Steve Barri-You Baby: Words And Music By P.F. Sloan & Steve Barri (Ace)
10. Lovers From The Sky: Pop Psych Sounds From The Apple Era 1968-1971 (RPM)
11. Mixed Up Minds: Obscure Rock and Pop From The British Isles 1970-1973 (Past & Present)
12. Hey Beach Girls!: Female Surf ‘N’ Drag 1961-1966 (Ace)
13. With Love A Pot Of Flowers: The Wild Flower Harbinger Complex Euphoria The Other Side (Big Beat)
14. Do You Dream?-UK Pop and Psychedelia 1965-1970 From The Angel Air Catalogue (Angel Air)
15. That Driving Beat-‘60s & ‘70s Northern Soul Stompers (Harmless)
16. Lee Hazlewood-Califia: The Songs Of Lee Hazlewood (Ace)
17. Bless You California: More Early Songs Of Randy Newman (Ace)
18. Open Up Your Mind-The Psych Pop World Of Rembrandt Records 1966-1967 (Cicadelic)
19. You Heard It Here First!-Volume 2 (Ace)
20. Looking Towards The Sky: Progressive, Psychedelic & Folk Rock From The Ember Vaults (Fantastic Voyage)

Top 10 Box Sets: Single Artist

1. Sandy Denny-The Complete Studio Recordings (Universal)
2. Rick Nelson-The Last Time Around 1970-1982 (Bear Family)
3. John Lennon-Signature Box (Capitol)
4. Bruce Springsteen-The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story (Columbia)
5. Caravan-The World Is Yours: The Anthology 1968-1976 (Decca)
6. Camel-Rainbow’s End: An Anthology 1973-1985 (Universal)
7. Syl Johnson-Complete Mythology (Numero Uno)
8. The Fourmyula-The Complete Fourmyula (EMI New Zealand)
9. The Who-Live At Leeds: 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Polydor)
10. The La’s-Callin’ All (Universal/Polydor)

Top 5 Box Sets: Various Artists

1. The Apple Records Box Set (Apple/EMI)
2. A Complete Introduction To Tamla Motown (Motown Universal)
3. A Complete Introduction To Chess (Universal)
4. Cave Of Clear Light-The Pye and Dawn Records Underground Trip 1967-1975 (Esoteric)
5. The Perfumed Garden: 82 Rare Flowerings From The British Underground 1965-73 (Past & Present)