Paul Collins keeps the power pop flame blazing

It takes a great deal of self confidence to proclaim oneself “king of power pop,” but given Paul Collins’ seminal role in the Nerves, Breakaways and Beat, and his subsequent appearances solo and with the Paul Collins Band, his claim is as good as anyone’s. While fellow Nerve/Breakaway Peter Case founded the rock ‘n’ soul Plimsouls, Collins refined his AM radio pop craft with the Beat; and as Case created a post-Plimsouls career as a folk-blues troubadour, Collins’ dapplings of soul, blues and country always left his pop core highly visible. He returned to an even purer pop sound with 2004’s Flying High and added 70s influences for 2008’s Ribbon of Gold, developing more introspective material on each. And while the artistic maturity was quite welcome, his twenty-something exuberance had faded.

Or so it seemed. It turns out that Collins hasn’t let the shadows of middle-age black out the enthusiasms of youth. More importantly, he can still write a killer melodic hook and make it stick in two-minutes-thirty. Recording in Detroit with Jim Diamond producing, Collins sounds as if he’s fresh off the end of a tour with the Beat – his voice a tad ragged but still thrilled by the glories of power pop. He charges hard into the bluesy “Do You Wanna Love Me?” and cuts the difference between the Beatles and Everly Brothers on the opening “C’mon Let’s Go!” His lyrics haven’t yearned so dearly and his voice hasn’t sounded this unbridled since he sang “Rock ‘n’ Roll Girl” and “Walking Out on Love” thirty years ago. Collins and Eric Blakely’s guitars rumble and sting, Jim Diamond’s bass and Dave Shettler’s drums propel, and the vocal harmonies and backings capture the joy of a summer’s night cruise with the windows down and the radio up.

Shettler adds tympani to “Many Roads to Follow,” and with the duet harmony sung at the top of Collins’ and Blakely’s ranges, they conjure the deep teen emotions of the Brill Building. Given his track record, it’s not really surprising that Collins still has great albums in him, but that he so effortlessly reaches back to the sounds he helped coin in the mid-70s (and whose invention he details in “Kings of Power Pop”), and it’s inspiring that he finds such satisfying ways to use the wear in his voice. Particularly noteworthy is how easily he matches Alex Chilton’s gravelly tone on a cover of the Box Tops’ 1967 hit “The Letter,” and how beautifully he covers the Flamin’ Groovies’ “You Tore Me Down.” The heartbreak of his original “Hurting’s on My Side” is rendered in the sort of ragged-voiced emotion John Lennon shouted out in 1964. Anyone who loves the Nerves EP and the Beat’s albums (particularly the debut) should grab a copy of this one ASAP. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Do You Wanna Love Me
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