The Big Deal Artists Pay Tribute To Burt

TRIBUTE TO BURT BACHARACH - WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW (1998)

 

Exclusive tracks from Wondermints, The Gladhands, Vandalias, Splitsville, Barely Pink, Hannah Cranna, BMX Bandits, Dan Kibler, Michael Shelley, Cockeyed Ghost and more. Cover art was by legendary Jack Davis (MAD, EC Comics, Time and more)

 

BURT (334 mb)

Jangle Pop Covers From Norwich

THE NIVENS - RECYCLE (1991)

 

Howard Turner and Russ Storerson formed The Nivens way back in '85 in Norwich (England). Pioneers of the guitar band thing honing their own brand of jangle-psychedelia, a harder musical edge fusing acid grooves to the REM / Byrds / Smithereens / Groovies sensibilities.

 

COVERS (120 mb)

CD Reissue of the 1985 french LP (New Rose Records)

SYLVAIN SYLVAIN & THE CRIMINAL$ - BOWERY BUTTERFLIES (2000)

 

When Johansen approached Sylvain regarding a lenghty European tour to promote his debut solo LP, on which Syl had collaborated, Sylvain cut a deal with Johansen's management who requested $2.000 upfront to enable The Criminal$ to record a quality demo. '78-Criminals was the end product. This is the demo that led RCA to sign Sylvain up in 1979. Most of the tracks were re-recorded for Sylvain's debut. "Bowery Butterflies" contains his favourites versions of the songs, mainly written between 75-78.

 

BUTTERFLIES (279 mb)

The Neighbors (The Upside Mixes Never Reissued)

THE NEIGHBORS - WELCOME WAGON (1987)

 

In 1985, John Moremen, Scott McKnight and Steve Woehrle were in a group called Punch Me Judy. Then Pete Gilstrap joined up for the experience that was to be, in a basement in Arlington, Virginia.They deemed themselves Herschel's Neighbors, Days later, they played at a club in Washington, DC calling themselves Bag 85. Only months later, the band now called The Neighbors. After their first album "Famous Potatoes", they released this second album on a small label in New York (Upside). It burst forth in 1987. And then the label soon went out of business.

 

Notes from Scott McKnight 

The original band mixes of Welcome Wagon were shelved by Upside (the record company) in favor of mixes supervised by Upside. In some ways the Upside mixes were considered superior. In some ways, not. The tunes from Welcome Wagon and Famous Potatoes which appear on the Power Pop Art CD were remixed for that CD using mid-'90s gear rather than the mid-'80s gear used originally. The mixes of Welcome Wagon tunes on the CD are closer to the band's original vision than those that appeared on the album, as released. Not all of the tunes from Welcome Wagon and Famous Potatoes appear on the CD. Good luck finding the CD.

  

WAGON (296 mb)

The Criminals lettering was used for PPC

CRIMINAL$ - THE KIDS ARE BACK (1978)

 

Sylvain Sylvain (guitar, vocals), Bobby Blaine (keyboard, vocals), Tony Machine (drums) and Michael Page (bass, vocals) cut a single. 5,000 copies of "The Kids are Back/The Cops are Coming" were issued on the Criminals own Sing Sing label. The 45 did amazingly well both in the U.S. and the U.K.

  

WU ARE (36 mb)

Memory Lane (Zion, Illinois)

SOME MEMORABILIA FROM THE SHOES FAN CLUB (1990-1994)

 

No music here, but some scans (PDF format) from the Shoes Fan Club 30 years ago. Shoes News cards, order form from the Black Vinyl Records catalog and a three-page folio.

SHOES (4,5 mb)

PPA Exclusive (The Album That Never Existed)

GARY KLEBE - THE SHOES YEARS (1975-2012) (2026)

 

No need to introduce Gary Klebe, one essential member of the band along the Murphy Brothers. "Black Vinyl Shoes" was the first Shoes album i bought back in 1978 (it was the PVC edition - i only got the original BVS edition a few years later).

Album after album, i was caught by the songs penned by Gary Klebe alone, but also co-written with John or Jeff Murphy. The guy had an exceptional gift for writing memorable power pop songs. 

 

So yesterday, i read that Gary Klebe was releasing his first solo album "Out Loud" on the 10th of April. And i thought it would be interesting to compile some of his best songs from the Shoes years. I made a custom artwork and here is the collection (22 songs written by Gary Klebe only + plus a bonus track).

 

GARY (551 mb)

Wondermints Live in Studio

WONDERMINTS - LIVE AT THE REHEARSAL ROOM (1995)

 

Under the guidance of Chris Carter things go much faster for Wondermints. They get more and more known in the underground scene of L.A. and they even get a chance to record a demo for Epic Records in 1995. Unfortunately, the demo leads to no deal. Record-companies are reluctant in signing Wondermints. They don't really know what to do with the band. They agree that Wondermints' music sounds terrific, but they don't know how to pigeon hole it, since the band's music sounds different from all the other music that is being put on the music-market in 1995.

 

Special note: The six cover versions featured here are quite different and of much better quality from the ones available on the "Mintsmania" unofficial CD  PPA custom artwork included.

 

WU REHEARSAL (137 mb)

Cellophane Remix (Unavailable Elsewhere)

WONDERMINTS - CELLOPHANE EP (1997)

 

Japan only 4-Track CD EP with an exclusive remix of Cellophane (from Bali), plus 3 rare songs.

 

WU CELLO EP (149 mb)

The First Wondermints (Original Single)

WONDERMINTS - PROTO-PRETTY (1993)

 

At the beginning of 1993, drummer Mike D'amico becomes Wondermints fourth member, and not long after the group releases their first vinyl-single on Pop Psycle Records. The single was released on a translucent wax. The B side was penned by Brian Kassan. This song was also featured on the first Chewy Marble CD.

 

7" (62 mb)

Wondermints Live 1996 (Unofficial)

WONDERMINTS - HOUSE OF BLUES, Los Angeles May 20th (1996)

 

This rare live performance of the Wondermints was recorded in 1996 at the House Of Blues, Los Angeles. The other acts of the event were The Negro Problem, Cockeyed Ghost, Velouria and The Andersons!.

 

HOUSE (250 mb)

Wondermints Demos (Unofficial)

DARIAN & NICK - PRE-WONDERMINTS DEMOS (1988)

 

In their early days, before the Wondermints even existed,  Darian & Nick would share a 4-track Portastudio cassette recorder, these recordings started off as what we can call them now the pre-Wondermints demos. Before recording their own songs, the duo recorded ten covers plus their first original song "No One's Girl" (written by Nick Walusko). The first Wondermints releases would later surface in 1992-1994 with their self-released tapes: the Blue, Purple and Green cassettes. Custom artwork included.

 

DEMOS (212 mb)

A Power Pop Tribute (2005)

TRIBUTE TO JEREMY MORRIS - JAM ON JEREMY (2005)

 

Between 1984 and 2026, Jeremy Morris has released over 60 albums of mainly power pop but also progressive rock. He was featured on more than 80 compilations or tributes all over those years. So in 2005, a tribute to Jeremy Morris was released featuring some famous names of the power pop scene (Lolas, Lisa Mychols, Phil Angotti and others). The album title is a reference to his own record label "Jam Records".

 

JAM ON (309 mb)

33 Vintage Power Pop Videos (1976-1986)

POWER POP THE VIDEO WAVE (1976-1986) Vol 1 (2026)

 

Well Well Well, this is my first video collection of oldies (even though i posted a few oldies on PPC), of course the compilation is not 4K, 1080p or 720p, but all the vids are 40 years old and i can say there's no A.I. There are plenty of skinny ties (check the custom artwork), so much rickenbacker guitars and bass and a lot of magic hooks. As i already said "Power Pop To The People" and enjoy the magic ride of hooks through 100 minutes of videos. To be played with VLC. I made a custom artwork and inserted a note with the 33 acts featured.

Just for info, the first video is Blondie singing a song from the first Private Stock LP, my favorite album of the band featuring Gary Valentine, the one who wrote one of the best Blondie song ever "(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear" recorded by the band after Gary had left Blondie.

 

POWER POP (1.6 gb)

24 Slices Of Vintage Power Pop (1977-1984) (a new volume)

VARIOUS - RAIDERS OF THE LOST HOOK Vol. 7 (2026)

 

While i was upgrading the first two volumes of the ROTLH series, i began to compile a brand new one, trying to use only American power pop released during  the shortest period of time possible. So the majority of the songs (20 out of 24) compiled on this volume were released between 1980 and 1984.

The inner sleeve includes all the details about the bands featured here.

 

WU RAIDERS 7 (557 mb)

26 Slices Of Vintage Power Pop (1972-1984)

VARIOUS - RAIDERS OF THE LOST HOOK Vol. 1 (2008)

 

First posted in 2008 on PPC in mp3 format, and requested to be re-upped so many times it has been upgraded to FLAC. So, it is for the first time available in lossless format on PPA.

 

Note: Congratulations to the first readers able to name the artist (real name and alias) featured on the inside of the booklet.

 

WU RAIDERS 1 (535 mb)

Shindig's Powerpop Playlist (Issue #172)

POWERPOP: THE THIRD WAVE (1974-1981)

SHINDIG ISSUE #172 (2026)

 

Compiled by Jon 'Mojo' Mills, the playlist selects 30 songs from 1974 to 1981. Over eight pages, Shindig! turns the clock back to the mid-70s, when the jangle, energy and harmony of powerpop enjoyed its Third Wave.

Using the front page of the magazine, i've made a custom artwork and included the eight pages.

  

THIRD WAVE (625 mb)

90s Corporate Power Pop

BIG DEAL CORPORATE ANNUAL Vol 1 & 2 (1997) (1998)

 

Big Deal was a seminal power pop label from the 90s. "Corporate Annual Vol 1 & 2" were two promo collections of the company spreading the word of power pop around the world. Any resale was strictly forbidden. In 1997, Not Lame Records gave both of them with any order from the label. A free and most excellent gift compliments of Bruce Brodeen and the kind folks at Big Deal.

  

VOL 1 (491 mb)

  

VOL 2 (399 mb)

A Guide To A New Music (So. California Bands)

CLOSET POP FREAK (1996) + CLOSET POP FOLK (1997)

 

Released on Pop Psycle Records, both of these compilations focused on new So. California bands. Closet Pop Freak was the first one released during January's POPTOPIA festival and was considered as the definitive compilation of the great pop going on in the Los Angeles area back then.

Closet Pop Folk (1997) was the follow-up to "Closet Pop Freak", a classic document of the pop scene in mid-'90s L.A., featuring some of the very most talented LA pop bands. This time the concept is power pop unplugged. A must for fans in search of rare tracks.

  

POP FREAK (455 mb)

  

POP FOLK (417 mb)

Pre Choo Choo Train / Velvet Crush (Never Reissued) (Part 2)

THE REVERBS - THE HAPPY FOREST (1984)

 

Before joining forces (Choo Choo Train, Velvet Crush), Rick Menck and Paul Chastain pursued the pop muse separately in different parts of Illinois. Rick Menck was half of the Reverbs. The Happy Forest being their sole release. It is close to some 80s jangle-pop bands like The Connells. The opening song "Trusted Woods" was later featured on the "Strum & Thrum - American Jangle Underground 1983-1987" compilation.

  

WU HAPPY (195 mb)

Top of 2025 (Episode 26)

THE UNOFFICIAL 2025 DAVID BASH'S TOP 25 (2026)

 

Just like the other years, here's the latest collection (the 26th) from the yearly David Bash list. The 2025 list of albums is once again a Top 150. The list also includes a top list of EP's, and some compilations, tributes, reissues and more. Once again, the PPA compilation is limited to the first 25 albums of 2025 The full list can be found on the International Pop Overthrow page here.

 

WU 2025 (603 mb)

Live In Spain 1986 (Never Reissued)

PAUL COLLINS BEAT - LIVE AT THE UNIVERSAL (1986)

 

Recorded in Madrid, Spain (July 11) at the Sala Universal, Paul Collins is backed by his long-time bassist Steve Huff plus two spanish musicians Emilio Huertas (Lead Guitar, Vocal) and Manolo de Palma (Drums). The album was only released in Spain by Twins Records. Paul Collins performs some of his most famous tunes plus one exclusive song "I'm Not Crazy" unavailable elsewhere.

 

WU LIVE (350 mb)