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)

27 Slices Of Vintage Power Pop (1977-1990)

VARIOUS - RAIDERS OF THE LOST HOOK Vol. 2 (2008)

 

Second part of the Raiders collection which shares again this "undying search for the great pop hook". First posted in 2008 on PPC, it is for the first time available in lossless format on PPA.

 

WU RAIDERS 2 (528 mb)

Bill Hurley Produced by Elvis Costello (Never Reissued)

BIG HEAT - WATCH ME CATCH FIRE (1985)

 

Between 1982 and 1986 Bill Hurley had left The Inmates. He recorded a highly acclaimed solo album "Double Agent" for Demon Records, had two Top 40 UK chart successes as lead vocalist with JB Allstars for RCA Victor, and with his new band Big Heat had a Top 40 UK single with the Elvis Costello produced "Watch Me Catch Fire" for A&M Records. It was unfortunately but understandably dropped from the BBC playlist the week after the Bradford Football Fire disaster.

  

WU WATCH (71 mb)

A Sequel To The Blog Gems Collection

POWERPOP TO THE PEOPLE (2007)

 

Compiled and posted in 2007, the new collection "Powerpop To The People" was supposed to be something like a sequel to "The Blog Gems". At the time, some of the songs included were not widely available, of course since then some of of those songs have been reissued on CD or available through streaming sites.

  

Vol 1 (549 mb)

Vol 2 (546 mb)

Vol 3 (534 mb)

Vol 4 (553 mb)

Vol 5 (553 mb)

A Power Pop Journey From Illinois to California

VARIOUS - GET YOUR HOOKS ON ROUTE 66 (2009)

 

In 2009, there was the regular Summer compilation, but also a special bonus for the summer, like a companion for a journey between Illinois and California, which was also a spinoff of the collection "The Intersate Battle Vol 1 Illinois vs California". Posted during the summer '09, this compilation was available only in mp3 and has never been re-upped, but it is now shared in lossless format on PPA for the very first time more than 15 years later.

 

WU ROUTE 66 (557 mb)

The Official Bonus CD

VARIOUS - SHAKE SOME ACTION (2007)

THE ULTIMATE POWER POP GUIDE

 

The CD came with the 202-page book Shake Some Action - The Ultimate Power Pop Guide, by John Borack, in a loose plastic slimpack, transparent on the front, white in the back. Track details only appear on page 200 of the book.

But, at the time of its release  i made a custom  CD artwork for it that i'd sent to Bruce Brodeen in Denver, Colorado. Then i guess Bruce Brodeen gave the artwork to some of the buyers of the book.

  

WU Bonus CD (493 mb)

Find below a scan of page 200 of the SSA book

The Original Shake Some Action (Unofficial Guide)

THE ULTIMATE POWER POP GUIDE Volumes 1-9 (2008)

In 2008, there was a list of the 200 most essential power pop recordings of the last 35 years. John M.Borack had put together the list for his "Shake Some Action" book published by Bruce Brodeen and Not Lame. At the time, i decided tp post a complete "Best" of the Ultimate Power Pop Guide. So, i picked one song from each album selected by John Borack. My picks were totally subjective, so you won't get any "September Gurls", Rock'n'Roll Girl"', "Tomorrow Night" or other all-time classics. I tried (but not always) to not chose the songs you could already find on some famous power pop compilations ("Yellow Pills", "Poptopia" or the Rhino "DIY Series" and many others...). This is the complete 9 volumes collection re-upped on PPA

  

WU Vol 1 (#1-25) (575 mb)

WU Vol 2 (#26-50) (553 mb)

WU Vol 3 (#51-75) (551 mb) 

WU Vol 4 (#76-100) (550 mb)

WU Vol 5 (#101-125) (549 mb)

WU Vol 6 (#126-150) (550 mb)

WU Vol 7 (#151-175) (564 mb)

WU Vol 8 (#176-200) (554 mb)

WU Vol 9 (The Tributes) (541 mb)

 

24 Slices Of Vintage Power Pop (1993-2003)

VARIOUS - RAIDERS OF THE LOST HOOK Vol. 3 (2008)

As a matter of fact, this third collection is really different from all the other five volumes as it compiles some of the best of the 90's-00's genre era, it tries to focus on some "overlooked" gems of the time. Some bands might be not so well known, but the hooks are here and the songs have stood the test of time.

 

First posted on PPC in 2008, it was then available in mp3 only. It is shared now on PPA for the first time in FLAC. All the songs have been checked and upgraded to lossless format if needed.

 

WU RAIDERS 3 (587 mb)

From The Vaults (2008-2009)

RARITIES (2008-2009)

Vol 1 (301 mb)

Vol 2 (330 mb)

Vol 3 (368 mb)

Vol 4 (355 mb)

Vol 5 (274 mb) 

Vol 6 (254 mb)

Vol 7 (263 mb)

PLEASE KEEP THEM FOR YOUR PERSONAL USE

DON'T SHARE ELSEWHERE

Live Concert 1979 (Official French LP)

FLAMIN' GROOVIES - LIVE AT THE WHISKEY A GO-GO '79 (1985)

 

Live At The Whiskey A Go-Go was recorded in 1979, this concert was only released (officially) a few years later on the french label Lolita. The Whiskey a Go-Go '79 concert serves to document a typical Groovies gig of the time with staples like "Shake Some Action", "Tell Me Again" and "First Plane Home", covers of "Feel A Whole Lot Better", Moby Grape's "Fall On You", the odd Beatles and even NRBQ's "I Want You Bad" - an excellent pop song the Groovies almost make their own.

WU LIVE '79 (202 mb)

The Ducks are Back (First Time In Lossless on PPA or PPC)

DUCKS DELUXE - LAST NIGHT OF A PUB ROCK BAND (1979)

 

Ducks Deluxe decided to pack it in just before the summer of '75. Although their music was great and while they had an audience in many parts of the world, they were right about it. They were practically broke, complications there were many, they hired Billy Rankin after Tim Roper's sudden departure and also Brinsley Schwarz to their line-up. Their had left their record company RCA and split with their manager Dai Davies. So with Sean Tyla and Martin Belmont trying to make the Ducks survive they saw other things happening and despite favorable criticism (they had a very fanatic following in France) but forced by poverty and bitterness they decided to quit it all came together that night at the 100 club in Oxford Street, they played practically their whole scale of songs. Martin Belmont and his Flying Fender take the honors in two Creedence songs and a great reggae version of "Here Comes the Night" on which Brinsley plays sax. It is also Brinsley who plays some fabulous Chuck Berry guitar on "Little Queenie" and "Run, Rudolph Run". Nick Garvey had left considerable time before and Micky Groom had taken his place, but they still played Garvey's "Coast to Coast". They also got a score of their friends on stage : Martin Stone, Lee Brilleaux (Route 66), Nick Lowe and Bob Andrews took the lead vocals on "Brown Sugar" and "Midnight Rambler".

Note for the listeners

Recorded live at the 100 Club July 1st 1975. Released semi-officially in 1979 on Dynamite Records. The recordings reproduced on this 2 LP-set were recorded with a simple two-track recorder. Some of the sound either due to limited recording facilities or poor sound on stage is not of hi-fi quality. We hope the listener will keep this in mind whenever. It was reissued on CD in 2018.

PUB ROCK (493 mb)

20th Anniversary of the B.G Collection (First time in FLAC)

THE BLOG GEMS COLLECTION (2006-2007)

 

20 years ago, i compiled these 6 volumes for PPL, they were my very first compilations for a blog. After the end of PPL, they were later posted on PPC and available only in mp3 format. They are now on PPA in FLAC for the very first time.  

At the time, the idea of the collection was to share songs unavailable around 2006 in CD format. Since then, many of those songs have been more widely available to everybody (either on CD reissues or streaming sites). Anyway, the songs and the compilations have to be listened in the best format possible.

 

Vol 1 (1978-1999) (550 mb)

Vol 2 (1977-1989) (554 mb)

Vol 3 (1976-1999) (539 mb)

Vol 4 (1973-1979) (540 mb)

Vol 5 (1976-1989) (541 mb)

Vol 6 (1973-1986) (561 mb)

TONT Is Back Again

TRIBUTES OR NOT TRIBUTES VOL. 22 (2026)

 

Started in 2006, the series is back (again) with its 22th volume (even though there never was a volume 19, i really don't know why). Full artwork features the bands and songs used for the exclusive PPA collection.

and just like Johnny Ramone used to say:

"Go back and learn the history.

Go back to the beginning of rock 'n'roll

and listen to everything that went down".

WU Vol 22 (1.08 gb)

 or

WU Vol 22 (384 mb)

All of the previous volumes are available in FLAC or mp3 on PPA.

Three Kings' Day

 THE THREE KINGS' GIFTS

 

BOAC LONELY (303 mb)

BOAC LOVE (408 mb)

BOAC TEENSTER (379 mb)

 

Bonus

BOAC Issues #1-4 (75 mb)

PDF courtesy of Judith Beeman

(Back of a Car editor)

2026

A GIFT FOR THE NEW YEAR

 

2017 (714 mb)

2018 (1480 mb)