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Here is my Top 25 List of All-Time Favorite Power Pop Albums. I worked on this list for submittal to a poll on the (soon to be defunct) Audities mailing list, a poll which was inspired by the newish book by John Borack "Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide".
It changed quite a bit from my first draft, from basically a list of my current faves, to a list more far-reaching in scope, as seen from the view of my many years as a power pop fan. This shift has homogenized the list quite a bit, to mostly feature mostly the well-known power pop Gods.
Despite my previous point, there are no Beatles albums to be found on the list, simply because I consider them bigger than power pop.
Three more albums that I loved, The Orgone Box' self titled debut, The Grip Weeds "House of Vibes" and Chris Bell's "I Am the Cosmos", didn't make the cut with me (though they made Borack's list) because I personally don't consider them power pop. …

This is my distribution of artist by country. Only half of my acts are from my homeland. British music has always been close to my pop heart, so its 26% seems fitting. The rest of the English speaking countries mark 10%. I'm surprised that I have so few Canadian artist considering their solid status as the avant garde of indie rock.
Scandinavia takes another 10%. Mexico gets my last 4%.
This list inlcudes my overall spins form the last two years. If it were based on percentage of plays from each area, Scandinavia would probably be the great gainer in the last year. That region has produced so much excellent pop. Still, I appreciate that my own country still produces music wonderful enough to drool over.


United States of America (25)
French Kicks
Snowden
Brendan Benson
Pedro the Lion
The Walkmen
The Shins
Sufjan Stevens
The Submarines
Cursive
De La Soul
Say Hi To Your Mom
Saves The Day
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Death Cab For Cutie
The Joggers
Mark Eitzel
Citizen Cope
…

Rather than try and come off as a music critic, I'll just share with you my thoughts on my favorite five new releases of 2007. Totally subjective opinions and probably no real surprises.

1. Nicole Atkins - Neptune City: Released and appeared to sink without a trace. Too bad, as I really like her songwriting and singing. It's haunting in that she manages to combine some of the grandeur of Roy Orbison with the worldview of David Lynch. The title track is an ode to her hometown, and the keeper is the lead track, "Party's Over." Great debut album from someone apparently destined to be a cult favorite.

2. Crowded House - Time On Earth: What a wonderful album. Completely unlike anything else in their catalog, yet familiar at the same time. Some truly touching and moving songs, as Neil Finn continues to write from where he is, rather than trying to come up with a hit. More honest music would be hard to find.

3. The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes: Fun is back in music. …