Yellow Pills: Prefill Numero 004

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 19, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Numero
• ASIN: B0007XS0BQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,048 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Green Hearts - Luxury

2. I Need That Record - Tweeds

3. All I Want - Colors

4. You Need Pop - Speedies

5. Like I Told You - Shoes

6. In And Out Of Love - Sponsors

7. Not My Girl Anymore - Bats

8. She's the Girl (Who Said No) - Tweeds

9. Somebody Else's Girl - Randy Winburn

10. One In A Million - Luxury

11. Sun - Toms

12. Countdown - Luxury

13. Rave it up - Colors

14. 1-2-3 - Speedies

15. Hey Little Girl - Kids

16. Mr. Peculiar - Bats

17. (I Wanna Be A) Teen Again - Toms

18. Not Easy For Me - Bats

19. Julie-Anne - Treble Boys

20. Dream Rocker - Tommy Rock

See all 33 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Imagine a friend with stacks of vinyl albums and 45s made by the most obscurely talented power pop artists of the late-‘70s and early-‘80s offering to grab-bag his 33 favorites from that library for you onto one double-CD collection. Meet your friend, Jordan Oakes, and your newly uncovered anthology of power pop riches. The ex-publisher of Yellow Pills, an early-‘90s fanzine that gave props to a remote style of music ignited by Big Star, the Raspberries and Badfinger, Oakes compiled this treasure chest (along with 28 pages of accompanying liners notes) of Beatles-influenced catchiness, Who-like vigor and Clash-filled passion. The Shoes of Zion, Ill., may be the most recognizable artist here (ringing in with the unreleased "Like I Told You"), but long-past-due introductions are noted for New Zealand melody makers The Bats, the Tom Marolda solo project The Toms, New York rockers The Colors and the sunshine sounds of Randy Winburn. This is a highly coveted item for fans of the genre that would comfortably share coveted shelf space in Nuggets-like fashion. --Scott Holter

Product Description

Jordan Oakes began publishing his seminal power pop 'zine, Yellow Pills in the summer of 1990 out of pure teenage puppy love for riffing, jangly guitars, fake British accents and harmonizing voices that ache with pimply adolescent yearning.

In 1993 Jordan curated his initial Yellow Pills release, the first of a series collecting power pop essentials from 20/20, Dwight Twilley, The Rubinoos, The Plimsouls, and five dozen others. The series rapidly became the sonic rosetta stone for a newer generation of poppers who, sans the skinny ties, held true to the power pop manifesto of harmony, melody and ringing, rocking 6 and 12 string guitars. The archaeological artifacts of power pop soon found a home in living museums of the genre from Teenage Fan Club to Green Day.

The 33 tracks assembled here represent the least-heard, best examples of an era that felt nostalgic even the first time around. But heard in the context of today's 'pop' music industry as it lip syncs itself into history's cut-out bin, these 'hopefuls' sound as startling and menthol-fresh as the word 'Liverpool' drifting from Jane Asher's lips.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Need That Record, I Want It Now!!!, April 28, 2005

By 

Max Frost (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yellow Pills: Prefill Numero 004 (Audio CD)

You may have heard of Shoes, but unless you're compiler Jordan Oakes, chances are you've never heard of Luxury, The Speedies, The Toms, The Trend, or any of the rest of these bands. It doesn't matter--after one listen to this brilliant compilation you'll be humming along to all these bands. Oakes, who published Yellow Pills magazine a few years back, has called power pop "the great lost genre of rock and roll". This is power pop at it's greatest level, by long forgotten bands from the seventies and eighties (mostly) that should have had hits. The songs range from smooth production Beach Boys like harmonies to songs that are a little rough around the edges. Don't dismiss this stuff as skinny tie new wave bands that haven't held up well--the hooks in these songs are timeless. This is summer music, blast it from the car and drive fast with the windows down and the radio (well, the CD player) on, just like Jonathan Richman said. This is a great compliation, and every fan of rock and roll should be grateful to Jordan Oakes for making this stuff available again. Highly recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pass the Syrup Please., March 12, 2007

By 

R. J. Fernandez "Pop Fan" (Chattanooga, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yellow Pills: Prefill Numero 004 (Audio CD)

Okay, let me just state the obvious: I love Power Pop. I worship at the alter of Big Star, the Flamin' Groovies and Cheap Trick. I don't, however, have the encylopedic knowledge of the genre that Jordan Oakes has, nor do I have nearly as formidable a collection of Power Poppers as does Mr. Oakes. I have heard most of the heavy hitters, and I have quite a few compilations of the more obscure artists (The Shivvers, anyone?). So this collection is right up my alley. After scanning the tracklisting, I was excited because I had only heard of three bands on the compilation (really only two, because the Bats as another reiviewer already pointed out, was not the New Zealand band but rather an obscure Boston band). The Toms and Shoes aside, there is nothing on either of these two discs that will have you scratching your head as to why these acts didn't get greater recognition during their period of activitiy-- I mean how many Power Pop bands actually have lucrative careers?

That said, there are some really fine pop songs here. "Green Hearts" by Luxury kicks off disc one in superb fashion. Jangly guitars, hand claps and a sing-along chorus . . . It's almost too good. The level of anticipation for the rest of the compilation gets ratcheted way up. Then those power chords at the beginning of track two, the Tweeds' "I need that Record," kick in, and you think you have stumbled upon the greatest Power Pop compilation of all time. That song quickly degenerates into merely a decent Slade knockoff and a level of dissapointment starts to creep in. It is at this point that the pragmatist in you must perservere, because you are NOT going to find anything on par with Badfinger or the Raspberries here. What you will find are some fine examples of underground pop. Each and every one of you that takes the plunge into this compilation will find something you love. I mean if you're interested enough to even consider spending thirty bucks on a Power Pop compilation of bands you've never heard, I can safely assume that there is going to be something here that is right in your ballpark. It may be the the aforementioned Luxury tune, or the pop-punk of the Speedies, or the faux Brit-pop of Boston's Bats-- every sub-genre of Power Pop is represented!

One final caveat, and really my only complaint with the compilation. Jordan Oaks does a superb job with the liner notes, but one can't help but feel a little cheated that there are no recording details. I, for one, would like to know when and where a particular song was recorded. Who played what and who-- if anyone-- was fiddling with the dials when this stuff was put to tape? None of this seemingly important info is to be found anywhere in the fabulous packaging of this compilation. Knowing how [...] Power Pop afficianodos can be, this seems like gross negligence on the part of The Numero Group.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Many Gems, But Slightly Less Wonderful Than Earlier Volumes, February 13, 2006

By 

Pop Kulcher "Pop Kulcher" (San Carlos, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yellow Pills: Prefill Numero 004 (Audio CD)

Plenty of great (if inessential) power pop gems here. Sadly, the first three volumes of Yellow Pills are currently out of print and hard to track down, as I find those to have a bit more bang for the buck. Not that this is dissatisfying, but it does lean a bit more towards the more jagged and angular end of the power pop spectrum, with less of that super-melodic, chock full o' harmonies pop found elsewhere. Incidentally, contrary to what's stated in the official Amazon.com editorial review, the Bats found here are a Boston group, not the New Zealand band. (New Zealand's Bats are not power pop, but are still phenomenal, and if you don't own their fantastic album Daddy's Highway you're really missing out.)