THE POP

THE POP (1976-1981)

The Pop started out in the mid-70's as a three piece, with Roger Prescott on guitar and vocals, David Swanson on bass guitar and vocals and David Robinson (who had just quit The Modern Lovers) on drums. It was through one fanzine, a ballsy little magazine called "Back Door Man" that The Pop met writers Gregg Turner and Phast Phreddie who would help them release their first two singles and their first LP. (Gregg Turner later formed his own punk band, the infamous Angry Samoans).

as POP!

HIT & RUN LOVER (1976) (BACK DOOR MAN 1001)

Hit & Run Lover / Break The Chain

ZS (60 mb)

 

as THE POP!

DOWN ON THE BOULEVARD (1977) (BACK DOOR MAN 5001)

Down On The Boulevard / I Need You / Easy Action

ZS (69 mb)

 During the recording of the first LP, (titled simply The Pop) the band added Tim Henderson on bass guitar, freeing up David Swanson to move to rhythm guitar on his Rickenbacker 12 string and Roger Prescott to concentrate more on lead guitar and noise effects. They also added Tim McGovern to fill in on drums for the often missing Joel, and who soon revealed additional talents as guitarist as well.
The Pop believed in the new DIY values of the punk ethic and their first LP shows it. It is an eclectic powerful combination of Punk meets Pop and two of the album's songs, "Down On The Boulevard" and "Animal Eyes" soon became authentic anthems on the Southern California music scene, mostly through air-play on The Rodney Bingenheimer radio show on KROQ and the bands extensive clubs dates up and down the coast.

THE POP (1977)

ZS (240 mb)

 

You Oughtta Know / Walk In The Rain / Down On The Boulevard / Leather And Lace / Nobody's Toy / Animal Eyes / Saturday Night Hitch-Hiker / I Need You Ad Man/ Panic / Easy Action

The second and famous album "Go!", this classic Power Pop masterpiece was produced by Earle Mankey, an original Sparks member and also a renowned Power Pop producer (20/20, Elevators,... and still very active nowadays). The overall sound of "Go!" was very different from the "more garage" first album, evolving, pushing the boundaries of pop to include not just their original influences which rapidly developed into a pop-punk hybrid sound of crunchy and jangly guitars but also the more modern sounds they were listening to on David Bowie's "Low" and Brian Eno's "Another Green World" as well. The bands guitarists liked to boast that they could do anything on guitar a synthesizer could do but cooler and one listen to "Beat Temptation" or "Under The Microscope" backs this up.

GO! (1979)

ZS (253 mb)

 

Under The Microscope / Shakeaway /Beat Temptation / She Really Means That Much To Me / I Want To Touch You / Waiting For The Night / Go! / Falling For Carmen / Maria / Legal Tender Love

"Hearts and Knives" was the final 12" EP recorded by The Pop. By this time Tim McGovern had left the band - and then they were four...The EP was self-produced but the sound engineer was still Tori Swensson who had worked with Earle Mankey on the "Go" album, so if the album may sound lightweight, The Pop was back to their 60's roots...David Swanson never sounded better on his Rickenbacker 12 string than on this EP.

 

HEARTS & KNIVES (1981)

ZS (133 mb)

Solitaire / Broken Pieces / She's Really Got Me / Go Girl / Look At Me Now / 19th Nervous Breakdown