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Jul 20, 2021 By Frank Valish

In 2019, Rare Bird publishing released Go All the Way, a compilation of essays on power pop curated by Paul Myers and S. W. Lauden. All the major names were covered: Big Star, Cheap Trick, XTC, Guided by Voices, Sloan, Jeff Lynne, Tommy Keene, Weezer, and tons of others. With that volume’s follow up, Go Further, Myers and Lauden cull a new series of essays on some perhaps lesser known yet still indispensable power pop heroes. College professor and biographer Mary E. Donnelly takes on The Shoes. Drummer Will Birch writes about his time in The Records. Journalist John M. Borack chronicles the life of little known Wisconsin power-pop act The Shivvers. Elsewhere, the legendary Greg Shaw and his Bomp! Records is featured, Lauden writes about 20/20 and their “Yellow Pills,” Pennywise singer Jim Lindberg tackles The Replacements, and even, in what may seem like an unlikely contribution, Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe shares his love of XTC and his own time working with Andy Partridge.  These are only a few of the many terrific essays in Go Further. The volume is brief, capped at just over 200 pages, but it’s a whirlwind ride through the annals of the power pop underground. Devotees will salivate and initiates will find more than a few new bands over which to obsess.  (www.rarebirdlit.com) 

Author rating: 7.5/10