Elmore Magazine review of PAUL COLLINS “Feel The Noise”

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Power-pop is one of the most contradictory forms in rock n’ roll. A genre designed to mine from the best parts of early Beatles and Beach Boy harmonies, Pete Townsend’s massive guitar jangle and sweetness and simplicity of The Everly Brothers, power-pop is so expertly enjoyable that it is rarely present in the world of mainstream music. On his last record, Paul Collins crowned himself The King Of Power Pop, a title he makes a strong argument for. He is most famous as drummer of The Nerves, the influential but short lived 70’s group best known for “Hanging On The Telephone” which would later become a radio staple when covered by Blondie on their humongous Parallel Lines record. He would later play in The Breakaways and The Beat (later re-named The Paul Collins Beat) and has been recording and playing shows fervently for the past 30 years.

Feel The Noise is as pure to the form as any record in his Collins’ career. His voice has barely aged, executing Buddy Holly hiccups on “Baby I’m In Love With You” and pulling off a far-fetched on paper cover of The Four Tops’ “Reach Out (I’ll Be There.”) A hard working master of his craft, Collins rarely misses a step, singing love songs and songs about rock n’ roll, like the inspired title track. He may not be reinventing the wheel, but he is a master of his craft, of which he has few peers. – Jamie Frey

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