18. Paul Collins – “Feel the Noise”
One of the last of the class of ’79 who continues to proudly wave the power pop flag, Paul Collins is still down in the trenches, touring across the country and beyond and releasing excellent records such as this. Collins rocks like a man half his age on Feel the Noise, and his energy and enthusiasm is contagious. Two of the coolest tracks are ones that Collins has unearthed from the past: the outstanding, Nerves-era raver “Little Suzy” and the Collins-Steven Huff co-write “For All Eyes to See.” (Huff was a charter member of The Beat.) Other tracks worthy of repeated spins are the super-catchy “Only Girl”; “With a Girl Like You,” which sounds like it could have sprung from a Collins collaboration with the Searchers and Phil Spector; “Can’t Get You Off My Mind,” which recalls the Ramones’ “I Want You Around”; and the rollicking, Buddy Holly-ish “Baby I’m in Love With You.”