In the Spotlight:
 
Various Artists
Titan: It’s All Pop
Numero Group (024)
 

Rejoice, power-pop fans, for the Titan Records vaults have been emptied, and the result is this wonderfully engaging, 42-track double CD of pure, unfiltered Midwestern pop sounds, mainly from 1978-1981. Titan was always the “little label that could,” a smaller, like-minded, Kansas City-based cousin to Bomp Records, with whom they shared a similar musical mindset. Titan co-founders Tom Sorrells and Mark Prellberg worked to put together a comprehensive look at Titan’s greatest hits and misses, along with several previously unreleased cuts.

The bulk of the tracks on the collection are insanely catchy earworms, such as soon-to-be Raspberries’ bassist Scott McCarl’s supremely Beatlesque 1973 cut “I Hope,” Gary Charlson’s chugging cover of Dwight Twilley’s “Shark,” The Secrets*’ sassy “Daddy’s Girl,” Bobby Sky’s happy-happy bopper “Radio City” and the Boys’ “Hold Me,” a wonderful mixture of glam-pop and The Who.

Most all of the Boys’ tracks on here are amazing (there are 10 total, with “Please Change Your Mind” and “We’re Too Young” also worthy of special mention) and showcase them as a talented, rockin’ combo that was probably hampered by being in the wrong place (Lincoln, Neb.) at the wrong time (1978). Of course, the same could be said for most of the acts featured on Titan: It’s All Pop!, although the years have been very kind to most everything here (although J.P. McClain’s Elvis Costello-isms and Arlis Peach’s strident Eric Carmen impersonations haven’t aged well).

Still, the opportunity to finally have this material compiled on compact disc is certainly a real treat; the discovery of previously unheard nuggets from Millionaire At Midnight (“Coit Tower”) and Gary Charlson (“Close Enough”) is an awesome bonus, as is the 40-page booklet jammed with photos, a label history and detailed discography.  Essential listening for power-pop freaks.