fair<\/em> number) of noteworthy releases that fit into the powerpop paradigm. Moreover, time has a way of providing perspective; sometimes that record so beloved on release ends up sounding hopelessly dated after a few hundred listens. So \u2013 again \u2013 it makes good sense to consider a reissue of a book such as Shake Some Action<\/i> as the opportunity to look at\/listen to things with fresh eyes and ears.<\/p>\nThat is what Borack does in the first 250 or so pages of Shake Some Action 2.0<\/i>. But in his foreword, he adopts a somewhat defensive posture. To wit: \u201c…there were also many not-quite-so-kind folks who saw fit to question my musical taste, my sanity, and my very reason for walking this earth.\u201d Now, perhaps if one saw and heard him saying these words in person, they might detect a wink and a smile, letting them know that he\u2019s at least kidding on the square. In print, the reader is left to wonder if he\u2019s actually butthurt about the inevitable criticism any book receives.<\/p>\n
Still, as the book works its way through 200 powerpop albums released between 1970 and 2017, Borack does a fine and creditable job of letting readers know what \u2013 to his mind \u2013 makes each noteworthy. Especially when dealing with the matter of the powerpop category of music, it\u2019s no easy feat to craft a seemingly endless barrage of superlatives without repeating the same few adjectives over and over. It\u2019s a testament to his clear, concise writing style that he succeeds on this score.<\/p>\n
The inclusion of quotes from the artists themselves (appended to the end of each review) is, on the face of it, a good idea. Unfortunately, some of those artists don\u2019t have much of interest to say. The result feels like padding.<\/p>\n
Speaking of which. Not content to revise and re-order the contents of the old book, this new edition adds an additional 150 pages of reviews. None of these additional eleventy-billion powerpop reviews (I exaggerate slightly for effect) make the cut of Borack\u2019s top 200, even though the bottom rungs of said 200 feature obscurities unknown to all but the most trainspotting powerpop devotee. Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with having a boatload more reviews, but their inclusion seems as much a function of fleshing the book out to its nearly inch-thick size than providing a useful consumer guide.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s perhaps worth pointing out that for the most part, even an album that comes in for the faintest praise earns a B-minus; are we to believe there\u2019s no lousy power pop? (I\u2019m here to tell you that is not<\/i> the case; I\u2019ve heard more than my share of dreadfully faceless, uninspired and hopelessly derivative music in the style.)<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Shake Some Action 2.0<\/i> is likely to find a welcoming audience. And readers who didn\u2019t manage to lay hands on the original will indeed discover in Borack\u2019s countdown some true gems. As always, though, decisions as to what is great and what is not often remain arbitrary. But if you must disagree with the author, please be gentle … lest you get mentioned in the foreword for Shake Some Action 3.0.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 2007, John M. Borack (later the author of Life is What Happens) put together a compendium of album reviews in book form. Shake Some Action explored the narrow slice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,55,65],"tags":[1175,3754],"class_list":["post-16306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book","category-powerpop","category-review","tag-john-borack","tag-shake-some-action","cat-10-id","cat-55-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16306"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16546,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16306\/revisions\/16546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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In 2007, John M. Borack (later the author of Life is What Happens<\/i>) put together a compendium of album reviews in book form. Shake Some Action<\/i> explored the narrow slice of the pop-rock world that is powerpop, that oft-maligned subgenre where Raspberries, the Knack, Greenberry Woods and others live. As so many critics seem unable to resist doing, Borack wasn\u2019t content merely to list<\/i> the albums; no, he was compelled to rank<\/i> them. Doing so is sure to invite spirited debate among the powerpop anoraks of the world (forgive that redundancy). In all likelihood, that was part of the author\u2019s intention.<\/p>\n