From The Shazam to Aaron Lee Tasjan, Nashville boasts a slew of excellent power-pop artists. While The Shazam specializes in post-Cheap Trick variations on the British Invasion, and Tasjan often comes across like Tom Petty channeling Jeff Lynne (or maybe the other way around), Bill Lloyd has remained an exponent of the Big Star-Marshall Crenshaw school of power pop. A native of Bowling Green, Ky., Lloyd first hit in the late 1980s as half of country-pop duo Foster & Lloyd. His solo albums, starting with 1987’s Feeling the Elephant, hew to the more melodic side of power pop, but they sport plenty of advanced chord changes and hooky guitar riffs. He finally gets the compilation he deserves with his new A Selection of Power Pop 1985-2020, which includes tracks from superb full-lengths like 2012’s Boy King of Tokyo and 2018’s Working the Long Game. A Selection of Power Pop peaks with the 2004 track “Dial Nine,” three minutes of post-Beatles bliss. Meanwhile, check out his other albums — Lloyd is a pop master who deserves wider recognition. EDD HURT
Listen to Bill Lloyd’s Compilation Album
