Australian singer/ songwriter ADAM POWER’S debut album “More Juice” (2003) was a great record from a talented and creative individual in thrall to the Beatles, Big Star and Brian Wilson but with an equally great desire to stretch and experiment in and around the parameters of classic power pop.
It remains a record that often returns to this writer’s flagging stereo for further exposure and looks set to be followed equally often by Power’s second “What Were Sundays For?” where our hero is again aided and abetted by Australia’s greatest living cult hero: producer extraordinaire/ personal orchestra for hire and ace singer/ songwriter in his own right, Michael Carpenter.
The feverishly creative duo have come up with something pretty damn good for their return match, too, as Power’s sophomore effort is a consistently fine record with the expected glorious harmonies, intelligent song craft and catchy melodies present and correct; not to mention the odd unlikely curveball chucked in to keep us interested.
The attractive, piano-based instrumental “Amor” acts as the short introduction (or ‘Underture’ as Pete Townshend might say) before the dreamy and Beatloid title track welcomes us into Power’s lush and classy pop world. There’s an attractive space in the arrangement, some great baritone guitar and Carpenter’s bass playing basically IS Paul McCartney. It never sounds contrived, though, and while songs like the gently countrified canter of “The Obvious”, the swaying “Truth” and the melancholic “Sad & Lonely” can’t fail to recall the Fab Four and the likes of Neil Finn, it’s always on Power’s own terms. Besides, he always does something to make you sit up and take notice, like the way he inserts the unexpected lyric about “jerk offs” into “Sad & Lonely”: thus jarring you in the same way as the lyric “why don’t you piss off?” does in New Order’s otherwise elegant “Your Silent Face.”
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Besides, it’s not all dignified balladry and adult pop chez Power, as the album’s also more than capable of letting its’ hair down on tunes like the full-on rave-up “Heartbreaker”, the smouldering and wired “Recluse” and the assured strut of “Eunice Chantilly”, where Power and Carpenter set up a groove every bit as sassy as the lady Power describes as “tempting him with booty.” Indeed, if ever a track has required a wolf whistle in acknowledgement, it’s surely this one.
Arguably, though, they leave the best for last with “Praha 1”: Power’s tale of love and intrigue in the Czech Republic, which I assume is taken from personal experience as our hero was photographed wandering across the city’s Charles Bridge on the inside sleeve of “More Juice.” Whatever the truth, though, it’s an evocative tour de force with little Berthold Brecht-style burlesque sections recreated lovingly as the song spins itself out and Power tangles with the European femme fatale and creates something truly memorable in tribute.
Favourites aside, though, Adam Power’s second album is a consistently impressive listen and one you can only continue to warm to with repeated exposure. “What Were Sundays For” then? Surely kicking back and relaxing with a great record. Mine still are when I can get hold of something cool like this.
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