Vancouver BC alternative rock / power pop band Odds wrote tons of powerful, catchy tunes that I’ve loved for decades. I just can’t remember ever seeing them live before.
Whether it was seeing them again or seeing them for the first time, their show at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall opening for The Pursuit of Happiness (check out my photos of their set here) was full of amazing tunes and great energy.
Stephen Page of Barenaked Ladies joined the band for "Ruby" and they snuck in a bit of BNL's "It's All Been Done". Stephen came out again at the end of the set along with Tom Wilson of Junkhouse and Lee Harvey Osmond for a great rendition of "Someone Who's Cool".
The band's setlist was crammed with great tunes as you can see here.
In the early days of my old band, we tried to coin a name for the kind of music we played. We knew we had (hopefully) catchy melodies complimented by loud guitars. I came up with "Loud Pop" to describe the sound but the other guys felt it might be taken too literally, as in the sound of a loud pop. Pop!
In hindsight, the term I was probably looking for was Power Pop. And what a great genre it is. So much of my favourite music can be summed up by this term. Here are some great examples of the genre. Mostly old and some new.
I let the "labels" on the post be my limiting factor, which only means one thing: this won't be the last loud pop post.
Jellyfish "The King is Half Undressed"
Jellyfish "That is Why"
Jellyfish "The Ghost at # 1"
Jellyfish "New Mistake"
Cheap Trick "Dream Police"
Cheap Trick "Reach Out"
Badfinger "No Matter What"
Big Star "When My Baby's Beside Me"
Big Star "September Gurls"
The Cars "Let's Go"
Nick Lowe "Cruel to be Kind"
The Knack "My Sharona"
The Romantics "What I Like About You"
The Vapors "Turning Japanese"
The Smithereens "A Girl Like You"
Material Issue "Kim the Waitress"
The Pursuit of Happiness "When the Sky Comes Falling Down"
