Artist: Doug Powell Album: Ballad of the Tin Men Bitrate: 258kbps avg Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.100 / -V0 / 44.100Khz Label: Mercury Genre: Rock Size: 87.86 megs PlayTime: 0h 45min 10sec total Rip Date: 2025-08-01 Store Date: 1996-04-08 Url: http://www.dougpowell.com/ Track List: -------- 01. Return to Sender 3:46 02. It's Not the Weather 4:49 03. Unmutual 3:42 04. This Lion's Lamb 4:28 05. When White Was White 5:21 06. My Sweet Revolver 4:14 07. My Goodbyes 3:43 08. Day After Day 5:05 09. A Prayer for Ray Davies 4:01 10. To and From 6:01 Release Notes: -------- A protege of Todd Rundgren, Doug Powell is a more straightforward musician than his muse, more along the lines of XTC's Andy Partridge. Like Rundgren, Powell had a run of bad luck with record companies early in his career, but it's easier to carve out a place for oneself away from the major labels than it was in the late '60s and early '70s, so Powell has been able to find a ready audience in the American power pop underground. From the opening guitar riff of Return to Sender (not the Elvis song), it's evident that Ballad of the Tin Men, the debut from Oklahoman Doug Powell, is the work of a promising young tunesmith. Powell is a fetching melodist who, like his mentor Jules Shear, fills his tunes with smart lyrics which are always quite musical. He's at his best when dishing out pure pop/rock, as on "My Sweet Revolver," "Unmutual" and the record's best cut, "Return to Sender." On the other hand, a good portion of Tin Men suffers from cumbersome production which occassionally betrays some of the better songs and does absolutely nothing to redeem the lesser material. Even though he doesn't consistently connect, Powell with his sense of history (he tips his hat musically and lyrically to the likes of Elvis, Badfinger and the Kinks), intelligence and knack for melody and hooks is worth watching.