Power pop. The almost forgotten 70s art form that helped bands like Cheap Trick and KISS sell millions of records. Simple chords, driving rhythm section, and a lead vocalist that could make a guy bang his head and a girl to desire the lead singer so that he would be able to bang her. Sure, I could be nice and more "delicate" I suppose, but facts are facts. But power pop seemingly went away for a while. Let's face it, the 80s was more "pop metal." The 90s? Well, the closest thing the 90s gave us were The Gin Blossoms and let's not even discuss them. And then came the unfortunate blur of what was "pop punk" and what was "power pop," thanks to bands like Blink 182 and those who imitated them.

More recently however, power pop is making a comeback of sorts. American Hi-Fi made a fun power pop record last year and it became a minor hit. However, even more under the radar of the American public is the debut record by The Rockfords, a power pop group that changed the rules so to speak: the singer is female.

If you've heard of the Rockfords, it's probably because Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCreedy is part of this band that even the rest of the groups admits "is nothing more than a side project because of Mike's committments." Then again, a member of Pearl Jam having a side project is nothing new. Stone Gossard has Brad, a soulful, more experimental group. Bassist Jeff Ament has his middle-eastern influenced Three Fish. And drummer Matt Cameron has made three albums with John McBain under the band name of Wellwater Conspiracy. Only lead singer Eddie Vedder doesn't have a permanent side project, although god knows he has his projects.

The Rockfords, in a simple sentence, are the bastard sons and daughter of Cheap Trick. There are no two ways about it. While the songs may not sound like Cheap Trick all the time, the attitude does. The band is composed of McCreedy, three members of a band called Goodness, who I don't know much about, and one member of Jodie Watts. They surfaced after some of the members of the former band Shadow got together to polish some songs off for eventual release. They soon, however, rediscovered the joy of playing with each other and began working on new material. They quickly recruited Goodness singer Carrie Akre to join them.

The first song on the album is the closest musically to a Cheap Trick song. Adelaide is a simple, medium paced rocker that is driven by a smooth bass line and simple drums on the verses. On the chorus, the guitars kick in and cymbals crash mightily. Lead singer Carrie Akre sounds good here, but it's far from her best vocal performance on the album.

That honor goes to her inspiring, spine tingling vocal performance on the ballad Something True. I honestly don't know if I've heard a better female rock vocal performance in the past ten years than what I hear on this song. Her voice sounds like a bird in flight, so much so in fact that Nelly Furtado would be jealous.

Silver Lining, the only single released to radio from the album, is not just Cheap Trick-like, it has a certain Lilith Fair breezy like quality to it that I really like. It made sense as a single, it just didn't make sense where they tried to get it played. (They marketed it to rock stations when they should've gone after AAA and Top 40)

Nancy Wilson of Heart fame does guest vocals on Riverwide. This was the beginning of a long relationship between Wilson and McCreedy, as they scored the music for the fictional band Stillwater in Almost Famous, and then also worked on the music for Vanilla Sky. Both films were of course directed by Wilson's husband, Cameron Crowe. Wilson sounds great on this track. I used to like Heart when I was about eight years old, yes, their cheesy 80s power ballad stuff. Ironically I've never gotten into their heavier 70s stuff, but I digress.

The only other standout track is Windows, which is another power pop song that has a great guitar riff in the chorus and some nice drumming by Chris Friel. The rest of the album though is very much a mixed bag.

At times, the band delves into harder rock. Flashes is a good example of this. The song is just too hard edged for Akre's voice. She does her best and troops through it like a soldier, but it just doesn't work very well.

Then there's the pure noise of Sureshot. If Slipknot were a power pop band, this is what they would sound like. Talk about awful, ugh. And then there's the driving rock of Distress, which once again just doesn't fit Akre's voice at all.

When the Rockfords stick to breezy melodies, tight arrangements, and most importantly, staying out of the way of Akre's powerhouse voice, they are a great band. But on this debut album, they don't stay out of her way enough and the album suffers because of it. I still recommend it, although I will put a "think about it carefully" label on it. This isn't for everyone, and I think most people would agree with my assessment that it's Akre's voice that makes or breaks these songs.

Recommended: Yes