Paul Collins Stand Back and Take a Good Look LP

Paul Collins has been known by many titles - King Of Power Pop. Rock & Roll Icon. Cult Favorite. Multi Instrumentalist. Upper Echelon Songwriter. Author. All true! Paul spent his pre-teens in Greece, Vietnam, and Europe before heading back to his hometown of New York City. He did some time at the highly respected Juilliard Music School as a composition major in modern and avant-garde music, but don't hold that against him. He reinvented the rules as to what makes a perfect pop song, and inspired countless musicians during the formative years of punk rock, new wave, and whatever-comes-next. (Rule #1 = 'no-rules')

Paul made his way to San Francisco and in 1974, started The Nerves with Peter Case and Jack Lee, as the drummer/singer. All three were singers and songwriters in an unspoken healthy competition with each other. After releasing a 4 song debut EP, the fellas toured a bit with The Ramones and Mink DeVille, but band dynamics and lack of commercial success took its toll, and The Nerves as they were known, were no more. Paul and Peter continued on for a bit as The Breakaways before Paul left to begin his next phase. He's maybe best remembered for the next band - The Beat, also known as The Paul Collins Beat to avoid confusion with the British ska band. With The Beat, Paul's ducks seemed to be in a row. They released an absolute classic and flawless self-titled debut LP, were constantly touring, and even appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand performing "Don't Wait Up For Me" and "Rock N Roll Girl".

The band continued for almost a decade, releasing some timeless pop records that defy space and time - like they were just always there. The Beat split up after the release of their 6th LP in 1989. One beautiful element of Paul's songwriting is his ability to create songs that are so damn catchy. They crawl their way into your brain like earworms, play on repeat, you walk to the beat, you sing the choruses, and it's totally ok, because again - they are so damn catchy! Sounds easy? It ain't! You try it! So here we are. Some things never change. Blink. Everything is different. Blink. Paul is still doing what he was meant to do, and his life's work is better than ever. You've got a future classic album in your hands. And a beautiful earworm it is.