VAN DUREN - Are You Serious? (classic 1978 Power Pop)

FINALLY!!! This power pop classic came out in Japan 9 years ago but now we get it at a reasonable price. Van Duren is pure power pop. He spent time in the Memphis trenches with the big boys (Big Star, Chris Bell, The Scruffs), and knows his way around a hook and a melody as well as any of his heroes from Todd Rundgren, McCartney, Emitt Rhodes and on to Badfinger. He went to high school with Jody Stephens, auditioned for Big Star after Bell`s departure, and was in the short-lived but legendary Baker Street Regulars with both those cats. If you think Big Star never got the props they deserved, well they`re The Beatles compared to Mr. Duren. "I`ve called his two albums "the two best power pop albums not called Radio City" in print. His music is the equal of his Memphis contemporaries, Big Star, who have since become one of the two most influential cult bands of all time. "-Kent Benjamin, Pop Culture Press.

"Van Duren was part of the early Memphis power pop scene that spawned the legendary Big Star, and made several underexposed, small-label records during the late `70s. Duren began playing in bands at the age of 13 in 1966 and attended high school with eventual Big Star drummer Jody Stephens; he auditioned to replace Chris Bell in Big Star in 1974, shortly after the completion of Third/Sister Lovers. In 1975, he and Stephens collaborated on some demos that were produced by former Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham (whom he met through producer Jon Tiven), and a year later he was playing in a group called the Baker Street Regulars with both Bell and Stephens. In 1977, Duren traveled to New England to record for Tiven`s new Big Sound label; his solo debut, Are You Serious?, was released in March 1978."-AMG

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