*** Bill Lloyd

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

(Koch)

Thank God for power pop -- it's one musical chasm that remains virtually unspoiled by critical acclaim or trend banging, so contemporary popsters don't have to feel self-conscious about playing melodic tunes that evoke the Beatles, Badfinger, and Big Star. Bill Lloyd, a former country songwriter with a career-long pop jones, explores the musical pros and cons of stoking pop's eternal flame in 1999 on his third full-length solo disc, which is aptly titled Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. "He was born just a little too late in the 20th century/Too late for a man to write a new page in history," he admits on the title track, but Lloyd's song craftsmanship is so good that it doesn't matter. The underlying twang of "(Who You Gonna) Run to Now" recalls his days in the Nashville duo Foster and Lloyd but ends in a Sgt. Pepper freakout; "Complaints" is a 1:41 noisy rock excursion. The rest of the disc is loaded with Badfinger/Beatles nods, from the "Ooh girl" chorus of "Sweet Virginia" to the Revolver-soaked "Dr. Robert's Second Opinion."

-- Meredith Ochs