by Tim DiGravinaReleased two years after Cast's Beetroot, John Power's solo debut hit the shelves with little fanfare and a virtually nonexistent marketing push. One can't really blame Eagle Records or Power's press agent for releasing the album via under-the-radar techniques. Cast were never critical darlings and were labeled unfairly as unfashionable and mediocre more often than not. But fans who'd followed Power from the La's or discovered him via Cast were thought fervent enough to find Happening for Love by word of mouth. Power has a couple of things going for him off the bat: legendary producer John Leckie mans the boards, infusing instant credibility; Power's charm and passion are addictive; and he's never wavered in the past from his nostalgic Merseybeat. While Leckie's stripped-down production gives the album a you-are-in-the-studio immediacy, the lo-fi '60s realism of the La's is not the goal. Instead, the focus is on Power's passionate, urgent voice and his chugging, bouncy acoustic guitar. At times, strangely, Power sounds like a dead ringer for Jazz Singer-era Neil Diamond, as he struggles somewhat valiantly to convey political and humanitarian messages that would seem nave even coming from an adolescent. There's an undeniable awkwardness to most of Power's lyrical conceits. It's an awkwardness that pokes holes in the album that no amount of charm can patch, and there's also a problem whenever Power attempts to cram too many words and syllables to match the music. For every beat of nearly every song, Power sings as if his voice is a stomping foot or a metronome. The title song is the worst offender; Power offers some of the most dreadfully pretentious lyrics imaginable, in an attempt at social commentary. Cringe-worthy lines like do you think the wars that we wage with such velocity across our lands have anything to do with the words that are written by the prophets of man see Power clearly as no equal to Phil Ochs, let alone Billy Bragg. Power is better suited to pop flare-ups like the opening track, Electrify, which sounds like a demo for a Cast song. Almost without fail, these songs hit snags where Power meanders aimlessly, or where choruses seem completely unrelated to the songs in which they reside. Power slows his strumming on Small Farm and Island, but these ballad-like passages suffer from a lack of vocal range that was covered on Cast albums by strings and other musical flourishes. Happening for Love does manage to get by on charm alone, thanks to a few delightfully jaunty moments, but it's hard to shake the feeling that its songs could be demos from an unreleased Cast album. Newcomers really need not apply; this one's for Cast fanatics only.