With a retrospective album, Tommy Keene finds acclaim, if not success

The list of bands or songwriters who deserve to be more famous and successful is unofficial and subjective, but it is also long and illustrious.

Tommy Keene deserves to be on that list. Maybe not in the Top 10, with people like Alex Chilton (one of Keene's heroes) or Richard Thompson or bands like the Pixies or the Go-Betweens.

But because of his knack for writing enduring pop songs with sweet melodies and a rock crunch, Keene deserves to be as well-known as some of his contemporaries or the bands and songwriters he influenced, such as Paul Westerberg or Matthew Sweet.

Maybe his time has finally come.

Last week, Second Motion Records released "Tommy Keene You Hear Me: A Retrospective 1983-2009." Don't let the weak pun in its title dissuade you. The two-disc, 41-track retrospective is loaded with songs, including some unreleased tracks, that showcase Keene's bright and keen sense of pop and rock, the kind that evokes the sounds of the early Beatles, the early Who and the Raspberries.

Keene flirted with big-label success in the mid-1980s, when he released two albums on Geffen Records, "Songs From the Film" and "Based on Happy Times," and earned some face time on MTV, back when it played music videos and showcased performers like him.

He would not seal a deal with big-time success, yet since the late 1980s, Keene has continued to write songs and record albums without suffering a depletion in quality or inspiration. He spoke recently about a career that has delivered an abundance of critical acclaim but scant commercial success.

Q. How involved were you in the process of compiling this retrospective?

A. I was very involved. I'd known for a couple of years we were going to do this. I wanted an overview of my career that I was happy with, so we went through about 30 drafts.

Q. Inevitably the term "power pop" comes up in descriptions of your music. Was that a blessing or a curse?

A. Kind of both. But at the end of the day, I accept it. If your fans are geeky power-pop fans, you embrace them. I think I've gotten a little too much of that, though.

I love great power pop — the Who, Cheap Trick. My friend Bob Pollard of Guided by Voices loves power pop. Some Elvis Costello is power pop. I don't branch out into other styles like Elvis does, but I do think some of my work has more to it.

Q. Do you listen to your own music?