Being a pop band in France isn’t exactly a perfect starting point for international stardom except maybe if you taste like a “sweet apple pie”.
These guys actually start from worldwide fame and then, they’ll maybe get back on the national scene … when they find the time off the touring schedule all over the globe … yes, they’re THAT good! It’s all about the B-bands-and-more influences, with an irresistible, omnipresent vintage electric-piano and three-part harmonies in the arrangements, but it still sounds sooo varied.
There are some crystal clear “blurs” of XTseen quirky popsyke, full of infectious hooks and stop ‘n’ start dynamics (Supertiger & Mr Goodguy), a touch of melodic jazzy experiments right from the “stereo-laboratory” (Installation Instructions), as well as some reminiscing of Ken Stringfellow getting back to The Posies’ debut album Hollies-roots in the “back of a car” (Sun Inside).
And that’s not all … Can you imagine CSN & Y doing their harmonious take on some of J. Mascis’ ballads (?!?!), well you can get it right From The Outside, along with the vocal-outro taken from the “wild side”, and if you’re looking for some (almost) usual CSN & Y stuff, try to dig Underground and you’ll find them doing something that sounds like an imaginary Woodstock- version of “Uno Mundo”, complete with the handclaps in the end, though it must one of the wee-hour gigs cuz it doesn’t seem too crawdy.
The mid-’60s happy-go-lucky sound of Lalala and the McGuinnish jangle of Wardour Street could be seen as plain decade-tributes only by the profane consumer because they’re a lot more than that, and as a proof of the band’s creative potential, all you have to do is Look Up, where you can almost see the Abbey Road ambience “coming in through the bathroom window” to find Rod Argent playing his keyboard in a tub.
Taste it!!! In fact, eat it all, there’s plenty for all!!!
[Released by Spirit Of Jungle 2002]
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