Having cemented their reputation in my book with the concept/design and, most of all, content of their release of Scope’s mini album (reviewed elsewhere on these pages), the latest Beatball is being thrown towards the “baroque/sunshinepop/bubblegum/spaceagepop/psychedelic” sounds of late ‘60s West Coast, with an additional trackarack or two, and it hits straight into the bulls eye of the matter, in all it’s authenticity!
Besides the band name and the album title themselves, other more than suggestive little details, that aren’t likely to escape the attention of any self-esteemed popsike-head, are the full-blown swinging MODernistic outfits spread all over the booklet, as worn by the (3-boy/4-girl) 7-member line up, also “associating” them to sunshine-harmony-pop genre’s classic representatives.
As conceived by the South Korean harmony-holics The Smiles, the Strawberry T.V. Show comes as close as it gets to an imaginary Hullabaloo TV show line up, comprising the line up of Roger Nicholls (along with whichever circle of his friends), The Yellow Balloon, The Association, Eternity’s Children, Love Generation, Glitterhouse (naturally enough, with some of the Barbarella soundtrack fragments), Burt Bacharach Orchestra, Curt Boettcher accompanied by any of the “voices of Millennium”, complete with a couple of instrumentals meant as a backing for the show’s obligatory dancing intermezzos … with the spirit of Brian Wilson hanging like a halo all over the set-up.
After the supposed official album ending, with the no less than 14 (!) minute long semi-instrumental omnibus of psychedelicate extravaganza, there’s an additional pair of Korean-sung tunes, quite obviously included as bonus tracks.
Smile(s) everyone !!! … you’re on “Strawberry T.V. show” … or else you’ll get hit by the Beatball !!!
[Released by Beatball 2007]
Be the first to comment