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Review: 'SOUND OF POP ART, THE'
'Drama'   

-  Label: 'England In June'
-  Genre: 'Pop' -  Release Date: '9th December 2016'

Our Rating:
Paul Weller formed Style Council partly as a rejection of conventional rock culture and The Sound Of Pop Art (T.S.O.P.A. for short) seem to be on a similar wavelength.

Check out the final track A Love Solution to identify the similarities between these two bands.

T.S.O.P.A. are from Cambridge UK, and blend elements of Northern Soul, sixties girl bands, slow jazz and funk to produce an fairly insipid stew of easy listening retro.

By the way they dress, they are harking back to the heyday of Biba fashion houses and the 'groovy' styles of the 1960's/1970s.

Musically they are slightly more up-to-date but there's still the feeling that they are overly steeped in nostalgia for the pre-digital age. The fact that Hammond organ features on half the tracks will give some idea where they are coming from.

All the songs are by Chris Free but he only sings on one song (Kiss The World Goodbye) with Gabriela Giacoman from Paris-based mod band French Boutik on backing vocals.

The other main vocal duties are mainly taken on by either Louise Turner or Tony Jenkins and poet Simon Wells also drops in on Generation X for what sounds vaguely like a tribute to Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On, though minus any political content.

The Bandcamp (and Spotify) edition features a cover of The Clash's Janie Jones which for some reason didn't make it to the hard copy of the CD. Maybe they were undecided about how the punk ethos fitted in with their leanings towards loungecore.

By way of compensation there's a jump-jivey hidden track (The Shape Of Jazzz) with some spirited saxophone which, ironically, is one of the best things here as it has an energy and purpose lacking in the more 'soulful' numbers.

Overall, this a mixed bag where the lack of a homogeneous sound means the content sounds as anonymous as a tribute band.   

TSOPA on Bandcamp
  author: Martin Raybould

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SOUND OF POP ART, THE - Drama