The Sound of
Pop Art is the musical vehicle for Chris Free, formerly of Respond label act, A
Craze, and also featuring Sara Onyett-Goan who was previously with The Cherry
Orchard.
Their latest
album on Heavy Soul Records, ‘To Dream The Most Fabulous Dream’, is a
beautifully crafted collection of jazz-tinged and chilled songs, including a surprise
cover of a Jam song.
Starting with
‘New Wave NRG’, we are given a delightful and bouncy late 60s pop number with
some lovely backing vocals from Sara.
‘Buddha Rocks’
is a guitar boogie number in a 12-bar pattern that grooves along nicely,
demonstrating a clean and precise mix. This is followed by ‘Velvet Nights’
which is very jazz-tinged in a 1984/85 Style Council kind of vibe – chilled,
laid back and irresistible. It’s almost as if Merton Mick himself is there.
Close - it’s actually Toby Kinder from Tiny Flaws and the Gene Drayton Unit
(and mixed by Andy Crofts).
Next up is ‘The
Day Never Happened’, starting with a slow trumpet riff a little reminiscent to
the start of ‘Stereotype’ by The Specials before opening up into another
wonderfully relaxing jazz influenced piece.
‘Into The
Meadows’ is a little harder edged but still with great backing vocals and
flute. ‘Kingfisher’ follows and this is a very pastoral guitar picking and
slide guitar song, gentle and a song that could easily be from a Paul Weller
solo album (think 22-Dreams period). Piano and strings are introduced as the
song progresses. This is followed by ‘Stop The World’ which is, again, in that
lovely Style Council chilled vibe with a lovely touch of organ and trumpet.
We then get
TSOPA’s version of The Jam’s ‘Shopping’ from that period when Weller’s writing
was certainly moving in the direction of TSC. This reworking keeps that lovely
acoustic-jazz feel and adds a nice touch of piano between verses, and ending
with a line from ‘Circles’. A brave choice but successfully executed.
‘Waking Up In
Paris’ was written whilst cat-sitting for French Boutik and is a nice groover
with added trumpet and, once again, really good harmonies and backing vocals
from Sara. ‘September Rain’ is next and feels like a lazy Sunday morning.
Waking up late, having a coffee and slowly getting into the day. The trumpet
and piano add some riffing and texture and both work really well.
Track 11 is ‘A
Voodoo Sensational’ and this funks things up somewhat and drives the song on in
yet another style. The final track on the album is the title song, ‘To Dream
The Most Fabulous Dream’, and this is another catchy 60s influenced pop number.
It bounces along before remerging at half-speed – almost like the title track
to a Sixties movie in the genre of ‘Up The Junction’. And then off it goes
again to finish with a bit of pace.
Eleven of the twelve songs are written by Chris Free and this really is a beautifully written, performed and produced album of dreamy songs from this Cambridge based outfit.
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