Baby's Coming Back - Jellyfish

Neat power pop parody circa 1991 from the Band from San Francisco (but don't hold that against them) and produced by Albhy Galuten, his first job since the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

Jellyfish featured Andy Sturmer, a singing drummer, the latest in an ignoble line of singing drummers... Phil Collins, Don Henley, Karen Carpenter.

Both Collins and Henley gave up drumming to concentrate on torturing us with their tinny pop bombast in the Sock Shop era. Poor Karen hardly had enough energy to pick up a drumstick in the end...

Which meant Richard Carpenter got his pick of the 10 piece chicken meal and the mint Vienetta. Karen got the bucket.

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Rollers Show - Nick Lowe

It's a rare parody that surpasses it's source material without descending into outré mockery - think Baryshnia-krest'ianka, Aleksandr Pusskin's take on Shakespearean romance or that Chuck Jones cartoon with Bugs Bunny that crams Wagner's Ring Cycle into six minutes - but Nick Lowe manages it with this take on tartan teen pop.

Lowe manages the perfect pop parody, summing up the magical buzz of that first gig...

Mine was Status Quo at the Torbay Leisure Centre, Rock Till You Drop tour. The sea of demin. The support band were called F.M. from Bradford and covered Otis Redding. £1 for a can of tango?! Roll over lay down and do it again.

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Manifesto & Book News

If it's ever been on K-Tel or Ronco, it's in. If it features hand claps, cow bells, syrupy orchestration, walls of sound, wrecking crews, sha-la-las, toothy teen idols, candy-based metaphors for carnal acts or lyrics about hugging, squeezing and rocking all night long, it's in.

Nexk week: Jim Davidson and the Moscow State Circus



> Martin Lampen (latest book news, contact details and other stuff)

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