I love the fact that, as people who have, let’s say, been around the musical block a time or two, look back at the past for inspiration, they are increasingly finding it not so much in the big, brash, and bombastic realms of rock but in a more joyous and jangling power-pop-meets garage-rock-infused place. Certain people (those usually wearing t-shirts with the sleeves cut off or sporting spiky hair) often seem to be trying too hard to rewrite the past to serve their own ends, but you can’t deny the truth – pop music (in the broadest sense of the meaning) has always reigned supreme.
And The Plastic Pals do make pop music, but not the sort that today’s kids would understand. It is full of cool, low-slung guitars, it is both infectious and full of groove, driven and deftly done, the perfect blend of melody and muscle and if there is sense of rock music to be found within their music, it is rock and roll (full of swing and swagger, attitude and groove) rather than rock proper (as made by bearded men in big shorts earnesty digging away at their craft) that is at work.
The result is an album full of what the youth of today might term “absolute bangers”. “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” is a strutting and stupendous salvo of neo-psychedelia, a slice of the same sound that the likes of Echo and the Bunnymen repurposed for the post-punk crowd.
“Lost in Translation” tips its hat, probably a natty fedora worn at a jaunty angle, at the whole Paisley Underground scene, its blend of spaciousness and ornate weaves of guitars sitting somewhere between The Long Ryders and Dream Syndicate.
“The Social Loner” is all twang and resonance, a surf-groove instrumental being subdued by a blend of subversive chamber pop to give it a more (Velvet?) underground vibe, “A Sliver of Hope” heads into more singer-songwriter realms, and “Love’s Not the Answer” has slight seductive echoes of Scott Walker about it. (Never a bad thing.)
But despite my admittedly aging points of reference, this is not merely a wander down memory lane, but a band making modern music based on classic inspirations, cool sounds, smart ideas, and timeless sonic themes, ones that have remained vital and been constantly reworked for the last 60 years. There’s a reason such music is labelled classic! And one day, Keep It Burning will be to.
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