![\"poppsaga\"](\"http:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/poppsaga.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIceland\u2019s Pop Scene 1972-1977<\/strong> (RPM Records Retro 943)<\/em><\/p>\n Dropping down my chimney via Albatross Post the other day, \u2018Poppsaga\u2019 is a pleasing, welcome and sometimes puzzling peek into the parallel world of the Arctic and its pop gods.<\/p>\n The music The Sugarcubes grew up with is, on the evidence of this 19-track CD, not so different from the glam racket, sci-fi weirdness and high-end ballads that made up much of the British pop charts of the same period. All sung in English and with their sky-coloured eyes firmly on UK and US success, only bad luck seems to have prevented some of these disparate groups from achieving fame outside of their rocky home.<\/p>\n Pelican\u2019s \u2018Jenny Darling\u2019 is a strong opener, a light bluesy beat with wide-awake \u2018Hey-Hey\u2019 vocals and a lively guitar solo. \u2018Change\u2019 come over very Easybeats\/Bowie-like in \u2018Lazy London Lady\u2019, throwing in a little phasing in the vocal for good measure. \u2018Paradis\u2019 give us a change of rhythm and some light, bright organ sounds for their straight-ahead celebration of the comic book superhero, \u2018Superman\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018Svanfridur\u2019s \u2018Woman of our day\u2019 has a soul-y \u2018Wonder Woman theme feel to it, with a tough, fuzzy rhythm guitar backing up the crashing keyboards and declamatory vocal, and a lead guitar solo that seems a little out of place in such a slab of pure pop. Johann G. Johannsson\u2019s \u2018Don\u2019t try to fool me\u2019 picks up on the then huge market for the kind of lushly orchestrated, nostalgic love song favoured by such Continental Lotharios as Sacha Distel.<\/p>\n \u2018Svanfridur\u2019 second appearance show off their more acoustic, heartfelt side, on \u2018What\u2019s hidden there\u2019, with its \u2018Wicker Man\u2019 pipes and deft arpeggio guitar work making it a little chart-shy but nonetheless pleasing. \u2018Change\u2019s next effort may have a title liable to misinterpretation in \u2018Yaketty Yak, Smaketty Smack\u2019, but the steady organ, pedestrian guitar and sweet harmony-backed lament has a \u2018Pretty Flamingo\u2019 feel that should have sold it well beyond the Arctic Circle.<\/p>\n The patrynomic naming system of that distant island gave Johann G. Johannsson such an easy to recall moniker, yet his musical style is anything but predictable. The bluesy bump of \u2018I need a woman\u2019, with its screaming lead guitar, is a complete change from the previous, MOR-ish effort. Johann\u2019s voice may be a little thin for a blues, and the use of a kitchen-wall echo does it no favours, but it\u2019s still definitely worth a listen.<\/p>\n Celsius \u2018Days Pass Me By\u2019 hints at being funky, and does have a nice bit of guitar twiddling thrown in, but the voices are a little thin for this kind of music, that was being done to huge acclaim elsewhere in the world.<\/p>\n The magnificently named Magnus Thor\u2019s\u00a0 delivers \u2018Blue Jean Queen\u2019, a slice of string-laden disco, not unlike the kind of confection peddled by the likes of Barry Blue a couple of years earlier in the UK. Poker\u2019s \u2018Driving in the city\u2019 did not get a release at the time, in spite of its solid, dirty beat and its palpable sense of danger that surely had a chance of success even in the snotty punk days of 1977.<\/p>\n Paradis\u2019 \u2018Rabbits\u2019 is a piece of silliness that did get a release, however, and its jumping rhythm and crazy guitar sounds like a stab at something like \u2018Mr Soft\u2019, but fails to impress. Johann G. Johannsson returns for the solid, if by-the-numbers \u2018Joe the Mad Rocker\u2019, which nevertheless doe the business with its screaming guitar, descending rhythm and handclapping, good times atmosphere.<\/p>\n Magnus and Johann\u2019s \u2018Mary Jane\u2019 will have all the Big Star fans out there pricking up their ears en masse, a very sweet, simple\u00a0 song with no-frills guitar and subtle organ backing it up without getting in the way. Poker\u2019s \u2018Get on to a sure thing\u2019 , also inexplicably unreleased, is a fine slice of soul\/funk, with plenty of brass and wandering keyboards, and the convincingly rangy vocal all contribute to make this a suitable candidate for a film theme, at least. Record executives, where were your heads at?<\/p>\n The Pal Brothers \u2018Candy Girl\u2019 is an unashamed piece of pure pop; voices, guitars, drums and strings all in co-operation to make something that surely belonged in a chart of the early 70\u2019s, as much as songs like First Class\u2019s \u2018Beach Baby\u2019 did. Pelican\u2019s jokey \u2018My Glasses\u2019 would have made a Kenny B-side, if luck was on its side, but got a release in 1974. The kazoo does nothing to improve it.<\/p>\n Poker\u2019s \u2018Take Me To The Sun\u2019s organ, swell of strings and urgent riffing, is by turns liturgical and romantic, and the sheer scale of its ambition is reminiscent of John Miles\u2019 grandiose \u2018Music\u2019. The CD closes with Celsius \u2018Poker\u2019 an unreleased romantic ballad that recalls the fraught, claustrophobic and haunting atmosphere of \u2018Lilac Wine\u2019. BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\nCrispian St Peters<\/h1>\n