VA - Magpie, 20 Junkshop Pop Ads and Themes [2003]

 

POP ADS

VA - Magpie, 20 Junkshop Pop Ads and Themes [2003]

The world going digital has made the transitory permanent. There is a whole universe of "program music:--stuff recorded for TV shows and adds, gone with the 1960's and '70s screen wind-- available, and what do you know: it works as art. Who would think in '12 that universal love and sunshine pop could sell soda, but in the early 1970's, even air conditioners went pasley. One track on Magpie is The 5th Dimension singing to sell Coke. Released here, it is a great snapshot: Madison Av gone very mildly hip, and using safe Ed Sullivan rock acts to push their product. But perhaps the surprise is, the track is great, and could have worked as well as most of the 5ds singles. As does the orchestral jet set Euro music, filled with horns and fuzz guitar, or the female back up singers and sexy narration an on the French advert music. There is even a version of "Whole Lotta Love," complete with flute solo, and if you ask, yeah--it rocks.  Of course no one likes having their counter culture co-opted by the "man," so no rocker of hippie or digger of FM radio would admit this stuff was any good at the time of release. But I haven't seen many of these people using rotary phones lately, either. Thar was a long, long time ago; just as we can now admit to liking Herb Albert and Burt Bacharach, listening with no cultural divide, we can appreciate the warmth and elegance, and, yes, wonderful cheese of this music. Listen as art, as nostalgia, as beautifully aged funny limberger. But listen and enjoy. And fess up. You ARE! the man, now. Kind of groovy, no? (Amazon)

Subtitled "20 Junkshop Pop Ads and Themes," this is a collection whose theme isn't easily grokked by a cursory listen, particularly for listeners outside of the U.K. The basic premise, it emerges, is to collect incidental music from 1970-1974 that sort of formed a backdrop to British pop culture of the era, drawn from TV themes, film soundtracks, ads, and indeed some actual low-budget rock releases. Almost by definition, such common-denominator stuff is much more of nostalgic value than enduring artistic merit.

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Track list

01 Peter Wyngarde - Come In 2:11

02 Murgatroyd Band - Magpie 2:25

03 CCs - Whole Lotta Love 3:32

04 Don Fardon - Belfast Boy 2:16

05 Alan Hawkshaw - Hot Pants 1:48

06 Johnny Scott - The Good Word / Ad Break: Things Go Better (Fifth Dimension) 3:48

07 Samantha Jones - Tc Theme I 3:03

08 Stanley Myers - Another Love 3:35

09 Les Reed - Man Of Action 2:21

10 Highly Likely Featuring Tony Rivers - Whatever Happened To You 3:49

11 Hot Rocks - Chopper 2:52

12 Steve Ellis - Loots The Root 3:01

13 Matchmakers - Thank You Baby 3:26

14 Krimson Kake - Waiter 2:26

15 Patchworks - Laughing Sam / Ad Break: It's The Real Thing 3:25

16 Mr. Brooks - The Family Theme 3:08

17 Stanley Myers - The First Time / Ad Break: South American Getaway... 2:53

18 Andrew Bown - Tarot 3:15

19 Rumplestiltskin - Rumplestiltskin 3:22

20 Pick Of The Pops Featuring Elton John - Spirit In The Sky 3:35

21 Peter Wyngarde - Neville Thumbcatch 4:29

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