For those who like the free design but listen to the band with the ears of today's ironic and cynical music fan, Zap The World seems to be created to celebrate a time that never really was, a totally free and innocent shiny plastic age where all that was young and now ruled, life didn't exist outside the UK, and when one was encouraged to awaken to a new and satisfying consumer experience on a daily basis, post Mary quant and pre Vietnam, when the drugs had just started to work and hadn't worn off yet.
The front(wo)man behind death by chocolate is 'teen Briton' Angie Tillett, whose charming (at least to my ears) vocal delivery manages to combine whimsy and deadpan confidence simultaneously.
Zap the World's opening number, 'vox wah-wah pedal' is literally an advertisement, and many of the tracks that follow similarly reference and fetishize the facets of daily existence (in this non-existent era) that fans of pizzicato 5 are sure to appreciate. I was actually surprised to make it all the way through the disc without a reference to a super stereo sound spectacular of some kind, but perhaps this is being held back for album number three.
Production value is 'first rate' (to use a term that may have been applied to it, had we the ability to warp back in time with this album in hand to review it pre-1970). 'Day out', a duet between Tillett and Milky, is a groovy jazz waltz with some classic Rod Argent-esque keyboard work. 'bibi gin' sounds like someone's swinging aunt's shopping list played over a k-tel version of your favorite Doors track, while 'artplay' is a cool instrumental that would be home in the saint (ITV, not the Hollywood film) or any post 1965 avengers soundtrack (ditto). Following the trend set on their previous full length of covering obscure yet absolutely delightful gems from decades past, the title track is a Charles Fox-Norman Gimbel (the pair behind 'love american style', 'happy days', etc) composition from Sid and Marty Krofft's Pufnstuff, from 1970, which perfectly outlines the philosophy of the group, considering that this blissed out lollipop of a song was written in the year of Performance, Get Carter, The Deep End, and countless other pop culture signs that the dream was indeed over.
Zap The World sounds like a great idea, and it is. It has to be completely self aware, yet it still plays with genuine affection and without an ounce of cynicism. This CD can be seen as a crash course for all those who think that they aren't quite as mod as they'd like to be )'i is for I LOVE YOU ALICE B TOKLAS...? hmmm, I'll have to rent that'), or those who like to sit around and play explain the reference with anyone whose trivial awareness doesn't predate Pearl Jam. |