The Smoking Rolo Sideshow
Mucho Mojo Baby (Them Big Oak Trees)
There’s a very debonair air to this release. It is as if Sparks have dumped their artier leanings in favour of chart success and bestowed upon us mere mortals the out and out pop masterpiece that they really wanted to make. This is pure pop with a cold, knowingly ironic edge to it.
It’s also not afraid to show that it knows how to make the feet move. This is a true Northern Soul record, in that it has real muscular rhythm at its heart. Everywhere you turn on it, there’s a lyric you can relate to, a riff that catches the ear, or a beat to get the feet moving.
Experimentation and fizzy electronic bubble away at the edges and are allowed to peek through occasionally. But they’re never allowed to swamp the record and to alienate our ears. Nor, more importantly, are they allowed to throw a cloak of knowing, ironic artiness over it.
There’s a joyously freeform quality here that immediately makes one warm to this record. One song seems to roll on happily into another and they all feed off, rather than stand apart from, each other. This gives the record a unity, heart and soul all of its very own.
This is the sound of musicians actually enjoying being in the company of each other. That said, there’s also a healthy air of competition which has obviously made everyone raise their game accordingly. This means that each gets their own lovely little moment in the sun.
The record announces itself as “a celebration of a musical form”. This shines through on every bar and every chord. What might have come across as smug, sonic self-indulgence, emerges instead as a living, breathing musical entity that you immediately want to befriend.
The band themselves describe this as “a two-act play in sound and song”. There is certainly more than a touch of the theatrics about the record. The singers’ delivery wrings every ounce of nuance and meaning out of the lyrics and the playing is awash with playful flourishes in riffs and keyboard passages.
This means that every minute is filled out with invention. Every song is full of hooks and lovely, long-lasting melodies that lodge themselves firmly in the brain and ensure you will be singing them long after the song itself has finished playing. This is how all records in all genres should sound.
As with all shows, events and performances, it is truly the sideshows that you will remember. As with Shakespeare (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, anyone?) it’s the little characters, with their personalities and little asides to the audience that make sure you won’t forget this record in a hurry.
There is always the question running through your mind – should I really be enjoying this as much as I am? That’s a plus, though, as it means you’re paying proper attention to the record. It’s raising questions, doubts and emotions within you. And really, who could ask for more these days?
Jonathan Muirhead
