The Killers have a lot to answer for. You can’t turn the radio on without hearing keyboards that sound like they were imported direct from Blackpool Pier. What price a rasping clavinet or hammond? Have these people never heard a Stevie Wonder record? ‘Let Me Feel the Love’ by Plastic Toys audaciously takes a further (backward) step, however, with its embracing of tacky samples and production that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Stock, Aitken and Waterman ditty.
That said, this band actually owe more to the 90s than the 80s, because here, ladies and gentlemen, are the band that Republica could easily have been, had they not been fronted by a petite woman with a nice haircut. Present and correct are the same vacuous lyrics, the same “don’t bore us, get to the chorus” attitude, and the same guitars which whilst hinting at rawk! sound clean and filtered, and placed low enough in the mix to be palatable to the appetite of daytime radio. (Plastic Toys is such an apt name for this lot, that you almost suspect parody).
The B-side is more of the same with various lyrical clichés (“dance with me, shake it baby”) clumsily strewn together to form something less than the sum of its parts, if such a thing is possible (my ‘C’ for Higher Maths says it is). “Flesh” is somewhat noteworthy, however in its having surreptitiously slipped in a rude word (“fuck!” – how naughty). If they were being honest though, I’m sure they would admit that there’s a good reason this is done on the b-side. This band desperately want to get on the radio, they want to play on T4 and they want your cash. They’ll probably manage the lot.
