Thursday, January 23, 2020

Elton Motello - Pop Art (1980, Passport)

Just four short months ago I posted an Elton Motello single, and was enthused enough about it to spend some quality time with his second long-player, this one.  You can refer back to that original entry for some pertinent biographical specifications.  Pop Art is a minor new wave masterpiece, exuding just about everything that was creative and incisive about that genre's nascent era, while gracefully sidestepping any of it's patently negative shortcomings that would become ubiquitous over the next couple of years.  A fantastically nervy strain courses trough virtually every morsel of this album, that sonically points to the acerbic modus operandi of some of Elton's (actual name Alan Ward) contemporaries likes Devo, Donnie Iris and to a lesser extent Gary Numan.  Some surprisingly rollicking and punky outbursts crop up here in the guise of "Pocket Calculator," "In the Heart of the City" (not the Rockpile tune but just as ripping) and "Panic in the Classroom," and if you're looking for par excellence power pop the title piece is both flashy and a hell of a lotta fun.  Enjoy.

01. Pop Art
02. Can't Explain
03. Night Sister
04. Falling Like a Domino
05. Out of Limit
06. 20th Century Fox
07. In the Heart of the City
08. Pocket Calculator
09. When All the Boys Are English
10. Queen
11. Pay the Radio
12. Panic in the Classroom

Hear

3 comments:

Eddie P said...

Great LP! I have the 45 of 'Pop Art' b/w '20th Century Fox'. Thanks for this cool release.

Sean said...

I have to admit I was skeptical due to the name - is it mocking Elvis Costello or trying to attract his fans? - but this album is a lot of fun. The title track even has touches of Roxy Music! thx, sr-71

YYC80sGuy said...

Nice to find a much better rip; I have the LP but haven't anything to play it with. Enjoyable release but a ways different than his earlier Victim of Time long player. I have that on CD and listen to it a few times a month.