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The Poppermost — Hits to Spare
(Bandcamp Think Like a Key, 2021, LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2022-09-05

Hits to Spare Cover art

Listening to Hits to Spare is very much an exercise in time travel. Welcome to 1964, and you’re in a record shop to buy the latest from The Beatles, which is called A Hard Day’s Night. You’ve already heard a few of the tunes which had been released as singles, and you’re hoping to see the movie soon. There on a shelf next to the dozens of Beatles LPs you see the colorful cover of an album by The Poppermost. Maybe you’ve got a little cash to spare, so you pick it up. When you get it home and listen to it (after spinning A Hard Day’s Night a dozen times or so), you find 14 catchy tunes that could have come from the Fab Four themselves. Jangling electric guitars, memorable melodies, great backing vocals — it’s all there. “These guys are gonna be big!” you think. Returning to 2022, you discover that The Poppermost is really just Glaswegian Joe Kane. He writes all the songs, plays all the instruments and sings all the parts. He has thoroughly absorbed every aspect of those carefree pre-Rubber Soul days, and manages to operate in the style without sounding simply nostalgic or old-fashioned, which is both a testament to the music’s enduring qualities as well as Kane’s skill. I’ll admit that my favorite Beatles music starts with Rubber Soul, and I regard the earlier releases as fun but rather inconsequential, but I’ll happily listen to any of it and can appreciate the budding skills and sheer fun of the songs. That’s exactly how Hits to Spare works for me. Kane is dedicated to his mission, and there is not a single misstep that sounds out of place or doesn’t seem authentic to the original time period. And it’s just a ton of fun to listen to.

Filed under: New releases, 2021 releases

Related artist(s): The Poppermost (Joe Kane)

More info
http://thepoppermost.bandcamp.com/album/hits-to-spare

 

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