aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser
# 093: Smoking Popes – ‘Need You Around’ (Parlophone Records ’96)
Dear friends,
again, as it happened quite often within this series, there isn’t pretty much I can tell you about today’s band. I must confess that below single is the only thing I know by them – but what a single it is, to be sure!
As far as I’m concerned, it perfectly captures what made the Popes so unique: loud punk-pop guitars (no uniqueness so far, but bear with me), but fronted by laid-back lounge vocals and lyrics with a touch of romance from former times … it is very hard to describe, and probably I am not capable to do it even halfway properly. So I can only urge you to listen to the tune, you’ll really miss something if you don’t, promised! Personally, I don’t know one single band who would be comparable to this special way of making songs.
Let’s keep it sweet and simple today, first it doesn’t have to be a long essay every week and second: basically there isn’t much more which I know about the band … apart from the fact that the vocal style derived from the singer’s (Josh Caterer) obsession with big-band records and black-and-white movies. They formed in Chicago in ’91, called it a day in ’98 but reformed later, as far as I can tell … probably they are even together today, who knows?
This is from their second album – as I said, this song is a bloody masterpiece
mp3: Smoking Popes – Need You Around
Enjoy,
Dirk
PS: aren’t you utterly astonished by this most perfect just-in-time performance of mine? Because by the time you read this, you all will be shouting out ‘habeus papam!’ at the top of your lungs … but whether this new pope smokes or indeed how many of his precursors did, will remain one of the many Vatican’s well hidden secrets!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 