PEBBLES Close Up '73 Belgian power pop psych LP LISTEN
$
71
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Description
The second and final longplayer for this Belgian popsike band, the Pebbles, from 1973, “Close Up”, once again on the Barclay label. Their first album saw them flirting with glam pop, just a bit, and from the looks of the giant lipstick tube on the cover of THIS one, you’d think they’d gone all New York Dolls here (or, at least, the Oost Vlaanderen Dolls), but surprise, this one’s got more Beatles influence than the one that came out when the Fab Four were still kicking. This is SUPERB power pop strongly influenced by the Beatles – think Badfinger and America – and if the Eurocentric Barclay label had decided to market this album ANYWHERE outside of Belgium, the Pebbles MIGHT just be mentioned up there with the likes of Badfinger and the Raspberries today. In fact, the Pebbles were SO good, someone in the Beatles WAS taking notice, because the band was actually INVITED to join the Apple label roster of artists, but Barclay wouldn’t let them. So they got Brute Force and the Elastic Oz Band instead. And life remained unfair. Because of their label’s stubbornness to keep their clients in Europe, Pebbles albums are very hard to find nowadays, but any true power pop fan will find plenty of goodies on “Close Up.” Like the Badfinger-meets-Big Star guitar rocker “Mister Southeaster”, or the Fab Four pastiche “Make Me King”, which opens up with some “Eleventh Earl of Mar” moog and circa 1973 Brian May guitar licks before plunging headlong into a fast and catchy Beatles-inspired pop tune. The ethereal, dreamlike “Spare A Little Love” may have one of the worst titles of any song NOT on a Dan Fogelberg album, but thankfully it’s not nearly as bad musically. It’s a rustic, floating lighter-than-air lounge pop nugget, John Lennon’s “#9 Dream” crossed with George Harrison’s “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” as performed by America. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself looking for a George Martin production credit on the back cover. And what happened with “Desert Funeral”? It’s a stroke of genius, really – a twisted soundtrack to a death march in some Belgian spaghetti western film, if there even IS a Belgian spaghetti western film, like “They Call Me Tin Tin” or “A Fistful of Waffles.” It opens with the tolling of sad funeral bells, followed by the sound of a desert sandstorm kicking up. Eerie disembodied Ennio Morricone vocals wail in the background while the pace picks up to a full “Ghost Riders in the Sky” gallop, punctuated by the sound of whipcracks and some GREAT shiver guitar. The only words in the entire song are the repeated whispers of the title, “Des-ert Fu-ne-ral!”, which is really a stupid thing to whisper in the middle of such a GREAT theme, but it kinda makes it even MORE absurd. The song doesn’t fit with the rest of the album at all, but it’s a nice surprise – and shows that there’s more to Belgian humor than little boys taking a leak and the Smurfs. Think of what fun they could’ve had at the Apple Studios. Original 1973 pressing on the Belgian Barclay label. Cover's in EXCELLENT shape. Vinyl plays VG+ to VG++.
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