Paul McCartney: "Beatles To Reform" Shock!

Sir McCartney at his private Isle O' Foam© suite, yestiddy!

 

Sir McCartney [above - Ed.] is no stranger to th' IoF©, granting regular interviews and sharing news n' views on today's exciting "pop scene" with your genial host, but our latest FoamExclusive© is sure to send "fans" reeling!

Sir McCartney relaxed poolside whilst [grammar - Ed.] Kreemé [below left, and 18 my ass - Ed.] served signature Elk Spleen and Hospital Tub Water Smoothies!

FT3 Heyyyy! Sir Macca! Lookin' good! Is that a toupé or a wig?

PMC Ha ha! Eh?

FT3 So, tell us more about your exciting plans for the future what will send the pop world reeling!

PMC Have I had me dinner yet?

FT3 You'll get your soup soon as you spill the beans.

Kreemé [18 my ass - Ed.]

PMC Where's me glasses ... oh! I'm wearing 'em! Silly old Macca! (peers at card) I am pleased to announce the reformation of iconic pop group The Beatles, with a tour and a new album in the New Year. The boys and me are very excited about this, and hope our many fans out there will be, too. We feel the time is right. Livin' in these times in which we're livin' in, the world needs the happy-go-lucky sounds of the Fab Fours more than ever. It's swingin'! (makes signature thumbs up gesture for non-existent camera).

FT3 Is Ringo on board with this?

PMC Ringo?

FT3 The drummer. In the Beatles.

PMC Oh, him. Yeah, I don't see a problem there. Last I heard, he was doing a kids' show on the telly about toy trains. Mind you, he must be getting on a bit.

FT3 What about John and George?

PMC They haven't done anything for yonks. They'll be grateful. It's not like they have to write any songs. I've got dozens ... there's Bippity-Flippity-Flop, My Little Squeezy Duckie, Mrs. Grandma O'Grady's Washtub, Let's All Go On A Caravan Holiday ... 

FT3 Er ... 

PMC Linda will be part of the band, too, she's written a pop opera about vegetarians on the moon! So maybe it'll be a double album! Whoops ... oh dear ... sorry about that ...

FT3 Nurse? NURSE?

[tape runs out - Ed.]

[Ed.]'s Pick O' Th' Week Dept. - Donovan

[Ed.] MC'ing the Neverending Ending Of The World Luau™, yestiddy.

There's a rumor going round that [Ed.] ain't real. That he's some kind of AI bot or algorithmic data recombobulator or sock puppet or something. He's real enough, as this Foam-O-Graph© shews [above - Ed.]. [Ed.]'s been Junior Content Editor since th' IoF© opened for bizness. He's the world's oldest intern, paid in Cheez Whiz and, when we can get it, kibble!

Every week, going forward, we'll be giving him his own platform to showcase a rekkid what he's lissnin' to. There's no censorship, no guidelines, just his own oft controversial viewpoint delivered in his own signature style!

This is sure to be a popliar and long-running FoamFeature©, and we wish [Ed.] every success with his bold new initiative! Watch out for it when it starts next week!

In the meantime, here's the best album Donovan ever made, and the only one you need, in response to a request from Snorky.

Groovy cover by th' IoF© Art Department O' Art Dept.

 

It Came From Outta Th' Crawlspace Dept. - The Fake Watch Band

 

From early 2022, when you were denying the onset of elderliness, comes this lovingly-wrought screed about some music you never bothered to pick up at the time. Or maybe you did but lost it down the back of the couch or just wandered off to find some paint or something in the garage. Well, grab hold of it now with all the strength you can muster in your arthritic old fingers, get Nurse Diesel to tweezer your ear hair, and plug in the buds for a sonic holiday! You certainly won't regret downloading today's re-featured deliverable!

Back when psychedelia was first being rediscovered - immediately post-Nuggets - the correct attitude was to sniff at Ed Cobb's studio additions to Chocolate Watch Band albums. Dey wus fake! The Chocolate Watch Band was a snarling, biting proto-punk combo, and Cobb's dreamy and sophisticated confections were not welcome. They weren't even played by the band! BOO!

Yes, the Choccies (as absolutely no-one was calling them) were one of the great garage punk combos, and it's impossible not to love their Sunset Strip spin on the Yardbirds and the Stones. But I always dug (man) Ed Cobb's Fake Watch Band cuts quite as much - more, if I'm honest. So here's Dark Side Of The Mushroom And Other Trips On Gossamer Wings, the first album ever by the Fake Watch Band.

The three gorgeous numbers that made up the first side of The Inner Mystique (if there's a lovelier album side I've yet to hear it) are here in their perfect sequence, as side two. The six cuts on the first side are the remaining recordings of the Fake Watch Band, and I've snuck in a couple of tracks with original band members that sound more Fake than Chocolate to make up the running time, anticipating the snooty dismissal of the purists who consider them not genuine Fakes at all.

It's a totally groovy 'sixties psych album, a soundtrack to blissing out in the park on a hot summer's day. And credit where long overdue; to Ed Cobb, Richard Podolor, Bill Cooper, Wayne Proctor, Don Bennet, Ethan McElroy, and the nameless session musicians whose contributions created such an evocative - and superbly recorded - piece of work. All thirty delicious minutes of it.

Ed Cobb [Ed left - Ed.] was in The Four Preps before moving to production in the late sixties. He produced Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac, among beaucoup others. He also wrote Tainted Love, a big hit for Soft Cell, Dirty Water for The Standells, and Every Little Bit Hurts, a hit for a busload of artistes. Major dude. Show him some respect by enjoying this album as the world goes to hell.

Delayed Gratification Dept. - The Churchill Downs

 

Artwork copyright FalseMemoryFoam© Art Department O' Art Dept.

This here album was recorded in '67/'68, shelved by the record company (I've said it before - record companies is a buncha schnooks) and eventually issued in 2011 [fercrissakes - Ed.] in a sleeve you'd scroll or flip right past, such was its undistinctiveness (I've said it before - record companies is a buncha schnooks) which is a damn shame, on account which it's swell. Great acid guitar, strong harmonies, all the perquisites of consolette time here on th' IoF. It's free, you'll dig it.

The Frantics tell the same sad story. Equally excellent, although leaning into hard rock. FoamFeatured™ antecedently, but duct-taped to the deliverable whether you want it or not!

Departmental Artwork © IoF© Department of Art Department Dept.

 

Return Of The Son Of StealthLink®! The access portal to the deliverable has been cunningly embedded in the post, using the latest in computer technology! Can YOU find it? Oboy! Some fun, huh?

 

 

 

Frog-Pop Dept. - Vanessa Paradis

Plus Frenchie que ça, on meurt ...

I've been a fan since her extraordinary second album Variations, made with Serge Gainsbourg, up with who's shit she would not put, inspiring his "Paradis, c'est l'enfer" quote. I was living in France at the time, and the eye-popping video for Tandem [below, you skeevy perves - Ed.] got me rushing out for the record.

Since then, every release has been a subtle grower of a blast. She has impeccable taste, she's whip-smart, and she knows what she wants, which has given her the reputation of being a bit of a brat.

 

 

Arriving a scant seven years after her last, her latest album Le Retour Des Beaux Jours [below, Ed.] comes as a hugely welcome surprise (at least to je), and it's another partnership with the truly gifted Etienne Daho. Of all her albums, it's perhaps the most diverse, leaping effortlessly across style barriers, and because of this will be a swell introduction should youse bums be unfamiliar with her œuvre [Fr. egg - Ed.]. It's a damn shame you're too dumb to speak French, because the lyrics are as thoughtful and clever as ever, but you'll appreciate the grooves and the vibes and the sumptuous sound. And that elusive quality of Frenchie sophistication, which she has out th' ass.

My birthday present! Thanks, Nessa! Album O' Th' Year, and by some way.