Tasty Fanzine
There is a phrase that crops up every now and again, in reviews of albums such as this one, a phrase that, for me, always evokes the sounds and images of some half-forgotten moment of actual pop genius. 'A Flawless Pop Gem, Polished to Perfection' is the phrase, and it's my turn to use it while reviewing 'Keeping Up Appearances'. The cover art is a fairly shameless attempt at cornering a part of the still burgeoning retropop market, adorned as it is with fuzzy pictures of cars with tailfins, shiny designer furniture and girls who look like Twiggy and Jackie O. What this says is what albums like this often say: the 1960s were the coolest time ever, we had b/w TV, women were more attractive, everyone could sing like Astrid Gilberto and electric guitars weren't invented. As for the music itself, the emphasis is, if not entirely lo-fi, then quite definitely M.O.R, and (this is important) entirely lacking in the cynicism that so often undercuts so many similar albums. The Charade are refr
