Fabulous Poodles: Fabulous Poodles
(Pye - 1977)
Category: none

Okay. I admit. The main reason why I included this album on this site (and also why I bought a second hand copy of the album in the first place) is because of that poodle on the sleeve. Why? Well, because any band that dares to put a poodle like this as their main image is fucking daring and deserves everyone's deepest respect. And of course also because poodles are creatures of immense beauty and good taste that are worthy of more worship than any god or guru. Indeed...

...poodles rule!!!!*

So. Five stars for the sleeve. But what about the music? I didn't expect much, to be honest. But it didn't turn out to be a failed album. The music is just a bit too Rock'n'Roll for my taste. I think you could classify some of it as a fun packed Pub Rock. It sounds a bit like early The Kinks meets Rolling Stones, with some Status Quo thrown in from time to time. All you have to do is add a pinch of Devo-esque quirky fun, some tongue-in-cheeck humour and a few litres of beer.

As I said the music's is not my thing, but certainly not bad or ill performed. Four songs caught my attention. First there's the funny mandolin driven Pop/Rock'n'Roll song 'Rum Baba Boogie'. Then there's 'Rosie Pink', a Folky thing with a Western style violin taking centre stage. The third one is the light mid-tempo Rocker 'Mr Mike' that's kept interesting by a slightly distorted violin. But the best song is the uptempo Rocker 'Doctor', the album's most energetic track. It starts off like a song's ending and then turns into this fun package of positive energy, even though the topic of the lyrics doesn't seem to be that innocent. The violin is again a nice finishing touch.

With music like this I can imagine that Fabulous Poodles must have been an excellent live band, because the fun and conviction they perform their music with is obvious. They're also highly recommended to fans of classy moustaches.

Notes:
Apparently Fabulous poodles was quite a popular band at a given time. You can read more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Poodles.

And here's a fan page where you can find out what the band members have been up to after the demise of their band. One of them toured with well known bands (Big Country, Mark Knopfler) and another one took up acting and appeared in BBC comedy series and movies: http://fabpoos.eric-coleman.com.

Ronnie Golden (the alter ego of one of the members): http://www.ronniegolden.com

* = Yes, I'm a total poodle addict and a complete nutcase according to some. Check out my Poodle Fetish website and try to find out whether I mean it or not. While you're there, you can also test how high your poodle person percentage is.