artist : Selofane Seventyfour
title : Selofane Seventyfour
label : Poptones
cat# : MC5004CD
genre : Instrumental Pop
street date : 2000-05-29
tracks : 15
bitrate : 185 kbps avg. 44.1/Joint Stereo
size : 58.56 mb
source : CD
type : Retail
url :
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Selofane Seventyfour's self-titled album is a hybrid of incredibly strange
instrumentals, featuring vintage Moog and synth workouts with the
occasional sitar or theremin from a '50s sci-fi flick thrown in. The group
-- Joe Foster (ex-Slaughter Joe) and Buzzcocks bassist Tony Barber -- was
contractually obligated to fulfill a recording agreement to record
"library" music, and decided to have a bit of fun with the project.
They're assisted here by Richard Tayter, who is something of a legend in
'60s and '70s mood music. He's apparently done very little new recording
since his legendary million-selling Sounds Like Tijuana (1967) and classic
Pop Goes the Moog (1973). According to Poptones' website, Tayter had
followed up these releases with more "esoteric" instrumental projects
Black Mass, Stylophone in Hi-Fi, Sitar Goes Latin, and Heavy Hits -- Glenn
Miller Style!, as well as "other classics from the Woolworth's racks of
yesteryear," on his way to becoming a cult fave. He's joined by electronic
music guru Peter Towndrow, who contributed Moog synthesizer and zither. In
fact, the arrangements and production -- by Foster and Tayter -- feature
all kinds of wacky instrumentation, including sitar and percussion-heavy
funky vibraphones. At some point during the recordings, they decided to
attempt something that would be considered somewhat mainstream and
straight-ahead, keeping in mind they would end up with something that
their musical colleagues would find utterly hilarious. Foster and Alan
McGee of Poptones conspired to give Selofane Seventyfour its proper
release in 2000, although tapes of this cult oddity were being passed
among friends for years. Poptones' in-house designer Mike Alway came up
with the group's name, and made up more than half of the song titles for
Selofane Seventyfour as he designed the tri-fold digipack. This album
certainly didn't seem to fit in with the other releases coming out on
Poptones at the time of its release (it was label's fourth release),
though it would be difficult to imagine it fitting in with any other
contemporary releases at any time, really. One of the highlights is "Mr.
Music," a track dedicated to Ed Ball of Television Personalities, Foster's
former band (and that's none other than Kim Fowley spouting off about
convincing "your record company that you are an anarchist"). Another
highlight is "My First Rolls Royce" (reputedly a zither-enhanced rendition
of the German national anthem).
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01 Hrundi v Bakshi at the Art Museum 1:22
02 Brown Sauce 3:30
03 One Time Millionaire Pop Artist 3:33
04 My First Rolls Royce 2:20
05 Stained Glass 3:01
06 Twiggy and Justin 2:29
07 Escape In Time 1:45
08 Mr Music 3:09
09 Armchair Hitler 1:53
10 Two Divers Journey to the Congo 4:51
11 Indian Pudding 3:53
12 Yesterday 1:34
13 Peter O's Tool 2:08
14 Blue Green & White Wave 5:42
15 Dissolving 2:34
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