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Album Review: Keith Top of the Pops and His Minor UK Celebrity All-Star Backing Band – F*ck You, I’m Keith Top of the Pops

A long time in the making, Keith Top of the Pops is releasing his debut album, ‘F*ck You, I’m Keith Top of the Pops’, on the 16th of August via the very excellent Corporate Records. I had my trepidations about this album at first: known to confuse and generally upset any soundman, Keith TOTP and His Minor UK Celebrity All-Star Backing Band are known to take the stage with a vast, eclectic array of instruments (4 to 6 guitars, flutes, musical saw, kitchen sinks, etc.) and I wasn’t sure if the album was going to be able to represent the generally wondrous cacophony of theirlive show.

I was wrong to ever have doubts. If anything, it’s a bit easier to appreciate the songs on the album. Keith TOTP’s songwriting style is simple, catchy, honest, occasionally acerbic but always clever, and the accompaniment of seemingly millions of instruments suits it well. I think my husband put it best, when I asked his opinion: “It sounds like someone took your record collection and played it all at once.” It really is, and in the absolute best way. It certainly helps that the album also features some of my favourite people in music. The haunting duet ‘What’s On Your Mind’ with Sarah Nixey (of Black Box Recorder, also a solo artist) is especially lovely.

I think ‘I Hate Your Band’ epitomizes the reason I love this album so much. More than the song itself (which is a great song nonetheless), but the very spirit of the song itself. After a seemingly constant barrage of buzzband after buzzband and conga-drums-are-the-new-Casio-Bossanova and just general overhyped stupidity, it’s just nice to hear a good, honest record without any pretentions. It’s been a while, honestly. You can watch an excerpt of the band’s performance at 2009′s Camden Crawl below to get a feel for what they are like live.

8/10

You can buy the various versions of the album (the special edition on CD or vinyl or digital download) from Corporate Records here but the press release we received said the release date is tomorrow.