Featured Album

Slapp Happy

RELEASE
1974
LABEL
Sorcerer Records
GENRES
Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Experimental Rock, Prog-Rock

Album Review

The eponymously titled debut for Virgin from avant popsters Slapp Happy includes many of the same songs -- but not the same versions -- of tunes recorded in 1973 with Faust, first intended for release by Polydor, and ultimately issued by Recommended Records (and later by Cuneiform with bonus tracks) under the title Acnalbasac Noom. The group's songwriting had improved since 1972's Sort of...Slapp Happy, and Dagmar Krause's German chanteuse-influenced vocals were presented in catchier settings, although some preferred the comparatively unsophisticated and rockish Faust-backed versions from Acnalbasac Noom to the re-recorded Casablanca Moon tracks (which are backed by session musicians and even a string section). In either case, the lyrics are witty and oddball without being pretentious. Tracks like "Mr. Rainbow" recall Yoko Ono's early-'70s song-oriented material, with an important difference: Krause's vocals are much better than Ono's, while just as distinctive. "The Secret" could even be a potential commercial single.
Richie Unterberger & Ted Mills, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Casablanca Moon
  2. Me and Paravati
  3. Half Way There
  4. Michaelangelo
  5. Dawn
  6. Mr. Rainbow
  7. The Secret
  8. A Little Something
  9. The Drum
  10. Haiku
  11. Slow Moon's Rose