The Album Club: "Queen of the Wave" by Pepe Deluxé
 

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Ant's selection for this round. Discuss, review, rate blah blah blah you know the deal by now.

It's a Power Pop masterpiece.

I was prepared to dislike this album but was pleasantly surprised. The neo-psychedelic sounds of the first third or so really worked. The extra sound effects were interesting and the songs well-constructed. After that the album became too circusy for my taste. Too many clowns and jugglers started to seem like the goofy **** the French get into.

I'd heard of Pepe Deluxe but can't recall ever hearing anything by them before this album. Listened to it the first time, without checking into it beforehand, and thought it was a typical album of various songs. Looked it up afterwards and discovered it was a "pop opera" about the lost civilization of Atlantis. Listened to it a second time and noticed that the songs did sort of fit together in a theme. For me, the best pop or rock "operas" are ones that stand out as such on the first listen so this one wasn't particularly successful on that level. Having said that, I did enjoy most of the songs on the album (especially the ones with a 60's retro vibe) and found them varied and interesting to one degree or another. A few of them didn't do anything for me but the majority of them were a fun listen.

Not sure if I'll return to this album in the future but it did make me curious enough to check into some of their other work.

7.5/10

Probably the strangest album I've heard yet. It even had an album trailer?

Pepe Deluxé - Queen of the Wave (album trailer)


The album started with this warble UFO or SONAR sound - whatever it is suppose to be - interestingly enough that was done before on other albums. Compare this to the effect used on the first songs on the albums Based on a True Story by Fat Freddy's Drop (2005) or Flying Away by Smoke City (1997). The little flute passage reminds me of Spill the Wine by Eric Burdon and War. Then it goes into a break beat and distorted guitar, which is pretty much every other 90s song.

The second song gets kinda Smash Mouth.

The third song is not the Supersonic you are thinking of by J.J. Fad. It entirely different to that song. It starts off like The Like, and goes into 90s pop something like Aqua or BEP - a better example is on the tip of my tongue, if only I could think of name. The promo video even takes the zaniness of Pepe Deluxéa step further with a infomercial sales pitch dubbed over the song.

Pepe Deluxé - Go Supersonic


Temple of Unfed Fire has The Millenium written all over it, a bit of mish-mash of their songs.

Contain Thyself starts off somewhere between Baroque Rock & Acid Folk, then a Styx keyboard is added and then it goes off the tracks with more break beats and other nonsense.

I guess you can say they go off the tracks quite a bit during the album. It seems they are more intent in smashing different genres together than making a cohesive song. But I guess that is the whole underlying idea. So between liking some segments of the songs, and not caring for others I really don't know what to think of this album. I didn't like the Surf guitar parts, it was too pastiche, too over produced for my taste. However iI did capture my attention and I played the album straight throw on YouTube, but I suspect the playlist didn't contain the album's proper tracklist. So I have to replay it on Spotify. The first time was bizarre, I guess the second listen (plus) I won't so surprised by all the changes. It was weird experience, and I always wonder "who, what, why, and how?" with Ant's picks. Never heard the band before, and I don't know if I would ever give this album a listen if I wasn't forced to listen to it cause of the Album Club.

It was somewhere between so-so and likable.

Okay, I'm confused. You said previously it was a power pop masterpiece, now you're saying it's the first time you've heard it. Huh?

I was hyping the album to get people involved.

After the next round we’re going to review abacab over and over again.

Oh.

... if only dreams came true. I am so tempted to share the awesomeness of that album with the Album Club. However there are too many album I want to share I don't think I'll pick that album just yet.

Exactly, that is the best way to describe TFW you're about to hear Abacab right before you hit play button "lock and load!"

Ah-huh. Just before you feel the cold kiss of steel pressing against your temples and squeeze the trigger....

:laughing:

You know what? I don't hate the album. It has good tracks on it. But I really don't like it, and I don't rate it as one of the better Genesis ones, in fact, it's right down at the bottom just before FGtR. Pick it if you want; I'd have fun ripping it a new one. Again.
:ar_15s:

This is certainly a diverse album. We have a sort of folky/proggy opener that reminds me very much of Pendragon's Not Of This World, with a lot of flute and kind of hippy influences, very seventies-sounding, then it gets dancy and psych, almost soul at times, followed by a tune which sounds like something off a Broadway musical or the like, with conga drums and choir. All quite odd but good in its way. Almost K-poppy for “Temple of the Unfed Fire”, then retaining the kind of Asian feel into the guitar and keyboard with a hint of sea chanty on “Contain Thyself” (more flute and Mexican style trumpet). Next up is “Hesperus Garden”, a psych rock freak-out which sizzles with energy, “In the Cave” is a lovely ambient instrumental which sounds like, well, like it's being played in a cave, and “Iron Giant” sounds like some sort of folk traditional song. There's just too much here to take in on one listen, and I'm currently on my third, and no closer to a decision in terms of how to rate this one. I'm almost surprised this isn't one of Psy-Fi's picks, because it sounds like the sort of thing he would be into. I think I am too.

7/10