Poppin' Up Again is the sixth full-length album by The Yum Yums, and of course it's power pop perfection. I know what you're thinking: Didn't I already review this album? I did indeed. But that was like three months ago. The world has changed so much since then. We are all wiser and more discouraged by a planet in turmoil and in a greater need of life-affirming pop music. And now my fellow Americans can buy this album at a domestic price without having to surrender an arm or a leg. Tacking on the contents of the band's "Shoog Shoog (Sugar Baby)" 7" as bonus tracks, Rum Bar Records' CD deluxe edition of Poppin' Up Again extends the album to a whopping 17 tracks. And more of The Yum Yums can only be a good thing!
You might ask if anyone needs to own more than one Yum Yums album given that the band's musical approach has not changed or progressed in any discernible way in thirty years. That would be a fair question, and my answer would be that The Yum Yums are one of the handful of bands in the history of rock 'n' roll that would be immensely disserved by artistic progression. The Yum Yums were born to spread joy into the world through sugar-sweet, mega-catchy power pop punk songs. The music gods, dismayed that no band had ever properly married '60s bubblegum and '70s glam rock to the Ramones, tapped Morten Henriksen to be the new king of power pop. One of the hardest things to do in all of music is to stick to a songwriting style this simple yet continually produce great songs. Morten's gift is a seemingly inexhaustible supply of perfect pop songs. His brain should be studied by scientists. Morten hasn't progressed to writing about politics or existential angst. He hasn't bothered to learn a fourth chord or infuse his music with jazz influences. He has never deigned to writing a seven-minute song about dragons. Again and again and again, he writes upbeat, catchy songs about love and romance. Conventional wisdom would predict diminishing returns, but Morten just keeps on getting better at his craft. 2020's For Those About To Pop! sounded like a greatest hits collection, and for a moment I wondered if finally The Yum Yums had made the album they could never top. Clearly I underestimated their musical powers. Poppin' Up Again is everything that you could ever want a Yum Yums album to be, and again, 99% of bands out there will hear this and wish they could produce this many great songs in a lifetime. Do you like harmonies? Do you like earworm hooks? Do you like sweet melodies wrapped up in crunchy guitars? Do you like songs that invoke the word "baby"? Then you are, as they say, in for a treat. This CD release of Poppin' Up Again is perfectly timed for summer fun, so step up to the bar and order yourself some top shelf pop!
No comments:
Post a Comment