Flipper's Guitar – Three Cheers For Our Side

If you know your mid-80s British indie (specifically Postcard Records) then titles like 'Three Cheers For Our Side' and 'Goodbye, Our Pastels Badges' should prompt a nod of recognition. While I don't have much knowledge of Orange Juice, Haircut 100 or The Pastels, not knowing hasn't gotten in the way of me enjoying this LP.

If like me you've come to Flipper's Guitar through Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada) then you may at first find the straight-up guitar pop of this record a bit of a shock. It's a few steps-removed from The First Question Award. But stick with it and check the second half of the LP and you find Oyamada at his most charging and pure-pop. A few exceptions aside this album is all uptempo-jangle guitar pop with a commercial sheen. Cornelius fans may be hoping for mashed-up genres and strange juxtapositions but instead I recommend taking this LP in the spirit it was intended. As a set of alternately bracing or sweet genre homages. While it's only the group's debut some of the material is irresistible.