Trippin' the Whole Colourful World

Not to be confused with the Scottish new wave outfit that Jo Callis was in between the Rezillos and the Human League, the Shake are a Spanish quartet going for the Flamin' Groovies Award for the most blatantly unoriginal British Invasion sound-alikes. For example, the fadeout of "She's in Black" goes for the full Beatles mash-up effect, quoting most of the tune from "Norwegian Wood" over a rhythm track overtly reminiscent of "She Said She Said." Elsewhere, "Still Haven't Seen the Man in the Moon" mixes the brash bounce of 1965-1966 Kinks to a gently psychedelic coda reminiscent of early Pink Floyd or perhaps the Creation, and "She's My Girl" mixes a Searchers-style jangle riff with a vocal melody extremely reminiscent in spots to lysergic-era Small Faces. Anyway, you could go through the rest of the album playing Spot the Homage (at best) or Spot the Ripoff (at worst) in songs like "You Said Goodbye" (which you may know better under its original name, "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone"), but honestly, what's the point? Those whose sole criterion in hearing new music is how much it reminds them directly of older, better music will probably adore Trippin' the Whole Colourful World. Little Steven's sure to play it to death on his radio show, for example. But anyone who doesn't feel that pop music reached its apotheosis in the early months of 1967 and it's all been straight downhill ever since should probably steer well clear. The songs are catchy little pastiches, but the aggressiveness of the album's nearly total lack of originality is simply maddening.