America, where art thine ears? Hast thou gotten too foggy from thine Bon Jovi discs, Casey Kasem, and sad Saturday morning cartoonery? Shrug off thine chains of mediocrity, ignore those FM radio histrionics, and enervating Top Forty crapkick…drop out, kiddies, and grab some o’ “Ye Olde Funna” with Transvision Vamp!
Pop Art is the debut disc from Transvision Vamp, the tuffest clique of sonic pop stars to roam the cosmos since mystic gnome Marc Bolan graced our globe with his skill and art. Pop Art is an uninhibited celebration of trash culture, a not-so-delicate homage to the anti-art, anti-pretension aesthetic that is pop music at its very best. Led by sultry blond singer Wendy James, whose vocals pout, purr, and snarl like a saber-tooth in heat, Transvision Vamp romps through nine turbo-charged tunes: high-octane power-pop fueled by a dollar-a-dance rhythm section and the uncredited guitar pyrotechnics of songwriter and axeman N.C. Sayer.
Lyrical and musical references and influences abound, from the aforementioned Messrs Bolan and Bowie to the Beatles, British comic book heroine Halo Jones, Andy Warhol, cheap movies, MTV, and other relics of an (allegedly) intellectually bankrupt culture. A made-for-video wet dream, a sensual pop achievement, a bacchanalian orgy, a sonic trash treasure, Pop Art is a throwaway reflection of the aesthetic it embraces…and a heck of a lot of fun to boo! Buy or fry, wingbat! (MCA Records, released October 1988)
Review originally published by The Metro...
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