Mike Flowers Pops A Groovy Place London 828 743-2 :Review

Even good jokes are only funny the first time round, and this one wasn't that good to begin with. What little mirth is left sours completely just as soon as Flowers starts doing his own compositions, which is, alas, track one. It's about as leadenly amusing as the Australian TV detective spoof Funky Squad, which is to say not at all.

The best jokes here are when Flowers & Co corral the most eccentric of indie methodologies into the big, comforting bean-bag of the MFP world- view, as when "Venus as a Boy" is turned into something smilingly sinister, or when a medley of "All Tomorrow's Parties", "Venus in Furs" and "White Light / White Heat" exposes the Velvet Underground's shiny, shiny boots of vinyl. But what is the point of revising already cheesy standards such as "The In-Crowd" and "Release Me"? Is this a double-joke? If so, it's doubly unamusing, an overdose of irony in the soul.