Tom Minor – Next Stop Brixton
Rock’ n’ roll mythology is not an ever-expanding thing. The book, for the most part, has been written, approved, published and adopted by the people who care about these sorts of things. The only thing left to consider is how these myths are going to be used going forward.
There are rock songs dedicated to Brixton and rock stars who have dedicated their youth to this area of London. Consequently, there are people who’d be willing to spend a good portion of their income just to visit, and simply to breathe the air down there.
But all of these stories, no matter how famous or celebrated, have a touch of tragedy and a hint of despair about them. Those great songs were written by people who were not yet rock stars. And some of them never made it as expected, nor got a chance at redemption.
Tom Minor’s charming, well-written “Next Stop Brixton” is an ode not just to a place, but to every person who, for a while, searched for their dreams and freedom down there. Minor does so well, in fact, with those melodies and lyrics that the lo-fi recording only adds to the song’s charm and should only increase London’s touristic potential.
Spencer Pope – You Can’t Touch a Mirage
Most of the texts in the history books seem to be based on difficult-to-verify stories. Most of these stories belong to one single person who somehow made it out alive out of some gruesome event. The army was getting slaughtered, the waves were turning the ships into bottom-of-the-sea-bound acordions, and the savages were offering up every explorer as tribute to the gods.
Yet, there’s always one person kept alive by a mixture of wits and impossible-to-believe good luck that provides the entire story. They’re our source, our eyes on the field, the voices we have to believe forever.
It’s easy to imagine that without the attention that they hoped they would receive, these fortunate observers would’ve just given up. Musicians are a lot like this. The greatest personal disasters are one more far-fetched story to be told.
Was it all so bad? If you trust Spencer Pope’s “You Can’t Touch a Mirage,” it certainly moved in that direction. But this Johnny Thunders-inspired song defies the murders, sacrifices and tall waves and gets to tell the tale. Pope even has enough sense to use his charm on us. “You Can’t Touch a Mirage” is a gentle whisper about a slap behind the ears.
