I’m prepared to crown Martin Gordon the clown prince of power pop. His lastest work “The World is Your Lobster” is a maniacal mix of XTC pop genius and Neil Innes/Monty Python humour. Gordon skewers plenty of sacred cows here, with bouncy pop glee. “Pop Goes Bang” is a clear comment on the state of musical taste today, with lines like “Tell me, will this awful racket never stop?” The next song needs no introduction, “What would Jesus Drive?” — it’s not a hotrod folks. The next several songs stylistically recall 10cc and the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour-era quirkiness. The Gilbert & Sullivan musical experiments continue (“Am I Alone?” and “A Policeman’s Lot is Not A Happy One”) and the influence is clearly leaking through to songs like his own “Mirror, Mirror.” The silliness is also amped up when compared to his previous works (example: an entire song about a joke “My Dog’s Got No Nose” How does he smell? Terrible). The music still has great melodies, and flawless musicianship. Along the way Gordon punctures consumerism (“No Offers At All”), hypocrisy (“Don’t Do As I Do”) and plenty of pithy observations about the mankind’s relationship with his deity (“No More Limbo”). The lyrics demand attention, and even delve into abstract Dadaism (“Just Say Wee”). As with his past works, you get a lot of bang for your buck with 15 tracks. Like me, you’ll be screaming for more. Keep it comin’ Martin!
