PIKES (Christopher Ling) is, as we’ve reported previously, influenced by artists such as Peter Gabriel, Frank Zappa and Kate Bush but none of them feature on this track as he delves back into the synth-pop 1980s, home to the Yuppies and all things greed.
Sherman McCoy, the Bond Trading ‘Master of the Universe’ of The Bonfire of the Vanities (funniest book I ever read), and stockbroker Jordan Belfort of The Wolf of Wall Street. The Yuppies were so 80s. I remember watching their British counterparts driving past me along the Bayswater Road in their Porches every morning en route the City, chomping at the bit to get wheeling and dealing, while I waited for the #12 bus to the Elephant & Castle.
The full album title is ‘Yuppie Love (Soundtrack To The Yuppie Lifestyle)’ and it was released on 1st September 2023 on ART:ERY Music Group. It’s a fusion of six previously launched singles, along with three new tracks.
It is pure 1980s electro pop from the off with a big tune (I defy you to forget it once it’s implanted in your head), huge powerful synth chords, goose bump key changes, echo-y vocals, a heartfelt guitar bridge that is just so and memorable chorus lyrics.
Oh, and the boy can sing a bit.
It builds to a veritable anthem; a case of Howard Jones (whom he channeled in the previous single we reviewed) meets Heart.
PIKES can get you up and dancing or just snap you out of your end-of-the-day knackered exhaustion. And he does it on every track of the album. I checked out ‘Higher Plane (Take you all the way’) and he somehow manages to bring together immediately post-Gabriel Genesis with Gabriel himself (the underlying theme is pretty damn close to that of Gabriel’s ‘San Jacinto’), while he casually throws in a guitar break that Steve Howe would have been proud of.
PIKES is the real deal. The genuine article. He ticks all the boxes. Dots the ‘i’s and crosses the ‘t’s. Throw in your own idiom for good measure.
And when the 80s revival comes around again he’ll know what Yuppie Lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o ve is, anyway.
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