Songs for William is a must spin for fans of “long-lost psych classic” Sinful Skinful by the North London-based band Fickle Pickle.
Agony Street is the brainchild of Swedish multi-instrumentalist Klas Qvist and percussionist (“including empty cigar boxes and table”) Gudmundur Bragason. Both guys contribute exquisite lead and backing vocals.
By the way, Fickle Pickle provided the very best Beatles music not performed by the Fab Four in their post-Beatles “band on the run” away from each other solo stuff. Just listen to the Pickle’s tunes “Sinful Skinful” and “Sandy,” and simply say to yourself, “maybe” I am “amazed.” Ditto for Songs for William, which was recorded in 1993, but only now released!
Agony Street’s music is up-tempo, melodic, joyous, and Sir James Paul McCartney infectious. “Another Sleepless Night” is a clever hand-clapped tune from Help-era Beatlemania. It’s pretty perfect pop. Then, the sitar-driven “Song for William” drips with a psych vibe that touches the groove of the Pretty Things, circa S.F. Sorrow. The same is true for “Plastic Revolution” with this slight Eastern drone that drips its melody into even more sitar and backward-tape mind manipulation.
The tunes continue to charm: “You’re in Love” ups the pop ante with glorious vocals and A Hard Day’s Night seduction. The piano-graced “Right Place, Wrong Century” chimes like a really nice Gilbert O’Sullivan perfect pop tune about being “alone again naturally.” But there’s a storm cloud hovering over Agony Street’s “A Perfect Day for a Breakup,” yet the cheerful melody belies the rather morose “break up” and “return to sender” lyrical kiss-off message.
Then, “I’ve Heard It All Before” is yet another appeal to a dark side—a sentiment seldom found in the casual “get well soon” Hallmark card agenda. I suppose clever juxtaposition is the spindle of inspired pop music. Thank you, Ray Davies!
Things get roughed up a bit with the Beach Boys-inspired “39 Tank,” with a surfboard endless summer big wave-riding backing vocal and a nice Farfisa organ throwback roller-rink vibe. Oh, the perfect pop just pulses into an eternal youthful bloodstream. “Voices from the Other Side” has a clever lyric joined to a happy melody. The same is true for “The Voices in My Head,” which gets psychological in a very lucid Syd Barrett sort of way.
Speaking of mental health, Agony Street’s “Therapy Hill” sounds like an ironic song with a “solution” worthy of the Who’s unnecessary Tommy treatment. This is followed by “Be My Wife,” which begins with more backward-tape psych stuff, and then flowers into a catchy acoustic tune that takes a melodic photo of “a preacher man” as he “walks through the graveyard,” which suddenly morph into a weird Eastern European folk dance. Odd! Then, “I Bet They Wish” is more acoustic pop music, that conjures the power pop sound of (the very great!) band, Game Theory. Big compliment, there!
Not to be all Biblical, but it’s an understatement to say this album is a “cup” that runneth over” with pop perfect melodies! That said, Songs for William closes the curtain with “Looking for Grand Mal,” which is yet another jaunty tune (with accordion and a Kinks’ Face to Face vibe!) that manages to once again, evoke the infectious spiritual soul of those Beatles Fab Four from “all those years ago.” Thank you very much, George Harrison!
To top off the plug for Agony Street’s album, there are two bonus tracks: “Merry Christmas Anyway” is a piano-based very seasonal single release, and “Goodbye Forever,” while also a piano-pulsed single, simply echoes the McCartney-infused colors that tickle the brain cells with a good pop tune and the message to “Ram On” – and, of course, “Give your heart to somebody, soon right away.” Thankfully, that long-forgotten North-London based Fickle Pickle delightfully grabbed the baton with a tune like “Sunshine Pie,” and Klas Qvist and his Agony Street band certainly continue in the always melodic and very clever pop music race.
A sad postscript: Klas Qvist passed away on July 5, 2021. He left a legacy of albums full of “pure pop for now people.” His alter-ego band, Citizen K, left three pop perfect albums. To state the obvious: “Ram on” and love these records a lot.
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