The title says it all doesn’t it, come on, lets be honest, lets party like it’s 1986.

For those of you who remember the good old days, and I’m sure that those of you who don’t have been told over and over about them by old farts like me this record has more jingle jangle that Jimmy Saville at a Roger McGuinn convention, it is totally infectious and absolutely irresistible. This band make me want to go out right now and buy a tank top, a satchel and some lollipops.

The whole feel of this record is that of the punk pop ethos, just like all those indie kids in the eighties who were happy to strap on a cheap guitar and churn out an e.p.-worth of songs to sell mail order with a fanzine. In those days enthusiasm was the must, as soon as you stumbled across the realisation that creativity is far more important than talent you pretty much became a popstar, at least in your own cul-de-sac.

It exactly this feeling that washes over the listener immediately they press play (although really it should have been slipping the needle down on a seven inch single – again kids, ask your parents), it reminds me of days spent in the sunshine, revising for ‘O’-Levels, with a ridiculously huge walkman ushering the likes of Talulah Gosh, The Popguns, The Orchids and a thousand other Sarah Records bands ear-wards, and even though the song is essentially a tale of heartbreak and lost love the underlying sentiments cannot fail to make me smile.

It’s hip and it’s pop and you cannot fail to shift your feet to the infectious hooks of The Research then you must be residing somewhere between tone deaf, lifeless and listless – apparently the artwork is supposed to represent the second and third verses, but the record company didn’t see fit to include it, I’m sure it’s great, and I’d tell you what the b-sides are like, but, erm, well I don’t have them either. Nevertheless, this song is tops!

Words by Johnny Mac
 

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