CASSETTE REVIEW: Poppy Red “Keep Your Heart” (Haute Magie)

                At first listen, Poppy Red sounds like a dream pop band, not too much unlike their peers in Savage Sister or )Videotape(.    But as the songs progress and the tape continues to circle, you’ll find something more within these songs.

                For one thing, there are some great drum beats in here.   They can be fast or slowed down, but either way they come through in that 1980’s/1990’s way that is best heard on cassette.    It reminds me of Phil Collins for whatever reason, which leads me to… Yet another flashback.

                When I was younger, I grew up in a two family house.  I lived upstairs with my mom, dad and sisters, and my grandmother (dad’s mom) and uncle (dad’s brother) lived downstairs.  Often times, my grandma or uncle would watch us and I remember many days spent in my uncle’s room.

                Aside from some war based comic books, my uncle also had a drawer full of cassette tapes.  Some of these were country, but he also had Phil Collins.   This lead to my buying the cassingle for “I Can’t Dance”, and ultimately learning about all of the members of Genesis. 

                In some ways, my music education began before I hit my teens, and for that I am thankful in many ways—to have been exposed to music and so much of it at such an early age.  This tape will always take me back to those days and that just astounds me. 

http://poppyred.bandcamp.com/
http://stream.hautemagie.com