It’s always nice to be given access to something that’s a little bit off the mainstream, something that you’d never knowingly pick up and play, you know this when you read off the track listing …‘A Dream of Laurel & Hardy’ and ‘Friends (John & Yoko In Bed)’.
According to his press release ’Toys From Balsa’ is a result of over exposure to Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), Flaming Lips and George Formby - hmmm. Like that eclectic selection and choice of song titles what does come across after a few plays is the complete diversity and madness that circulates in Mr Bailey’s world. Following a familiar pattern - we British like our eccentrics’ eccentric.
Musically the album suffers due to its wobbly production and over reliance on 80’s synth effects. That said, special ‘BBC Radiophonic Orchestra’ moments include ‘My Love Is Out In Space’ a tune that resembles a TV sci-fi signature tune and ‘The Plastic Bag Song’ which comes across as The Who’s ‘Boris The Spider’ re-recorded circa 1985. Interestingly, ‘A Dream of Laurel and Hardy’ is a distant relation to Paul Young’s take on ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.
Lyrically it’s a different story, 15 tracks charmingly catchy and twisted throughout ‘…it’s a mad bad fag drag world’ as ‘The Plastic Bag Song’ testifies in an Alan Price like tone.
’Toys From Balsa’, is a difficult one to place as nothing really fits into any recognised genre, (but that never hurt XTC did it?) overall definitely a worthwhile effort.