The Dukes of Stratosphear Chips from the Chocolate Fireball 1987
As a break from their somewhat more somber projects, the British new-wave group XTC traveled back in time to pay homage to their musical influences under the pseudonym The Dukes of Stratosphear and produced Chips from the Chocolate Fireball. The album is a self-conscious, self-indulgent experiment in lighthearted fun - a tribute without the sappiness, a collection of imitations without the phoniness. Including counter-intuitively original impersonations of the best of 1960s psychedelic music, Chips summons the dreamy pop of the Hollies, the harmonies of Pet Sounds, the upbeat lyricism of the Kinks, the deranged echoes of a The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and so much more. The best part is guessing the songs being imitated and picturing the uninhibited fun the Dukes had making weird whirring noises while emulating their musical heroes - and with the technology to do what their heroes could have only imagined, the album shines in its own right.
