Illustration from poster titled "Fly By Clipper Europe" by Pan American World Airways, c. 1968
In my quest to track down every song ever written that has as its underlying mission statement, "We love the Beatles!" I have acquired a couple records by Myracle Brah, the unfortunately-named power-pop project of Baltimore songwriter Andy Bopp. Myracle Brah's 1998 debut Life on Planet Eartsnop is regarded as one of the better Beatles pastiche records ever released, as well as being a top-notch guitar-pop record on its own merits. Unfortunately, that album is long out of print and kinda hard to find, so I have been subsisting on Plate Spinner, Myracle Brah's 1999 record, which is known as the band's "Big Star" record. Power pop built on a love of the Beatles often ends up being compared to something more recent (usually a '70s Beatles follower like ELO, Cheap Trick, or Big Star) if the production is handled in a way that is not a straight-up '60s soundalike.
Plate Spinner ratchets up the dramatic crescendos in its melody lines and turns up the guitars - voila, Beatles love turns to Big Star love. This kind of thing is best seen in a song like "Dead Overnight", where the Beatles influence still comes through. It starts with a very Beatlesy, melancholy, waltz-time melody and a simple arpeggiated guitar riff - kinda "Baby's in Black" meets "House of the Rising Sun" - but by the one-minute mark the guitar heroics are pushing it into '70s power-pop territory. It's a pleasant song, but that first bit makes me wish I could get my hands on a legit copy of Life on Planet Eartsnop and hear Myracle Brah do unadulterated Beatles pastiches the way God intended.
"Dead Overnight" by Myracle Brah
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