Description

Original 1978 Swedish pressng with printed innersleeve

Though they weren’t around for long, Advertising managed one brilliantly eccentric album, 1978’s Jingles. The punk-era Cambridge pop band formed in 1976 around Tot Taylor and Simon Boswell, both of whom strummed and sang. Taylor had appeared earlier in A Special Moment and the Blue Kittens, a theatrical band which released no material but did compose a musical. The punk explosion inspired Taylor to form a pop band, and with Boswell, he decided on the name Advertising. The early single “Lipstick” just missed the UK charts in 1977 (and deserved much better), but the group signed with EMI Records for their debut album, Jingles. Its lack of success, however, caused the band’s break-up. While Taylor began a solo career soon after, Boswell emerged first as a producer and later as the founder of Live Wire and Data. Nearly every song on Jingles features clever wordplay, driving tempos, and brisk guitars, all of which converge on the album’s opener, Lipstick. Sounding like a cartoon version of the Buzzcocks, the song relates Taylor’s hilarious incompatibility with a girl whose lips stick. More of the same is evident on Ich Liebe Dich, which offers the wry observation “you’re just a little German girl/well you’re no Ingrid Bergman girl” before arriving at a chorus which questions “why must I be rich/for you to say Ich Liebe Dich.” Although most of the songs speed along with the vigor of punk-pop, the album’s highlight is the leisurely, atmospheric You Cost Too Much, an amusing confession of all the anticipated obstacles in an affair doomed to fail before it begins. Taylor’s self-deprecating esprit softens the slightly misogynist tone of his accusatory diatribes, and allows the listener to laugh at his insecurities. Yet as entertaining as the lyrics may be, equal time and effort is devoted to the music, resulting in ultra-catchy melodies and effective background harmonies. The biggest problem with Jingles is that it ends too soon, and Taylor departed for a prolific (albeit obscure) solo career before Advertising had a chance to follow up its one shining moment.

Track list:
1. Lipstick
2. Ich Liebe Dich
3. Pleasure Seekers
4. Suspender Fun
5. Shy
6. The Lookalikes
7. A.R.T. – ART
8. Respect
9. Mean To Me (The Clothes You Wear)
10. The Lonely Guys
11. My Advice
12. Jealousy
13. Stolen Love
14. You Cost Too Much