(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 24. Brian Protheroe - "Pinball"

There’s a song on this “Think Bubble” album called “Stars Fall Like Dominoes”, which quotes the line “And we’ve run out of pale ale” from “Pinball”. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had any pale ale, but just from the name alone I’m not sure I’d like it. (A ‘daiquiri’, on the other hand, which I’ve also never had, makes me think of feather boas and nights out at the Rainbow Restaurant at Biba, with a “Human Menagerie”-period Cockney Rebel, so I’m quite up for one of them, if anyone’s buying.) But anyway, you’re distracting me again. “Pinball” is one of those songs which breaks all the rules: two low-key verses, a bit that seems like it might be heading towards a chorus but dissolves into a solo, then back to basically repeating both verses at once. Don’t try it at home! It has a really uneasy edge to it all, and even the little cat meow sounds depressing. Still, on the bright side, as well as with “Stars Fall Like Dominoes”, it was handy for ‘feel’ when it came to “Song Cycle” on our “Optimistic Fool” record. But really, even with the depressing cat, we all just kinda liked it, you know? (Someone once told me he ‘liked the riff’. Yeah, sweet, I’m sure that’s exactly what Brian had in mind. Pfff… I don’t know, some people…)

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
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