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Pop Levi
@ Water Rats, London, 19 January 2007
4 stars
What took Pop Levi so long to show up? Where was he hiding? What was he doing? Who was he? Just a few things that flit through your mind as you watch him screw his lower jaw like Scarface and pull another outrageous pose.

Pop Levi got lost somewhere between the sixties and seventies. Ok probably more towards the latter. So did his band who look a freakish creation, more so in the red light whirring like a siren in the Water Rats.

There is a fine line in rock n' roll. Some don't even come parallel to it, no matter how much they try. Some cross it, and lose their way. The trick is to get on to it and keep going with a swing in your step, which Pop Levi does as easily as hop scotch. That he was a sometime touring bassist for Ladytron is pedestrian; tonight he is a bona fide rock 'n' roll star, gee-ed up and glammed up to the max.

He's not faking either. Any wannabe can saunter up behind a pair of shades and leather and look like they've been on crack since they were three. But to project a star quality that a Bowie, a Bolan or even a Prince had, takes something quite else. Levi knows this. Guys want to be him, girls want to fuck him. He knows it.

It helps that he can cruise the blues, soul and glam and pull everyone in for the ride. Ok so maybe Blue Honey owes one heck of a thank you to Led Zep and T-Rex. He'll get you moving with it and keep you going with the likes of Pick-Me-Up-Uppercut's bubble gum trash and Dollar Bill Rock's kooky blues.

The naysayers may say he smacks of fake tales of San Francisco. Well he has a pad in his new home LA, which is proof enough that he's living the dream. It's pretty amusing that hiding behind this star in the making is a medium height, Scouser who has had his curly locks straightened to a conditioned bowl of silk. Hey, nobody's perfect.

Still he's an original and able to walk the line, mind.

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ALBUM:
Pop Levi - Never Never Love

ALBUM:
Pop Levi - The Return To Form Black Magick Party

TRACK:
Pop Levi - Never Never Love

TRACK:
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GIG:
Pop Levi @ 100 Club, London

GIG:
Pop Levi @ Water Rats, London

GIG:
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Pop Levi



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