Mike Flowers Pops Light Up London's 100 Club

From the streets of Manhattan’s Lower East side to the West Coast of America, Mike Flowers Pops takes you on a magical musical journey. So with that in mind it was down to the iconic 100 Club in London’s Oxford Street this December to sample one of the group’s rare gigs. The 13-piece’s end of year special was not to disappoint.
Perhaps best known for their 1995 take on the Oasis anthem ‘Wonderwall’, which peaked at No.2 in the UK charts, the Mike Flowers Pops - have also tackled hits by Bjork, Coldplay, Prince and The Velvet Underground, along with Burt Bacharach and Jimmy Webb classics plus standards such as 'Light My Fire’ by The Doors and ‘The ‘In’ Crowd’, a 1964 song written by Billy Page and covered by Bryan Ferry and The Mamas & The Papas amongst others.
Mike Flowers (real name Mike Roberts), is the sharp-suited and charity shop wig wearer of the contemporary easy listening scene. Click those fingers and hey pronto you are musically transported. Some have likened Mike to the equivalent of Austin Powers of the music world.
Some though have been a tad critical of the whole getup. A short review in The Independent from 1996 read: “Even good jokes are only funny the first time round, and this one wasn’t that good to begin with.” Oh well, you can’t win them all.
On this particular night Mike wore a white suit, purple shirt and white tie. And,  I whilst I have to admit I don’t exactly follow his fashion sense, I was fully prepared to get groovy with some easy listening musical fare. And, gauging by the audience reaction they weren’t disappointed.
The venue, originally called the Feldman Swing Club, gained legendary status in modern British music, and has played host to live music since 1942. Then in 1964, the father of the current owner changed the name of the club, which has seen the likes of Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, The Jam,  The Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols - amongst many others - through its doors.
Proceedings kicked off with ‘Magic Betty’, a sing-along host originally from Romania who plays regularly at Norman's Coach and Horses in London’s Soho. She was followed by The Royal Harmonics (www.royalharmonics), a 20-piece Barber Shop choir and one of  leading a cappella choruses in the UK.
Dubbed a “super fun night” out at the 100 Club, The Mike Flowers Pops (also known as MFP, The Pops or The Mike Flowers Pops Orchestra), the British easy listening band fronted by Roberts and supported by the Sounds Superb Singers (Juliet Morel, Lynn Cooper, Yvonne Bainton) and the Super Stereo Brass that certainly packs a punch.
The MFP also parodies the budget record label Music For Pleasure, which produced a series of hot hits cover version albums during the 60s and 70s. Current band members.
A Liverpudlian, Mike told me just before taking to the stage at the 100 Club that he had an interest in the Plastic People of The Universe, a Czech rock band that was the foremost representative of Prague’s underground culture (1968-1989) and which had gone against the grain of Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. Eclectic one might say.
The evening saw a few covers of Burt Bacharach and Jimmy Webb hits. When it came to playing ‘Do You Know The Way San Jose’, a 1968 song written and composed for singer Dionne Warwick by Bacharach and Hal David.
Mike quipped that  he does it “once a year and dreads it”. And, one could see why as he tried to tune his electric guitar during the performance. Although this simply added to the audience’s merriment. “Thank god that’s over,” he said at the end of that particular number.
Referring to departed music legends - David Bowie and Lou Reed - MFP embarked on songs by these greats. A medley of Bowie songs was really pepped up the 4-piece brass section. And, the closer you got to the stage where they were playing you could hear some scintillating sounds.
Keeping it tight was Glyn, the drummer from Kentish Town, the bassist from Walthamstow, the percussionist (Ryan Martello) who writes film music, and Adam Day (aka ‘Dr Poppy’) on keyboards.
The band played a good fifteen songs at the 100 Club on the night that took in numbers by Velvet Underground (a medley including ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’, ‘White Light/White Heat’), The Doors (‘Light My Fire’), a Prince medley (‘Raspberry Beret’, ‘1999’ (Party Like It’s 1999)) and Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’.
Flowers said in reference to another Jimmy Webb song that ‘Up, Up & Away’, a 1967 song recorded by the 5th Dimension, was “possibly the most optimistic song in the repertoire...and a wonderful song.” Indeed, this sunshine pop number was major hit reaching No.7 on the U.S. pop singles chart and No.1 in both Canada and Australia.
Continuing on a groove, the epic ‘MacArthur Park’ written by Webb followed. A hit song, which was first sung by Richard Harris fifty year ago in 1968 it is perhaps the last word in orchestral pop. For their part, the MFP’s trumpet section was a tour de force covering this song.
It has been labelled the worst song ever written with its flowery lyrics and metaphors (e.g. likening love to a cake left out in the rain). Still, this didn’t stop Donna Summer’s disco arrangement of the song from 1978 topping the Billboard Hot 100.
The show concluded with an Xmas medley (Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Long Time Ago In Bethlehem, I’m Dreaming of A White Xmas). Singer Helen McCookerybook (aka Dr Helen Reddington - http://mccookerybook.com/), a founder member of the bands The Chefs and Helen & The Horns, both of which recorded numerous sessions for John Peel, in the audience remarked to me afterwards: “It was a fantastic evening.”
On this showing the Mike Flowers Pops should hit the road more than once a year. And who knows, even the Czechs might dig it too.
For MFP’s website see: http://www.mikeflowers.co.uk/ and a clip of the band performing at the 100 Club see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T09x_1dZQRo