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Lucky Soul

Ain't Never Been Cool

(Ruffa Lane; US: Available as import; UK: 15 Jan 2007)

1950s girl-group pop gets a modern-day reworking on the delightful title track of the UK pop group Lucky Soul’s three-song Ain’t Never Been Cool EP. Giddy, bright, sweet and tough, too—it also earns points as a glitzy pop song with a flipside message from most similar-sounding pop music: I ain’t never been cool, and I don’t care. “Ain’t Never Been Cool” is the second of three singles the band is releasing in advance of their fantastic upcoming album The Great Unwanted. On this EP, it’s accompanied by another album track, and another throwback vocal-pop song which sparkles and shines: “Struck Dumb”. But due to its absence from the album, the most exciting track here is the third, a stunning ballad titled “I Gots the Magic”. It’s a pretty pop song about love, with both gentle strings and crashing guitars. But it’s also a delightfully naughty one, with a melody that feels like a sing-song-y schoolyard chant and the memorable come-on, “I’m gonna make you feel funny inside.”

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Dave Heaton has been writing about music on a regular basis since 1993, first for college newspapers and DIY fanzines and now mostly on the Internet. In 2000, the same year he started writing for PopMatters, he founded the online arts magazine ErasingClouds.com, for which he is still the editor and main writer. He also writes music reviews for the print magazine The Big Takeover and has a blog column on their website, BigTakeover.com. He has a Bachelors degree in Journalism (1996) and a Masters degree in English (1999), both from Truman State University, in the underrated town of Kirksville, Missouri, Though he does enough music-listening and writing for it to be a full-time job, it is not one. He has held a series of editing, writing and business communications positions at small and large companies in Kansas, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He currently lives in Kansas City.


Tagged as: lucky soul
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