The more you learn about Eden Kane, the more you’re convinced that his whole existence was the twinkling imaginings of some later sixties satirist. He’s simply too fruity to be true. For a start there’s the name – Eden Kane, so evocative the era’s great self-creations, maybe Billy Fury matches its greasy hearthrob poetry but nobody else does. (The “Kane” came from Citizen Kane, further proof of Eden’s transparent ficticity). His first single – our satirist chuckling as he hits a target full on – was “Hot Chocolate Crazy”, an ad jingle from radio Luxembourg, product placement pop. Kane then went into films (of course – lots of good jokes to be found there) with the comedy Drinks All Round – another sharply observed title from the writer, though his name for Eden’s songwriter, Les Vandyke, is perhaps a little too comic.
This pop pastiche reaches a climax, of course, as Eden Kane gets to number one with “Well I Ask You” – that title, so faux-colloquial, so archly English, makes you almost gasp with admiration. What would that record sound like, if it had existed? An Adam Faith knockoff perhaps, full of pert orchestral flourishes and campy growling? Yes – something like that.
Score: 5
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