The 1981 Listening Post - Major Hoople's Boarding House - The Hooples Album

 Reviewed by MacArthur Antigua

Released: 1981 Major Hoople's Boarding House The Hooples Album Genre: AM Gold, Earnest Doo-Wop Adjacent Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Highlights: I'm Runnin' After You Some of the albums I’ve reviewed for TLP have felt timeless - this is on the other end of the spectrum, it feels like I’m opening a time machine capsule. The album’s first two tracks, “Someone” and “I’m Running After You” put me in the most fascinating dinner party of sorts - I’m sitting adjacent to the earnest crooning of a 70s singer/songwriter like B.J. Thomas, across the table from someone with soaring falsettos and doo-wop harmonies like Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, with the flamboyant production flourishes of ABBA rounding out the table. It’s not challenging listening as it sounds like their ambition was cracking that “AM Gold” Time/Life Record Collection. There are strands that piqued my interest in places - a terrific harmony in a chorus here, a fascinating piano plink there. Otherwise, it’s quite forgettable. As I dug into the backstory, I learned that they were Canadian, and that their namesake is a reference to a comic strip, “Our Boarding House,” in which Major Hoople was the owner and proprietor. Perhaps if I launched a tribute band, I’d call it “Garfield’s Lasagna Dish.” All that said, I don’t really connect these songs with the source material - outside that they both seemed like very earnest and safe - two traits I certainly connect to Canada.