The High Plane Drifters - Sweet Poppy Jean

Whatever else you might think of their gleefully inept garage shtick, you can’t say the High Plane Drifters haven’t swotted up on their rock heritage. The tradition of marrying corny wide-eyed lyrics to crude ramalama action has yielded plenty of cheap thrills through the years and the Teeside duo have delivered another lovable gonzo moment with Sweet Poppy Jane. Kicking off with a four-note guitar riff cribbed from so many sources it’s almost original, the song quickly gets down to business – wonky-voiced singer Timothy Oxnard recounting his newly-minted union with a female friend. The lyrics are, of course, ignorable tosh, but Oxnard’s Velvetsy guitar solo and the single’s puppyish air of mad energy make it worth the admission fee.