Fool's Garden
Go And Ask Peggy For The Principal Thing

One-Hit Wonder? Not a chance! Fool's Garden were an emerging reality, full of energy and talent, with excellent melodic insights, good creativity, and apparently a lack of major "sponsors" backing them. Perhaps the fact that they weren't born in London or Manchester but rather in Pforzheim, a cheerful town in Baden-Wurttemberg, was a handicap for these guys, who, alongside the Texans Fastball, represent the good and positive side of pop rock, the easy rock, the "commercial" rock of the '90s. They belonged to the generation of bands that came after the grunge wave, from which the usual suspects chose who to promote based on the ability to play the part of court jesters for His Majesty MTV, at the expense of far more deserving artists like the Fastball and indeed our Fool's Garden, who got the crumbs, a hit single, and then thanks and goodbye, because the production had already decided who the stars of the movie should be, and at best they'd get a cameo; because they didn't have the right look and hadn't paid their dues.

The Fool's Garden: singer Peter Freudenthaler, Roland Rohl on keyboards, Thomas Mangold on bass, Ralf Wochele on drums, and Volker Hinkel, the group's creative mind, on guitar. Five guys driven by a great passion for The Who and especially The Beatles: their first album, "Fool's Garden" from 1991, is dedicated to John Lennon: still a bit raw, but you can already tell the foundation is good. A track like "Man In A Cage" is there to prove it, then in 1995 comes "Dish Of The Day": more mature, defined, and incisive power-pop. The growth process continues without hitches, and the songs are there, from the queen-like arena rock of "Ordinary Man" to the poignant intimacy of the ballad "The Tocsin", and of course "Lemon Tree": the right piece, catchy melody, original sound with just enough retro feel, massive success all over Europe, it seemed just the beginning of a brilliant career destined for many more great satisfactions, but inexplicably it all ends there. What happened to "Fool's Garden" after this exploit?

After "Dish Of The Day", after elevating "Lemon Tree" to the rank of radio hit, Fool's Garden reached the peak of their story in 1997 with "Go And Ask Peggy For The Principal Thing", this is the original title of a complete album, that conquers at first impact, explosive and colorful, light-hearted and fun, always with intelligence and irony. This album was probably penalized by the wrong choice of lead single, which fell on "Why Did She Go?", a good semi-acoustic pop-rock piece in pure Beatles style, that failed to repeat the glories of the recent past; "Why Did She Go?" is one of the less personal tracks of the album, little more than a filler, unlike songs like the similar but much grittier and convinced "And You Say" and the second single "Probably", which would have had all the appeal to become a new "Lemon Tree", with a pinch of polemic verve added, surrounding a melody as catchy as it gets. Fool's Garden also handles harder sounds well, as demonstrated by the initial "The Principal Thing", which highlights Volker Hinkel's guitar skills in an almost punk-rock shard, driven and devoid of the pleasant orchestral embellishments that characterize the rest of the album, or completely unplug with the fun retro pop of "Rainy Day", a tasty, cheerful little song entirely without pretentiousness, without the sickening sweetness of the supposed genius Mika. Songs like "Emily" and "Northern Town" showcase the sound of a band at the height of their splendor in their most mature and complete expression: good songwriting and excellent arrangements for these tracks that both crescendo, with the guitar gradually stealing the scene from the orchestrations, giving a more "solemn" tone. A handful of ballads is not missing, among which stands out the dreamy "When The Moon Kisses Town", which masterfully achieves the right balance between sweetness and energy, ennobled by a beautiful intro of harmonica and piano and by Volker Hinkel engaging in a solo à la Brian May, and finally the concluding "Good Night", indeed a lullaby entirely entrusted to Roland Rohl's orchestrations.

"Go And Ask Peggy For The Principal Thing" is an album that, basically, says nothing new, but it has a rare quality these days: it's a commercial album but a beautiful album, crafted with enthusiasm and passion, and also with a spirit of emulation of their idols if you will, more than with the intention of creating new trends and appearing on glossy magazine covers; Fool's Garden are adorable songwriters, and they use this prerogative excellently in this album: the strategically placed orchestrations throughout the album help a lot, constituting a nice trademark and creating a retro, pleasant, and light atmosphere. Peter Freudenthaler is an excellent singer, versatile, endowed with a scratchy and expressive voice capable of adapting well to each song, with craft and also great personality.

After this album, Fool's Garden faded away after three mediocre discs, perhaps burned by the lack of success of what should have been the album of their definitive consecration. To this, in light of four solid stars, I add one more as my personal tribute to a band forgotten too soon, which deserved much better fortune.