aaamusic | On 29, Aug 2011

Surely everyone knows the Northern Soul staple and theme music to German TV’s Beat Club (‘A Touch Of Velvet-A String Of Brass’)? Have heard how as a young staffer at EMI Wirtz worked with an even younger Pink Floyd at Abbey Road and was instrumental in their signing? And you can’t be unaware of his 1967 smash hit ‘Excerpt From A Teenage Opera’. It’s one you never forget. Best known for his work as producer and arranger, Alsatian popmeister Mark Wirtz has chalked up hits for a whole array of artists from Tomorrow and Kim Fowley to Helen Reddy and Dean Martin to Anthony Newley!

Lost Petz 2 is a companion piece to Mark’s 1979 Capitol solo album Lost Pets, and it’s his most personal album to date, bearing all the hallmarks of the innovative arranging and production skills that stood him in such good stead throughout his hit-making period. Mark’s unfeasibly lovely and poptastic voice remains unchanged since 1967 giving Lost Pets 2 a timeless nature. Combining pop and psychedelia with a strong ’70s pop vibe that fans of ELO, Roy Wood, 10CC and Badfinger will adore, Wirtz pulls every trick in the pop songbook. ‘Lost Pets’’ sweet and delicious harmony glam-pop feel recalls the kind of mid-70s styled radio smash seldom heard since The First Class’s ’Beach Baby’ blasted out from every radio in the country.

Here’s to Wirtz.