SINGLES

Rip It Up, Issue 29, 1 December 1979, Page 19

SINGLES

GEORGE KAY

The Members have lost no time this year in going from unknown ex-Stiff to one of Virgin’s hottest new roadrunners, and "Killing Time”, ebullient and irrepressible, makes it three in a row. Ska band, the Specials, move in with mood and muscle on the up-tempo reggae-in-echo-chambers, "Gangsters", and Bram Tchaikovsky, ex-Motors, wins gawky-cover-of-the-month award for his version of "Lullaby On Broadway”. The Laughing Dogs meanwhile blast away in time honoured no mess tradition on "Get 'lm Outta Town" and the Boomtown Rats continue their new found melodic maturity on “Diamond Smiles”. Moon Martin plays washy R&B on “Rolene” as Santana, slicked up, try to woo us unconvincingly with "You Know That I Love You". Combine a Phil Spectorish big sound and a Bruce Springsteenish ballad and you have Miss Born-To-Run, Ellen Foley’s hit single “We Belong To the Night”. Fab. Well dressed man about town Johnny Cougar proves that he can write a reasonable hook on "Miami" and Randy Newman grows old in style, meaning he hasn’t lost his cynicism, on the blues energy packed "It’s Money That I Want”. Who doesn’t? Bob Dylan has replaced pain with religion on the twee, feeble "Man Gave Names To the Animals”, but who cares? Plenty judging by the way his new album is selling. Back home and we find that Mark Williams hasn’t changed his style a helluva lot but he has got better, not that he was ever bad mind, on the edgy funk of "I Don't Want You Anymore" coupled with one of his own compositions, an excellent ballad “Now That You’ve Gone”, on the flip. Marc Hunter chalks up another danceable ditty “Don’t Take Me" and another old-timer, Wayne Mason, who has written many a classy pop song, comes up with the best enzed ballad so far this year in "Rain From A Blue Sky". EMI have released a number of doublebacked A-sides and there are a few musts amongst them: The Animals "It’s My Life/We Gotta Get Outta This Place” both true anthems for sure; the Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown/Get Off My Cloud” sixties’ cornerstones; Manfred Mann’s "Do Wah Diddy Diddy/Sha La La" and "Pretty Flamingo/lf You/Gotta go" peerless pop, and TherrVs “Here Comes the Night/Gloria” so influential it ain’t funny. Ten classics for ten bucks, fair deal.