LIVE

Rip It Up, Issue 31, 1 February 1980, Page 14

LIVE

George Kay

Blondie * • ' ; -Av Hammersmith Odeon, London —Jan 11. That face. The poster sellers were doing great trade with a new portrait. The buyers, the concert-goers, looked a very normal bunch. Well for a rock group to make England’s top selling LP for 79, it must appeal to the average bloke. And to the average bloke tonight’s au-, dience is decidedly male-dominant that face on the poster is Blondie. The first half-hour of the shows took pains (sic) to demonstrate group as group, drummer Clem Burke coming on like a new Keith Moon and the guitarists holding stage front. The instrumental sound is coarser and less sophisticated than on record. It is also undistinguished and boring, often covering an essential thiness behind a bluster of fuzzy guitar. "Heart of Glass", for example was stodgy instead of propulsive and those expecting beautiful swirling keyboards found them weak and tinny. If Blondie’s record success owes much to producer Mike Chapman, its stage show came alive once Debbie Harry asserted herself as focal/vocal point. Playing an extraordinary blend of street urchin, strutting ex-punk, knowing sophisticate and eager amateur, she moved and leapt superbly. (Those coy, stilted teleclips are quite misleading.) More importantly, as far as the mix would let me assess, she sang remarkably well. With her natural beauty, and fasoinating persona, Harry can be seen as the rock Marilyn Monroe. One major music weekly, in a pom-i pous burst of reverse sexism, castigated her for playing on her sex-appeal, yet from earliest Presley to recent Rod Stewart, sex has been integral to the rock singer’s stage act. Blondie’s eponymous vocalist is a dynamic performer in the grand rock tradition, not just the pretty face that launched a 1000 posters. As regards tonight’s show, the average bloke’s conception of Blondie is quite right. Peter Thomson

4XO Battle of the Bands Dunedin Town Hall Jan 29 The Battle of the Bands was revived. by Radio 4XO and held in the Town Hall, where, let it be said, the sound rarely climbed above listenable, thanks to the random twiddling of the guy on the mixer and the feeble PA which thwarted any and all attempts at vocal impact in the endless space which is the Town Hall. • First on, the Terls. Rough gumbooted splintery rock songs that needed a much tighter rhythm section to push the interesting guitar exchanges. They had fahs. Stonehenge played straight-faced country‘rock but the drummer tried too hard and got in the way. Tibet are good players and Annabelle Wilson could make a living as a singer but their music's too sombre, and despite the nice arrangements, far too predictable. They were second, fair enough, because on the night they coped. But rock’n’roll is scarcely in their vocabulary. Le Centrebande, a three piece played Undertones and Feelgood and played it simple and economic. Knotty and enjoyable but the drummer couldn’t sing and they picked two of the worst Undertones’ songs. What’s the matter with youse guys listen to the album again. Lemmmeeee say it again, the Heavenly .Bodies are Dunedin's best, but after a great start they dwindled as their peerless originals couldn't climb over the mess that was the sound system. Doff your hats coz the Bodies are it. They came in third but they were first. Work it out yourself. Schoolband Static were fast and exuberant, watch ’em; Kilgour’s Stains were young punks doing old punk; Hoax tried XTC and Be Bop Deluxe but faded badly and Feedback were keen but they need to hang in there a little longer. Last were Rockylox and they won. A triumph for proficiency and professionalism. But was that the point?