RECORDS

Rip It Up, Issue 34, 1 May 1980, Page 17

RECORDS

MR PARTRIDGE TAKEAWAY VIRGIN It started with a black sleeved twelve-inch fortyfive called ‘.'Go + which originally was a bonus with the first twenty thousand or so UK copies of Go 2 sold but it later came out as a limited edition in its own right. It featured four rock-dub versions of tracks on Go 2 with deviant electronic bits and pieces added. The “dub" concept was initially used by reggae artists who put instrumental versions of the A-sides on the B-side. These instrumentals were not only stripped of the vocals but often of the lead instruments as well leaving only the bass-drum’rhythms. The problem with that of course is that most dubs not only sound similar they also become very monotonous. Disco overcame this problem by using synthesisers to take the place of the vocal line and Partridge avoids the dub monotony by retaining some vocals and vocalizations as well as adding electronics. ' Take Away/The Lure of Salvage are the titles of the first and second sides respectively and much of the album is supposed to be devoted to alternative versions of songs on Drums and Wires. I say “supposed" because it’s not an easy task matching the different versions. "Steam Fist Futurist” is “Real by Reel”, “The Rotary” is Helicopter and the harrowing "New Broom" might be Moulding’s '.“Making Plans For Nigel". The album reveals the rudimentary features and components that go into making an XTC song and how these components can be manipulated into something which, although sparse, can be interesting and entertaining. So don’t expect a fourth XTC album coz that’s not the object of this exercise. George Kay

BOZSCAGGS MIDDLE MAN CBS It is more than two years since Boz Scaggs released his last album, Down Two Then Left, the eagerly-awaited follow-up to the bestselling Silk Degrees. A lesser album perhaps, but a worthy successor. However, it languished in the shade of Silk Degrees and was relatively ignored. Rather oddly for a man who had remained a virtual unknown for five albums before Degrees, Scaggs took it to heart, dropping from sight to re-emerge with a repertoire relying more than ever on the Silk Degrees material. Middle Man seems a floundering attempt to find a commercial formula to take up where ; Silk Degrees left ; of. A strong first side may

salvage Scaggs' reputation, but it could be touch and go. In some respects, side one cannibalises Scaggs' best white soul music ("Breakdown Dead Ahead" is a re-run of "Lido Shuffle”), but it sustains. "Simone” is a love song to stand with the best of Slow Dancer. Side Two is a different story. Perhaps it is his association with those Toto boys (some of whom are on the record) but Scaggs seems dominated by, perish the thought, Toto and Billy Joel. The title track, full, of pompous synthesiser and bombastic chording, is almost a parody of the Toto-Joel-Elton John school of rock music-for-people-who-don’t-like-rock-music. Sadly, Scaggs seems in earnest. The side continues in this threadbare fashion. After years of breaking ground to virtually no recognition (his own label couldn’t always get the name right), Scaggs has stalled, perhaps dried up. Is it for similar reasons that former confederate Steve Miller hasn't had a new album for three years? Still, I shall always regard Boz's Western Springs concert as one of the best. Ken Williams

PETE TOWNSHEND EMPTY GLASS AT CO I can’t praise this album too highly. From the opening chords the music bursts triumphantly from the speakers, shredding cones on the carpet. Pete Townshend has been described recently as ‘‘a man whose ultimate concern has always been that rock should live up to its frequently broken and tarnished promises.” Empty Glass is testimony to that. More than any other rock veteran, Townshend has been revitalised by the musical changes of the past couple of years. He is one of the few to have pushed back the boundaries of rock and to have kept pushing. When he has failed it has been brave failure. Much has been made of whether those who set standards in 1965 or 1970 or 1975 have a place today. The answer must be measured in the music not in the register of births. Pete Townshend is 35. He is making kicking-arse music with the unsuppressed vigour of the new kid on the block and with the intelligence that

sets Pete Townshend apart from his contemporaries, then and now. -• 'Songs like “Rough Boys", "Let My Love ■ Open the Door”, “Jools and Jim” and “Gonna Get Ya” sit more than comfortably with the classics of Townshend’s past. . The review copy of the album gave no hint as to his collaborators. The slashing production is by Chris Thomas, who did the Pretenders’ album. Unlike Townshend's earlier solo excursions this is no peripheral project. Empty Glass is straight down the line rock. Except that; it. is Townshend singing and not' Daltrey, (and one notes once again how much Daltrey is a vocal extension of Townshend) it might be a Who album, and it promises much for the album by the Who which is in the pipeline. Although it isn’t a Who record as such I would put it up there with Who's Next, the most attacking, fiery and satisfying Who album. Not so long ago, Pete Townshend was questioning the possibility of his own musical obsolescence. Empty Glass renders the question redundant. Here is a man renewed, recharged, flexing stunningly creative muscle. Ken Williams MOTELS CAPITOL You’ll know this band by its album cover, a middle-aged matron attired in unfashionable bathing garb, posing beside a motel swimming pool. If that’s enough to attract your attention, then have a listen to a very hot new band. The Motels are a five-piece California group, barely two years in existence, who have made the first successful effort to break out of the snooze syndrome which pervades that part of the world. Up front is Martha Davis, singer, songwriter ( and guitarist, and an exceptional new talent. Her voice has the aching passion of country singers in the Emmylou Harris vein, while the four guys who make up the rest of the band have a solid grounding in hard rock, jazz and R&B. : Davis breaks plenty of new ground, with a collection of innovative, intriguing songs. “Anticipating”, “Total Control” and “Closets and Bullets” are filled with tension, overwhelming passion and yearning. Davis writes the most honest love songs heard in many a long day. “Kix” borrows a little from Lou Reed, narrating the dangers of thrill-seeking over a throbbing beat.. "Love Don't Help" is smart and sassy, while "Celia"'ls a chilling woman-to-woman warning. Hurt the one who loves you and you could lose your looks.. Jeff Jourard, Martin Life Jourard, Michael Goodroe and - Brian Glascock acquit themselves beautifully throughout, with a sense of control and dynamics that shows vast maturity and experience. If you liked the Pretenders, you’ll find the Motels excellent companions. Together, these bands look like being the standard setters for the 1980’s. Duncan Campbell

TEARS THE CROCODILES RCA There is something fundamentally different about a Wellington band (or an Auckland band, if you come from Wellington). Maybe it's just that their trousers don’t fit as tight, or that they’ve spent too long practicing, but they never seem to strike quite the right note of nervous arrogance to convince as rock and roll desperados. The Crocodiles are definitely a Wellington band. What they do best is quite evident on their debut album, Tears. The pure pop of the title track, and "Whatcha Gonna Do” show off skills in making radio music unmatched by anybody in the country outside of Sharon O’Neill, all wide-screen harmonies and hooks fronted by the most winsome of female voices. What they don't seem able to do is to stick to their guns. Instead they dip into the ragbag of their quite phenomenal past experience to come up with a disconcerting array of styles. In particular, Fane Flaws and Tony Backhouse, very much the on-stage mainmen, insist on singing lead on all but three of the ten songs, depriving most of them of maximum impact, and the album of the focus that lead singer Jenny Morris could have brought to it. With the honourable exception of Flaws' crazy "In My Suit”, most of the songs leave a slightly hollow feeling after they have passed from ear to ear. That is not to say that they are written, played or sung with any less than exemplary skill (don’t forget all that practice we were talking about), just that they don’t measure up to the standards the band sets itself with the high points. This album was recorded, thanks to the QE II Arts Council, in the band’s very early stages, and there must be every hope that they will shed the confusions about direction and concentrate on their strengths. So many things seem to point to bigger things for the Crocs, and they . deserve it so much, that it would be a pity to see them continue to dissipate their potential. Stephen McDonald UK SQUEEZE ARGY BARGY A&M Pretentious is the last word that springs to mind when considering UK Squeeze. Their first two albums were littered with Cockney working

class romances-in-the-raw, the same source of inspiration tapped by people like Dury and Madness. Cool For Cats, the second album, was a great improvement on the patchiness of their debut and now, Argy Bargy (slang for an argument) is a cautious, though definite consolidation on the band’s unassuming recorded output thus far. As expected, the songwriters, Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, continue to work within their daily mundane experiences to produce authentic slice-of-life songs with characters and situations that are real and familiar: Her mother didn't like me she thought I was on drugs My mother didn't like her she d never peel the spuds. ("Separate Beds”) Hardly about to be confused with the Yes/Genesis lot, are they? Cool For Cats bore three hit singles (title track, "Goodbye Girl” and "Up the Junction”) and Argy Bargy could easily do the same. "Pulling Mussells (From the Shell)", "Another Nail in My Heart” and the Lennonish "If I Didn’t Love You" are matter-of-factly memorable, straight forward songs dominated by Chris Difford's domestic, dry vocals. On the other hand "Misadventure" and "Farfisa Beat" are jumpy immediately enjoyable shuffles that shouldn’t be overlooked in the rush. UK Squeeze unfortunately are being overlooked as an album band. They seem to have been pegged by a number of pundits as disposable impertinent cockneys capable of turning out the odd half-decent single but Argy Bargy, given a chance, should change a few minds. George Kay THE J. GEILS BAND LOVE STINKS EMI AMERICA The problem of the Geils Band has always been how to transfer their live excitement to record. Their in-concert albums show that that is where they live. Their cutting edge is honed in a hot and sweaty atmosphere. The studio albums have captured this steamy dimension only occasionally. Love Stinks is the record they have been almost about to make for some time. Love Stinks (great title and a terrific song) sees keyboardsman Seth Justman taking over production. He manages to retain the band’s

toughness and drive while getting them to work on songs with immediate impact. The pop hooks abound and several of the songs would make good singles. All songs are by Justman and Peter Wolf, except for the Strangeloves’ 1966 "Night Time", which has also been done by Dr Feelgood. The narrajive-with-music "No Anchovies, Please", a sort of J. Geils play the Firesign Theatre and lose, wasn’t such a smart idea. Peter Wolf has a good comedy voice, but the premise is too slim to make the track more than a oncer. At least it’s at the end of the side and can be avoided without serious disruption. Aside from this misjudged satirical foray, Love Stinks is fat-free, hard and lean, propulsive rock and roll in the best traditions. Ken Williams WILLIE NILE ARISTA Willie Nile is a New York philosophy graduate whose debut album, produced by Yardbird’s and Lovin’s Spoonful engineer Roy Hallee, looks like being the yardstick by which all similar newcomer solo efforts will be measured this year. With a vocal style sifted through Arlo Guthrie-Bob Dylan folk nuances and a songwriting slant not a million miles away from Tom Petty’s attempts at immortality, Nile’s album delivers an endearing solo wallop of rare force. Unlike fellow-Arista signing, David L. Byron, who has allied himself much too closely to his influences, Nile has jostled enough artistic breathing space for himself on the human realism undertones of his first album. With two guitarists, himself excluded, and Patti Smith's itinerant drummer, Jay Dee Dougherty, Nile creates at least two bona fide classics in "Vagabond Moon" and "Sing Me a Song”, both key pieces of rock’n’roll potency. Pop fans are catered for on the jangling immediacy of "That’s the Reason" and he pulls yet another ace with "Across the River", a love song of latent power. Look, Nile is actually one of the few artists around who actually surpasses the customary record company hype and promo spiel. There’s scarcely a bad song on his album and as such he knocks most of his contemporary solo artists into a cocked hat. Forget the hat, buy the album. George Kay