RECORDS

Rip It Up, Issue 34, 1 May 1980, Page 20

RECORDS

THE ROMANTICS EPIC What first aroused my curiosity over these Yank newcomers was their single “What I Like About You" produced by Pete Solley, a man already in some demand for his excellent work with The Sports, Jo Jo Zep and Russell Morris. The Romantics forty-five with Solley at the helm, captured the sheer irrepressible freshness and energy of the Young Rascals at their peak. No mean feat. The album tries to do the same but suffers from the strain of trying to be too fresh, too spotless for too long. It does, however, have its moments. The single leads the pack followed by two other convincing powerpop tributes to teen love, “When I Look In Your Eyes" and "Gimme One More Chance”. They also join the Pretenders, the Knack and Jimmy and the Boys in worthwhile re-treads of old lesser known Kinks’ songs with “She’s Got Everything", the under-rated flip of "Day’s". But strip away the Romantics' borrowed gusto and you’re left with a band struggling for ideas and shackled by weak to mediocre material. They also betray disturbing signs (red leather suits and Beatle boots f'chrissake) that they are preening themselves to slip into the modern American pop idiom as typified by the Knack. That indeed would be a pity because the Romantics do have points in their favour but it’s a matter of refining and developing them into something more substantial than is offered by this, their first album. George Kay SISTER SLEDGE LOVE SOMEBODY TODAY COTILLION Last year’s We Are Family from Sister Sledge sisters Debbie, Joni, Kim and Kathie Sledge was one of the best albums in disco and up there with the best in any field in 1979. The Chic masterminds, songwriters and producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards supplied probably their strongest collection of songs and in return Sister Sledge turned in sparkling performances that lifted the songs above the formula-bound slickness that seems to plague Chic albums. Regrettably Sister Sledge's second album Love Somebody Today fails to maintain the standards set by We Are Family. The pro-

ducers and writers are once again Edwards and Rodgers, and while they describe the album as “the most well-rounded" they’ve done to date, this merely means they’ve too often abandoned their strengths in search of variety. There are successful advances from the earlier album: the use of jazz-inflected sax solos on “Love Somebody Today” and “Reach Your Peak". And when it comes to hitting an irresistable groove Edwards and Rodgers have definitely not lost their touch, but too few of the songs here are substantial enough to warrant the care in singing and production that is evident. That's the trouble with formulas, without care they wear thin. Alastair Dougal CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND SHINY BEAST (BAT CHAIN PULLER) VIRGIN Since his first appearance with the Magic Band in the early sixties, Captain Beefheart (christened Don Van Vliet) has established his own credo within the broad boundaries of rock'n'roll. Trout Mask Replica set out unorthodox standards later picked up by the likes of

Pere Übu. After numerous other unique albums, two of them on the Virgin label 1974, he dissolved the Magic Band and reacquainted himself with his old mate Frank Zappa. Since then he has formed a new Magic Band and written new material for an album titled Bat Chain Puller between 1976 and 78. It’s new 1980, dontcha know, and Virgin have thankfully released the aforementioned album that other record companies seemed reluctant to handle. The songs date back, in many cases, to four years ago, but no matter, as Beefheart has a Magic Band that adroitly conveys the moods of his songs. On ‘‘Tropical Hot Dog Night” guitarists Jeff Teper and Richard Redus mesh busily below Bruce Fowler's carnival trombone. Beefheart's great talent has always been his ability to draw form and music from apparent chaos and shape it to suit his particular emotion. On ‘‘Owed T'Alex” it’s frustration and the band collide with all of them ostensibly playing something different. On “Love Lies” it’s sorrow, and here Bruce Fowler evokes Beefheart’s lost-in-love dejection perfectly with sleazy trombone. Shiny Beast, like most of Beefheart’s albums, is an acquired taste but with a little persistence you’ll find that it's almost an embarrassment of riches. George Kay BILLY JOEL GLASS HOUSES CBS It would be hard to imagine a slicker product than Billy Joel’s new album. Not that it is at all bad there are some striking moments and the whole thing has a professionalism and polish that can’t be denied indeed there are times when you can see that Joel is trying to extend himself beyond the self-imposed limits of a Top 20 singer-songwriter. The ballads are there in full force "Don't Ask Me Why” "Through the Long Night” and “C’etait Toi” (which is undercut by some excruciating French). Often lyrically they are let down by Joel’s rather pat imagery: Here I am again In this smoky place With my brandy eyes “Yeux Ivres" in the French verse is less ostentatious and is effective. Two songs are of particular interest. “It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" shows Joel reacting to the phenomenon of new wave and coming up with a perhaps predictable response, but in "I Don’t Want to be Alone” he is working in Costello territory, and although it doesn't have Costello’s incisive bitterness and edge, it does represent some attempt to grow as a musician. And “All for Lenya” still intrigues me with its snappy little verses and a nice turn of understatement that is sorely needed in some of the other love songs (and eight out of the ten songs fall into this category). William Dart THE DICKIES DAWN OF THE DICKIES A&M Every fad has its clowns and the “new wave" has the Dickies from LA, hardly the hotbed of rock’n’roll, and the Dickies are not about to change that. Starting life in blue (or was it green? pink? horizontally striped in psychedelic?) vinyl as The Incredible Shrinking Dickies these five Zappa-influenced satirists have wasted no time in conjuring up another audio B-Grade movie, Dawn of the Dickies. Again the Dickies are determined to prove that they are the fastest playing band on the planet as “Nights In White Satin” is subdued to their breakneck treatment. The best songs on the album, “Where Did His Eye Go” and “Fan Mail” come on like loving send-ups of the Buzzcocks in their classic pop choruses and surging directness, two qualities misdirected on the crucial "Attack of the Mole Men”. At a pinch Dawn of the Dickies is fun and it’s always valuable to have people like the Dickies around to prevent the whole business of rock’n’roll from becoming too serious or profound, but these guys take much more than they give. And with Side Two clocking in at a mere thirteen minutes you get the feeling the joke's on us. Who’s laughing? George Kay

CITIZEN BAND CB BOOTLEG CBS l Unlike most live albums, this one was an after thought. Citizen Band never set out on a tour with one of them mobile studios that fit in a truck. In fact, like many real bootlegs, this album was derived from a live-to-air radio . broadcast, though the tape rolled at Mandrill. Studio, not in someone’s home^PQB|VH CB Bootleg is a live-in-the-studio LP with four tracks that appeared on their debut , Citizen Band and six from Just Drove Thru Town. There are no tunes not already on the two , studio albums, and also absent is the atmosphere and audience reaction of a hot CB gig. The selection is almost a 'best of’, though missing are: . stage fave "Good Morning Citizen” and JDTT ace "No Stereo”. The performance is, of course, very competent. Greg Clark’s live playing and the Chunn-Eccles rhythm section of old CB are well documented, and both. ex members get by singing the covers, Clark “Protection”. Many tracks are more contemporary in sound than the studio versions and surpass them, despite the comparatively thin sound. For example, "Julia” and “S.O.S" are not as wet as on CB and JDTT and stampers like “Rust In My Car” are not buried in an excess of echo and overdubs. ...... However, far more satisfying than CB Bootleg would be a live recording at one of the band’s Budokans: the Island of Real or Titirangi RSA (or Auckland Town Hall). But such tapes do not exist. So here it is, the old CB "line-up, as live as you’ll get it. Murray Cammick VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO MGM NIC ; CHELSEA GIRL MGM Classics both, from the days when MGM, and their Verve Forecast subsidiary, were looking at what people might like tomorrow, not yesterday. The Velvets 1966 debut with model-turned-chanteuse Nico is a stunning work. Was and is. It contains everything the band gave to rock the pretty (“Sunday Morning”, "I’ll Be Your Mirror”, "Femme Fatale”), the eerie (“All Tomorrow’s Parties”), the magnificent (“I'm Waiting For The Man”, "Heroin”), the eerie and magnificent (“Venus In Furs”) and-the innovative ("European Son”). The last-named was where Metal Machine Music began. Incomprehensible and unfashionable then, respected now. There’s more (more? this album is actually ’longer than the new 20-track Costello) “Run Run Run” probably rating as the pick of them. And then there’s "The . Black Angel’s Death Song", which I always presumed came from listening to too much Dylan until someone once . suggested that to Reed and he summoned up his ICIEST stare ’ before replying are you serious?. It’s not being stubborn, or old, to love this record a whole lot. •; ; Nico did Chelsea Girl two years after the Velvets album. It’s arguably a little more sought after than it should be, but Still a fascinating, absorbing., and often beautiful record. : The backdrops are baroque most of the. way, and with the . cool distant vocal trademark already well defined, the seeds of the sillettos-on-ice " music . of The : Marble ; Index and . Desertshore albums to come are clear.. ll' The songs come from boyfriends, reputed boyfriends - and,. even, just ' friends . (Jackson Browne," Dylan,.Tim Hardin," Reed and Cale you sort .’em, out) (was Jackson Browne REALLY only 16?). Dylan’s “I’ll Keep It With Mine" is three-quarters as good as Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention (that ■. good) and Hardin’s '.• "Eulogy To Lenny Bruce” is typically direct and ■ moving. ■ * “Chelsea Girls’.-’, with a line or two not entirely unapplicable .to what ; happened, to Nico • herself-in the late 19705, and -“It Was A . Pleasure Then" are the chief crossover points for the Velvets’ more sonic approach. The latter is pure primitivism, with; guitar, [amplifier, microphone and tape recorder all seemingly, . crushed together in one tiny gloriously-feeding- • back space. I think you get. those squeaky sounds by using the side of the guitar pick. Nico was still glancing back at coffee houses and folk-rock on some of this album, but there is copious evidence too of the brave and un- • compromising music to come. Its difference has made it last especially well. Roy Colbert.

THE BEACH BOYS KEEPIN ’ THE SUMMER ALIVE CARIBOU

. The. conventional Beach Boys theory is that ' Brian Wilson is 19 cents in the dollar and the extent to which the group can survive is dependent on how well they can prop him up and convince the .world he is. at least 84. But the overweight and ' frightened man . who , shuffled around Noahs Hotel in Christchurch clutching a cake of soap and who later gave me the saddest interview I’ve ever had to try and pull together needs a lot of propping up these days. Five of the tracks on the new: Beach BoysX album. carry Brian’s name, and none of them produce more than a muted spark of his former melodic genius (rock’s finest). Carl's title songis a confident rocking opener along Marcelliam lines, and producer Bruce Johnston’s closing piece of ; middle-aged Paul Simon-like perfection will probably earn a Grammy nomination, but there isn’t a lot inbetween technically and vocally awesome as this album nevertheless is. Without the melodic highs,' : the group’s perennial leaning towards naivety and lyrical mawkishness is laid bare, and even 48 tracks and some beautiful vocal arranging can’t climb over that. Last year’s excellent 1:A. ("Angel Come ; Home” and "Baby - Blue" were truly memorable) : suggested ' the. move to Caribou had brought with it a more marked creative , recovery than we really.should expect at; this; stage. But Keepin' The Summer Alive, warmth on the ear. notwithstanding, moves one step back. ■ -v. Roy Colbert JOHN FOXX ' •" f METAMATIC VIRGIN Talk about bad luck. ■ John ; Foxx .always manages to be either slightly ahead of, or behind the times. As leader/vocalist with. Ultravox his bent for futurist electronic'music instead of simple chord thrashing left him out of favour with the new wave. Now he has gone solo with an all-synthesiser album, but only after Human League have made futurist electronic music hip. : In 1979, Foxx left Ultravox to develop. his own ideas, and he has probably mastered the techniques of the sound at least as well as the Human League. Drum machine and : one synthesiser take the place of a rhythm section. Then one or two more synthesisers play as lead instruments and in this area Foxx shows a deft' melodic touch. Chanted vocals complete the sound. Best cuts are perhaps the English single “Underpass’’ and “No one ; Driving". It. does sound like a jump onto the synthesiser bandwagon but Foxx just never has the right sound at the right time. Dominic Free CAROLYNE MAS MERCURY At the risk of being labelled a chauvinist, I fail; so far to be impressed with the current crop of new lady rockers (Chrissie Hynde and Martha Davis excepted). While Carolyne Mas can admittedly write a good song, she fails to convince as a performer. This 24-year-old New Yorker has been tagged as a female Springsteen, an albatross around the neck for anyone, and not helped by the' Bruce-type arrangements which dominate this album. Mas is well backed by the' likes of guitarist David Landau (ex Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon), Crispin Cioe on sax and Andy Newmark gdnTdru msJQjQHMVQHVHHEtfCSQPN! On "Stillsane”, "Sadie Says” and "Quote Goodbye Quote", she shows a degree of resourcefulness and punch. Her torch ballads, "Call Me” and "Baby Please" are strong and emotional, but she sounds too polite and wellmannered. In other hands, her songs could gain some more life. As a singer, Carolyne Mas lacks grit; Duncan Campbell