IN BRIEF

Rip It Up, Issue 36, 1 July 1980, Page 23

IN BRIEF

Ry Cooder (and others), The Long Riders (Warner Brothers) Ry Cooder has composed a remarkable soundtrack for the film The Long Riders, Walter (The Warriors) Hill’s account of the rise and fall of the Jesse James gang in the American middle-west of the post-Civil War period. Cooder mixes traditional songs ("I’m a Good Old Rebel", "Rally 'Round the Flag”, "Jesse James”) with new compositions that follow antique lines. The effect is exquisite. This is one of the few movie soundtrack albums that makes perfect sense on its own. Cooder himself calls it "Missouri style oldtime music.” Director Walter Hill puts it better: "Ry has a habit of reaching into traditional sounds, reinterpreting and making the result singly his own. I think he’s done it one more time.” KW Martha and the Muffins, Metro Music (Dindlsc) This Canadian six-piece fronted by two ladies named Martha stirred up a little dust earlier in the year with the "Echo Beach" fortyfive. It sounded fresh, catchy and eager-to-please as indeed does the album. On songs like "Hide and Seek” and "Paint

By Number Heart” they pass as good Blondie but it’s on the more evocative, thoughtful songs like "Sinking Land”, of which there are not enough, that their future as a distinctive unit lies. Promising. GK Queen, The Game (Elektra) In the last few years Mercury and co. have effectively undermined their standing with their continual over-the-top falsetto forays and clumsy. emphatic material. And critics still chuckle at the thought of Mercury's white leotards. But on The Game out go the leotards and to some extent the leaden ballet music and in comes vague touches of rockabilly on songs like "Need Your Loving Tonight” and of course "Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. Overall the songs are less affected and less overbearing than their past liberties. Improvement noted. GK Radiators, Feel The Heat (WEA)

The hook line of this Australian band's anthem "Fess’ Song" runs "sex drugs and dirty pictures". That should give you an idea. Rockers, naturally, but not without a sense of genuine fun. And a wet lipful of lasciviousness. Thfe is an extremely likeable debut, with a ton of hooks and memorable/singable bits right through both sides above a tight rhythm section. "Hit And Run" is a typical, but a standout nevertheless, and the mostly much-faster support benefits from repeated playings (a tour here would cement everything). Sprightly and aggressive rock, but lyrically, only "Nancy Can t Dance", which is kicked along by half an Eddie Cochran riff, demands the brain be taken out of its drawer. RC

Peter Green, Little Dreamer (Creole) This new album by the founder of Fleetwood Mac takes a bluesier approach than the earlier In the Skies, and there is no doubt that the blues is where Green is most at home. 8.8 King once said Peter Green was one of the few guitarists who could make him sweat. Green has lost none of his touch. The key to Green's work is that which he leaves unstated. His guitar playing and singing is fascinatingly implicit. Some times he doesn't play guitar at all, but lays down some tasty harmonica, his seldom heard second string. KW The Whispers, The Whispers (RCA)

Smooth, cool and bloodless soul music from Philadelphia vocal group gone West Coast, the Whispers. They cover all the bases with slick ballads and lively disco, but while it's all executed with class and taste, no-one in the Whispers is about to muss up his tailored suit with too much passion. And that's the problem. AD

Bruce Cockburn, Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaw (RCA) . ■ : wv; Cockburn is virtually, a Canadian superstar but elsewhere he's an unknown even though the number of album's he's released already hits double figures. Labelling him is difficult but because of his acoustic guitar dexterity and poetical images he could be notched as a contemporary folkoriented singer/songwriter with literary ambitions. -

Dragon's Jaw has taste and delicacy in abundance but as an album it could have been more balanced. The single "Wondering Where the Lions Are", "Badlands Flashback" and "Incandescent Blue" (which contains a classic line hoofprints you got to be the hooves") are excellent but all too often Cockburn is too precious lyrically and musically. But refreshing for all that. GK American Gigolo Soundtrack (Polydor)

A rather tedious soundtrack from a rather tedious movie about a young stud who makes his living pleasuring rich ladies. The best shot, Blondie's "Call Me", is fired first, and was better as a single, with all the fat trimmed from it. The rest is disco in its death throes, courtesy Giorgio Moroder. DC The Chieftains, Boil the Breakfast Early (CBS) Ever since Sean O'Riada pointed Paddy Moloney in the right direction in the late fifties early sixties, he has, with and without the Chieftains dominated the field of pure traditional Celtic music. Untouched by electric innovations (unlike Horslips and much of Alan Stivell’s work) the Chieftains, since their inception in 1962, have produced consistently excellent selections of Celtic material.

Boil the Breakfast Early, their ninth, is another sensitively arranged and balanced collection of reels (the title track taking the prizes here), airs ("Ag Taisteal Na Blarnan) and their customary inclusion of music from Carolan, the great seventeenth century Irish harpist. It’s moving and you can dance to it. GK

Emmylou Harris, Roses in the Snow (Warner Bros) The crystalline vocals of Emmylou Harris and the sublimely sympathetic backing of her band make this a remarkably pleasing album it has a "purer" country approach than previous efforts, but its mountain air clarity should ensure strong support from both country and pop audiences. There are guest shots from the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, but the show belongs to Ms Harris, who has seldom been in better form. KW