Pop Mechanix

Rip It Up, Issue 37, 1 August 1980, Page 14

Pop Mechanix

Dave McArtney, Virginia (Polydor) The emphasis of this month's singles pile again falls on the home-spun rock'n’roll mainly Auckland based that is growing up fast. McArtney's “Virginia" is a case in point. The ex-Hello Sailor guitarist has been around long enough and this shows to his advantage in the song’s instantly memorable hook chorus and chunky Stones' swagger that is clipped and disciplined to singles' perfection The flip, "Lonesome Old Star" is similar in design but without the latter’s commerciality. Nice start. Marching Girls, True Love (Au-Go-Go) Auckland's Marching Girls walk away with a few prizes this month for their Melbourne recorded self-produced Jilted John influenced jewel "True Love". It has the same energetic positiveness that makes the Spelling Mistakes' "Feel So Good” so palatable. The B side, "First In Line" is more sombre but makes the grade. The Marching Girls have a winner. Street Talk, Feminine Minds (WEA) Make no mistake this is a great song. Bruce Lynch has given Street Talk the best recorded sound of any NZ band ever and to match that Andy MacDonald has provided three minutes plus of undoubted class and structured poise in the form of “Feminine Minds". Gamble's vocal is, as usual, colourful and expressive without being affected (I hope Steve Gilpin's reading this). Flip over to Gamble’s stop-go R&B flavoured “Goodbye Good Fortune" also taken from the Battleground of Fun album. Watch these guys. Toy Love, Bride of Frankenstein (De Luxe) And so it’s funtime. For their third single Toy Love have decided to opt for a crisp even clever if disposable C&W romp/hoedown which is at least notable for Todd Hunter’s improved production and the band’s growing studio confidence. The two songs on the flip are more typical of their flair and, eccentric lyrical spasms. "Amputee Song" successfully rocks between humour and compassion and "Good Old Joe" is Knox dementia, controlled of course. Both of these songs are not on their album.

Clark and Chunn, I’m So Up (CBS) On the same wavelength we have one half of the old Citizen Band who have come up with an-everybody-sing-along pop song written by Phil Judd. Unashamedly marketable and difficult to dislike as is the controlled dub gimmickry of the flip, "I’m Souped”. Pop Mechanix, “Now” (Ripper) Christchurch’s abbreviated Popular Mechanix might just have something here. Chunn produced, the single fronts up with two above-average songs that work within convention. "Now" features a nagging keyboards’ motif behind an appealing choppy guitar arrangement. The flip is equally commercial and is also bereft of rough edges or popular discordancy able and profitable. The Knobz, “I Like It” (EMI) Not the old Gerry and the Pacemakers song old-timers, but an original Kevin Fogarty ditty. Knobz (ex-Rockylox) from Dunedin, namechanged to provide EMI with a more marketable proposition, and Knobz is it? The song has a certain old pop naivete that is easy to mistake for simpering weariness. Teenagers won’t like it but their mums and dads will. Whizz Kids, Occupational Hazzard”, Spelling Mistakes, “Reena” (Ripper) The Whizz Kids have a busy, intelligent song here rendered impotent by Chunn’s pale production. Flip over and the Spelling Mistakes sing one of their own rugby songs. "Reena", apparently a fun-filled stage favourite that on record becomes a lesson in you-hear-it-once-you-don’t wanna-hear-it-again. All good clean fun after all. Gutsy production. UK Squeeze, Pulling Mussells (From the Shell) (A AM) There seems to be some sort of conspiracy afoot to keep UK Squeeze stranded on the bottom rung. Their pithy often catchy domestic vignettes have usually failed to take-off locally so that’s your loss. "Pulling Mussells” is the first and probably best song on their Argy Bargy album. Tight, unassuming but good. Heading the heap are the Members with their gate-fold, pic-sleeved "Flying Again” EP The title track is another breathless social commentary but light-heartedness dominates the three-tracked flip side starting with flippant reggae "Disco Oui Oui” and "Rat Up A Drainpipe" but finishing with a revamping of the ordinary "Love In A Lift” from their first album. Value. Ferry hit the right forlorn note with "Dance Away" and on the new Roxy Music single "Over You" he repeats the same formula with heart-aching ease. Billy T.K. is still helping Robin Trower to keep alive the Hendrix touch but "Dance With the Spirit" and "Rhythm of Your Love” don't make the grade in the revivalist stakes or in the current song writing norms. Back to the plectrum. The Selecter’s haunting sixties’ "Missing Words” is Ska Single of the Month and Pat Benatar’s "We Live For Love" sweeps up the Blondie sound-alike prizes, if there's any. UB 40 are eight men from Birmingham who have evolved their own smooth jazz-tinged reggae on the British chartbuster “Food For Thought", a song that gradually makes its mark as does "A Forest” from the Cure, crystalline and spartan it’s probably the best song on Seventeen Seconds. Sydney’s Mental As Anything make another right move on the yearning Plaza rock'n'roll love song, "Come Around", with a mellow instrumental, "DC 10” on the flip. GEORGE KAY

THE CURE MAINSTREET, JULY 30 Lip Service have got the big break they were waiting for, supporting the Cure nationwide. They’ve worked hard to earn it, and this shows clearly in the precision of their stage set. But the band still has room for improvement, not so much in its musical skills, but in its material. Some of the songs still seem halfdeveloped. Occasionally they hit the mark, as with "Ventriloquist", but much of the time, they lack focus. Lip Service would do better to develop on one good idea in a song, instead of seemingly throwing half a dozen other ideas in •on top. Still, they are a young band yet. The Cure, on the other hand, show superior songwriting ability, but have problems in other areas. Their sound, especially when playing the Seventeen Seconds tracks, is too onedimensional. Robert Smith’s chiming guitar chords sound fine for a couple of numbers, become repetitive after half a dozen, and make you wonder if he knows any other way, by the end of the show. The same can be said for his vocals. The other three imaginary boys keep an almost anonymous profile, concentrating on their playing, which was admittedly excellent. But at no stage did they raise a sweat. The volume at the start of the show was far too polite, and the Cure gained considerable 4mpacfwhen Smith responded to audience requests to turn it up. "Seventeen Seconds”, "M", "A Forest” with its green lights and whooshy noises, "Boys Don’t Cry" and the legendary “Killing An Arab" were highlights of a very lowlight performance. Maybe Mainstreet, with its tinkling glasses and cabaret days hangover, is not a fitting venue for the Cure’s cerebral outpourings. Whatever, they would have been well pleased with the almost Islamic fervour bestowed by their hardcore fans. For me, the Cure seem to be bringing back acid rock in revamped form. Bet there’ll be more synthesisers next time around. Take a listen to Pink Floyd’s "Careful With That Axe Eugene”, then listen to "A Forest”. Head music for the new generation. The birth of the Psychedelic Wave (thanks for that line, Jim). Duncan Campbell VALENTINOS WINDSOR CASTLE, AUGUST 2. The Valentinos are rapidly developing into a major drawcard around the inner city. Though essentially a new outfit, they possess the skill and experience sadly lacking in so many new bands. Ex-Sheerlux vocalist, Paul Robinson, seems to have found his niche, and contributes a worthwhile batch of original material. The Windsor crowd were there in force, as non-commital as ever, although some cretin did heave a bottle through the window. They witnessed a short, but nonetheless enjoyable set of home-grown songs. "Walking Tall", "Look Over Your Shoulder”, "Young Moderns", and "It Only Hurts (When You’re Crying)” all gain momentum with each airing. Saxophonist Dave Spillane -competently handles vocals on his own “What Does It Take", and this proved a highlight of the set. Exceptional lead guitar by ex-Snipes man Simon Lynch shone through in Dave McArtney’s "Infatuation” surely one of the best New Zealand rock tunes in a long time. Unfortunately, sound problems rendered Joe Gill’s bass barely audible. Over the last six months, a large gap has opened in the local music scene. The Valentinos look like prime contenders to fill it. Mark Phillips

It took them a while, but Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons finally got here at the tail end of a 30-day world tour. The best reception of the tour, says Joe Camilleri. The welcome is tumultuous. And they haven’t even played a full song, just a little horsing around while everything is teed up for the simultaneous broadcast on Radio Hauraki. When the Falcons launch into "Hit and Run” and Camilleri starts exercising those golden tonsils things get intense. It is not to disparage the others in the band to say Camilleri is where it happens. He is the voice, the presence, the focus, the personality of the band. And what a personality, a leaping, wailing, storming little monkey man, a rhythm and blues voice par excellence. A measure of the man’s way with his audience is that he must be one of the most "unhip” looking people since Van Morrison, all checkered trousers and thinning hair. What you hear is what you get. Get it we did. Almost ah hour and a half of high octane R&B, laced with Jo Jo Zep’s reggae-styled originals. Highlights? There are so many. Maybe “Only the Lonely Hearted”, "So Young" (dedicated to Elvis Costello), “Shape I’m In", the moody ballad “Don’t Hand Me Down Your Hand-Me-Down", "Don’t Go", and the absolutely superb encores of "Open Hearted", a honking version of the venerable "Honeydripper” and a rousing finale of "I Need Your Loving”. Afterwards, someone described the band as basic. It wasn't intended to sully their reputation. Jo Jo Zep are basic; their music is the basis. It is where rock and roll came from and it is where it keeps coming back to for renewal. I wish them well. They certainly gave me a night to remember. Ken Williams REEL TO REAL CAPTAIN COOK, JULY3I Wellington's Reel to Real seem to have the field covered. They play confident, gliding rock’n’roll that contains more than its fair share of guts and resonance. Rhythm section Graham Potter (drums and lyrics) and Geoff Keith (bass) never stumble, always tight and so provide the ideal anchor for the disciplined playing of Peter Allison (keyboards) and Mike Tait (alias Gigantor, guitar). Vocalist James Cameron can sing and he works hard at Geldof stage-craft and thankfully avoids the l-want-to-be-a-robot stance too many vocalists wanna get into these days. Ninety per cent of their material is original with the remainder being made up of sixties’ age-betraying hallmarks that they flick out with just the right amount of reverence and flair. “Do You Believe in Magic”, "Happy Together” and the Yardbirds’ "Shapes" were nostalgia plus relevance and their version of Louis Jordan’s swing number "I Want You” hit the mark audience-wise. Their own songs were lively and interesting but strongly derivative, especially "Shops" which was really just "Cold Turkey" with different words. But they made up ground with “Time To Leave", which is just panting to be a single,- and their version of Wayne Mason's “Million Years”. Live, Reel to Real have got what it takes with maybe a bit left over, but there’s definitely a need to wrench themselves away from their obvious songwriting influences. George Kay