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Rip It Up, Issue 59, 1 June 1982, Page 22

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Dunedin Double EP: Stones, Chills, Sneaky Feelings, Verlaines (Flying Nun) By recording these bands in Christchurch in April, Chris Knox and Doug Hood have achieved as much if not more on four track as any recent NZ documentation. It's not perfect, the mixing is unsympathetic in parts, but it never sounds hollow. Anyone who's familiar with early Lou/Velvets is going to feel right at home, because the same rhythm guitar approach can be traced throughout, although as a set the perspective is more optimistic. There are also snatches of Syd Barrett, sixties’ snake skin boots intact. The Verlaines use rhythm changes effectively for Angela', and for their fine 'boy hurt by love' song Crisis After Crisis’: Don t think that you're the great reason Why I've. got iny guts in a vice. ■ But unlike 'Crisis' the vocals in the solemn 'You Cheat Yourself of Everything That Moves' are way way back and sound strained. Best tor the Stones is See Red' (not Enz song) and 'Surfs. Up' which is not unlike the Kinks 'All Day and All of the Night'. It con-' tains gruff surf harmonies in a rib dig at surfies, complete with plaintive "1 can't even ride this thing,' and nice little verbal fade out. Down and Around' and Something New', lack strong vocals. Sneaky Feelings start with the slow 'Pity's Sake' then move into the uptempo There's a Chance' with a .catchy chorus. Last is 'Backroom'. Painful. The Chills have the best songs, though opener Kaleidoscope World is too sweet for this tooth. But 'Satin Doll works in its simplicity, and Frantic Drift' is just that. Martin Phillipps is an inspired lyricist. There's both strong and weak material on this compilation. Dissatisfied with your local climate? Try some cool Dunedin air. Ann Louise Martin

Clean Great Sounds Great (Flying Nun) This is w'hat they call an import-

Rip It Up N 0.59, June 'B2 . Post all correspondence to RIU. PO Box 5689, Auckland 1. Editor Murray Cammick Advertising Enquiries 790-653 Rip it Up is typeset by Artspec Typesetting Systems and printed by Lucas Print, Paraparaumu.

Phantom Records » Pitt Street, Sydney u Record Plant imperial Arcade, Sydney. Missing Link Records Port Phillip Arcade, Melbourne

ant release. You've all been waiting for it, and finally it's here. Hands up all those who are disappointed. I am, for one. Boodle scored four out of five in terms of songs, CSC is lucky to make three out of seven. OK, there is the wonderful 'Beatnik', but there is also the dire Fall-ish 'Side On'. On the bright side though, 'Slug Song, with Robert on hisclavinet, is Clean at their best, as is 'On Again Again', with that tremendous organ sound. Full marks must again go to Doug Hood for achieving on a fourtrack what most 24-track studios can manage. The clarity of sound

throughout is remarkable. A slight slip from form. Blam Blam Blam Learning (To Like Ourselves Again)/Call For Help (Propeller) Tracks from Luxury Length. Not as instantly accessible . as 'Marsha', but is a steady creeper. Nice meaty bass line from Tim runs in well behind Mark's cultured guitar and the whole band's harmonies. It's a double Aside, with Mark's funk-jerk guitar being the obvious star on 'Call For Help' (an edited version). Newmatics Start Again (Furtive) Posthumous single by a great

NZ band, and by far the best thing they ever did. Not only that, but on the B-side you get a live Land of a Thousand Dances'. Why do I feel robbed of an album? ' Mainly Spaniards That's What Friends Are For (Flying Nun) Debut for another Christchurch band. Wordy, warbley pop in the South Island vein that is both amusing and memorable. A must for alternative radio playlists. Flip features secretaries 'Lunch Break' and 'Questions', making this one of Flying Nun's better releases of late. Theatre Of Hate Do You Believe In The West world (Stiff) Kirk Brandon and his rebel rousers make their entry into the

vinyl world. A fine, punky spaghetti western theme with honky sax and vitriolic vocals. Gunfight at the OK Corral, or is it Chorale? Japan Ghosts (Virgin) Yet another single from .Tin Drum. A most unlikely track. Slow, meandering, but tasty and memorable. Ideal for MORorientated NZ radio. On the other side is 'The Art Of Parties (version)', great stuff. - ABC Poison Arrow (Mercury) Great opening, nice haircut and Gary Glitter's old jacket, I can't see how Martin Fry can go wrong. By now this is on every radio station in the world, and justly so. Perhaps the best white British disco unit since AWB. Flip is 'Man Trap'. U2 A Celebration (Island) The U2 single formula is becoming so distinctive, that one sounds much like another. Though similar to 'Rejoice'., on October. A Celebration' is a powerful, commercial rock tune. Flip is 'Trash, Trampoline, i And The Party Girl', a more ambitious piece featuring sparse acoustic guitar, bass drum, piano and a distant synthesised orchestration. Spines Fishing (Ripper) Wellington's Spines ceased to exist recently when drummer Caroline Easther joined Beat Rhythm Fashion. Recorded in 1981, this four track EP features the same ska feel too common in Auckland music last year. Couple that with insubstantial songwriting and you don't have an impressive record.

Chas Jankel Questionaire (A&M) 'vv,Title track from Chas Blockhead's solo album. Great blast of horns and sirens, and into the funkiest piano playing ever to come from his side of the Atlantic’. This will be huge. Flip is 'Boy', a song written in conjunction with Norman and Charlie. A Flock of Seagulls -. I Ran (Interfusion) •- ‘ . V Another mob from Liverpool, only this time they've got a clothes allowance. Chunky guitar chords and a heavy beat make (his very different from their debut 'Telecommunication'. A step in the right direction. Phil Bowering Wolves Of Power (Independent) Phil Bowering is an old hand around the Wellington scene, with recent projects being Protons, Flame Wave and Sniffing Egyptians. A very topical single about the Truxtun and suchlike. Its major fault is a duff recording, with a biscuit box drum sound and too much flanger. On the other side is 'Mutants (As A Result Of Nuclear Fallout)'. Lena Days . Car Of Your Choice (Independent) Plodding arrangement of an out-of-date-rocker.- Originally recorded for Ripper, it finally surfaces a year later. Turn it over and you get 'Television', an old Zerox song that sounds like a copy. The Royales Living In The Suburbs (Key) Not really sure who this is, but it's local. Average synth-pop song with painful lyrics and mannered vocals. The B-side, 'Robot', is similar, with the addition of several Mi-Sex cliches.

Mark Phillips