RECORDS

Rip It Up, Issue 61, 1 August 1982, Page 18

RECORDS

Squeeze I Sweets From A Stranger | ASM It's taken long enough for Squeeze to climb from Cockney anonymity to their, present wellrespected niche. Critical acclaim was slow in arriving, in fact it wasn't really until last year's East Side Story that the TilbrookDifford songwriting team received the accolades they deserved that were denied them on Cool For Cats and Argy Bargy. Sweets From A Stranger again sees them in top form. On keyboards Don Snow has replaced Paul Carrack and listening to the piano flourishes on the excellent 'l've Returned' and 'His House, Her Home', Snow's a paid-up member of the Costello fan club. With , the lyrical focus on the bitter-sweet world of love and ladies, Tilbrook and Difford show the touch of craftsmen. 'Out of Touch' and 'I Can't Hold On' are typical Squeeze mid-tempo outings, solid melodies with an eye for detail. 'When the Hangover Strikes' is an amusing 1930 s cocktail pastiche, you know the feel- ' ing, 'Black Coffee In Bed' (with Costello on back-up vocals) is a sure-fire shot of soul and Tongue Like A Knife' takes care of sensuality. Sweets From A Stranger is assured, sophisticated and bustin' out with good songs. Squeeze can do no wrong around this house. Cool for any cat. George Kay Altered Images Pinky Blue Epic Background to the Sound of Twee: We find Altered Images growing up in Scotland with lead singer Clare Grogan being smitten by the dubious charms of Siouxsee. An influence more readily discernible on the Images' first album Happy Birthday, , a more serious approach to pop than is .evidenced on their first album release here. Pinky Blue. The success of their Happy Birthday' and 'I Could Be Happy' singles has led the band to exploit the bright-faced innocence and kindergarten cuteness of the Grogan presence. Right from the eye-catching pre-school tackiness of the cover and its title, the album exudes a sweetness that spills into self-parody. The title song, 'See Those Eyes' and 'Forgotten' are immediate overdose but it's on Clare's rendition of Neil Diamond's 'Song Sung Blue' that her affected lisp and fey mannerisms go way over tolerance level. The best moments, are undoubtedly the two hit singles the 12 inch version of 'I Could Be Happy' and last year's 'Happy Birthday', included on the local pressings of Pinky Blue. The band is polished and restrained seemingly content to allow Clare to lead them to pop ■ confection. But they should realise

that they don't have to sound this sweet to make successful pop. Diabetics Beware. George Kay Various Artists Sex, Sweat & Blood Beggars Banquet The wheel goes full circle and it seems that the pronouncements of yesterday are the hypocracies of today. It doesn't take much of a memory to remember when that beat was decidedly unchic and "Death to Disco" badges were everywhere. But who cares? Rock 'n' roll has always been a series of contradictions and this is closer to the rock 'n' roll spirit -than the vast numbers of dinosaurs radio foists upon us in the name of rock music..,: What we have here is, according to your point of view, a representative sampler of the current musical trends or another batch of nine day wonders. Whatever, I find this collection highly preferable to many of the depressing drones that appeared in the wake

of Joy Division. This is fun with style. ' r ? " Easy to move to, and uplifting, this collection's high points for me are Lora Logic's Wonderful Offer', Maximum Joy's 'Stretch', Dance's 'ln Lust' and Medium Medium's 'So Hungry, So Angry' all of which sound very vital and extremely danceable. An easy remedy for these grey days. Simon Grigg X • Under the Big Black Sun Elektra Something, at last, is stirring in the rock'n'roll breast of suburban America. Stifled by years of high rotate commercial radio, apparent affluence and canned sunshine, a sub-culture of West Coast bands have emerged hell-bent on revealing the sour side of private enterprise and self-help. X's John Doe, bassist/vocalist and co-writer, puts it this way: 'The big black sun is the sun that shines on every American city, turned black by

the times, the new depression." X are from LA and Under. the Big Black Sun is their first shot for Elektra with their two previous albums, Los Angeles and Wild Gift being released by the indie Slash Records. Ex Doors keyboards player Ray Manzarek has produced the lot and so he shares the credit for the band's plain energetic authenticity. The members are no spring chickens (Doe hits 30 next year) and with the exception of female vocalist/lyricist Exene Cervenka, the rest of them (Billy Zoom, guitar and saxes, D.J. Bonebrake, drums) have cut their teeth on everything from bar-room rockabilly to jazz and classical. So it's not surprising that their' music although direct and ' predominantly up-tempo, presents a hybrid front. Delving and 'Because I Do’, the title track; 'Real Child of Hell', and the stacatto opening belt of The Hungry Wolf' are the pick of the angry crop. 'Come Back To Me' is Exene in ballad time, nice and lean, and 'Dancing With Tears In My Eyes' is as neat a piece of pure hokum as you're likely to hear. But the scene stealer is the final song, The Have Nots', a timeless song of working class USA. Under The Big Black Sun is the real McCoy, a compassionate tour of the Americana you don't read about in the brochures. George Kay ~~ Miles Davis We Want Miles CBS We Want Miles was recorded last year during Davis' first tour in seven years. Apart from one Gershwin, all the pieces are original, three previously unrecorded. That said however, the album [>resents me with certain probems, not the least of which is my inbuilt antipathy towards double live albums. I always think they

could have been shaped into better single ones. I find We Want Miles no exception. The fact that all four sides contain only six tracks (one a reprise) means that we get some very extended soloing. Miles, of course, is magnificent ranging from moody to fiery, always passionate, phrasing fabulously, bringing out the best support from his band. His are the most interesting solos, though the soprano sax performances are very fine. Guitarist Mike Stern is fluent but his playing careens too close to heavy rock for comfort. (But then 1 never liked John McLaughlin either.) Stern's whole approach is more jarring given that the rhythm foundation of most tracks is funk. And it is a great rhythm team. Foster is the only veteran of previous groups, and bassist Miller is a top sessionman. Too often, however, it falls on this section to hold the music up. With a tighter framework, more direction, less stretching out, this (admittedly great) jazz-funk bedrock wouldn't have such a burden. Which brings me to my last quibble. There are too many excellent funkateers on the market getting state-of-the-art recording presence for me to willingly settle for this murky live mix. Irritations aside, it must be said that there are passages of truly wonderful music here. Davis, in fact, probably couldn't make a bad album if he tried. Peter Thomson Hambi and the Dance Heartache Virgin According to Hambi, the Greek kingpin fronting this latest set of Liverpudlians, Tontrix, his previous band, pre-dated the Teardrops and the Bunnymen in opening up the so-called Liverpool scene, but they broke up before any record deal was finalised. A hard luck story, maybe, but Hambi and his music have now reached the light of day on Heartache, their first album. He believes in passion and Phil Spector, two qualities he tries to bring to life on Heartache. Spector virtually invented the word 'epic' as applied to pop but for me his larger-than-like approach was a barrier to emotion rather than a catalyst for real

passion: Hambi has * the same problem. The album, recorded in his own Toxteth studio, tries to make grandiose passionate statements . that render themselves overblown by his echo-chamber production and Demis Roussos vocals. As a songwriter Hambi is a cut above the normal hack: Time After Time', T'lmage Craque', The World', 'Major Major' and the most credible offering, 'Standing In the Rain, reveal a talent of . sorts.. But he equates epic with significance and grand melancholy with' real • feeling with the' result • that Heartache sounds like a melodramatic contender for the Euro-' vision Song Contest. :Like Theatre of Hate's debut, the recording process cheapens the intended emotions. Oversung and overdone. George Kay Bob Marley and the Wailers African Herbsman Gems From Treasure Island Tighten. Up Vol. 2 Music World Music World, king 'of' the cheapies, has made a surprising venture into the reggae field of late. They've latched onto the Trojan catalogue.'^BßßHp^ Good stuff, too. The Wailers album is a collection of late 60s and early 70s material, recorded in association with Lee Perry and Clement Dodd, both of whom claimed a hand in writing some of the tracks. Some of these emerged on the Soul Rebel LP, issued in Britain as Rasta Revolution. Included are the original versions of 'Lively Up Yourself', later a standout track on Natty Dread, 'Small Axe' and 'Duppy Conqueror', remade for Buntin', and 'Kaya', 'Sun Is Shining' and 'Don't Rock The Boat', which re-emerged on the Kaya LP. Also check out the classic 'Put It On' and '4OO Years' singles. Sixteen tracks in all, not a dud anywhere, still fresh, profound and very upful. y[. The other two albums are excellent rock- steady collections from. the 60s. The Treasure Island collection includes tracks by the Paragons, the Melodians and Alton Ellis. Tighten Up features early work by Lee Perry, Derek Harriott and Clancy Eccles, among others. Rude, rumbustious and risible. Duncan Campbell