BRIEFS

Rip It Up, Issue 61, 1 August 1982, Page 20

BRIEFS

20 Solid Krypton Hits (Onset/ * Offset) My copy hasn't got the proper cover so I don't know who does what on this intriguing Christchurch compilation album but the first half of Side Two is as good as any music made in NZ ever! Side One is modern, treated with . lots of studio effects,' and I feel the (good) songs suffer a little but when not worried about sounding ■ a bit dated the people responsible : relax into some lovely music. .The South's already got this, it should be up North very soon.'. CK The Picnic Boys Here Comes the Jungle (C9O $5, TV Eye 002) Invercargill? Great! 30 songs for five bucks, recorded on 4 track cassette and in three cases 8 track. All of it is interesting, some of it ; is truely stunning, none of it .is boring. See jungle, see Picnic, C9O. See if you like it and if you don't, tape over the two holes at the back and you've got a reasonably cheap cassette to do your master tape on. Buy it you slugs. (Write: TV Eye Enterprises, .506 Queens Drive, Invercargill.) CK Spirit Potatoland (Beggars Banquet) Interesting artifact from the psychedelic period, recorded in 1973, but not available until now. Randy California and Ed Cassidy indulge themselves in a comic fantasy visit to Potatoland a kind of McDonalds gone crazy. Side One is a series of loosely related songs and contains the album's highlights Totatoland Theme' and 'Open Up Your Heart'. Side Two is a narrated story line, interspersed with increasingly spaced out instrumentation, but lacks the panache of say Ogden's. Nut Gone Flake. Recommended for students of psychedelia. DP Phil Manzanera Primitive Guitars (Editions E.G.) In his cover note, Phil Manzanera states that an abiding interest has been "the possibility of making a guitar sound as unlike a guitar as possible". The technical sound of that statement should not deter those interested in hearing elegant music to excite the emotions as well as the intellect. The ever-economic Manzanera draws an extraordinary mixture of styles and colours from his instrument, or, perhaps one should say, instruments, as he plays all instruments except for John Wetton's bass on one track. KW Kim Wilde, Select (RAK) If it's bright and sparkly pop we're after, I'll take the best five tracks from Kim Wilde's debut against any selection from Dare you like. This time out however, there's a slight case of the second album syndrome. The energy and exuberance is still there in heaps but no so many neat toons. Still, 'View From A Bridge' makes a snappy single, 'Can You Come Over' is better than the Go-Go's and you can dance to almost every track. PT Levon Helm (Capitol) The Band's former drummer, turns in another album of pleasantly rocking Southern funk. Produced at Muscle Shoals with all the soulfulness expected of that worthy crew, the album confirms Helm as a song interpreter of the highest rank. His heartbreak reading of the ballad 'Even a Fool Would Let Go' would stand with anything he did with the Band. While the other songs are more routine, it's routine by the standards LevOn set with the Band. KW

King Crimson, Beat (EG) In similar vein to last year's Discipline, but with some excesses. Standout tracks are 'Neal, Jack or Me', which closely parallels 'Elephant Talk' off Discipline, "Waiting Man', which boils with expectation, Two Hands', an ethereal piece reminiscent of the original band, and 'Heartbeat', with its textured rhythms. The excesses are 'The Howler' and 'Neurotica', where control is lost and cacophony takes over. Enough quality to satisfy Discipline fans. DP

Slade Til Deaf Us Do Part Of course it's a dated, clicheridden, sexist, macho, stodgy, unimaginative, safe and a whole host of other uncomplimentary things, but I expected to find at least a couple of less obvious subtle little things tucked away on Side Two like wot the old Slade albums used to have. The nearest this platter of intellect-shattering clatter gets to listenability is a tiny instrumental, the only thing not written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lee. CK Cat People Soundtrack (MCA) Noteworthy for Bowie's Tutting Out Fire', though to be fair, he only contributes the lyrics. All the music is the work of Giorgio Moroder, eerie synthesizer fodder for largest part. The movie is billed as 'an erotic fantasy about the animal in us all'. The music, reminds me of the old Peanuts joke, about hot dogs not tasting right without a baseball game in front of them. Soundtracks need a screen. DC The Byrds Sweetheart , Of The Rodeo (CBS) This is the album which, in 1968 (along with Dylan's John Wesley Harding) created. country-rock. And to a very large extent it still defines the term. McGuinn was leader but upstaged by . Gram Parsons on a . bunch of classic interpretations. One of the rare albums where rock embraces another distinct style without once cheapening it. PT Dillinger • Badder Than Them (A&M) Dillinger (Lester Bullocks) was touted as the next big thing in DJs

when he cut the . classic single 'Cocaine In My Brain', and followed it up with two fine albums, CB2OO and Bionic Dread. Sadly, he lost impetus after that, and this album, his first for A&M,. is sad evidence. He tries to sing in orthodox fashion, writes trite and embarrassing lyrics, and comes badly unstuck. Only on 'Little Girlie', where he reverts to toasting, does he salvage anything.DC Rupert Hine Waving Not Drowing (A&M) 1981's Immunity had an intelligence and originality that transcended virtually all opposition in the synth-rock stakes. Hine's music was often demanding and unsettling. This time out it's slightly more conventional and, while I miss the weirder edges, the best stuff here is still very good indeed. * PT Blue Oyster Cult Extraterrestrial Live (CBS) . A dramatic return to form for BOC, in a powerful live recording of established repertoire and recent studio work. Don't Fear, the Reaper', Dominance and Submission' and 'Godzilla' are all here, but the standouts are 'Veteran of the Psychic Wars', 'Joan Crawford' and 'Burning For You'. The only new item is the Doors' classic 'Roadhouse Blues', providing a fitting finale for the album, with the band joined by former Doors guitarist Robbie Kreiger. DP Crosby, Stills and Nash Daylight Again (Atlantic) After a series of disastrous solo albums and a lamentable 1977 reunion, Daylight Again lives up to the title. Very much a Stills and Nash album, as Crosby only contributes one song and plays no' instruments. The harmonies are as good as ever, and Stills and Nash write their best songs since Deja Vu. Highlight tracks are Nash's "Wasted On The Way' and 'Song For Susan', and Stills' 'Southern Cross' and Turn Your Back On Love'. Highly recommended. DP Judge Dread Rub-a-dub (Creole) Judge Dread (real name Alex Hughes) is a fat, white Englishman who apparently started writing dirty poetry on 100 walls at the age of eight. He hasn't progressed much since then, though he has achieved something of a cult status, recording grubby reggae' songs. With titles like 'Brewer's Droop' and The Disco Flasher', I think - you can draw your own conclusions. DC Nine Below Zero Third Degree (A&M) A second album from a band who always seemed to me to be the ideal support for Dr. Feelgood. They would warm-up but never threaten. Nine Below are goodtime boys caught up in the trap of thinking that rock'n'roll flavoured with a little gratuitous R&B X is enough to gain them credibility. Third Degree is enjoyable v first time round but then the stains of lack of class/quality peer through. Anonymity assured. y GK