Briefs

Rip It Up, Issue 65, 1 December 1982, Page 22

Briefs

Dr John Plays Mac Rebennack (WEA) Mac Rebennack's various Dr John manifestations have tended to obscure the fact that he is a helluva piano player. This solo setting (only one vocal) rights the balance. Rebennack mixes originals in the New Orleans and boogie woogie traditions with his versions of the venerable Honey Dripper', Pinetop Smith's 'Boogie Woogie' and a delightful sampling from the bag of tricks of the late Professor Longhair, ('Memories of Professor Longhair'), who is acknowledged as the major creative spur of New Orleans piano playing. The vocal on Hoagy Carmichael's ballad, The Nearness of You', is archetypal Dr John. A superb album. KW Dennis O'Brien Strangers (Toast) Well I thought the last album was damn well crafted and it didn't sell. Strangers is just as good, maybe better. The single, .'Julia', is pretty sappy anyone remember the fine Kevin Bayley version? But several tracks confirm this man as NZ's best exponent of what the radio programmers term 'adult oriented rock'. PT The Sound All Fall Down (WEA) The London four-piece who sound like Echo and the Bunnymen and who've collected quite a devoted local following. This is their third album and it repeats the message and doomsday dynamics of personal and social integration of Jeopardy and From the Lion's Mouth. In the past they've always managed the odd mind-grabbing piece of plagiarism dressed up in soothsayers clothing 'Jeopardy', 'Heartland' and 'New Dark Age' spring to mind. All Fall Down offers little that's different. 'Monument', 'Where the Love Is' and 'Glass and Smoke' are only subtle and slight shifts from past directions. The Sound, sometimes important, but usually too preoccupied in sounding important to save the world. GK John Martyn Well Kept Secret (WEA) John Martyn is definitely

moving upmarket. Last year's Glorious Fool was considerably more mellow that its predecessor, the masterpiece Grace and Danger. Now, on Well Kept Secret, Martyn's unique guitar styles are very largely in abeyance. Instead, sensuous washes of synth and smooth bass harmonies caress his melodies. Even the once roughhewn vocals have become carefully polished. This ex-folk musician may be exploring jazz idioms, but they're beginning to sound.more like John Dankworth's than John Coltrane's. PT Spy vs Spy Six Fresh Lemons (Stunn) Spy vs Spy are a young Oz three-piece from Sydney who play ska-based music with a commercial leaning. We have here six well-structured songs, each fired with a catchy melody, a - tight rhythmic backing and crisp instrumentals and vocals, not to mention a flawless production.-Nothing new or amazing, but top marks for professionalism. RR The Pick of Gene Pitney (CBS) Very much an enigma this lad. He was the housewives darling yet Keith Richard recruited him to play on the Stones' second album. His hits were usually written by Bacharach/David or Mann/Weill yet his rockingest success, 'Love My Life Away', was self-penned and produced so well that Phil Spector looked him up. All ten tracks were enormous in the sixties and several still sound good today. 'Liberty Valance' is the favourite round the RIU office. One quibble: why was Town Without Pity' left off an otherwise excellent compilation? PT The Passions Sanctuary (Polydor) The Passions' focal point, vocalist and guitarist Barbara Cogan, has persevered. Lumbering under a name- that, considering their music to date, must be a deliberate irony Cogan and the other four have come up with an album that is almost animated enough to be called passionate. The cadences of the vapid 'l'm In Love With A German Film Star' are largely behind them as they whip up emotion on 'lnto Night', .'White Lies' and 'Sanctuary'. Life in evidence but still an album of B grade aspirations and achievements. GK