Briefs

Rip It Up, Issue 69, 1 April 1983, Page 20

Briefs

Kiss Children of the Night (Casablanca) Pre-punk, while drunk I battered my ears to pulp with their first albums. Now I'm older and more mature and my shredded ears are used as ashtrays as I lie on the floor two blocks away from this hideous record which may be had for five bucks (only played once) from me, c/- RIU. You'll love it. Really! CK Various Artists Party Party (A&M) A British movie soundtrack featuring current acts interpreting various rock standards. Reaction depends on one's reverence for the originals. They vary through straight (Bad Manners copy Coasters), stupid (Altered Images wreck Del Shannon), stereotyped (Sting does Little Willie John), to startling (Bananarama jogs the Sex Pistols). Midge Ure sings Bowie you can image for yourself. Best number is an original: Elvis Costello's title track. PT Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band The Distance (Capitol) In the mid-70s Bob Seger, along with Bruce Springsteen, was regarded as the hope of mainstream rock'n'roll. ; But .after the disastrous Against The Wind and a live album, it looked like he was really lost. The good news is that The Distance is not just a convincing return to form but his best since Night Moves. The lacklustre current single and sole cover version is in no way indicative of the album's strengths. Seger breathes life into old formulas and refurbishes a few cliches. 'Coming Home' is as aching a road song as he's ever written while 'Makin' Thunderbirds' combines the subjects of cars and unemployment with freshness and integrity. Sure, Seger may occasionally seem a tad antiquated in these post-moderne times, but it's gratifying to know he's lasting the distance. PT Albert Lee (Polydor) * . Sideman supreme Albert Lee

steps into the spotlight to play his guitar and sing with consummate good taste. Former Emmylou Harris band - colleague Rodney Crowell has produced ,an album that shows Lee off. to best advantage. Lee's guitar ,qualifications have never been in doubt, but here the- hotlicks are balanced with Albert's unpretentious, countrified vocals. He avoids extravagance in both areas and delivers a most likeable and listenable record. Favourite track: Johnny O'Keefe's 'Wild One' (titled here .'Real Wild Child') KW The Stranglers, Feline (CBS) In recent years the Stranglers have- mellowed considerably, • making it difficult to take their efforts very seriously. Their latest' does little to restore faith - in fact it could, almost be -called easy listening. Yet much of the old cleverness is still evident in the quirky synthesiser and insidious bass treatments. These are used to best effect on the single 'European Female', 'All Roads Lead to Rome' and 'Blue Sister'. Despite a few. weaker tracks this album works successfully and shows, if nothing else, that the Stranglers are confident with their new style. Nice and easy does it ... “ T RR ? Bad Manners Forging Ahead (Magnet) . In which Buster Bloodvessel and, th'lads attempt to diversify their familiar mixture of sub-fourth form humour and rocksteady ska beat. Only a couple of tracks, 'Salad Bar' and 'Tonight is Your • Night', both Members-type cockney disco, really come off. The rest might just as well be Benny Hill and the George Mitchell Minstrels singing lan Dury's old shopping lists. For definitions of the truly futile, try 'My Boy Lollipop' or the instrumental 'Exodus' theme. DM UK Subs, 1979-81 (Music World) A twenty track compilation of the UK Subs' brand of. social/ political catharsis isn't about to start the Third World War. They're a Brit answer to the forced anger of Stiff Little Fingers and so they've a certain amount of, ah, propulsion. Start the subversion without me. ' GK Various Punk Explosion (Music World) - A selection of third generation punk/oi bands who, like their ancestors, sound like Black Sabbath on speed. So there's nothing new as the Violators, Blitz, Red Alert, Insane, Test Tube Babies and others flagellate themselves during the usual waltzes. These guys are radical? - GK Blue Rondo A La Turk Chewing The Fat (Virgin) Chewing the fat about sums up the debut Blue Rondo a la Turk album. Lounge lizards performing jazz-cum-tropical nothings they are incapable of arousing despite incessant technicallycorrect blathering. The greatest sin committed here though is the massacre of the Motown oldie 'I Spy For The FBI' (try John Hiatt's sterling cover instead). Turkeys do talk. ' DT