SINGLES BAR

Rip It Up, Issue 70, 1 May 1983, Page 22

SINGLES BAR

Mark Phillips

Indeep Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (RCA) ; . It's month's like this I'm glad I -don’t have to single out , the best release. This month's crop is uncommonly good: l This is disco at its smoothest. Steady base beat with jangly guitar and whistles and, a sexy ■female vocal. A huge hit in clubs all over the world. ■The Go-Betweens Cattle and Cane (Rough Trade) | - An Australian band that grew up strange. A beautiful lament with lotsa acoustic guitar and a bassline that refuses to leave your head. As for the harmonies, they give me goose-bumps all over. This band is the future of modern /.music (ere, that's a bit over the top innit?). : Nick Heyward f Whistle Down the Wind (Arista) Mr Yellow says goodbye to his Haircuts and goes mellow. His first solo single is lush, romantic and commercial. Not only that, he's sucked me in totally. A song to play to your,girl as you fumble for the lightswitch. Long live love and thankyou Mr Heyward. Fun Boy Three Tunnel of Love (Chrysalis) Meanwhile, down in social comment street. Nobody makes records like this better than FB3 and this is one of the best they've

done. .Terry snears his way through a lyric that builds on the "Done too much, much too young" theme. Stirring stuff and there's even a Beatles' harmony in the middle. On the other side, we get treated to reworked (no instruments) 'Lunatics', entitled The Lunacy Legacy'. Culture Club Church of the Poison Mind (Virgin) Hands up if yop thought Boy George would never make a really good record. I must admit I never thought he was capable of something like this. A searing blast of Motown, complete with harmonica and girlie back-up. The most obvious hit record you could ever hope to hear. Even if you hate it you'll still sing along. Pete Shelley Telephone Operator (Genetic) - The affable Shelley chap gets his wires crossed. Those of you who thought his next offering would be disco, cop a listen to this. Rock is the only word that fits if it was guitars instead of keyboards' it could be the Buzzcocks. Only average. ' Thomas Dolby She' Blinded Me With Science 7" & 12" (EMI) ' : Some of you' may remember Europa and the Pirate Twins', Dolby's only local release to date. This one is by far his most successful yet, having done extremely well in American boogie halls. Cowritten by some geezer called J. Kerr, it incorporates gadgetry with a Talking Heads feel. Of course you can dance to it. New Order Blue Monday 12" (Factory) This is the one you've all been waiting for. Go on, admit it. I'm not going to review it so there. Dun dugga dun dugga dun dugga .. dun. «—• •'

Depeche Mode • i Get the Balance Right (Mute) Depeche Mode' have written some good pop tunes over the past year. This is among the best: Infectious and highly danceable, it builds into'a fine crescendo before, fading into the distance. Check out the 12" for one of the cleverest] remixes around. ' K Delmontes Don't Cry Your Tears (Rational) No, not Del and the Montys. This is a delightful Edinburgh pop\ song, very much in the South ’ Island vein. Sixties' keyboards and guitar sound give it a strange surreal feel. Couple that with a female vocalist who is all over the place and what have you got? Buggered if 1 know, but I like it anyway. Shriekback My Spine is the Bassline 12" (Y) Shriekback are Barry Andrews (ex XTC), Dave Allen (ex Gang of Four) and Carl Marsh. Hard funk . is their angle and they do it well. Allen's bass is obviously the key to this song a carefully structured semi-rap ■ piece. Definitely not one for the radio but worth hunting out for your own collection Malcolm McLaren Soweto 12" (Charisma) So Buffalo Gals' is finally out (a state of the art record that, by the time the NZ record company discovered it, became outdated and almost irrelevant). So on to' Talcy Malcy's newie. Heavy African feel with a disco overtone and violins. Sound strange? It is. Lots of fun and you also get Zulus On a Time Bomb' and 'Red River Gals' (second cousin to the Buffalo Gals'). A