Records

Rip It Up, Issue 93, 1 April 1985, Page 22

Records

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Southern Accents MCA The distance from traditionalism to retrogression is not far. Within three LPs from 79's Damn the Torpedoes to 82's Long After dark Tom Petty had slumped from a peak of rock 'n' roll heroism into tired conservatism. Which, all things considered, is about par for the course, even with the most talented of those working rock's traditional verities. Consider Bob Seger's slide from Night Moves to Against the Wind (Springsteen alone seems immune). Yet like Seger's gritty reemergence with The Distance, here is Petty fighting to revitalise his style. And the way he's doing it is by trying on other people's styles. Sometimes this dressing up is fun as with 'Make It Bet-

ter', a 60-ish soul romp, complete with female backup and punching soul riffs. Sometimes it’s maudlin, as on the string-sodden title track. Once it’s even downright embarrassing when the band tries to disco on 'lt Ain't Nothin' To Me’. But a few tracks integrate their borrowings. 'Mary’s New Car' may well have originated as a Springsteen pastiche but it becomes Petty's own. Similarly, 'Spike' coentirely dispensed with, however. The album opens with as barnstorming a rocker as he's ever recorded. It would be joyous were it not so cliched. But it's mainly on side two of Southern Accents that the hopes for Tom Petty’s future are to be found. Peter Thomson Everything But The Girl Eden Blanco Y Negro I've spent many an evening with a gin and tonic and Tracey Thorn’s A Distant Shore, and it looks as if Eden could be another one of those records. Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt make very modest records, not a hint of pretension (or a synth) anywhere, and all in their delightfully flat flat voices. Tracey Thorn does most of the singing, with the exception of Tender Blue’, a sort of duet-thingy, and 'Soft

Touch! It's not really a departure from A Distant Shore (sorry, couldn’t resist it), her songs have been fleshed out with mostly jazz backings and some especially nice trumpet from Dick Pearce and sax from Pete King and Nigel Nash. And the songs? Yes RELATIONSHIPS. Not the "Ooh baby, I love you” kind, but the differing points of view, l-hate-it-when-l’m-like-this kind. An unobtainable Eden. This is a record that adds up to a larger whole. See you at the bottle store. Fiona Rae

The Pale Fountains ... From Across the Kitchen Table Virgin These surprises come from the most unexpected quarters. Last year Liverpool’s Pale Fountains, Paleys to their friends, sounded like the most aptly named band of the decade with the release of their Pacific Street debut album; a record of laid-back anaemia, so tasteful it was inaudible.

In the interim they've wised up, the "they" referring to founding members and creative fulcrums Mike Head and Chris McCaffrey, by enlisting another guitarist, John Schneider, to toughen up the music and lend added needle. Plus songwriter Head has improved beyond belief, not only in the content/arrangement of his songs, but also in his vocal delivery, where, with with ex-Bunnymen producer lan Broudie presiding, he assumes occasional McCulloch mannerisms.

In fact songs like 'Stole the Love; 'Bicycle Thieves! 'Limit' and ‘Bruised Arcade’ wouldn’t disgrace the Bunnymen at their best. Head’s lyrics may be his weak point but the band’s fusion of energy and dexterity results in an atmosphere that gives his material additional character and presence. Most albums in the current post-punk “progressive” vein are nothing but hollow shams, the byproducts of supposed talents who’ve hit on a sound or fad. Feel sure that the Pale Fountains lie in the opposite direction ... From Across the Kitchen Table has to be regarded as "seriously" as Lloyd Cole’s Rattlesnakes. Deal with it. George Kay Jason and the Scorchers Lost and Found EMI America You only have to look at the sleeve photos for Lost and Found to guess that Jason and the boys have been able to afford a few more beers since they released their debut mini-LP, Fervor. Puffy features, pink eyes... real bar room natives. The bad news is, a little of the flab seems to have found its way onto the new record there’s a mid-range guitar grunge about tracks like the single ‘White Lies’ and ‘lf Money Talks’ that distances them a little further from when they were the Nashville Scorchers (and from before the record company remixed Fervor for mass consumption). But it’s generally when drummer Perry Baggs does the songwriting that things get a little turgid rather than sharp. When Jason Ringenberg’s on the job things look up. Maybe the most appealing thing about Jason is his lyric writing. Romantically wordy, he marries the naievete and melodrama of country music tradition with a modern sense of knowing. In that sense, “country punk" is a more appropriate tag for the words than the music. In ‘Still Tied’, the tale of an old black man who’s battled the racial hate of the South all his life, he sings: “A Southern grave still stands waiting / The congregation sings a victory

tune. Jason doesn’t let his songs become as cluttered as either the Baggs tunes or the two covers, ‘I Really Don’t Want To Know’ (1953) and 'Lost Highway’ (1949). And, seeing as the Scorchers are definitely Jason's band, Losf and Found is an enjoyable, sometimes charming, generally kickass, success. All I’d like to hear is something of the leaness of a band like the Long Ryders. But, shit, I'd buy Jason a beer any day of the week. Russell Brown John Martyn Sapphire Island John Martyn’s previous album for WE A, Well Kept Secret, mysteriously lived up to its name an undeserved fate for an excellent album. Back on Island Records, where he’s done the bulk of his work, Sapphire represents a retreat from the up-tempo sound of Well Kept Secret and setlles for a relaxed format more akin to Grace and Danger. Aided by sympathetic guitar from Barry Reynolds and a precise rhythm section, Martyn weaves through a pattern of sounds reminscent of a Sunday afternoon stroll. Even that old whore, ‘Over the Rainbow; works in this context. A faultless combination of soothing ballads in the inimitable Martyn tradition, without the excesses og the more extreme jazz rock experiments which have marred some of his work. Highly recommended. David Perkins QED Animal Magic CBS One of the brightest moments in last year’s all-stars-play-the-classics gig (aka The Party Boys) was when Jenny Morris took her solo on ‘Going Out Of My Head’. She’d always had that lovely voice of course, but it had been almost five years since we’d heard her fronting the Crocodiles. Now she’s a third of QED, an Australian unit that also consists of a bassist and a guitarist, plus additional hired hands. Both the strengths and weaknesses of Morris’s current position may be gauged by considering QED’s treatment of an old Crocodiles’ number, 'Everywhere I Go! On one hand the new version is vastly superior to the original and makes one of the catchiest pop singles so far this year. Yet the fact that it’s also easily the strongest track on the album does highlight QED’s limitations. Elsewhere potentially strong tracks are lock-stepped by rigidified rhythm playing. Only the title number escapes, but it too suffers from a production that seems more interested in the snare drum than Morris establishing the melody. Perhaps ifAvhen QED expand their regular lineup their sound may strengthen. Meanwhile it’s the single that best represents Jenny Morris's talents as both writer and singer.

Peter Thomson