Records

Rip It Up, Issue 96, 1 July 1985, Page 24

Records

The Kiwi Animal Mercy Massage Records The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea in a pea-grey boat, with firstmate Patrick they charted' their wayward course to the Knox Church where they recorded . a long player, this , they named Mercy, to describe their mystification at a world of the senses. Brent takes a firm hand on proceedings, coyly singing a combination of meaningless or intuitively precise lyrics that sometimes startle with their, aptness, depending on the listener’s mood. Occasionally Brent cries out from his neo-foetal miasma and delivers some moments of genuine tenderness. These will be found on the songs ’Dust’ and Woman and Man Have Balance! Elsewhere a stream of self-consciousness punishes upon perserverance.. At this stage I confess that this is neither a good nor bad long player; should one be condescending and call it interesting, or on the strength of the mighty ‘Conversation Piece' write it off as noble folly? How often are power chords heard flailing from a cello?

This is truly an album for the individual to appreciate, or not, for some this will be an intensely personal document others may find it completely meaningless. All I can say is, next time dear TKA give Julie more to say, to play, anything. It is she, gentlemen, who provides the course for your tortured craft, she fills your sails with something other than lukewarm air, oh please Brent and Patrick we want Julie, more of her mercy is what we frightfully illconditioned, neo-stupid, preholocaust survivors dribble for. Sadly for this human race all the Animal gives us is murky. Hamish Coney Eugene Wilde Fourth and Broadway Eugene Wilde is the first of several indie black music recordings to be distributed outside the USA by Island Records on the Fourth and Broadway label, named after their New York office location, corner of Fourth and Broadway. For international release the album is reordered and five tracks are remixed, making it an even more impressive debut LP. The Philly World label’s leading producer, Nick Martinelli, has remixed three tracks and John Morales and Sergio Munzibai have done their M&M mix on two.

Side One is now four new dance mixes. From the moment 'Lately' moves into gear until 'Chey Chey Kule' winds down, the pace don't stop. The other two slices of smooth, danceable soul are 'Gotta Get You Home Tonight’ (a UK hit) and 'Let Her Feel It!

If you can stop listening to Side One, you get to hear Side Two, where the groove builds from the two tracks produced by 70s Philly man Bunny Sigler to the poppy Personality' and mid-tempo 'Gold!

A remarkable debut. This album would make a classy hits package, yet it's only the beginning. Keep an eye on Eugene Wilde. Murray Cammick

Gap Band VI Total Experience These guys are crazy, maaaaan. Sort of, well, their LPs vary a bit in style but some of it is always daammn crazy. But they’re not off-the-edge like George Clinton, no, this is on the level, these dudes are brudders. The Wilson brudders, from Tulsa Oklahoma.

Thematically, this album mixes old with new the wonderful single is old lovey-dovey 'I Found My Baby' stuff, with an S.O.S. Band feel. But my faves are the ones which deal with alienation in the urban molasses.

Like, well, when ya girlfriend is

obsessed with TV videogames and the relationship suffers: The Space Invaders got my girl and gone ... Yep, ‘Video Junkie' deals with the inevitable decline in the quality of human interchange in the unenviable situation. The unfortunate solution: Girl leave me And take the TV

‘Beep A Freak’ is another track where the Wilson brudders introduce a technological twist into the old possessiveness, distrust, jealousy and bickering syndrome. The problem: the girl’s phone is busy or she’s not at home. The solution: buy a beeper. It's cheaper to beep her.

So if life in the urban molasses is getting sticky and you want to focus on your neurosis, this album won’t be much bloody use, but you’ll get a laugh or two and a boogie or two. Roll on Gap Gold, a forthcoming compilation of hits from this very significant band of funkateers. Murray Cammick Nils Lofgren Flip Towerbell If you wanna talk about runnersup, worthy opponents (No Mercy), sidekicks (to Neil Young and Springsteen) and rock 'n' roll stayers (been around since 1971), then you can’t go past Nils Lofgren. His “rear' fans left him after the tame / Came To Dance in 1977 and ever since then he’s been bustin’ his gut with his honest hooks to get airplay in a dishonest business. He came closest with Nils and Night Fades Away but’s he's never really looked like gracing the glossy stage of Solid Gold. Flip may change things. It's not radically different from his past styles, but there’s more assurance and more tunes here than he’s had since Cry Tough. In fact, the first four songs on the first side could all nudge the singles charts given the chance. The four in question, 'Flip Ya Flip! the single 'Secrets In the Street; 'From the Heart’ and ‘Delivery Night’ all bustle with hooks and it’s a shame that the side has to end with the congratulatory boast of ‘King Of the Rock!

Flip over and the second side offers the same prizes; the haunting tones of ‘New Holes In Old

Shoes’ and 'Dreams Die Hard’ are vintage Lofgren predicaments, where romanticism meets realism and nobody wins but the fight goes on ... But it’s on the sad but unsentimental Big Tears fall' that he gets close to home: “The hustlers make the millions / The losers pay the dues.” Flip is a damn good album from a performer I’d almost written off, and if there's to be a fluke success this year it would be nice if it could be this. George Kay The Stylistics Some Things Never Change Virgin I'm glad that things like the Stylistics don’t change too much. A vocal band with the sublime classicism of great rhythm and blues groups like the Ravens, the Vows, the Dubs and many others. There’s something about Russell Thompkins Jnr and Airrion Love's voice that simply chills, the same way that hearing the Penguins’ 'Earth Angel’ does. These are things that don’t change.

But the album is an attempt to re-model; so in charge of production we have Maurice Starr and Arthur Baker, who, ironically, do a great job of remodelling but recreating that classical sound. Two tracks have a modern back beat, ‘Don't Change’ and 'Love Is the Answer! but the real jewels are those songs in the old style. , Kerry Buchanan Junior Walker All the Greatest Hits Motown This is quite an event a Junior Walker hits compilation released locally. Walker is one one of the important acts on Motown, even though his style was the antithesis of the flashy vocal groups. His gruff vocals and manic saxophone playing had more in common with southern soul than Motown's upwardly-mobile sound. His style was definitely his own. In fact, Junior Walker was not the kind of act Motown would sign they gained him in 1963 when they bought competing Detroit label Tri Phi. With this NZ release, mods can rush out and get pure, oldfashioned R&B Junior-style. Here are Shotgun’, ‘Shake and Finger Pop’ and 'Hip City Part 2' and, for those who like his 70s smoochers, What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)! ‘These Eyes’ and How Sweet It Is! Of all the soul acts of the 60s, reports suggest that Junior Walker is as hyperactive as ever and works with a young band. He recently told NME: “I wouldn't say because they’re young their energy rubs off on me. I got them because they can keep up with me!” Junior Walker, a unique distillation of soul where emotion and energy outweigh the dictates of sophistication and style. R&B sax doesn't get any better than this. Essential listening.

Murray Cammick