Shake Summation

Rip It Up, Issue 106, 1 May 1986, Page 24

Shake Summation

Otis Mace and the Psychic Pet Healers Heavy Petting (Ode EP) : Never not fun, veering from the sublime to the totally silly, Otis Mace and the Psychic Pet Healers

are always worth turning an ear towards. Here, ‘Screaming’ is best — Otis and Sarah Franks can't help sounding benign over the top of a mean ol’ rock 'n’ roll toon. Julie’ could've come from the Residents’ Commercial Album. And ‘Telephone Sex’ ...? It's carried away by the totally corny vocal inflection ... Lawdy! Lawdy! Working With Walt ' Five Sides (Jayrem EP) This | like. Working With Walt are sounding very indigenous and interesting with a pleasing lack of pretentiousness. Five songs showing five sides of the band, with my favourite profiles being ‘Christine, the jaunty ‘Bus in the Suburbs’ and the acoustic politicising of ‘Pound of Flesh’ — this time the lyrical concern is Pakeha landgrabbing. Working With Walt come across strongly indeed on this record. ; Dead Sea Scrolls (Jayrem EP) Not a local record, but one made by a group of expatriate

Kiwis in London, released here by Jayrem. Frenetic and strange funky noises from Tim Mahon, Carol Varney and Sid Pasley, once of Blam Blam Blam, the Gurlz and Newmatics respectively. ‘Triumphant Day, ‘Heat Loss, ‘Wind’ and ‘Salmon, all very unusual but sounding pretty damn good with the added bonus of Kelly Rogers (another Newmatics man) and his sax quartet. That Auckland in London sound .... 5 Orange : . Fruit Salad Lives (Flying Nun EP) Somewhere, beneath the restraint and held back (well, what is it?) wistful pop of Fruit Salad Lives there lurks Andrew Brough with songs that are going to reach us one day. But apart from ‘Fly, which is a masterful dreamlike pop song, the Orange have little to offer here. Brough's sounding too much like Morrissey detracts from a couple of the songs, smothering the mysterious edge, and all in all, the

Orange have not done themselves much good with most of this record: Scorched Earth Policy Going Thru a Hole in the Back of Your Head (Flying Nun EP) - : Dark and discordant, Scorched Earth Policy do have a tendency to g 0 a bit over the top, but there’s something about 'em, especially on this record. There's a sort of black humour about all their songs, from the Southern preacher to the frog drinking formaldehyde, and the manic finishes with tortured violins are a winner ... White Heat indeed. World’'s Apart Time Will Tell 12” : - World's Apart are from Christchurch, but could be from England — electro and power pop influences are worn a mite too obviously on their collective sleeve. Time Will Tell leaves a bland impression — the territory on which they tread is well-worn. I'd be look-

ing for a bit more spark from Christchurch’s “latest original Pop Rock Dance Band” next time. (Send $5 to Box 2382, Christchurch). Sy Five Year Mission & Armatrak Together as One (PYP 7”) This is a good idea. Two bands with one side and two songs each, sharing the costs of a record. Mostly it’s yer 83mph punk from both, with Armatrak going for a bit more variety and subtle irony by claiming not to be depressed while playing ‘New Dawn Fades' in ‘lnner Space. Melody? Poetry? Nah, leave that to the Smurfs ... This comes from Positive Youth Promotions, Box 8809, Symonds Street, Auckland 1. Paul McKessar > The Rapture : Cry For You Only (Pagan 12”) Peter Solomon’s solo project startles with its opening violin, then it’s straight to the dancefloor

with a funky bassline. He stays within his vocal limitations, thankfully, and there’s a catchy koto-like instrumental hook. A good song, dominated by the production however — and so serious. Pofaced funk? On tother side, ‘Prey For Tomorrow’ is high-tech zzzz — and | hate those over-used Klaxon horns every coupla bars. Desire §

Desire (WEA 12”) Suzi- Devine slips ‘into some leather and leopard. skin and writes four songs with Gary Havoc. | like the ‘Hard Day’s Night’ chord that starts Jennifer, and it sounds better at 45rpm. A heavy early 70s sound, with anguished, panting vocals — good, if you're into Pat Benatar or the Airplane. Havoc has a pure guitar sound with few effects, but | can see the dry ice from here. This is made for Upper Hutt — sleaze with stoile:“Here he comes, down my street/Tight jeans with-boots of leather/| dare

not look, he's such a‘treat/l think he must have come from heaven ... Don't touch, he's mine!” pants ‘ln My Blood’ before its Donna Summer orgasm. Next up, it's ‘Broken Heart, and no wonder — the band seems to roll over and go to sleep. Turiiya : : Waiting (Jayrem 12”) This three woman group stand out immediately with the cover of the month; its elegance is an echo of the musical contents. Best described as feminist ambience music, but don't let that put you off. ‘Thread of Gold’ is a lovely slow ballad with romantic piano and ethereal harmonies. ‘Crimson Dawn’ is more typical, however — the mood created by the long instrumental opening (a cello workout with excellent acoustic guitar and percussion accompaniment) is destroyed by the collective voiceover in the middle. Why not sing it? .-The plainchant ending redeems it. The hymnlike ‘Waitangi’ — sung acapella by Hine Pounamu — suiits its simplistic politics, while the folky ‘Waiting’ is again ruined by a voiceover. ‘Ship in the Harbour’ — there’s a storm, which means plenty of dynamic changes — sounds like a Composition 101 exercise, my main reservation with the record. Many moments of beauty, though, and superbly engineered. st Remarkables : Vegetarian/Skin Condition (Meltdown) : Already on high rotate on BFM, ‘Vegetarian' is a fun song with a raw beat band sound, a loping bassline and a catchy chorus: “I'll get a stun gun and electrocute you ... I'll get a hammer and tenderise you.” ‘Skin Condition” (“I'm a white South African”) has a simple melody, another swinging

bassline, but the flat vocals don't make for easy listening. That's where producers are needed. A promising single, though, with proceeds going towards sponsoring a black South African’s study in New Zealand. ; Chrome Safari Fight (Pagan 12") With ‘Fight, Simon Alexander goes heavy Australian pop:“Stand up and fight” he exhorts; you have to stand up and dance. Thankfully not overwhelmed by the production, the guitar has bite and there's a commercial chorus. Made for radio play, particularly on Radio Hauraki. 'Sorted Out’ has a more interesting bassline, but the melody misses out — it's an exercise in songwriting and production. ‘Bop to the Drummer, an instrumental written for jazzercise, is the best of the lot, with great “Bop Bop Bop” BVs by Kim Willoughby. Why the best track? Because here, Alexander loosens up. Sonny Day and the All Stars Take It Easy (remix version) (RCA) ; Swinging blues rock from Sonny Day and cast of well-knowns — but who are they? There're no details. 1 know the great piano is Paul Hewson, who wrote the song with Day, but there's also some stinging Dobro slide and honking rock and roll sax. Unlike so many of this month’s singles, this has feel — particularly Day’s smokey vocals. ‘Baby (You've Got What it Takes)' is a chuggalug hokey country duet with Beaver. You can hear the smiles on their faces. This would start my old aunt’s feet atapping. Tim Finn No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain (extended mix) (Virgin) Gorgeous powerful extended intro with emulated strings. An ominous song with an understat-

ed touch for such a grim scenario as the Bhopal gas disaster. | prefer this long version to the one on the radio (“We don't play political songs” they said to last year's ‘Don’'t Go. Huh!),there’s more time for the goose bumps to rise. This is the song | found myself singing later. However ‘Searching the Streets’ (“for my soul”) is a tossed off non-event. | hope ‘Thunder’ is more indicative of the album’s quality.

Chris Bourke