Records The Voice of America

Rip It Up, Issue 107, 1 June 1986, Page 16

Records The Voice of America

The Long Ryders State of Our Union Island - The Replacements Tim : Sire : Husker Du Candy Apple Grey WEA These three bands are linked by a few tenuous threads. For a start they're American, part of the recent breed that has been given plenty of press attention as a reaction to the lack of healthy activity on the other side of the Atlantic; next, they're all guitar bands, a necessary pre-requisite if you want to curry favour with those alienated by the techno-poop of the early 80s; and third, all three albums are first steps on, or for, major labels. : “The Long Ryders wish success and happiness to all bands” reads the reverse sleeve of State of Our Union. Aw gee shucks fellers, that’s real nice. In fact that sentiment ties in with the nice guy tag that's been hung on these cowboys since their emergence from various parts of the USA via LA in "84 with Native Sons. As an album it had its share of turkeys but stuff like ‘Still Get By, ‘lvory Tower’ and ‘Wreck of the 809’ pitted folk-rock against sure-fire guitar exhilaration.:

It's sad to say that State of Our Union stretches too far back into mythical American images for bogus authenticity at the expense of current action. Songs about trains (‘Here Comes That Train Again’ and

‘You Just Can’t Ride the Boxcars Anymore’) and legendary pasts (‘Looking for Lewis and Clark’ and ‘Mason-Dixon Line) are easy rides to the heartland, convenient hitches to a heritage as real as a frontier Disneyland. But | can live with that, it's just that most of the tunes are so routine; songs like the aforementioned and ‘Good Times Tomorrow, Hard Times Today’ and the title track are country rock plain janes, no excitement, precious little invention. Things get a mite better on ‘Lights of Downtown’ and the stately ‘Capturing the Flag, but in the context of the album these are nickles and dimes from a band relying on past inspiration and almost bankrupt of new ideas. Minneapolis's Replacements dip into the 60s and 70s for their influences. Mainman Paul Westerburg grew up in the Midwest listening to people like the Beatles, Supremes, Stones and Rod Stewart and at heart he's still a fan of mainstream rock and roll. That's borne out by the Replacements’ current covers repertoire which includes everything from Led Zeppelin's ‘Whole Lotta Love' to the 1910 Fruitgum Company’s ‘Yummy, Yummy, Yummy'. Westerburg’s unselfconscious love of hard rock (that territory between HM and everything else) made the band’s last and much lauded album, Let It Be, an occasional ass-kicking funtime but ultimately their trash jukebox mentality in the shape of throwaway duff songs like ‘Favorite Things, ‘Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out!

‘Gary’s Got a Boner’ halted the album’s claim to greatness.

Tim suffers from the same problem. ‘Hold My Life, ‘Left of the Dial’ and ‘Little Mascara’ are loud 'n’ proud and together with quality ballads like ‘Swingin’ Party’ and ‘Here Comes a Regular’ are worth the price of admission. But, again, a potentially crucial long player is thwarted by a few too many lighthearted lapses in taste. 1l Buy, ‘Dose of Thunder, ‘Waitress in the Sky’ and ‘Lay it Down Clown’ only end up as fillers, time-outs between the highs. -

It's probably that the Replacements will never make a great album but you'll sure have fun listening to them try.

Husker Du, also from Minneapolis, are one of the few bands who can boast that they evolved from punk/hardcore and actually got better. Bands who grow away from their energy source generally wimp out somewhere along the line, but Bob Mould (gtrs, vcls), Grant Hart (dms, vcls) and Greg Norton (bass) have built on the formative manic brain-rush of Land Speed Record and Everything Falls Apart to re-define the sound of breaking glass on the Metal Circus EP and the watershed double album Zen Arcade. From there it was only a short step to last year's New Day Rising, and that was no accidental title as it headlined the most exciting guitar music since the.Bunnymen’s Crocodiles. The year ended with Flip Your Wig, their first self-produced effort — a move which led to a beefier guitar sound with Bob Mould peeling

off great lards of sound. Their oddball lyrical stance was as sharp as ever and they were still coming on a bit manic but the overall approach was poppier. Candy Apple Grey, their third album in less than 18 months, picks up where Flip Your Wig left off but with a couple of changes in tack; instead of pacing their usual seven or eight songs a side they've opted to cut it to five longer tracks probably to cut the odd bit of deadwood that had littered their previous albums. Plus Bob Mould has gone acoustic on the pleading (but hardly sentimental) pessimism of ‘Too Far Down’ and on the grey, insistent ‘Hardly Getting Over It, a subtlety that the band has only tried once before and that was on ‘Never Talking to You Again’ from Zen Arcade.

Elsewhere the album is pretty well as expected, and hoped. ‘Don't Want to Know. if You are Lonely; ‘I Don't Know for Sure, ‘Sorry Somehow’ and All This l've Done for You’ are all neat tunes wrapped in layers of guitar Mould, covering sentiments like getting even, bitterness, confusion, and most importantly, indecision. And last, but worth singling out, is Grant Hart’s ‘No Promise | Have Made’ which builds from an unsuspecting piano into some sorta frenzy. Husker Du is Swedish for “do you remember?” Well, do you remember rock and roll with great hooks, excitment and guitar that pushes up the adrenalin count? It’s right here. George Kay

The Bangles Different Light Liberation

Last year a lot of respected reviewers got rather excited about the Bangles first LP. Rather too excited. Those of us who ran out and bought it were hyped up for “the album of the year’, “better than the Beatles” and so on. Well it wasn't. I'd been listening less than a week before reducing it to four or five tracks. Sure, they were good ones but | thought albums of the year were meant to comprise more than a decent sidetwo. '+ «

Perhaps all the critical genuflection had a little to do with male reviewers' feminist cringe. One even argued that women make better drummers. They don't. Drummers make better drummers. Remember when that earlier all-female band, the Go Gos, had their promising debut overpraised too? ’ Anyway, now here's the Bangles second album and it's probably time for reviewer reassessment. From some quarters therelll doubtless be another over-reaction, because y'see, the Bangles have escaped critical cliquedom into commercial success. And what’s more, with a hit single they didn't write. (Prince did.) Yes, Different Light does represent a move toward the mainstream but that ain't necessarily bad. In fact here it's generally good. If the sound is overall slightly smoother, the singing is considerably more assured. This time out the first album’s various 60s influences are more sharply fo-

cused. Many tracks recall the glories of the classic girl-group vocal sound. Try the classy ‘lf She Knew What She Wants'

This song is one of four outside contributions (including the hit ‘Manic Monday’) to the album, whereas the debut album only had one. The present mixture provides a good variety however, and although all the non-originals are strong, they don't necessarily dominate the album.

The Bangles are still nowhere near being “the new (female) Beatles” Such claims are grossly premature. The Bangles are, however, developing into a damn good traditional style pop group. And Different Light is generally an improvement on their debut. This time out the music sounds good on both sides of the record. Peter Thomson

Fetus Productions Luminous Trails Flying Nun

The paradox about Fetus Productions records has always been the fragility of their aggressive musical stance. This is still evident on Luminous Trails, where the tension behind songs like ‘Flicker’ and ‘Sparks Fly’ suddenly surfaces to provoke a reaction. The other striking thing is that Fetus Productions.are not as scary as they used to be. Right from looking at the cover with Jed and Serum’s lips rosy red, faces outlined by pastel trails, this record has an air of approachability and is more of an introduction to electronic psychedelia than a continuation of the harsh “art” of their earlier output. They are making friendlier soundscapes — still weird (and not mere doodlings), but “Tokyo Rain’ and ‘Rock a Bye Baby’ have a warm close production that is so much more inviting than most other music from the outer edge. The songs from the ‘Perfect Product’ 12" are included here, along with a version of ‘Sparks Fly’ that jus’ grooves — different to and better than the Outnumbered by Sheep one. ‘Feel Something’ is the best song here, but the most important thing about all of Luminous Trails is that it's the best produced, best songs, best record, record that Fetus Productions have made yet.

Paul McKessar