Records

Rip It Up, Issue 117, 1 April 1987, Page 28

Records

Various Artists : Club Paradise Soundtrack GBS The fillum stars Robin Williams, Twiggy, Peter O'Toole and Jimmy Cliff, who wrote or co-wrote seven of the 10 songs here. The odd one out is a collaboration with Elvis Costello and the Attractions, entitled ‘Seven Day Weekend, which Costello could have written in the bath.

The pure Cliff contributions earn a spirited eight out of 10, four of them being among the best he's -written in the past five years. ‘The Lion Awakes’ and ‘American Plan’ are both soaring performances, with all of Cliff's old gift for a great singing tune and a relevant lyric. ‘American Plan’ has some especially pertinent views on the exodus of so many to the greener pastures of the UK and USA. ‘Third World People’ is an African Roots song, his best since ‘Son of Man! The title track is upful with a spare but beautiful backing from the nucleus of Earl “Chinna” Smith's Soul Syndicate band, a wonder of this year's Sunsplash. Fine contributions, too, from Soca artist Mighty Sparrow, whose ‘Grenada’ lampoons the looney politics behind that little farce admirably, plus Well Pleased and Satisfied’s ‘Sweetie Come From America, with producer Sonia Pottinger, and the Blue Riddim Band'’s happy rock steady-type ‘Love People! Going by the cover photos, the movie looks like another setup for a bunch of bozos in a foreign country. | hope I'm wrong. The

music is too good to be let down by a bad screenplay. Duncan Campbell

Ry Cooder

Why Don’t You Try Me

Tonight

Warner Bros Ry Cooder was once regarded as a popular music archivist, although recently he's specialised in soundtracks — some masterly, like Paris, Texas, others ordinary, like this year's Blue City. Through all the changes of musical genres and eras however, he has remained a craftsman — careful and studious, always technically perfect, and occasionally capable of great work. Although subtitled “The Best of Ry Cooder,” the main title of this one-album compilation is more accurate; selecting a dozen tracks from a career of well over a dozen albums means this can only be a sampler at best. The resulting portrayal of Ry is lop-sided, though. When there are as many faces to a musician such as Cooder, it's strange to devote half of a compilation to just two records — Bop Till You Drop (1979) and Borderline (1980) — although in sales terms, they're probably the most successful.

The first side whizzes quickly over his early 70s output, some of which has. dated as production techniques and Cooder’s voice have improved in the digital age. As you'd expect, there's plenty of slide guitar work, most notably on the beautiful instrumental ‘Dark End of the Street. But the album many people consider his best, 1974's Paradise and Lunch, is represented by only one track, albeit the sublime Tattler. Several other tracks could have been replaced by ‘Tamp em Up Solid; ‘A

Married Man’s a Fool, or ‘Jesus is on the Mainline That's just off the one Cooder album that’s essential — buy any one of the others as well and you're better off than with this hasty gesture. : Chris Bourke The Triffids Love in Bright Landscapes White Hot : An “anthology of the Triffids’ finest moments” from 1983 to 1985 — a period during which they released an accomplished debut album, a mini-album, more diverse but.incomplete, a single (Byrds/Stax/William Bell standard ‘You Don't Miss Your Water) and an EP

Love in Bright Landscape’s 10 tracks are culled from those four ‘records, and to be ever-so-slightly cynical, is four records (probably 19-odd songs) enough to qualify for “anthologising” status? Worthwhile enough though, in that our bonus is the chance to hear the single and two tracks from Field of Glass, both previously unavailable here. Sound choices all round so far as track-listing goes, apart from the dodgy Jesus Calling’ from Raining Pleasures. Their best songs, the likes of ‘Estuary Bed, ‘Stolen Property; Tarrilup Bridge, are on Born Sandy Devotional (patchy LP though ...) and Triffid-spotters can also watch out for the upcoming LP In the Pines. But the question still remains — why do they give their records such increasingly bad titles? This one’s the worst yet, but it's saved by its content. Paul McKessar Sheila E (WEA) The third album and the most accessible yet. The first had charm and lots of cool, the second

got lost in the percussion and pretension, but this works on nearly every track. Most have that patented ‘Paisley Park’ drum beat, but with a subtle approach to rhythm. This comes from Ms Escovedo and the band’s Latin American roots. Stuff like ‘Love on a Blue Train’ and especially ‘Soul Salsa’ show the connection. But two tracks show a change of direction — the fun ‘Boy’s Club; which has a distinctive 70s feel, and the soft soul slowie ‘Hold Me; her first real big ballad and a similar feel to many soul classics. A triumphant return to the glamorous life. KB Gary Moore . Wild Frontier (Virgin) A good friend was lost when fellow [rish rocker Phil Lynott died, Christmas 1985. This whole album pays tribute to the man. ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ bursts into a Celtic folk style that Big Country did first but Gary does better in his own way. ‘Wild Frontier’ recalls the great Thin Lizzy years and ‘The Loner’ is a guitar instrumental played with incredible ability and feeling. On ‘Thunder Rising’ Gazza switches to full power, and then the final track Johnny Boy’ sadly bids the fox farewell. This is a more melodic, mature Moore at his Irish best. GD Motorhead -

Orgasmatron (Festival) Due to the folding of Bronze Records this is the first full aloum to feature the twin guitars of Phil Campbell and Wurzel with Pete Gill on drums. It was these guys who toured here in 1984 and nearly flattened Mainstreet before it was due to be demolished. Producer Bill Laswell adds a new touch which improves on the traditional Motorhead sound to great effect. “We sure aint talking Dr Spock, hear me talking, Dr Rock,”

Lemmy growls before launching into ‘Orgasmatron’ for his most gruesome voice yet. Mean Motorhead and more. GD Sparks o

Music You Can Dance To (RCA) Sparks, aka the Mael brothers, are no strangers to synthetic funk as they collided with Giorgio Moroder in the late 70s. And now they persist with an album that’s possibly subversive in the way that it too obviously celebrates the dance ethic. Apart from the staged animation of ‘The Scene’ the music is less than vital. File under Eccentric Veterans. GK Bon Jovi

Slippery When Wet (Polygram) American band Bon Jovi have really hit the jackpot on their third time around by holding firmly with this at the top of the US charts. A nice batch of songs that have the right amounts of catchy choruses and a big sound to please their fans and gain a few million more along the way. They've taken notes from some other big bands but Slippery When Wet is still 40 minutes worth of punchy pop metal made for repeated playings.GD Lou Gramm

Ready or Not (WEA) Take the singer out of Foreigner, add some session backing musicians and what do you get? A Lou Gramm solo album that sounds like Foreigner. Sure he's got a good voice, and yeah it is Nils Lofgen on guitar, but it's very bland and all gets a bit much. One Gramm too many. GD Pink Floyd Relics (EMI)

Sixties psychedelia revisited. Some tracks feature Syd Barrett, whose writing leaned slightly more to the insane than the genius. ‘Careful With that Axe, Eugene’ must have inspired the Fri-

day the 13th theme with its eerie whisperings and also included is ‘See Emily Play. If you look at the cover too long you're sure to develop an extra pair of eyes. GD Judas Priest Rocka Rolla (Festival)

Their first album reissued in a new sleeve that replaces the Coca Cola cap with a futuristic painting. Though these recordings are somewhat dated, they still contain the groundwork for the present Priest turbo-sound. One for complete collection buyers. GD Krokus

Alive and Screaming (RCA) More screeching metal from Krokus but this time it’s live. ‘Headhunter’ kicks along at a faster pace and there is one new track but otherwise it's all pretty similar to the studio versions.

Geoff Dunn