albums

Rip It Up, Issue 217, 1 September 1995, Page 30

albums

GREG JOHNSON Vine Street Stories (Pagan)

Recorded over two years in the basement of Johnson’s Saint Mary’s Bay flat, Vine Street Stories is draped in a timeless quality that promises to have you spinning the album on your CD player for years to come. Now sans his ‘Set’, Johnson has adopted a more acousticbased approach for Vine Street Stories, resulting in a vital, organic feel, that avoids some of the slightly mechanical tendencies of previous efforts. It’s a sound that is typically difficult to categorise, no doubt due in part to the diversity of Johnson’s musical influences. As a trumpet playing crooner who’s not exactly short-changed in the smooth looks department, the Chet Baker comparisons have been often and obvious. But such comparisons are not strictly accurate, as Vine Street Stories proves to be far more than a sycophantic Lets Get Lost in My Basement. Sure, Johnson retains more than a hint of that legendary jazzman about his tonsils, but here he comes across as more of a trans-Tasman Paul Kelly. Like Kelly, Johnson shares an innate ability for crafting genuinely memorable songs stamped with a unique character and originality. It’s an indefinable quality that sets the likes of Kelly and Johnson apart from the also-rans, marking them out as something more than just capable tunesmiths churning out catchy ditties. While there’s no denying a certain precise craftsmanship to Vine Street’s finely etched performances, the album never lapses into sterility, appealing to the heart as much as to the head. That it. can achieve this so emphatically and consistently is a tribute to Johnson’s perseverance and considerable talent. His languid vocal delivery manages to be cool, detached and soulful all at the same time, while the superb musicianship and instrumental choice add layers of depth and resonance to track after track. From the opening exuberant pop vista of ‘Come On’, to the delicate ‘lf I Swagger’, Johnson barely puts a foot wrong. The last track, bar one, is ‘Bent’, which I suppose is a slightly more ambiguous

title than ‘Fucked Up Puppy’, but Johnson’s alcohol-soaked vocals and piano playing betray the title’s true meaning all too readily. It’s a perfect note on which to finish the album, yet for some reason ‘Makes Me Wanna Fly’ closes the proceedings. A Hothouse Flowers meets aerobics workout hotch-potch, this seems curiously out of place amongst Vine Street Stories' more measured tones — Johnson’s single error of judgement on what is otherwise a quite remarkable album. MARTIN BELL

TEENAGE FANCLUB Grand Prix (Geffen) 18 WHEELER Formanka (Creation) Masters Meet Apprentices introduces pop masters/geniuses Teenage Fanclub, who’ve been instrumental in keeping the classic nuances of pop alive and vital, -and in tranforming them into the current crunch coinage for the disposable generation. The Concept on its own validates their immortality, and for those who impatiently underestimated the slow burning glory of Thirteen, then the consistent brilliance of Grand Prix will bring the doubters back to the Fanclub. As on Thirteen, the songwriting chores are shared fairly evenly between Norman Blake, Gerard Love and Raymond McGinley. Blake chimes in with some of his best slow groovers/ballads in ‘Neil Jung’ and ‘l’ll Make it Clear’, and McGinley shows the excellence of his improving craft on ‘Verisimilitude’ and- ‘Say No’. But it’s Gerard Love who pens the masterpieces. The Concept’s ‘Star Sigh’ was enough to ensure his deification, and on three of his four contributions here, namely ‘Sparky’s Dream’, ‘Don’t Look Back’ and ‘Discolite’, he hits that same sublime melodic pop ecstatic rush

The title Grand Prix has probably spawned its fair share of hack music press puns, like formula ones, chequered flags, etc., so let’s just say that, in terms of great pop music, the

Fanclub are out there on their own. Apprentices 18 Wheeler are currently getting unjustly hammered by some sections of the press for ripping off Teenage Fanclub. They’ve certainly slipped through the door opened by Blake and co., and been caught carrying the same Beach Boys/post-grunge baggage, but these similarities are due to shared past influences, and not to a carefully planned desire to rip-off fellow Scotsmen. And, let’s face it, brilliant, melodic, uplifting pop music can only sound a certain number of ways. Led by Sean Jackson, the band delightfully explore the pop avenues open to them in 10 brief sound-bites. Brian Wilson would’ve loved to have written the beautiful ‘Cartoon’. Elsewhere, the songs combine controlled buzzsaw guitars with Jackson’s magic tunes and delicate vocals, to produce an entity that’s idiosyncratically 19 Wheeler’s — a band on the rise. GEORGE KAY

ALANIS MORRISETTE Jagged Little Pill (Maverick/Warners) While Madonna's recent musical career consists of a series of dropped catches, her ‘vanity’ label, Maverick, continues to sign winners. Having already released fine albums by Me’shell Ndege’ocello and the reunited Bad Brains, Maverick’s current star is 21 year old Alanis Morrisette.

Jagged Little Pill, her third solo effort, is considered a comeback album in her native Canada, where she was a bona fide teen pop star, but is looked upon as her debut elsewhere. And whereas Morisette’s star first rose in the dance/pop charts, a la Kylie, Jagged Little Pill is being compared to Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville and Marianne Faithfull’s Broken English, as a serious pop recording. Throughout the album, Morrisette ensures one thing is made perfectly clear, she is extremely displeased with the hand she’s been dealt. Targets for her seemingly obsessive anger include ex-lovers, pushy parents, a dismissive business acquaintance, on ‘Right Through You’, and the Catholic Church. At various times, she adopts the chameleon approach of Sinead O’Connor, slipping from shrilled tones of frustration to soothing statements of repentance mid-song, but always retaining that hint of dissatisfaction. Strange then, that the confrontational and abrasive tone of her lyrics should find a home enveloped in the hopelessly catchy pop melodies that come courtesy of her songwriting partner Glen Ballard (whose credits include collaborations with Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, and Wilson Phillips). Yet the two have created a magical partnership, his upbeat drum

programmes and boppy guitar arrangments balancing her bitter diatribes, especially on ‘All I Really Want’, ‘You Learn’, ‘Right Through You’, and ‘Head Over Feet’, where the contrast in feels proves a . true ear-opener — making Jagged Little Pill one to swallow, not spit. JOHN RUSSELL NEIL YOUNG Mirror Ball (Reprise) Yes, yes, and Pearl Jam, although you won’t find those actual words anywhere on the cover. In fact, this album may make you wish you’d never heard they were here in the first place, for this is certainly one for Neil Young fans, as opposed to being one for diehard fans of those young scallywags that did the deed with him, all those MTV Awards ago, on ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’. If the presence of Vitalogy and Vs. producer Brendan O’Brien gets you rooting for the board shorts team, you’d best tuck your flannel shirt in and leave quietly. The ‘hey ho, away we go’ of ‘Song X' is not the best track to open the album, as it crawls along with the occasional shove by almost comically deep-pitched backing vocals, thus almost managing to put one off continuing to listen. But never fear! Things pick up fast on ‘Act of Love’, and fairly sail into the infectious ‘l’m the Ocean' (which opens with the glorious mortal coil wrenching: ‘l’m an accident / I was a driving way too fast / Couldn’t stop though / So I let the moment last...’), on which O’Brien pulls a pounding piano line that’ll get you wigglin’ in your pew. The pace keeps picking up for 'Big Green Country', where the words in the last verse are tricky enough to compete with Massive Attack’s ‘Sly’ (not that I’m suggesting a collaboration here!). With my passion for

lyrics sated, I manage to steel myself to head through the plodding ‘Downtown’ (yes, I know it’s classic Neil). Pearl Jam fans may want to come back in the room momentarily to catch ‘Peace and Love’, on which Eddie Vedder gets a lyric credit and substantial vocal space (to fine effect). ‘Throw Your Hatred Down’ is infectious as hell, and ‘Scenery’ is an epic of the kind only a man who’s been in this rock ’n’ roll game for a goodly while could dish out. The frail (although lyrically lovely) pump organ driven pair of ‘What Happened Yesterday’ and ‘Fallen Angel’ provide the only quiet reprieve from what (lyrics aside) is essentially a whole lot of jammin’ on

them geetars. You may not warm to Mirror Ball's panoramic charms immediately, but if you try supplementing them with a rocking chair that can take a beating and a good porch view, your patience will be rewarded. BRONWYN TRUDGEON UPPER HUTT POSSE Movement In Demand (Tangata) Ten years after they formed as a four-piece reggae group in the Capital, Upper Hutt Posse have come full circle and returned to their roots. In mid 94, when D-Word ditched the

drum machine and DAT recorder that had come to represent the Posse sound live and on record, and reassembled a living, breathing band of musicians, he must have known Fe was on to a good thing. The result is this infectiously funky long player, Movement In Demand. Movement has the Posse dividing their time between the hardline according to DWord, and the roots reggae sound of old. In New Zealand, nobody does both quite as well as the UH Posse.

It’s been five years since the Posse’s debut album, Against The Flow. Consequently, Movement combines old and new material. The opening track, ‘Whakakotahi’, was released in 1993 by E Tu (a Posse side project), ‘Hardcore’ dates back to 87, while ‘Clockin’ the Time’ and ‘Stormy Weather’ (re-recorded versions feature here) are Posse classics from the same period. The more recently penned tracks — ‘Dread On A Mission', ‘Fuck The Status Quo’, ‘Beware A De Wiya’, ‘As The Blind See', ‘Tell Dem De Youth’ — signify the Posse’s return to an old school reggae/funk flavour, and are the album’s high points, as these songs benefit most from the use of ‘live’ bass and drums. It’s blindingly obvious this is the way the Posse should be. Unfortunately, the band’s chequered history, and the often erratic nature of its members, means another half decade could pass before the hat-trick of albums is complete. But let’s hope not, because Movement In Demand proves more than ever, UHP know exactly what time it is. Wise up. JOHN RUSSELL NINE INCH NAILS Further Down The Spiral (Interscope) Why Reznor is obsessed with these remix things is anyone's guess. Fixed (the Broken remixes) was a disaster because most of the tracks ended up as some ridiculous cacophony of shock tactics. At least he learnt from it, because he’s got a relatively fresh bunch (including the Aphex Twin) to have a go at his Downward Spiral tracks. Getting the rubbish out of the way first, someone should’ve told Rick Ruben that there’s a fine line between industrial terror and a laughable mess. He chucks beats, porno samples and Dave ‘Guitar for Hire’ Navarro into ‘Piggy’. While I’m sure they were hoping for a Butch Vig/House of Pain hit, all they’ve got is chunky musical vomit stuck in an old man’s beard. The JG Thirwell mixes don’t muster much menace either. ‘The Downward Spiral’, however, is a spooky

little thing. Dark, sinister and lingering, like bumping into some Cylons while wandering .around a swamp blindfolded. And ‘Heresy’ is full of backwards loops and scratches and screams. We’re liking this. Charlie Clouser has given it more than the one dimensional fist fury it had on the original album. His other track, ‘Ruiner’, is similar to the lighter constructions of Pretty Hate Machine. So, while we wait for Trent’s New Orleansrecorded voodoo child, this’ll do just fine. JOHN TAITE TRICKY VS. THE GRAVEDIGGAZ The Hell EP (Fourth and Broadway) You can play Holy Jrinity mix and match with this one. ‘Reduce me / Seduce me / Dress me up in Stussy,’ sound familiar, anybody? Then there’s Martina’s breathless first utterance, teamed with that sample that seems to suck you into the stereo, the tinkling piano, delicate strings, faint stylus crackle and double bass on the ‘Original Mix’, that give rise to that sublimely Portishead feeling. But when Tricky drops what should be the summarising statement of his art — ‘My brain thinks bomb-like’ — you remember you’re living in a truly dark and dangerous world, not just some late night lounge bar for the lonely (although the almost cheesy keyboards in the ‘Hell and Water Mix’ reinforce this temporary illusion). The Gravediggaz collaborations are the apoc-

alyptic ‘Psychosis’ and ‘Tonite is a Special Nite’ (Chaos Mass Confusion Mix’). The former is deeply unsettling, particularly as Adrian (aka Tricky) comes to the realisation that ‘it seems, I’m the Devil’s son’, and the Grim Reaper’s ‘this is a warning’ loops on in the background. ‘Tonite is a Special Nite’ mixes up some yummy late night keyboards with rat-a-tatting drum beats and the vocals of Tricky, Rza, The Grim Reaper and The Gatekeeper. The collaboration tracks are apparently the result of mutual respect and a late night drinking session. The wild vocals on the latter track certainly point to the latter reason for this unholy union. BRONWYN TRUDGEON FOETUS Gash (Columbia) After a pretty decent hiatus to create this, Jim Thirwell has finally made major label status with a pretty uncompromising record. It’s Foetus with no punches pulled — lots of unrelenting beats and some loops that verge on white noise. Thirwell is far more flexible than he is usually given credit for however, and this time he’s put all that on one album. There’s a range from the techno on PCP vibe of ‘Verklemmt’ to the very cool 90s big band sound of ‘Slung’, where Thirwell actually uses a big band. (It’s a good one too — Marc Ribot is in there with members of Unsane and others.) Hopefully kids will hear this and realise Gash is what Nine Inch Nails and cohorts would sound like if they lost the fellow traveller posturing and Gothic conceits in favour of some musical firepower, but I doubt it. What Columbia thought they were getting with Foetus, I have no idea; but they put the damn thing out, so more power to them. KIRK GEE VARIOUS ARTISTS Jazzmatazz II (Chrysalis) Gang Starr’s Guru is back again, this time with jazzy hip-hop that not only straddles the generations, but the Atlantic as well. The concept this time round is big names and newies from hip-hop and acid jazz’s realms, mixing it up with their jazzy forefathers. Guru, of course, directs it all: Guru the responsible role model, Guru the ego driven control freak. Why bother using heavenly vocalists like Shara Nelson and Mica Paris if you’re going to restrict them to back up singing? It’s hardly a collaboration when the focus is Guru telling The Kids to put down the guns and pick up some culture, again. And when he uses the musicians from the UK (Courtney Pine and Ronny Jordan, amongst others), they sound like they’ve been slotted in a gap, or they're

drowned out by the hip-hop. • ' There’s more energy and freedom in the American fusions. ‘Respect to the Architect’ throws Guru up against the liquid lyrical style of that she-devil Bahamadia. Backed by the wibbles of DJ Scratch and the old school jazz of Ramsey Lewis on piano and Moog, it’s exactly what the project promised. And there are some pleasant surprises, like the Vandross-style ‘Something In the Past’, with Mr Elam trying his hand at a spot of crooning. For every Chaka Khan-type chunder, there’s a melting moment like Me’Shelle. And in a sample-free zone, where Donald Bird and Branford Marsalis create free range grooves, Guru couldn’t mess it up if he tried. JOHN TAITE ED KUEPPER A King in the Kindness Room (Hot) DAVE GRANEY AND THE CORAL SNAKES The Soft ’n’ Sexy Sound (Mercury) Aussie time means Mister Ed’s annual album, which is a mixture of the unusual and the superfluous. His reliable, enigmatic, acoustic introspections are still there in ‘Messin Pt 2- etc., and he’s successfully added his own haunted soul to ACDC’s ‘Highway to Soul’ and Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘Sundown’. But the core, of the record belongs to the nineminute jazzy instrumental ‘They Call Me Mr Sexy’, and it’s a touch tedious, a crucial flaw, especially when Kuepper’s other songs like ‘Space Pirate’ can’t recover the album’s momentum or shape. No such problems for . Dave Graney, who’s steadily emerging from anonymity to rival the likes of Nick Cave as Australia’s premier outside crooner. With a title that’s" self-explanato-ry, Graney and the Coral Snakes have produced an album'that scarcely lapses. from the. standard of the lush, melancholic feel of torch songs, like the brilliant ‘Deep Inside A Song’. On ‘Morrison Floorshow’ he sparks up a wonderfully R&B sorta narrative, but elsewhere the spell’s as seductive as a snake. GEORGE KAY BLIND MELON Soup (Capitol) If you purchased Blind Melon’s eponymously titled debut album and ‘enjoyed’ it, there is no conceivable reason why you would not find Soup equally pleasant. This sophomore effort is jazzier and less tied to traditional song structure than was their first.

Lyrically, the band have improved and dealt with some pretty dark subject matter; especially on ‘Skinned’, an attempt to dissect the men-

tality of serial killer Ed Gein, which contains some choice lyrics: ‘Hey, I could really use a couple of hands, to complete one hell of a plant stand.’ BM’s cross-pollination of roots, rhythm and rebellion remains very much intact. Unfortunately, so do Shannon Hoon’s vocals (imagine how Yes’ Jon Anderson would sound, post-wedgie) and maddeningly cute delivery. It’s hard to knock a band who are obviously such nice souls, but Soup is so utterly devoid of febricity as to render it... ‘God-Fodder’? MARK DONOVAN PRICK Prick (Interscope) Trent Reznor really is pushing his luck. First he tries to rehabilitate the career of Adam Ant, whom most of us hoped had become a mere footnote in rock, now he brings us his latest project. Reznor has not only released this on his own vanity label, but he seems to have influenced every breath this guy takes. This record is pure NIN — lots of dense multi-tracked guitars, drum machines galore, plenty of angst-ridden screaming with a bucktload of distortion on everything. Mr Reznor, however, has a few ideas aS to song construction, writing hooks and giving the whole industrodoodoo thing a sense of drama. Mr Prick has no ideas, so he hammers through everything at break-neck pace, and each song blends into another until you throw the thing across the room. Basically, the one line review reads: You could fire a sawn-off Mossberg loaded with birdshit at this Prick and not hit a single original idea. KIRK GEE LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY AND MAD PROFESSOR Black Ark Experiments (Ariwa/Chant) There’s a subtle charm to Black Ark Experiments, the first collaboration between these two reggae legends since the highly acclaimed Mystic Warrior. Like others, I wasn’t impressed on first listening, but it definitely grows on you. Perry’s distinctive hoarse growl floats above, in and around the computer-driven rhythms of the Mad Professor, raving on in his usual style. ‘Super Ape in Good Shape’ finds him back on the familiar topic of world banking institutions. Scratch thinks they’re the root of all evil. ‘Open Door' seems to be a lament for bands now consigned to history. ‘Ask Peter Tosh,’ says Scratch. ‘Open Clash door / Open Wallers door.’ There’s a theory that Scratch's madness is

just a front to get rid of the botherers. This set of songs does nothing to dispel the image. The grab bag of words just gets more and more chaotic. But then, that's part of the charm. And it’s that chaos and the Professor’s light touch on. the control panel that make Black Ark Experiments unlike anything else in the reggae genre at the moment. Everything’s dead simple. Just good rhythms, Scratch’s raving, flute, horns and the odd dub. It’s like these two have been around reggae rhythms so long, they don’t feel the need to shake it all up. They just stick to what they know well — and it shows. MARK REVINGTON ■ BARRY SAUNDERS Weatherman (Pagan) f 7 The elements (sun, sky, sea) are constants in Saunders’ songs on Weatherman — his first self-penned solo record. It has a meditative, introspective quality about it, which recalls the later work of Merle Haggard, or, closer to home, the poetry of fellow Wellingtonian Sam Hunt. The easy swagger of Saunders’ old band, The Warratahs, is absent, . and Weatherman is of a darker hue lyrically: ‘I thought I was on the safe side of the river this time / Now I’m realising it’s time to sink or swim,’ begins the first single, ‘Brave Face’, (a song which contains my favourite couplet: ‘l’m as shattered as broken dishes / She’s as steady as the Southern Cross’). Musically too, the songs are a back to basics affair (at times perhaps a little too bare), with Saunders’ acoustic guitar , and vocals taking the lead throughout — a touch of ■Hammond organ, some mandolin and the odd female backing vocal affording the only distraction from the band (which include ex-Warratah Clint Brown on bass and Jan Hellriegel’s Wayne Bell on drums). ‘Winter Sun’ is a classic; a song which at first appears a little out of Saunders’ vocal range, but one which he rescues with breathtaking emotional candour. ‘Each Other’s Lives’ and ‘White Island’ trace the arc of similar (if not the same) personal relationships, while ‘Riverina’ (named after the old Hamilton Hotel) and ‘Little Times’ seem to deal with Saunders' time with the Warratahs -r- both good and bad. ‘Olio’ attempts to end the album on a lighter note (it’s a lovely portrait of a taxi-driver who kept picking Saunders up one week), but Weatherman’s strength is when it deals with both a public and private past. As he ad libs on ‘You Can’t Go Back’: ‘Visibility’s good tonight / I can see things the way they really are.’ Songs 1 as good as these really are worth remembering. GREG FLEMING THAT DOG Totally Crushed Out (Gefferi) ■ I. haven’t heard their first album, so I . can’t say if they’ve changed. But I can tell you that at first listen .That Dog’s vocalist, Anna Waronker, sounds like Liz Phair, and that when Petra and Rachel (violin and bass respectively) sing along, they surprise you with these sweet harmonies that you wouldn’t expect from an LA rock unit." Then, just as Petra’s bunny rabbit violin is soothed by the harmonies, they’re both ripped apart, by Anna’s angered screams and rabid dog guitar. It’s an interesting mix. I can tell you their single, ‘He’s Kissing Christian’, has got this cool . spin-the-bottle video, and that it looks like .the mid 90s slack/grunge/jungle/punk yanks are reclaiming 50s kitch (though Weezer got there first with ‘Buddy Holly’), as they wallow in crushes, heartache, depression and pain. I can tell you Totally Crushed Out is the perfect musical accompaniment to Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation — depressed, angry and disillusioned. It’s the real America, for the kids whose lives aren’t sit-coms. Take ‘Anymore’, a sure sign everybody’s hurting.' Then there’s ‘To Keep Me’ — ‘lt’s time to shut off, it’s time to

get 105 t... to lessen the pain' — which stomps around in a bad mood with itself. It’s early 20s angst, like sure, you fully know you should pull your head out of your ass and get on with it, but who fuckin’ cares about... anything, really? JOHN TAITE

FEAR FACTORY Demanufacture (Road Runner Records)

• Fear Factory have seen through the government conspiracy and done something about it. With Demanufacture, they have created a soundtrack for the ‘resistance’, aiming to create a new society by sampling guitars in hundreds of different ways. Fear Factory hail from Los Angeles, where there’s a lot of fear. This fear has been recycled in their ‘factory of fear', emerging as this concept album. Themes explored are the .destruction of individuality, delinquint survivalism and anger, and lashings

of anger. The music used to express this anger is reminiscent of Shihad. A number of songs use harsh shards of guitar, cutting the listeners ears to pieces whilst the singer repeats his message over and over. Just when the whole things gets too much, the vocals are apt to change and soar sweetly for the chorus. No doubt Fear Factory have some epic point to make about individuality and conformity. If so, why do they sound like robots? Perhaps because that's what we’re being turned into, and maybe Fear Factory are really robots, and perhaps they’re part of the ‘conspiracy’ too. KEVIN LIST

PET SHOP BOYS Alternative (Parlophone)

Alternative is the other side to the Pet Shop Boys, covering 10 years of B-sides, experiments, demos and lost tracks. That’s the clinical description anyway. What you’ve really got

here is the history of Euro-dance, through the ears of two British electro gents. Ten years is an eternity in pop, and Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant have certainly endured. This is sombre at times, but always poppy, catchy and adaptive. The first CD covers the 80s, when they ruled the charts. ‘ln the Night’, ‘Paninaro’ and a bunch of tracks circa Please recall their early simplicity. Then ‘You Know Where You Went Wrong’ moves on to the confidence of Actually and the opulence of Introspective. The second CD opens with their answer to the ‘are they or aren’t they?’ debate, ‘lt Must Be Obvious', and from there on the 90s became their dance-pop experimental playground... with tents by the dozen. The CD booklet that comes with the compilation is an invaluable guide to every track. In an interview, they give their flippant, in-depth recollections of each of the 30 songs here. Like any rarities compilation, its for the fans that are into the sound and the history rather than the odd catchy hit. If you are one of those fans, then it’s all here. JOHN TAITE JERRY LEE LEWIS Youngblood (Sire) Quite simply, you can’t go wrong. The Ferriday Fireball has a smoking band with him that includes luminaries like James Burton and various members of NRBQ, a smart and subtle producer in Andy Paley, and he’s sticking with that venomous sound that has served him so well in all his great moments. There’s no attempt to engineer this record toward any contemporary feel, and this contributes to its success in a big way. Youngblood sticks to the stuff that works: some of it old (‘House of Blue Lights’, ‘Miss the Mississippi’, and even a version of Bobby Darin’s ‘Things’), some of it new and ready to become classic (most notably ‘Goosebumps’ and ‘Crown Victoria Custom 51’). What unifies it all is how Jerry Lee can take any of these songs and make them undeniably his, with an effortless, fluid piano and that voice that can simultaneously make your lady friend understand the true meaning of temptation while warning you to stand back and keep out of the Killer’s way. It was people like Jerry Lee who made rock ’n’ roll seem so threatening, dirty and damn exciting 40 years ago, and Youngblood shows he can still do it all again now. KIRK GEE

KING CRIMSON B’Boom: Official Bootleg/Live in Argentina 1994 (DGM) Recorded on DAT through the soundboard, B’Boom is not only Robert Fripp’s one finger response to bootleggers, but also a mighty fine document of Crimson in performance on the Thrak tour. Included in the 100 minute show are several pieces from that excellent comeback album, the title tracks from Larks Tongues in Aspic and Red, plus most of the Discipline LP. King Crimson have always been in their element in a live situation, and this particular lineup has the fullest sound yet. The supereme percussive skills of Bill Bruford are featured heavily (assisted by drummer Pat Mastelotta), and the twin stick/bass work of Tony Levin and Trey Gunn add further dimensions to these mind boggling compositions. The double trio is completed by guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew, who adds tastefully to the precision and Frippertronics of the master. Early material is mainly in keeping with the original arrangements, yet they surge with fully recharged energy and enthusiasm. For a taste of their idiosyncratic musicianship, try the very alert ‘Sleepless’, or figure the time signature of ‘Thrak’! Contrary to critical belief, King Crimson still remain on the cutting edge of music today, and this live set has all the reasons why. GEOFF DUNN WARREN ZEVON Mutineer (Giant) I remember waiting backstage at Zevon’s Gluepot gig in 92. From behind the dressing room door came the sound of some sort of machinery which kept stopping and starting —

an unusual post-gig sound — what could this supposedly reformed 70s tearaway be up to? The door opened, and there was Zevon’s guitar tech’ feeding carrots into the blender. His charge’s glass was half full. Zevon’s art and life were clearly no longer intertwined, which partially explained the failure of 1991’s Mr Bad Example — clearly he wasn’t anymore, although his increasingly cynical songs were about people that were. Although Mutineer is a far better album than that (the title track, ‘Piano Fighter’, ‘The Indifference of Heaven’ and the ballad ‘Similar to Hain’ are among the best songs Zevon’s written in years), it still suffers from a similar failure of heart. Teaming up with Florida crime writer Carl Hiassen might appear like a good idea on paper, but clever lines and smug urban sociology do not a good song make. Musically, it suffers from a lack of direction, and sometimes the ambitious arrangements don’t really work (‘Piano Fighter’, for example, is never quite as singular a song as it should be). Nothing wrong, of course, with making rock ’n’ roll on carr6t juice —just don’t sound like you wish it were something stronger in the glass. GREG FLEMING

ANITA LANE Dirty Pearl (Mute)

Anita Lane is Nick Cave’s ex-girlfriend. This record is produced by (and includes many songs co-written by) Mick Harvey, Cave’s right hand Bad Seed. Guests on the album include Cave, other primo Bad Seed Blixa Bargeld and his other band Einsturzende Neubauten, and the Cruel Sea’s Ken Gormley... getting the picture? But Lane has her own style and a great voice, ranging from the country-ish torch style of ‘Jesus Almost Got Me’, to a groovy drawl on ‘The Groovy Guru’, to the weirdly poetic on ‘Blume’, with E Neubauten, and including a fantastic cover of ‘Sexual Healing’, that manages to be be both exuberantly innocent and deliciously nasty at the same time. The record moves in reverse chronological order from new tracks back through a number of odds and ends recorded over the years, including songs with Cave, ex-Bad Seed Barry Adamson, a track from the Ghosts of the Civil Dead soundtrack, back to 'The Fullness of His Coming’, with the Birthday Party, from 1982. It’s all interesting, but it’s the earlier (hence,

most recent) tracks on the album that I like best. However, if anyone on the roster of names above interests you, then there’s bound to be many parts of this wide ranging album that will appeal to you. JONATAHN KING STEVE EARLE Train A Cornin’ (Flying In) Even his drug of choice (heroin) served to isolate him from his Nashville contemporaries. It seems it’s ok to be an alcoholic or speed freak, but junkiedom transgresses the moral code of Earle’s home town. Of course, it didn’t help that Earle's music had increasingly broadened from his debut album, Guitar Town in 1986, to embrace rock and heavy metal’s outlaw trimmings. Train A Cornin’ marks Earle’s comeback from both drug addiction (anyone who caught his one gig here some years back will testify that being totally stoned doesn’t stop you putting on a hell of a show) and rock posturing. Consisting of covers and mostly older Earle songs (ie. pre-smack), it’s an all-acoustic affair featuring some of country’s finest players, and reminds one of Dave Alvin’s similarly posi-

tioned album, King Of California. Songs include Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Tecumseh Valley’, the Beaties’ ‘l’m Looking Through You’, and a hillbilly ‘Rivers of Babylon', featuring guest vocalist Emmylou Harris. If his voice hasn’t gotten any smoother, it’s all the more evocative given the songs’ sparse settings (Border Radio’s Grant McAllum reckons if you listen close enough, you can tell all of Earle’s teeth have fallen out). If Earle’s ‘ghetto vacation’ is indeed over, this is a fine return to the workforce. GREG FLEMING

X Unclogged (Infidelity) Always one of the most interesting of the initial LA punk bands, X are now proving themselves to be one of the most consistent and long lived too. This latest offering is a fine thing: a sort of acoustic deal recorded live in a San Francisco church, that gives a nice new skew on a lot of great songs. This ‘unplugged’ thing has been a double edged sword with a lot of otherwise dismissable acts (White Lion!), proving they had the fundaments down, while other bands simply proved they jump bandwagons blindfolded. X, however, had been doing the acoustic thing before MTV named it, and they have songs that adapt well. Thus, some of the quicker songs, like ‘White Girl’ and ‘I See Red’, stomp along in a fine hoedown fashion, with Exene and John Doe getting the harmonies cranked and DJ Bonebrake proving why he would be a superstar if anyone cared about drummers. Better yet is where they take songs and flip them all around, to which end a great punk moment like ‘The World’s A Mess, It’s In My Kiss’ becomes an absolutely beautiful ballad, and my little world is perfect for just a few minutes. KIRK GEE

BEN HARPER Fight For Your Mind (Virgin) Following his impressive, if rather commercially tepid, Welcome To The Cruel World, Fight For Your Mind delivers more gospel according to Harper. The title track is only one title here that could as easily double for political dogma; others here include ‘People Lead’, ‘Give a Man a Home’ and ‘Oppression’. There's a more bluesy, funky feel to this one, and Harper’s vocals have never been as impressively stoned. He clearly pines for the political and musical authority of someone like Bob Marley (indeed, quite a few songs here recall Marley’s

‘Redemption Song’, both in subject and sound), yet Harper’s writing is often predictable and simplistic — even on a love song like ‘Gold to Me’. While unlikely to get people talking, Fight For Your Mind’s best material — the dirty boogie of ‘Ground on Down’, the bluesy rap of ‘Excuse Me Mr’ — may at least get them listening. GREG FLEMING THE GERALDINE FIBBERS Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home (Hut) The Geraldine Fibbers formed early last year in Los Angeles, and worked with producer Steve Fisk (Screaming Trees, Nirvana, Soundgarden) on this debut album. The press release offers the country style of George, Hank and Merle, and the Velvet Underground as references. An uneasy alliance of genres you might think, and you would probably be right, because GF sound nothing at all like any of the above. OK, Jessy Green (violin) doubles on viola, but whereas John Cale would ‘star’ for the VU, partially defining their early recordings, Mr Green aggrandises on only the closing ‘Get Thee Gone’, adding nothing to a song which was mud to start with. Overall, GF’s sound is more Sonic Youth go country, refusing to discard their electric geetars. This comparison is perhaps best illustrated on ‘The Small Song’ (their best song), which could be SY circa Daydream Nation. But this disc is nearly 60 minutes long, and life is too short to persevere with bands so depressingly short on ideas. MARK DONOVAN

VARIOUS ARTISTS The Basketball Diaries Soundtrack (Island)

This album gives a bitterly tantalising taste of what to expect from the upcoming movie based on street poet Jim Carroll’s autobiographical novel. Carroll himself contributes vocals on two songs: the opener, ‘Catholic Boy’, and the 1980 track, ‘People Who Died’. Pearl Jam and Chris Friel play rockin’ accompaniment to the former, while the Jim Carroll Band do the damage on the latter. Carroll also teams up with the film score’s composer, Graeme Revell, and reads three excerpts from the novel, including ‘Devil’s Toe’ (the perfect companion to PJ Harvey’s ‘Down

By the Water’, which follows, with its talk of a dare which involves jumping into a sewer deposit-sullied river), the deeply moving ‘I Am Alone’ (a way less rockin’ take on the themes in ‘People Who Died’), and the painful writerjunkie blues musings of ‘lt’s Been Hard’. Flea’s gently melodic solo contribution, ‘l’ve Been Down’, comes close to matching the latter in its perception. The Doors’ ‘Riders on the Storm’ falls in fine context, making it easy to forget how it’s possible to hear some songs too many times in your life, no matter how good they are. The Posies juxtapose a creeping guitar dirge with mournful affirmation in ‘Coming Right Along’. Rockers HiFi and Massive Internal Complications take opposite ends of the shelf with the breezy beats of the former’s ‘What a Life’ and the latter’s tripped out ‘Strawberry Wine’. Soundgarden deliver the excellent ‘Blind Dogs’, which I’ve seen prompt a few people to say: “This is pretty good, sounds kinda like Soundgarden.” It might not be the peak of their powers, but getting close to them should be considered a mighty fine thing in anyone’s book. It’s certainly a thought provoking compilation, and consistently listenable. It’s strange how tales of addiction can be so addictive. BRONWYN TRUDGEON

UNDERGROUND LOVERS Dream it Down (Polydor)

Dream It Down is the third album from a Melbourne band whose first releases, Get to Notice and Leaves Me Blind, impressed, Robert Smith enough for him to grant them support status for the Cure’s Australian tour. ' UL sound nothing like the Cure (who does?), but on Dream it Down, they are moving further towards deep ambient house danceability. For evidence, check ‘Weak Will’ — it’s just plain weird — effluvious, miasmatic and psychedelic, with underpinning shuffled drum patterns and precious little in the way of ‘real’ instruments. ’ ; '■ Regrettably, the album is not well paced (too many of the structured, and best, tracks appear too early on) the ‘less is more’ philosophy leaving too much ‘dead air’ on the more spacious outings. A better grounding in the dynamics of the studio environment could lead to a more satisfying whole on their next recording. For now, we still have ‘Losin’ It’ and the ethereal 10-minute epic ‘Recognise’. MARK DONOVAN