Passionate calls from the roots of a Louisiana native

Press, 28 July 1989, Page 28

Passionate calls from the roots of a Louisiana native

LUCINDA WILLIAMS “Lucinda Williams” (Festival/Rough Trade L 30061). Lucinda Williams is oddly placed in the Rough Trade label’s traditional, wired avant-garde roster. This Louisiana-born singer slots in somewhere between the sensual new country of Rosanne Cash and the earthy romanticism of Tanita Tikaram, mixing in some rock ’n’ roll touches of her own devising. Her songwriting is very simple, harking back to the roots of country music, and her voice is powerful and passionate, yet with a sensitivity that a foghorn like Toni Childs can only dream about. A few of the 12 tracks on her self-titled debut are a little too unassuming, such as the drab blues of "Price To Pay” or the slushy “Like A Rose,” but “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad,” “Changed The Locks,” “Passionate Kisses” and most of the rest are filled with character (not to mention the deft touches of her backing band). There is a lot of Americana on “Lucinda Williams,” but roots musicfans world-wide should fall for this unpretentious, talented Crescent City (New Orleans) native - congratulations to Rough Trade for unearthing this uncut gem. ★★ ★ ★ TONY GREEN KIRSTY MACCOLL “Kite” Virgin, KMLPI. Mac Coll has been in and out of the rock spotlight, but her most recent effort gained her some acclaim — sharing a duet with Shane McGowan on the Pogues’s “Fairytale Of New York.”

“Kite,” produced by her husband, Steve Lillywhite, is the result of this acclaim, and a fine LP it is too, especially with the former Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr, providing some of the notes and cowriting two songs.

-as The venomous “Free World” is the most obvipus song, with its attack on Thatcherism, but MacColl has managed to pull out a few gems in the quieter moments as well.

iMost notable is “Don’t Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim,” a recorded equivalent of “Boon,” but Mac Coll has the nous not to make it a tirdde against guys carrying- six-packs — “Some girl§ play cowboys/and some boys play hard to get.” The quirkiest track is “Dancing In Limbo,” mainly for MacColl’s percussion.

The highlights are at the end. “The End Of A Perfect. Day,” a Marr/ Mac Coll composition, has that Smiths feel about it — it is a really good track, and it is followed by Marr and Gilmour sharing guitars on “You And Me Baby,” a love song with unusual vocals. The unusual style of singing is carried over into an emotionless “Days,” the Ray Davies hit, and it works. “Kite” has Mac Coll flying, showing a maturity in songwriting and music that she knows sadly lacks

in her attack on the pop world in “Fifteen Minutes.” ★★ ★ ★ NEVIN TOPP

SOULED AMERICAN “Fe” (Rough Trade Records, L 30070). With the recent acquisition of the Rough Trade records roster by the local label, Festival, we have seen a veritable landslide of new releases from alternative or adventurous bands. One of the best of a good bunch is this offering from Souled American hailing from Chicago, in the United States. “Fe” (pronounced “fee,” as in feel) is the debut album from this very worth-while band, ,Souled American being one of those groups who manage to take a very tired idea and inject new life into it in their own special way. The idea is #that of country-influenced rock, the classic American way, although Souled American veer towards the unconventional and experimental while still retaining very traditional roots. That is to say, they are more like Camper Van Beethoven or the Meat Puppets than say, Steve Earle. The music on “Fe” is a ramshackle collection of country, blues, and rock, stumbling from one camp to the next, bound together by offbeat rhythms and evocative voices. The effect is one of a raw, sprawling mass of music, yet it is a sound that is very relaxed, almost a lazy drawl. Souled American have a very reassuring quality: This is an album that would feel at home in any situation; you could play it any time and it would fit. With its twisting, complicated and individual songs, "Fe” is also an album that offers up something afresh at each listen. A highly recommendable rock ‘n’ roll hoe-down. ★ ★ ★ PAUL COLLETT

EASTERHOUSE “Waiting For the Redbird” (Festival/Rough Trade L 30063). “Don’t read the papers, don’t watch the news, just want to dance all night to American music ... well that’s a shame” — the gospel according to Andy Perry and his band, Easterhouse, on the debut New Zealand release, “Waiting For The Redbird.”

Very much an English phenomenon, Easterhouse are a product of Thatcher’s Government and its consequences, taking their overtly political songs from their earlier, punkier framework to the more mainstream rock of “Redbird.”

The band gained impetus in the United Kingdom from the indie chart success of a single, “Whistling In The Dark,” and the patronage of Stephen Morrissey (of The Smiths).

Unfortunately, the predictable FM rock/plod of “Redbird” suggests thirdrate U2/Jam copyists such as The Alarm, rather than a Clash-style ideological shake-up. Interesting and (generally) non-sloganeering lyrics, such as the touching “Stay With Me (Death On The Dole),” or the dig at the complacent on “You’re Gonna Miss It (When It’s Gone),” are lost in that tired, and very traditional stadium sound — the sort of thing bands like Tears For Fears do so well. For “Waiting For the Redbird,” Easterhouse earn that time-honoured accolade, “worthy but dull” — which really means they are not that worthy at all. ★ TONY GREEN

rock music without showing them the cover, and they will swear it is U2. There is something ironic about calling a band The Silencers, and even more ironic about composing a song called “A Blues For Buddha.” The Silencers favour the same rhythm style that is the trademark of U2, and Jimmie O’Neill’s vocals seem styled on Bono’s. This is illustrated clearly on “Skin Games” and “Sacred Child.” The band also work from the acoustic angle on the title track and the folkish “Wayfaring Strangers.” The band sound full of energy and excitement, and make the right vocal swoops, but there is an emptiness that goes with it; the sounds of The Silencers. * NEVIN TOPP OZZY OSBOURNE “No Rest For The Wicked” (CBS 462581 1). The lovelorn Ozzy Osbourne who has appeared on TV screens in recent weeks performing the rather turgid ballad, “Close My Eyes Forever," with Lita Ford, is his usual jaunty, impish self on “No Rest For The Wicked.” Osbourne’s seventh solo album has one of heavy metal’s godfathers once again in the mood for “crazy” rock ‘n’ roll.

This time the former Black Sabbath vocalist is without the services of the fleet-fingered American, Jake E. Lee, who contributed much to two previous albums, “Bark At The Moon” (1983) and “The Ultimate Sin” (1986), as well as to Osbourne’s headlining concert act. His replacement is the hitherto unknown Zakk Wylde, a native of New Jersey, aged in his early 20s, who certainly lives up to his name when it comes to guitar playing. Wylde uses his Gibson solid-body guitar to pump out the predominant sound on “No Rest For The Wicked” — a dense wall of chugging rhythms interspersed with furious riffs (note patterns) and brief, bullet-fast lead runs. It is music which has some of the rapid-fire elements favoured by Wylde’s contemporaries in bands like Metallica allied with the traditional Sab-bath-Osbourne syle — a heavy mix indeed. This has plainly inspired Osbourne, aged 40, for he has never sounded better. From the opening track, “Miracle Man,” a merry, fast-paced tilt at televangeiism, to the closing song, the rollicking “Demon Alcohol," Osbourne and his cohorts seem barely to pause for breath. The melodic “Fire In The Sky” is an exception to the no-holds-barred approach. Osbourne’s ability to change, adapt and move with the musical times should carry his brand of hard rock well through the 19905. ★★★ ★ ★ ALISTAIR ARMSTRONG Ratings Five stars: excellent. Four stars: very good. Three stars: good. Two stars: fair. One star: poor.