Citizen Band’s Subtle Success

Rip It Up, Issue 5, 1 October 1977, Page 6

Citizen Band’s Subtle Success

Francis Stark

Citizen Band “In a Lifetime” Mandrill . There must be something a bit weird about me. I think I own the world’s only complete collection of singles by both Split Enz and .Brent Parlane. There they sit, along with an Alastair Riddell single, and “Gutter Black” as my collection of 45s more memorabilia than music.

The latest addition to my far from encyclopaedic collection is a little number called “In a Lifetime” by the Citizen Band. Like all those others, I own it and play it, not solely for its musical merit, but because it represents another little piece of local history. The most encouraging thing of all is that it is worthwhile on its own terms too.

The song is not what I had expected from the band; it is altogether much more gentle and calm than the offspring of Split Enz and Geoffrey Chunn’s

taste for the Latin has any right to be. Because of its very limpid quality, and admittedly slight content, “In a Lifetime’’ lays itself open to a charge of being just too undemonstrative for its own good. Certainly, I fear, it will fail to take the Top 40 by storm. I only hope that the of success by stealth are not yet over. The song is an unashamed love song that contains a gem of a line in: Yes, I believe in love

(Oh, boy! You fool.) and generally exudes a sense of wellbeing that would be hard to match anywhere. Whether or not is is an accurate indication of how the band’s later material will sound, or how their stage act will turn out, remains to be seen, but it is reassuring to know that Warren Sly and the Chunns are not here to rip our ears off, or tell us great truths. I believe, and I’m no fool.