RECORDS

Rip It Up, Issue 43, 1 February 1981, Page 11

RECORDS

Roy Colbert

Magazine Play Virgin •Live albums can serve a number of purposes; they can (very rarely) be alternative mediums for the conveyance of unreleased material, or record company cash-ins on the demise of a band, but most commonly are the depictions of a band's stagecraft of current and studio released songs. Play falls into this last category as it offers little that is new, only the opener 'Give Me Everything' can earn that claim, but it does display the tight rock'n’roll repetoire that the Band was toting around the world, including two nights at Mainstreet, last year. Accusations of melodrama that have been levelled at Magazine largely disappeared with the release of the excellent Correct Use of Soap, and the rawness and up-tempo vigour of Play should dispel any remaining doubts as to the band's ability to mix it with the best of them. In the live situation, this time round at Melbourne's Festival Hall last September, songs like 'Parade' and ‘Definitive Gaze’ that tended towards pomposity on Real Life, have been transformed into gutsier, rougher propositions. 'Permafrost' neatly moves into the triumphant 'The Light Pours Out of Me', and the band really excel on the free-falling funk of ‘Twenty Years Ago’. A Song From Under the Floorboards' benefits from a Formula keyboards' flourish towards the end of the song and ‘Model Worker' and 'Because You're Frightened’ are ideal live fare with the now departed guitarist Robin Simon pushing chords. . Play has a consistency and completeness often lacking in live albums and these qualities coupled with the band's on-stage punch more than compensate for the absence of new material. And no, 'Shot By Both Sides’ isn't on it. George Kay John Martyn Grace And Danger Island This one has been well worth the wait. While not known as prolific it’s been three years since his last album John Martyn has always made music of a quality and fierce integrity that’s attracting a growing coterie of fans. Grace And Danger deserves to win him legions more. This time his unique guitar styles and slurred guteral vocals are beautifully set in a small jazz-based unit of drums, electric bass and keyboards. The material is all very strong and.while showing many influences rock, folk, jazz, blues, reggae remains distinctively Martyn's own. Even the one non-original the Slickers' ‘Johnny Too Bad', has been successfully reworked, showing Martyn’s confidence with musical form. (He has previously recorded with

Burning Spear and dub producer Lee Perry.) .7 Great praise must also go to his instrumental cohorts for their exemplary taste and sympathy in creating this vital, flowing music. (Yes Virginia that is the man from Genesis on drums.) With so many fine tracks to choose from it’s very hard to pick standouts but, for one hearing try the achingly tender ‘Sweet Little Mystery'. Peter Thomson The Associates The Affectionate Punch Stunn When Fiction creator Chris Parry was in this country last* year with the Cure he mentioned that the Purple Hearts had left the label but he wasn’t too worried as he had an album from Dundee’s the Associates in the pipeline. He had no worries. Scotland, like the North of England, is undergoing some sort of rock'n'roll renaissance. The Skids, Simple Minds and Josef K have all emerged from the backwater and now you can add the Associates to that list. The band combines a number of currently valued rock'n’roll elements. Vocalist Billy McKenzie is descended from the Bowie school of elocution, his vowels are wide and expressive. The band, . Alan Rankine (guitar) Michael Dempsey (ex-Cure, bass) and John Murphy (drums) are already accomplished, the playing is clean, angular and uncluttered and the songs have a refined character and shape that is rare in a debut. 'Even Dogs In the Wild’ is rejection with a superb guitar motif carrying the chorus. The title track is solid and punchy Bowie-esque in direct contrast to the sensitive solitude of 'Logan Time', the slow measured edge of “Transport to Central" and the funk of 'A Matter of Gender’, a personal favourite. The Associates need no tentative sparring blows as The Affectionate Punch is already a K. O. Don't duck it. George Kay Ultravox Vienna Chrysalis With the departure of John Foxx, after the Systems of Romance album, Ultravox were left in something of a quandary. They chose to employ the services of former Rich Kid Midge Ure and followed that with a successful tour of the USA. Vienna is the first album featuring Ure.

In the past, Ultravox have been acknowledged as a major influence on modern electronic music. Since those days, many innovative bands have emerged, from Joy Division to Orchestral Manoeuvres, all with their distinctive approaches. Instead of leading them, Ultravox now seem to be learning from them. Vienna is a mixture of the old sound and the new influences, a calculated recording for the modern home.

The formula isn’t all bad, though. 'New Europeans’, ‘Passing Strangers' and ‘Vienna’ all

possess good hooks, despite their sometimes crass lyrics. But it is the standard of playing that saves the album from the short route to the bargain bin. The synthesiser playing is swirling and expert; If Ultravox want to continue as a major force, they must learn to re-think. Expertise won't always excuse lack of ingenuity. Mark Phillips Dave McArtney & the Pink Flamingos Polydor All smiles. Compliments on a classy album. It started off as a solo project early last year, and three tracks were recorded with Sailors Harry Lyon, Lisle Kinney, and Ricky Ball. Later, the Flamingos came together, and the original concept expanded, developing into the team effort we have here. * The songs are all McArtney's compositions. The lyrics show thoughtful observation, and simplicity. The vocals are smooth, but in 'Virginia', and 'Lonesome Old Star', McArtney injects more'of an edge. Harry Lyon, and lan Morris help out on these tracks. The punchy sax strains on 'Old Star' are delivered by Paul Nairn. The album’s flavour is light and sexy, and let’s hope Paul Hewson (ex Dragon) stays with the band, as his keyboards are crucial, adding a sophisticated touch. Points too, for Walter Bianco’s delicious saxophone on ‘l’m Outside'. It’s reassuring to have a local album of a high calibre, one that is professional, consistent, and with fine musicians to its credit. Every song stands up in its own right, and there should be more goodies where these ones came from. Annlouise Martin

Lou Reed Rock'n'Roll Diary 1967-1980 A rista Talking Heads’ Chris Frantz tells the story of Lou being given the controls for an hour at a New York new wave radio station and spending that hour playing aimless jazz-jam tapes recorded by his own band Ideally, the man to choose the tracks for a double album 1967-1980 Lou Reed compilation should be Lou himself, but the above story underlines the danger of such a move we’d get Metal Machine Music in its entirety for a start, and God knows what else. The people from Arista who put this set together haven’t done a bad job. Just to remind us that marketing is the name of the game we get three tracks off Growing Up In Public (we could have had 'Venus In Furs’, ‘What Goes On' and either 'Vicious' or ‘Satellite Of Love' instead) but otherwise this is a proper compilation in that everything Reed has ever done was available for inclusion. The title track from The Bells is the only other major Reed work missing. What we do get is nine reminders of just how great the Velvet Underground were, plus a number of diamonds from the patchy-parody solo years, much of the latter seemingly chosen as much for lyrical content as anything else. 1967-1980 is a very good collection for Lou Reed dilettantes, only I suspect there aren’t actually many of those around. It's either all or nothing with this guy after all, but even those who go for the all might like this just to hear their Lou Reed favourites in a different order. If you think that’s daft, then you're not a Lou Reed fan.

Dead Kennedys J Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables Cherry Red In a capping magazine of a few years back there appeared a picture of an African child swollen with malnutrition. Below the picture were the words Chocolate thins'. Vocalist Jello Biafra and three other San Franciscans, East Bay Ray (guitar), Klaus Flouride (bass) and Ted (drums) often employ similar bad taste shock tactics in provoking attention for their particular grievances. Moaning about the treadmill subversives’ style is safe and dull so the Kennedys have set out to upset both liberal and conservative complacency with evil send-ups and garrish gibes. Biafra warbles and East Bay Ray lacerates the nerve ends over the fourteen tracks of punk fury. 'Kill the Poor' is population control by neutron bomb, 'California Über Alles’ is a kick at fascism American style and ‘I Kill Children' is psycho killer satire, not so funny. But the payoff is definitely a different and longer take of their 'Holiday in Cambodia' single, a what-the-hell-are-ya-moanin’-about-kid pack of carefully stacked TNT. ‘Viva Las Vegas’, their version, closes the album as a perfect satire of the bullshit American ethos of pleasure and free enterprise. The Kennedys may upset a few phoney middle class sensitivities but that's what they’re after. Sit up and taste what you must fear. George Kay Aretha Franklin Aretha Arista The tracks here can be divided into the good, the bad and the, uh, revealing. The last first. Anyone who cares is sadly aware that for much of the past decade Lady Soul has been issuing material nearer to

nightclub than her gospel background. Often it was only in the occasional self-penned number that she retained touch with her roots and source of greatest performances. What is revealing about Aretha's sole original is that while it boasts a terrific vocal, the whole arrangement and production is solidly showtime Las Vegas. The bad from good tracks are easily distinguished, the former being the four produced, and often written, by Chuck Jackson. These are just more dreary, string-sodden stodge. The good tracks are the four produced by Arif Mardin. Sure, they’re slick too, but they’ve also got life and a couple have real class. For example there’s a powerhouse rendition of Otis Redding's 'Can’t Turn You Loose’. The standout, however is the stunning 'What A Fool Believes’. Franklin’s voice glides over a super punchy arrangement which transforms the Doobies’ weedy version into a gem of sophisticated soul. Highly polished maybe, but a gem nonetheless. Peter Thomson George Thorogood More George Thorogood and the Destroyers RCA The first album by the rough-house, highenergy guitarist hit home with a wallop and made Thorogood an overnight sensation. His brand of careering, bar blues hoarse vocals, shrieking slide guitar and all had the same up-and-at-'em attitude of the first new wave. It was also a lot of fun. His next album, Move It On Over, was also very strong, but perhaps too similar to the first, although some who heard it first prefer it. Then came a lengthy hiatus while Thorogood fought and lost a court case over the release of old tapes. That early stuff wasn’t bad at all, but wait till you hear his new album. It’s a killer. George is jumping again playing ridiculously fast and loose and digging up some grand stuff from the blues/rockabilly stockpile, including a knockout Muddy Waters song, ‘Bottom of the Sea’, and a Carl Perkins’ number, ‘Restless’. There are also songs by Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Slim Harpo, Elmore James and an instrumental, ‘Kid from Philly', attributed to one Jorge Thoroscum. For some reason Thorogood also remakes the old Strangeloves’ ‘Night Time’, which appeared in a more precise and generally more interesting version on the "old tapes” album, Better Than the Best. The change in the Thorogood sound is in the addition to the trio of Hank Carter who plays a honking saxophone that beefs up the sound in just the right places. Of course, that doesn’t stop George from playing like crazy most of the time. He may not be the world’s greatest musician, but it’s his sort of inspired, all-stops-out lunacy that will keep the blues well, alive and lively.

Ken Williams