Records

Rip It Up, Issue 70, 1 May 1983, Page 18

Records

Lou Reed Legendary Hearts RCA Lou Reed's move away from tales of decadence and sensation to a rigorous exhumation of his past, which began in the early 70s and reaching a peak on Growing Up in Public, has borne fruit. The honesty he learnt to communicate is now being applied to his present. Most of the eleven songs herein are frank, sometimes extremely painful, studies of his marriage, from the plea for more realistic expectations of true love in the title track through to a lucid celebration of the oases of idyllic peace most couples attain, however infrequently, in 'Rooftop. Garden'. In between these opening and closing tracks things are harder, with jealousy, paranoia, insecurity, neurosis, violence and the inability to cope with any or all of the above, personalised and dissected. The remaining four songs are less specifically about. Mr and Mrs Reed, covering exhaustion, addictions, American Indians and mental institutions, each in a simple, sincere fashion. Does the music support the lyrics adequately? While Michael Fonfara was supplying a good proportion of the melodics and stuff over recent albums, this was a relevant question, but on Hearts Reed has written it all and played it with 3 other guys sounding at times a little like Doug Yule era Velvets. There is little overdubbing and. his own guitar keeps things idiosyncratic. Direct songs, played directly, what more could you ask of him? Not a hell of a lot. Chris Knox Blitz Voice of a .Generation Music World ■ This explosive debut must put an end to the myth that punk is dead once and for all. Sorry, not a lot of art and not one love song just hard-hitting, raw energy, from the power of 'Nation on fire' to the knockdown fury of Propaganda'. The name Blitz is certainly well chosen. Blitz prove that punk still has many unexplored directions and on this 17 track document of their early sound it is interesting to note the obvious experimental leanings . in some tracks. ... Not convinced? Try putting this . album on . at your next party, stand back and watch the crowd go crazy. All in all, a well produced, furiously-paced punk package for the eighties. Grab it! Gerald Dwyer - Various Artists Pillows and Prayers Cherry Red ■ It would be ungracious to give this album a bad review because any label that is prepared to'give' you seventeen of its test' songs for . .99-has to be encouraged.. If v it contains even one song that you really like it has succeeded in getting that song to you for less than the price of a single. .So good on you . Cherry Red and Music World (NZ distributors). j The album's aptly named with the majority of tracks being' less than hard-edged. Some are formless wimps, notably Five or Six, Thomas Leer (a shadow r of his former self, apparently) and the

Marine Girls. Side One in particular has an easy-to-ignore feel. Most interest is generated for me by the Monocrome Set, Ben Watt, the Passage and the Misunderstood (a sixties, psychedelic relic). I already had a fondness for Eyeless in Gaza, who are represented here by one of their less . memorable songs and Kevin Coyne, who I hadn't heard for years and who contributes the album's best (if a trifle cliched) tune. Quentin Crisp closes the set with a typically scathing putdown of modern youth (circa 1956!) which none of the people involved in this project really deserve. Well, some of them, maybe. Various Artists has never been my favourite group but this one can't lose on a value for money basis. Chris Knox King Trigger Screaming Chrysalis King Trigger sound like a band still searching for an identity. This English four-piece spends its time thrashing about with numerous diverse styles and ends up displaying little more than blatant plagiarism. The single, 'River',..is at least vaguely memorable, in a Mitch Miller, singalongish way. For the rest, it's spot the source. 'Vodka': aimlessly Adam Ant. 'Lay Your Hands On Me': Gang Of Four did it better. 'Blood': Echo and the Bunnymen without the passion. 'Shut Up': Rip, Rig and Panic-style funk,' with really ugly vocals. Temptation': Teardrop Explodes. I could go on, but it would waste space. • *'• '!'.' The songs have no discernable emotion, the lyrics are dry and meaningless. Sam Hodgkin doesn't do justice to. an above-average voice, • singing . tripe like this. : .Producer ' Steve Lillywhite was obviously roped "into beef Op the sound and'compensate in , some way, for its lack of character. - ' King Trigger might as well change their name to Anonymous. Duncan Campbell The Belle Stars Stiff. These days British' pop seems to have once again become fixated

Lou Reed Belle Stars with the quest for the hit single. It is also very much preoccupied with recycling the styles of past eras and anything remotely "ethnic," "exotic," or "soulful" is at a premium. The Belle Stars' debut album could well prove this year's most typical English pop record. Looked at one way it has a lot going for it. Of the 12 tracks, six are covers of choice oldies and 10 and one half sound like viable singles. The playing is all reasonably solid and the band do generate an undeniable neo-girly-pop good-humoured catchiness. Taken as a whole, however, it's , all a bit glib and insubstantial. The band seemingly just skims over the surface of the various styles represented by the songs in almost movie travelogue fashion. We start with 'Sign of the Times', a compilation of stock Motown arrangers' hooks, fly down to Rio for a touch of Latin with 'Ci Ya Ya' then back up to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras with 'Clapping Song'. And so on. On balance it's at least a step up the evolutionary ladder from Bananarama or Soft Cell but for the same money you could get the Hulamen EP, the new Michael Jackson single and still have enough left to. buy dinner. . Don Mackay

Joan Armatrading The Key A&M Here she is with album number 10 (including her EP), number nine with A&M. The same honesty, the same humour, the same dazzling voice but a very different result. With Steve Lillywhite producing nine of the 11 tracks and Val Garay (Motels, Kim Karnes, etc) producing' the other two this album is consistently punchier than anything she has put out previously. In April 1982, Armatrading told RIU that she was writing much more on electric guitar. The Key is obviously the fruit of that writing. In fact, for those who are addicted to Armatrading's slow ballads, you'll have to hunt for them. But they're there and you'll find her playing acoustic on two pure gold tracks, 'Everybody Gotta Know', and I Love My Baby'..' 'Mostly she plays, electric and performs pne, stunning solo on 'Tell Tale', a sassymumber. about getting your own back. She even makes r her (record' debut as a pianist in The Dealer', where she sings powerfully about the destructive .side of life. 'Drop the Pilot' is there of course, in all its glory with other melodic, atten-tion-getting, foot-pounding tracks such as 'Call Me Names', 'Foohsh Pride', 'The Key', and 'Bad Habits' And the rumour that, she's about to embark on another world tour? Keep your ear. to the ground you'll hear her coming! Maryan Street