Records

Rip It Up, Issue 71, 1 June 1983, Page 26

Records

Roxy Muxic The High Road EG Records As one who found Roxv Music

only fitfully interesting in concert on their last tour, let me wholeheartedly endorse Roxy's foursong "live mini-album", The High Road. Yet another permutation of personnel rocks yes, rocks!.— through four songs (26 minutes of music). 'Can't Let Go' rips along at a furious pace. Back-up singers counterpoint Bryan Ferry's vocals

beautifully and Phil Manzanera offers some suitably stunning licks. In 'My Only Love' Manzanera proves his astonishing abilities as a guitarist (undoubted) and accompanist (unexpected his trade-offs with Ferry on this doomy ballad are superb). Andy Mac Kay gets to blow lots of heated sax lines, too.

Neil Young's 'Like A Hurricane' might at first seem an odd choice. for Roxy, it always seeming to have been created to show off lots of guitar flash. And lots of guitar there is, too, but Ferry remakes the song into one of his "lounge" songs, all desperate ennui. The ladies give him much sympathetic support. Excellent. - 'Jealous Guy' (heard it too often, you say?) is to my mind superior to the single, which always seemed rather cold. Here Ferry's voice' shows more flexibility. Perhaps continued performance of the song has given the players new insights. A great version. In fact, this is a great little record. Like the best concerts, it leaves you begging for more. Ken Williams Nick Lowe ' The Abominable Showman F-Beat Let’s face it. Nick Lowe is a fraud. Everything since 1978's'pop masterpiece Jesus of Cool has been a fraud. He steals, he borrows but he never begs. : His forte has been one of taking yesterday and blatantly stealing it for today. God, on this album he's even ripped off Stefan Grappelli. Unfortunately Nick Lowe has become caught up in a trap of his own making. He still borrows madly but he's forgotten to keep up with what's happening today. The influences that made him Jesus of . Cool in 1978 make him simply passe today. ■ True; this album does have a couple of very good tunes, witness the sixties-ish 'Chicken and Feathers' and the exquisite 'How Do You Talk to an Angel'. But there are none of the slick melodies

and harmonies that made one smirk in the past. Rather, its a case of repetition a disease affecting too many of yesterday's former shining stars. . He'd do well to listen to the current work of one of his former pupils, the Imposter. You can't go on ripping off forever without some sort of self direction and input, which, sadly, is what' we lack here.. Simon Grigg Iron Maiden Piece of Mind EMI fc'< From the opening "Where Eagles Dare' (inspired by Alastair McLean) there's just no letting up till the needle . lifts at the end of Side Two on this slice of metal mayhem. Piece of Mind uses the proven skills of producer Martin Birch. With new boy Nicko Mcßrain filling the drum chair with explosive aggression,.the twin guitar assault, coupled with Bruce Dickinson's frantic vocals, leaves one feeling rather stunned by this outfit's sheer power. There are moments of beauty and melody too, especially in 'Revelations', which • makes one wonder if maybe they

too listened to Wishbone Ash in their formative years. , However, it is the full-on 'Die With Your Boots On' and To Tame A Land' (inspired by the Dune novel by Frank Herbert) which will mostly appeal to wanton headbangers up and down the country. Practically faultless! Greg Cobb 'TV'/ 1 Black Sabbath Live Evil Vertigo They were there at the birth of Heavy Metal and they're . still going, albeit with only two of the original members. This is the traditional live double with tracks drawn mostly from the band's first two and most recent two albums. - Guitarist Tony lommi and bassist Geezer Butler turn in a powerhouse performance but despite his inspired efforts on the Heaven and Earth studio album, vocalist Ronnie Dio fails here to fill the void left by Ozzy Osbourne's departure. Nevertheless, . it's a good buy for fans (all their best tracks are here and it's got a great cover) and with the news that lan Gillan has joined there's obviously more to come.

Chris Caddick