Briefs

Rip It Up, Issue 72, 1 July 1983, Page 26

Briefs

The Comateens Pictures On A String (Virgin) A three-stringed New York funk/pop band whose sharp Puerto Rican street-wise profiles belie the basic harmlessness of their music. Their synth lines cut across funk and pop with a gloss that doesn't shine too much. Side One is morbid fare despite the crisp intro of 'Get Off My Case' but Side Two contains a couple of classic tunes in 'Uptown', 'Donna' and the Lennonish balladeering of 'Cold Eyes'. Not a major debut but it has interest. GK Dave Edmunds Information (Arista) Information contains 11 tracks, opening with the portentiously titled 'Slipping Away',, a standard Jeff Lynne (ELO) tune. 'lnformation', produced but not penned by Lynne, is considerably better. Edmunds' two other forays into eighties electronics fail to connect successfully. Guitars and drums remain Edmunds' most favoured tools, but of Information's four rockers the covers 'Don't You Double' and 'I Want You Bad' have the edge. Another cover, J. Geils' 'Wait', is a fine bar-room grind and the best performance here. Information is unremarkable but Edmunds is not in the rock pile yet. DT Leo Kottke Time Step (Chrysalis) Kottke moves from the solo, entirely instrumental format of his previous album to a group format, employing 12-string guitar, drums and bass. The album is almost entirely made up of vocal tracks and features fine backing vocals from Emmylou Harris. An excellent combination of reworks ('Saginaw Michigan’) and new material ('Running All Night Long'). His most accessible and successful record for Chrysalis. Recommended. DP

Rick Springfield Living In Oz (Wizard) Springfield is a pure popster who wants to be a mean

rock'n'roller. That's OK, we've all got fantasies and on his last album they came out pretty near perfect: sharp little songs kicked along by brisk drums and a couple of mean guitars. Unfortunately this time out he's discovered big synths, big production, big ambitions all round. (Yep, the songs get longer too.) Another one for the American pomp-rock and bombast circuit. Springfield's previous album was aptly named Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet. Retitle this one Yes It Has. PT Adam and the Ants Dirk Wears White Sox (Epic) - When Antmania was at its height you'd hear people say how much better the original Adam and the Ants were. It's not really true. Adam has shown a talent for bringing the unexpected into pop and it's present here but this is really not much more than a collection of silly pop-punk songs. The smutty innuendoes in most of the songs get tiresome too Adam sounds more like a schoolboy than an art student. Maybe something would have come of this tack if he'd stuck at it but Adam lost most of his Ants and found a considerably more profitable style. RB Rod Stewart v„ Body Wishes (Warner Bros) On the sleeve, Stewart thanks ace producer Tom Dowd "who came in on the project at the last minute and saved it from going down the toilet." Well, not quite. Dowd gives Stewart and his facelessly competent band an updated, dance-beat sound, but as he bids to stay in the pop music race Stewart is increasingly stripped of those qualities • which put his earliest records among the best rock has produced. Gone is the hooligan-romantic with a feel for word and melody. Here is a cartoon whose songs are slogans. Only a visit to the vaults will remind you what the fuss was about. KW Thin Lizzy Thunder and Lightning (Vertigo) Phil Lynott's hardly likely to recapture the hard-rock adrenalin rush of Jailbreak and Johnny the Fox, but that doesn't prevent him and the band from applying the failsafe dynamics of rogue/ romantic metal in their declining years. Renegade was fine and Thunder and Lightning is more of the same. Whether it's romantic bravado ('The Sun Goes Down'), mid-pace strut ('This Is the One') or all-out attack ('Cold Sweat'), Thin Lizzy are still tough enough to hold their own. GK Jim Capaldi

Fierce Heart (WEA) I would like to like this album more. Capaldi and ex Traffic colleague Steve Winwood, also the producer, sound as if they had much fun making it. Before the paucity of good songs sinks the record some fine sounds are produced. If only more of the album could have had the qualities of the splendid opening song, Tonight You're Mine', all insistent guitars (Winwood and, in the unusual role of sideman, Van Morrison) and shimmering synth (Winwood). Steve Winwood

constructs punchy backings for Capaldi's songs, but the materialis let down by tired, "hippie sensibilty" lyrics. KW Uriah Heep Head First (Bronze) / ; Another strong effort from the rejuvenated Heep. Doubtless encouraged by the success of Def Leppard and in line with many other British hard rock acts, Heep have dropped in a couple of FM tempters. Let's hope 89 gives 'Lonely Nights' a spin or two. To be sure/there's a couple of tracks of filler but mostly it's solid raunch'n'roll. It'll be a pity if Heep's past inconsistencies cause this platter to be overlooked by rock fans like last year's Abominog. CC Tubes Outside Inside (EMI America) ■ Live stunners the Tubes attempt to repeat the long-awaited commercial success that finally arrived with The Completion Backwards Principle and nearly pull it off. 'She's A Beauty' is just that and bodes well but Zappaesqiie cleverness cloys and inspiration eludes on too many tracks to convince. Martha Davis guests on one track. CC Krokus, Headhunter (Arista) With a sound that encompasses the best elements of British and American HM, Krokus deliver another powerful album for headbangers. . All the ingredients are here: full-throated vocals, imitation AC/DC rhythm section that rocks relentlessly throughout and guitar solos galore. Highlights include an ace version of Randy Bachman's 'Awake All Night' and the barnstorming title track. CC Paul Schreuder On My Own (Festival) Modest, tuneful stuff from a homegrown singer-songwriter aided by a backing crew of Wellington's finest; Not unpleasant at all. If Schreuder was an international bit name and the album got a TV ad campaign then a lot of middle New Zealand would buy and thoroughly enjoy it. PT Elton John Too Low For Zero (Rocket) Hook-laden pop from one of the great rock pianists, crippled by soft-focus synth, often lightweight production and a recollaboration with Bernie Taupin. Despite this, Side One is perhaps the most successful slice of pop electricism Elton's written since Yellow Brick Road. Too low for zero? well a definite few degrees higher than the freeze-dried fanfodder of the last few albums. Shame about Side Two though.

AR