Records

Rip It Up, Issue 85, 1 August 1984, Page 26

Records

Berlin, Love Life (Mercury) Leader and songwriter John Crawford still appears determined to promote Terri Nunn into pop's next wet dream. The first two tracks here carry on the last album's 'Pleasure Victim'/'Sex (I’m A ...)’ theme as Nunn propositions us to tear my clothes off for 'porno love'. The music is only marginally more subtle, even when a potentially memorable melody emerges it remains lockstepped into that Berlin beat. You know, the one that sounds like a metronome on heat. It needs the talents of a Giorgio Moroder who produces two tracks to boost 'No More Words’ into dance floor interest. Otherwise the most interesting, least monotonous track is the slowest. PT Passion Puppets Beyond The Pale (Stiff) A fivesorne from Camden Town, the Passion Puppets want to be intelligent pop pin-ups. On this debut album, given a big

shiny sound by Pete Walsh (Simple Minds producer) and Roger Becherian (Undertones), the band are at their best with the consistent and winning pop flow of Side One where their hooks and harmonies ofterl recall (‘Like Dust', 'Playground' and the title track) the Hollies at their best. But Side Two gets a little serious and the songs don't hit home. But all things considered, this is one to keep in mind. GK Time Bandits (CBS) This European band has achieved a rather tasty confection of slick, synthesized funk and pure marzipan pop. 'l’m Only Shooting Love' certainly proved irresistible although on some other tracks the blend isn’t always so smooth. Often the tunes are instantly appealing but the flavour palls after two or three tasts. Sometimes the high-pitched vocals are sweet enough to cause pimples. As a rhythm band however, Time Bandits are quite nourishing stuff, albeit somewhat pre-masticated. Nonetheles there are still a good few samples here to please the public palate. Recommended in small doses.PT Manfred Mann's Earthband Live Budapest (Bronze) Yup, my year is now complete, Atomic Rooster have re-formed and Manfred Mann's Earthband have released a live collection of their Greatest Hits. I was beginning to worry there for a minute

what with the state of rock'n-’roll an' all but Manfred's so good at covering other peoples’ songs (Bruce Springsteen's ‘Spirits In The Night’, some guy Marley’s ‘Redemption Song' and the Police’s ‘Demolition Man’) that he doesn’t have to write his own. And our very own Chris Thompson sings on this record. Wake me up when Manfred's next album is due, awright? GK David Bowie Love You Till Tuesday (Deram) Another Decca rehash of Bowie's early days on that label, but this time masquerading as a soundtrack for his 1969 film Love You Till Tuesday. Some songs have been re-mixed from their World of David Boiwe beginnings, but the main attention focuses on the admittedly charming ‘When I’m Five', the forgettable whimsy of ‘Ching-A-Ling’ and the pallid first version of 'Space Oddity’. One for addicts only. GK Rough Trade Weapons (Big Time) Canadian duo Carol Pope-and Kevan Staples haven’t made any impact here, probably because their overt sexuality scared off radio programmers. Weapons, their third LP released here, breaks no new ground, save for the uncommonly restrained ‘Life Line' and the curious nostalgia trip of ‘Paisley Generation'. For the rest, it's burning glances and sweaty bodies (on the cover and the vinyl). I wonder if they ever spend a quiet night in front of the telly. It's all so very tiring. DC Greg Kihn Band Kihntagious (Beserkley) Beserkley bands have come and gone. The Rubinoos, Earthquake and one Jonathan Richman have either died or waned but Greg Kihn is still in there, the reason being that he has shifted styles from his Todd Rundgren infected days to his present FM survival kit. But he does it well. Kihntagious has half-a-dozen songs (notably 'Confrontation Music', Worst That Could Happen’ and ‘Trouble With the Girl') that show he has enough suss to thrive on the airwaves. Better Greg Kihn than the Romantics? Right? GK Stanley Clarke Time Exposure (Epic) Herbie Hancock, what have you done? Every fusion jazz musician

now seems quite convinced he's a dance-floor king, a master of the street beat, the one everybody spins on their backs to. Plenty of electronic rifferama, production sanitised for your protection, not a melody in sight. Inoffensive, unobtrusive and dull, dull, dull.DC Talk Talk It’s My Life (EMI) One of the problems with synthwave was the ‘serious youngman' type behind it. Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis is such a one. But his introspective writing and modesty have kept him from overblown sentiments of others. The Hollis world though is still not a happy (nor particularly enjoyable) one. The debut contained one decent single, and forgettable vanations. It's My Life, a huge improvement, is comprised almost entirely of meticulously constructed songs. These are augmented by producer Tim Friese, Greene's muchneeded keyboard colouring, new instruments, and Hollis’ growing flair for arrangement If the album has a major fault, it is a uniformity of mood due to Hollis’ nasal whining voice. If they could find a new setting on that... AR Rod Stewart Camouflage (Warner Bros) In which the once-interesting (can you remember?) Stewart moves even farther from what he does best. This tiresome record lacks in just about every depart ment. Producer Michael Omartian provides dreary synthesiser underpinnings for a series of lacklustre songs by Stewart and a couple of covers, of which Free’s thumping classic 'All Right Now' is an unmitigated disaster, lacking even a solid rhythmic base. Stewart's old cohort, Jeff Beck, is on hand to provide a couple of tasty guitar solos and his work lifts Todd Rundgren's ‘Can We Still Be Friends’, the only song that gets by. KW Lita Ford Dancing On The Edge (Mercury) The second album within six months from ex-Runaway Ford. She's changed her guitar colour (black to pink) and costume (fewer studs, from fishnet tights to leather trousers) otherwise things are still the same. Oh, the band and producer are new too but no matter. The bludgeoning beat, connect-a-dot HM riffs and macho (!?) lyrics are as inter-

changeable as last time. Best boogie by far is the title track. Ms Ford claims all song credits bar one, all lead vocals as well as that bitchin’ lead guitar. PT Snowy White White Flames (Towerbell) journeyman guitarist Snowy White (Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy, Peter Green) has a nice touch but not for songwriting. ‘Bird Of Paradise’ is the track that will attract buyers, but for me this post-acid surf music is merely soporific. Playing throughout is competent, the sounds are pleasant. But is that a recommendation? I don’t think so. Another sideman over-extended. KW Elton John Breaking Hearts (Rocket) Each successive album’s been touted as his best since Yellow Brick Road, while making apologies for the last. Breaking Hearts sees the continuing Taupin/oldhand collaboration, mutual massage of egos, and accelerating slide into AOR senility. Heralded as a ‘return-to-roots’ Hearts flounders in guitar cliches, lack-lustre hooks, throwaway harmonies and general predictability. Even Elton’s ability to transcend the tritest Taupinisms with melody and phrasing alone, fail him utterly. Nice videos and packaging will fool noone. Enough with the crass commercialism. More dirt and less gloss. Urgently. AR Glenn Frey, The Allnighter (MCA) Glenn Frey’s first post-Eagles solo flight came as a pleasant surprise. There were enough interesting departures and strong songs to disarm many avowed turkey pluckers. This time out the news is pretty grim. On the late album Frey co-penned five tracks with Jack Tempchin and three were OK. Here they've written all 10 and only the first on each side is tolerable. But even though the title track cruises nicely it’s lumbered with a smugly sexist lyric. And while the words of 'Smuggler's Blues’ may be fair comment on the US opiate trade, the music is pretty much blues-by-numbers. From there on it's pallid rewrite time, el-layed back(ing), and lyrics that become arrogant when they’re assertive and selfpitying when they’re "sensitive” -. Oh yeah on Something Else' Frey sings like Rod Stewart in tight underpants. PT

ZZ Top First Album (Warner Bros) As the 70s get underway we welcome a powerhouse bluesbased trio from Texas, formed from the ashes of the Moving Sidewalks and American Blues. Ten very solid tracks with bass and drums well upfront make for a distinctive, driving sound. Attention to the live arena, an injection of humour and a little more variation in pace should see this band establish itself as a major force as the decade unfolds. Footnote: Despite being 14 years old this album (ZZ Top's most blues-orientated) still blows away the bulk of today’s competition. Get it while you can. CC Twisted Sister Stay Hungry (Atlantic) Twisted Sister suffer the classic rock 'n' roll dilemma of the hotshit live band falling to reflect its onstage dynamism. on vinyl. That's not to say that this album’s bad; indeed its sharper production gives it the edge over the band's previous two albums but it covers the same well-trodden ground. It’s fun in a traineeheadbanger, rock out, punch-the-air kind of way that wears quickly and fails to encourage repeated listenings. Slade with makeup.CC Nightranger Midnight Madness (Mercury) Yet another faceless American AOR act in the mould of Journey, Foreigner, etc, that’s already gone Top 10 in the USA (thanks to'the success of the album's best track, ‘Sister Christian’) but will probably hit the bargain bins here before Christmas. Pleasant, punchy and confident for such a relatively new band that would suggest a secure future but the bulk of the material here fails to lift the album into the ‘‘must buy" category.CC Fad Gadget, Gag (Mute) Boring, pretentious crap was my first reaction; closer listening reveals something more than just a band with a gimmicky name and synthesisers to match. Granted, they do sound rather long winded in places, yet the lyrics alone at once playful and provocative are more than adequate compensation. Oscillating as calculatedly as it does between the offbeat and the melodic, the album as a whole quirks and croons along with absorbing effect. Worth investigation. ” RR