Shake ummation

Rip It Up, Issue 89, 1 December 1984, Page 46

Shake ummation

Tall Dwarfs Slugbucket Hairybreathmonster (Flying Nun) I'd describe the music here as sounding like the cover looks, were it not for the fact that C. Knox has already done so and, more importantly, that you can't see the artwork in all its fluorescent splendour anyway. Soooo ... 'The Brain That Wouldn't Tie' is another song involving Kno , and Bathgate that’s inspired by a cult horror movie and I think its better than 'Bride Of Frankenstein! It throbs along complete wit i trashy monster mix. From the point of view of the headless corpse? Let’s say now that thi* is a record about things wrong with people, of which the mere forgetfulness described in ’l’ve Lef: Memories Behind’ is the least horrible. ’Phil's Disease', casebooked on the first day on side one (pain) and fourth day on

side two (resignation) is particularly nasty. And lots of fun. Eh? ’Crush!’ opens with familiar Dwarfs percussion (ie: sounds like hitting furniture, kitchen utensils, old leather suitcases, the floor, kneecaps, etc.) and moves into a heavenly guitar sound. The lyric (the only real one on the record) is an intelligent, sitting-on-the-toilet-seat kind of muse about selfimage v public image. Another record like Canned Music might have sounded preachy; this certainly doesn’t. Postcards and poster make this an all-round great record. Phantom Forth

The EEPP(Flying Nun) It’s often a good idea to kick off with your best track and this Phantom Forth (whether consciously or not) have done. ’March’ is a perfect intro, with whimsy vocals, neat guitar and bass that melts around the other instruments. Things drift in and out of the listener’s attention as the song progresses (that happens throughout the record but it’s used to particularly good effect here). Of the others ’Double Negative’ is good apart from rather inappropriate guitar, ’Caroline’ is a little messy and lacks its live starkness, I Don’t Know You’ has lovely vocals unfairly submerged by the other instruments, ‘Liar’ and

’Saw You Hide’ don’t work at all and ’Dead Dream’ is another real goodie, led by the singing, which perhaps a little more of the record should have been. So ... a good record, but one with weaknesses in execution. Okay?

The Hyphenears Garden Of Lycanthropy (TV Eye) To misquote, in explanation, from an earlier Teev tape; "We’re two thirds of Say Yes To Apes and you’re five eighths of fuck all!” Get picture? Lycanthropes is werewolves ’n’ the two ordinary lookin’ young men on the cover is musical lycanthropes; somethin’ weird inside ’em grows. Six songs, all good; all (’cept ‘Rubadub the Crimson Crazies’) based on some kind of heartpain; all using established words, sounds and styles in personal and idiosyncratic ways. Great. My partickler faves are the soft, incisive ’Friend On A Flying Visit’, the neopsychedelic Blueberry Girl’ and the depressive ‘Animal Song’. Yeah! Music without ulterior motive! The Mockers Forever Tuesday Morning (Reaction) This looks like being the Mockers' biggest single yet and I'm not surprised it’s so full of Mockers trademarks it sounds like

all their other singles crammed into one. But it also sounds like a hit-by-numbers; craftsmanship without edge. The flip is a live 'I Don’t Want You’, complete with guitar bit nicked from Magazine's 'Feed The Enemy' in fact in places the song sounds like Magazine. Really! Peter King Lately (International) Peter King is an Ashburtonite who’s done it all himself on guitar, harmonica and vocals. These are a couple of odd little songs, mainly because of his habit of jumping into a falsetto for the choruses. But while the straightforward rhythmic strum and harmonica are probably fun around the fireside they’ll need a bit of work to sound good on vinyl. Available from Peter King, N 0.5 RD, Ashburton.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds In the Ghetto (Mute) I read an interview where Nick Cave said we here in NZ who witnessed some of the last wrigglmgs of the Birthday Party were lucky. He compared it to Elvis Presley’s last televised concert we got real degeneration and real desperation. All of which has little to do with this single except that the song was one of the first of the Big Fat Elvis period which fascinates the tall, literate,

theatrical one. I understand and admire him doing it straight as a die but unfortunately he simply doesn't sing the song well enough. It’s still somehow a useful thing to have around the house. ‘The Moon Is In the Gutter’ is a likeable drawl in the style of American Melancholy Drinking Song. Russell Brown