Records

Rip It Up, Issue 112, 1 November 1986, Page 32

Records

Dance Exponents Amplifier Zulu It’s a brave move to be a guitar band in 1986. In a pop marketplace awash with multi-layered electronics, those championing six strings are mostly undergrounders or country punksters. Dance Exponents initially launched onstage and into the hearts of many with what they’ve always done best — crunchy pop, swimming in happiness and harmony. Amplifier bridges the twists in style and material between their first album Prayers Be Answered and the follow-up Great Expectations. It contains some excellent guitaring — the driving harmonies behind each chorus that give the songs their hook. 'Halcyon Rain’ clips through

tuneful vocals to a welcome wave of space and harmonics. ‘Birth of the Reds’ picks up on a standardised formula and uses it to good effect. It’s so good to hear an acoustic guitar, a refreshing interlude ... but then on an album called Amplifier, guitar blast is what you expect, and what you get. Maybe after half a dozen numbers an acoustic piano would provide a good break in the texture. Some songs are quite low-key without being relaxing in the right spots. ‘lf Only I Could Die (and Love You Still)’ whips up the best storm on the album, but it needs followup and contrast. The Dance Exponents’ musical strengths lie in their choruses, but the dum-de-dah to get there is hard going sometimes. A few dynamic twists with voice and rhythm could give ‘Caroline Skies’ the lift it appears to call for, and maybe provide the flow each side needs.

Chances are the Exponents' present marketing push will see them standing in the States, a

place where the cult market is proportionally bigger than New Zealand’s. Amplifier has material, production, and the backing to do it. They are attempting to carve out a niche and mould their style, rather than just powering the realm they are successful at: the pop of Prayers Be Answered. Do what you do, do well, boys. Barry Caitcheon Various Artists Melt Down Town Meltdown Palmerston North’s Meltdown Records look to have a wonderful go-ahead policy. There has been an increasing number of releases from the label this year — both local acts and others such as Auckland's Warners. Melt Down Town is a showcase of Palmerston North talent, coming complete with a street map on the back cover for those of us who don’t know the place.

I like the first side best, opening with Tm a Mess,’ not the Remark-

ables’ best song ever, but weird and funny guitars and vocals win me over. The Polar Bears’ ‘Sunday Morning’ is a bit more wistful, but is immediately countered by Statmux’s ‘Vertigo’, Thin Red Line’s ‘Economics’ (a radical departure from their earliest efforts) and Harry Death’s ‘Green Prospectus’ — no future in the corporate wasteland ...

Side two has Cement Garden’s /The Valley’ (a highlight closer to their EP) to recommend it, but after that it falls away somewhat. Iceland Bars’ ‘Full of Truth’ brings momentary ecstasy, but is too lengthy, and the second side deteriorates, a letdown after the first. Melt Down Town shows there are a variety of talented bands in Palmerston North — rest assured, there is nothing bad on this record. As to a Palmy North ‘‘sound’? Don’t make me laugh. Check this out for the difference though. Paul McKessar