rECORDS

Rip It Up, Issue 126, 1 January 1988, Page 16

rECORDS

Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls Under the Sun Mushroom

Last year’s Gossip didn’t make the front pages, but people are still talking about it. Paul Kelly’s double album of sagas and confessions struck a chord with everyone who heard it; in turn they passed the word down the line. Under the Sun, the followup, at first sounds like sides five and six of Gossip, but it’s a more focused work. Whereas Gossip gave the big picture, packed with detail, here the theme is strictly personal. Sun is full of intimate stories and images from relationships; it’s like reading through the pages of someone else’s diary. The songs are consistently strong, with fine melodies and evocative images. ‘Same Old Walk,’ a standout live, is also the album’s highpoint. A woman is observed, almost peeped on, by an ex-lover. Haunting organ and snappy drumming support the self-justification. While ‘Big Heart’ hints at country with its simple images and wailing pedal steel, ‘Don’t Stand So Close to the Window’ has an Irish lilt.

‘4O Miles to Saturday Night’ is quintessentially Australian. It’s a charming acoustic guitar driven lads’ celebration of the weekend, continuing the theme of the seminal 70s Oz film Sunday Too Far Away, finish the shearing and “kiss goodbye to two weeks’ pay.” ‘I Don’t Remember a Thing’ and ‘To Her Door’ have Springsteen scenarios: early marriage and drunken manslaughter, grim fables and honky tonk sounds.

Kelly’s vocal is aching and affecting, and his band of Coloured Girls are always there in support. They’ve benefited from constant live playing, tight but eloquent, particularly pianist Peter Bull (whose playing, especially on ‘Know Your Friends,’ is exquisite) and the taut drumming of Michael Barclay. The sound is 80s clean with no unnecessary fancy tricks, it all stands on the songs and performance. While not the king hit of Gossip, this is a strong followup—as consistent a collection of songs as John Hiatt’s or Springsteen’s recent works. The Australians and us may be equals in sport, but when it comes to music, the Kellys, H&C, etc, have depth and maturity we could well emulate. Chris Bourke Paul Johnson Paul Johnson CBS It took only one song, ‘When Love Comes Calling,’ for Paul Johnson to revive interest in what can loosely be described as British gospel. He grew up singing in church in order to overcome a stammer, and now he’s guided by the sure hand of Junior Giscombe (the ‘Mamma Used to Say’ man), who produces and co-writes about half the songs on this debut.

Paul Johnson is a voice and an idealist. Moving in and out of the proLabour Red Wedge because it was too dogmatic, he’s also tried to break the stereotype of the black artist as merely bump’n’grind dancefloor fod-

der. Johnson’s case rests in his voice —a pure, clear and controlled vehicle that can brilliantly interpret the likes of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away’ and transcend the original. ‘When Love Comes Calling’ and the lengthy but beautifully measured ‘New Love’ illustrate his ability at caressing and controlling a song using his falsetto to capture the emotions of love gone right and wrong. The other side of his talent is revealed by ‘Fear of Falling,’ which eases back on the funk throttle just to let the chorus glide, and ‘Are We Strong Enough?’ which is more emphatic with its victims-of-circumstance ring. The upshot is that at 25, Paul Johnson is young, gifted and black. He boasts no nasty bass, no Alexander O’Neal party time or D’Arby dreadlocks and dance stance. Just one helluva voice and a message. George Kay

Bill Lake and the Living Daylights A Bop in the Ocean Eelman With much-treasured releases by the Hulamen and the Pelicans, Wellington's occasional Eelman label has set itself high standards. Now here are the Living Daylights, a postPelican vehicle for the songs of Bill Lake and Arthur Baysting. A Bop in the Ocean is an album of fine songs, many of them equal to such Pelican moments as ‘Banana Dominion,’ 'Shuffleitis' and ‘Out of the Frying Pan.’ They’re songs with melody, character, clever word play and snappy playing. While the Pelicans music was carefully and slowly laid down, the Living Daylights chose to record Bop live in the studio, with very little overdubbing. Hearing such fine songs with a few rough edges is the only reservation I have about Bop — but “rough edges” when compared to the Pelicans, or compared to any other local record with low production values is a very relative term indeed. The Living Daylights play with life, dynamics, feel — and in tune. Two ballads here stand out amongst the R&B dancers. ‘Defrost Your Heart’ is the killer track, sung with passion by Bill Lake and the backing vocalists. Lyrical touches are added by Lake’s guitar and Alan Norman 's simple piano. ‘You’ve Got My Number' is another sad ballad, with a heartfelt sax solo, by Neville Schwabe. The Living Daylights music is full of many flavours, the New Orleans R&B of ‘Filthy Rich,’ the bouncy spiritual of ‘American Express,’ the lazy calypso of ‘Waiting for a Bus,' the Pacific reggae of ‘Watcha Gonna Do’ (sung beautifully by Ra Te Whaiti) and the R&B raveups at the end. Above all, what the Daylights have is feel, and crucial to that is the rhythm section of Ross Burge and Nick Bollinger This is group playing — so few sound

as if they’re actually listening to each other. It was a great idea to cut Bop live; with a little more work it could have been a knockout, but the songs and spirit are spot on. Chris Bourke The Bible Walking the Ghost Back Home Chrysalis An immodest name for a modest band who released this debut album on Norwich’s independent Backs label last year. Revolving around experienced second divisioners Bob Hewerdine (vocals and guitar) and Tony Shepherd (keyboards), the Bible, like Meet Danny Wilson- and Microdisney, have that instant sophistication that comes from having played before and wanting to do the best by the songs. Their recent single, ‘Graceland,’ contains all their strengths, tight melody, nice percssive/guitar arrangement and a change of pace that keeps the song alive. ‘Mahalia’ also steals a few plaudits with its fair sax riff and neat bass line, and ‘King Chicago’ is worth mentioning courtesy of a delicate vibe motif, but their best showing is ‘She’s My Bible,’ a song with an effortless tune, so natural, so right. And that's the good news. Earlier this year they toured with China Crisis, which is pertinent because they both share a conservative love of form and predictability couched in solidly melodic songs that are unfortunately often bereft of depth and excitement. The title track, ‘Spend, Spend, Spend’ and the overlong ‘High, Wide and Handsome’ won’t incite any riots, and if the Bible, all competence aside, want to avoid the dull/bland tags that have hung around the likes of China Crisis, then they’ll have to raise the temperature on their next album.

George Kay