Records

Rip It Up, Issue 136, 1 November 1988, Page 22

Records

U2 : - Rattle And Hum (Island) Nicely timed to fill those Christmas. shopping orders, a big fat double album with a movie to follow and doubtless a T-shirt in the pipeline. Yes, it's easy to be cynical about U2 these days. Have you noticed how so many . rock writers are struggling to distance 7. themselves from this band? The sin of being popular, or what Clive James ,7 called "the descent from reputation into fame.", It was difficult last year to find a review of The Joshua Tree which was less than a rave. Now the line is, "It wasn't all that good." I know I ; " personally felt disappointed, after repeated listenings, that its impact was so direct and immediate. The Unforgettable Fire was a murkier but ultimately more satisfying work which revealed new textures with subsequent encounters. The Joshua Tree's influences were more mainstream American, a trend continued and expanded upon with Rattle And Hum. It is probably best viewed as a statement of what U2 have become. It's an odd mixture of previously unrecorded tracks and covers in live settings, with some new studio sessions thrown in. The quality is inconsistent, but when it fires, it makes some powerful but unequivocal declarations. Of the new songs, 'God Part ll' and 'Silver and : Gold' make the strongest impressions. The former is a well-deserved kick in / the crutch for Albert Goldman and is dedicated to John Lennon. The latter is a mean piece of swamp rock, recorded live, evoking the evils of apartheid with a welter of violent images. Bono,a s consummate communicator, is also at ; his best on the stage rendition of 'Bullet; In A Blue Sky', lashing out in an

extended monologue at the TV evangelists: "The God I believe in isn't short of cash, Mister!" U2 could easily make themselves a target for cynics by the way Rattle And Hum becomes a roll call of rock heroes. They nod to Presley and Hendrix as well as the Beatles, as though nudging people into accepting them as inheritors of the mantle. Buttheir roots are in Dublin, not Memphis, and it's when they try to suggest otherwise that Rattle And Hum becomes a bit unstuck. Side Three features three tracks recorded at Sun Studio, with the ' assistance of Bob Dylan, B.B.King and, the Memphis Horns. The normally outstanding rhythm section sounds uncomfortable in this context, as does Bono himself, when trying to play soul. King provides the high spot wiht his sizzling performance on 'When Love Comes To Town' but the sessions will probably go down in the book as something which seemed like a good idea at the time. The live cover versions of 'Helter Skelter' and 'AIIAIong The . Watchtower' could also be consigned to the same file. . ' ' 7. ‘ Of the other new tracks 'All I Want Is You' is another slowburner, built up to a climax with a massed string ' '7' j . arrangement by Van Dyke Parts. 7 'Hawkmoon 269' is a lesser song in a similar vein with mdre heavy dressing, 'Desire' is an urgent Bo Diddlle thrash, and 'Van Dieman's Land' a sentimental folk song by the Edge. Once you're stadium megastars and millionaires, what do you do next? Rattle And Hum doesn't answer that question, but nor does it do U2 any great disservice. Consider it the closing of another chapter in a story of success. The next big challenge facing this band is to avoid being trapped into delivering repeats of something which has become lucrative. That's when inspiration becomes administration and freshness becomes formula. DUNCAN CAMPBELL

HUXTON CREEPERS So This Is Paris (Big Time) THE SAINTS Prodigal Son (Mushroom) LIME SPIDERS Volatile (Virgin) THE GO-BETWEENS 16 Lovers Lane (Mushroom) While things are on a lull on this side of the Tasman, Aussie rock'n'roll is enjoying a comparitive boom time, and I'm not talking about INXS. The four bands up for grabs here indicate the depth and diversity of the rock'n'roll that's leaving their shores and making

an impact in the States and the U.K. The Huxton Creepers are the poor relations here; humbled by a name you couldn't give away and an image that would hardly escape their native Melbourne, they actually deliver a power pop that's slick and well-drilled and bristling with hooks. The first two salvoes, 'Skin Of My Teeth' and 'Rack My Brains' setthe scene and they rarely fall below a very amiable competence and occasionally, as in the punchy 'Nights Become Your Days', they land smack on the target. Promising, but a name change is mandatory. The Saints' Chris Bailey showed through All Fools Day how young punks can grow into graceful old farts without losing respect or dignity. That album

was one of 1986's best—it slept but grew in stature with more and more familiarity and now, two years later, Prodigal Son tries to walk in the same : footsteps. It's not as good as its big daddy, in fact first impressions are disappointing — the whole thing sounds predictable, honorable but dull with Bailey sticking too close to unpretentious roots. But as with All Fools Day the more you live with the songs, the more you can't live without them. 'Grain Of Sand', 'Stay' and 'Fire And Brimstone' are fine mid-paced rockers with te strength and resilence of the likes of vintage Parker and Costello. 'Before Hollywood' is a beautifully measured ballad even if it is only a couple of steps away from All Fools Day's title track, and 'Shipwreck' is ,'Celtic Ballad' revisited but is worthy stuff for all that. But perhaps 'Massacre' with its heartfelt tune and anti-drug statement sums up what this albums is about sincerity and a heap of good, hard-wearing songs. Not explosive but a brightly lit fuse. Explosions are reserved for the Lime Spiders. They busted out of suburban Sydney in 1982 with a single '2sth Hour' and the following year they made 'Slave Girl' and theirtwisted cheap fried high octane B-movie pulp, reached dizzy heights with last year's sonic blitzkrieg Weirdo Libido'. Their . first album The Cave Comes Alive also saw daylight last year and it hit the odd high but they struggled to keep their momentum and course. Volatile has no such problem — right from the opening track they rock till your ears bleed. Standouts are 'The - Odyssey'which is a continuation of the magnificent cornball shit that they paraded on'Theory of Thira'from The Cave and the thumping 'The Captor and the Captive One' is like 'Slave Girl' and Weirdo Libido' all over again. And that's great. On 'The Other Side of You' and 'Under My Umbrella' they almost go poppy as Gerard Corben's guitars . get slightly less mental and Mick Blood's voice doesn't self-destruct for once. To round off the high points of an album that doesn't have any fatal weaknesses, there's'Deaf, Dumb And Blind'which ’ busts out at full speed confirming that these guys are indeed the Kings of Trash, thrash and all things wonderful. Absolutely indispensable. ; 7 In a different universe but remaining with intelligent life forms are Brisbane's Go-Betweens who've been making-a case with their five previous albums to being the best band ever to have come out of Aussie since the Bee Gees. 16 Lovers Lane (apparently their real . address) adds further proof that the Go-Betweens are the finest songwriting band in Australia, and • arguably anywhere. Produced by Mike Wallis (Primitives, Talking Heads) he's embedded the band's sound in a soft,. sympathetic acoustic setting that gives the whole thing a feeling of unity — a feeling that their other albums, ; particularly Tallulah, definitely lacked. Wallis's production is the perfect bed for a deceptively harsh reality of many of McLennan and Forster's songs — a reality that's often at odds with the sweetness of the music. The glorious 'Streets Of Your Town' proves this with a melody that wins hearts but with an observation that stops well short of romance — "Don't the sun look foday/But the rain is on it's way/Watch the butcher shine his knives/And this town is full of battered wives." A similar darkness underlines the incredibly catchy 'Love Goes On' and on the rush of 'ls There Anything I Could Do' McLennan paints a picture of female identity crisis. Elsewhere life's ’ ‘ hard and love's-a-bitch but there's. hope and the beautiful 'Devil's Eye' is the best example of that. Tm Alright' is as charming as 'Quiet Heart' is as full of resolve and quiet determination. And if blind faith and positive, optimistic endings are your thing then Forster's 'Drive For Your Memory' will bring a tear. The Go-Betweens have stuck to their faith of letting the songs speak for themselves and although I'd still opt for the brittle diamonds of Liberty Belle as being their best collection, 16 Lovers Lane is probably their most complete, cohesive album and one of the year's best. GEORGE KAY VARIOUS ARTISTS Married To The Mob Soundtrack (Reprise) Jonathan Demme is a filmmaker bent on extending pop culture's pallette. His movies and the music he chooses to accompany them are variations of themes rather than knee-jerk alternatives. His heroes are nerdy, his heroines brunette. He films car chases but scores them to John Cale. Other directors' films boast characters that make love and have relationships; Demme's couples have sex and dance (Something Wild}. It's hardly Bergman but it beats Dirty Dancing hands down.

Hence a soundtrack that boasts the Feelies and N ew Order, the latter

having become regular guests in "pop" movies. The Feelies cameo'd as a ’ dead-pan covers band in Something Wild so here Demme returns the favour by including 'Too Far Gone'. The Tom Tom Club, whom Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth are now treating as a real band, contribute the self-consciously kooky 'Devil Does Your Dog Bite' but they were best when they were genuinely goofing off, like 'Under The Boardwalk'. Sinead O'Conner, the post-punk schoolgirl's answerto Cher, puts in 'Jump In The River* but is upstaged by Debbie Harry whose 'Liar Liar' sees her back in good form. Ziggy Marley and Q.Lazzarus also appear but the- 7. - standout track is by one Brian Eno, returning to the microphone and the creative front seat after too many years spent warbling ambient music and giving away his best ideas to U2. Brian covers You Don't Miss Your Water' with Daniel Lanois playing steel guitar and it's the most accessible, commercial song on the album, drawing a direct line between Taking Tiger Mountain and his work with U2 on Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree. Jonathan Demme's films really do bear strange fruit. CHAD TAYLOR WIRE A Bell Is A Cup Until It Is Struck (Mute) With three albums at the tail-end of the 70s weird and wonderful enough to be called visionary, Wire, alongside . Pere Übu, looked like being the best bet for taking punk out of the one chord business and setting it up in two chord sophisticated without ditching hard-won qualities like sparseness and independence. * Idealistic? Sure — when things 7 • / changed and wire came up with an album as lean and lethal as Pink Flag or as taut and experimental as Chairs Missing and 154, they you're allowed - the odd silly notion that rock'n'roll might just change a few worlds, or minds. But forget those days becuase A Bell Is A Cup is an album created in a 7 7 ; different climate by Gotobed, Lewis 5 .7 and Newman, men 10 years older and more amenable to underplay the : tension that's the basis of this album's atmosphere. So initial exposure to A Bells plain surfaces gives the impression of a lack of dynamics, of an experiment in boredom. Patience unfolds some delicate little dodges like the almost pure pop hooks of 'Kidney Bingos' and 'Free Falling Divisions'. And if'Silk Skin Paws' and 'Boiling Boy' are a bit on the stiff side then there's something driving in 'lt's A Boy' to make amends. But it's the nightmare echoes of the last two tracks'Follow The Locust' and 'A Public Place' that set the seal of approval on the whole affair with a line from the former— "I can't wait to see your doctor"— gnawing at yourwaking moments. Don't be fooled by the apparent accessibility of A Bell or by early :>7 ’ impressions of monotony; each song here is a deceptive and cryptic slice of perception not to be underestimated or missed. GEORGE KAY BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE ' Tighten Up Vol. 'BB (CBs) While other ex-Clash members wander aimlessly in the wilderness, Mick Jones searches for a new dance music. He's found it in BAD's fusion of . beatbox and more traditional rock rhythms, which provide a suitable platform for him to air his predictable but not invalid views. Tighten Up, BAD's third album, offers no real surprises. Jones aims at familiar targets with his customary cockney smirk, and generally manages to makes his point. I'm not too sure about his bootboy-in-a-tuxedo cover shot, but then he always was a bit of a wag. The directions that Jones followed here were already apparent in the days of London Calling. Tighten Up's 'Other 99;' is pure Clash in the vein of 'Spanish Bombs' and 'Bank Robber'. 'Esquerita' is a flawed romantic vision of America that probably only exists in the imaginations of people infatuated with the music of the 50s. '2OOO Shoes' slices into Imelda Marcos, who deserves her lumps but is quite capable of making a prat of herself without Jones'help. Better efforts are 'Funny Names', a simple and direct snipe at racism, and 'Battle Of All Saints Road', which mixes country arid reggae into an appealing high-stepper with lots of smart rapping. The title track is again strongly reminiscent of latter-day Clash, as the people dance in an urban wasteland. BAD's biggest problem is the lack of a strong lead vocal. Jones' nasal whine has only limited appeal. They should also jam the dated use of radio/TV voice inserts and find some new production tricks. BAD is good, but not quite yet baaaad.

DUNCAN CAMPBELL