Records

Rip It Up, Issue 145, 1 August 1989, Page 24

Records

CHRIS KNOX Siezure

(Flying Nun

Chris Knox solo records ... Some of us remember 1983's Songs For Cleaning Guppies— C.Knox Ego Gratifiaction Album. Some of us even own it,and tho’ we're not exactly tortured butits presence in the record collection, it's notthe sort of thing you haul out n’ play allthat often. This Seizure album is

different tho’, muchly so. Guppies was lambasted as a kinda self-indulgent and smart arse affair.

Some of that I'm sure- was deliberate, and | hafta admit that bits of it did work, but not the nursery rhyme tone that was all but pervasive on the thing. Eight of its 20 tracks appear, along with a couple of solo bits elsewhere, as Guppiplus, the 33rpm B-side of the 12-inchssingle companion piece to Seizure (the A-side’s cool — ‘Not Given Lightly, off the album, more on that soon) and to be fair, about half of ‘em are very good — especially ‘Over And Out’, Justification Song’, not'JesusLoves You.. -

Backin 1982-83, Knox wasn't performing solo live, something he has been doing a lot of in the last three or fouryears. Seizure’s 15 tracks are the core of his live sets of this period, but the recorded context s a vastly different affair to their live performance. ‘To start with, it's musically more palatable and interesting, with the addition of excellent rhythm loops and alittle extra instrumentation (all played by Knox) o the basic guitaring. And Seizurelacks the arch-cynic persona that surrounds and overwhelms the songs’ performance with commentary, often to the detriment of the ah, more personal moments of performances. It means that ‘Not Given Lightly’, an autobiographical love song, comes

withoutthe sniggering “thisisa love song, pah!” asides that make you wonder what itis he's depreciating. This sense of autobiographgy is evidentthroughout Seizure, much more so than, say, Knox's Tall Dwarfs lyrics. They're operating at a more personal

level, with less general philosophising and no B-grade horror (apart from the record cover). l's comparable to

ex-Husker Do-er Bob Mould's recent solo debut, Workbook, but unlike

Mould’s catharticintent, an exorcism of “poison years”, Knox uses his solo outing to invest his subjects, ‘All Men Are Rapists’ included, with uncustomary directness, relating ideas at an attimes - intensely personal level. Free of the cynicism that works all too well as a mask to the true feelingsd of songs, material like ‘Not Given Lightly’ (“This is alove song to John and Leisha’s mother /Itisn't easy — | might not write another,”)lets us uncomfortably close to Knox's sensitivity. - In its musical effect, Seizure sits most comfortably alongside the unacknowledged album of the year, Derry Legend, by the Axemen. Both LPs overflow with ideas and a handful of glorious melodies you thought were

hackneyed, dead and overdone years ago, now made as fresh as the day your dentistfitted ‘em. And both albums — rough, funny and honest—are everything that's great about rock n’ roll, and, especially, wonderful old punk rock spirit. : Too bad if Seizure hasto be consigned to the “losers on Flying Nun — why does Roger bother?” binalong - with Derry Legend, ‘cos if anyone else makes a record as good as Seizure this year by whamming a single barre chord shape up and down a guitar fretboard, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Butgood on ya, Chris; this one'll last. PAUL McKESSAR

HOODOO GURUS Magnum Cum Louder (RCA) The Hoodoo Gurus have always seemed like a good idea— theirwhole being always seemed attuned to the wonderful world of pop and trash—until you heard the music. Their albums have always had two or three songs that lived up to the aesthefics of compressed disposability, i.e. they would’ve made great singles. Magnum is no exception apart from the fact that you get four songs, ‘Come Anytime’, ‘Another World', ‘All The Way’ and ‘| Don’t Know Anything’, thattogether would have made EP of the year. The lesson is that these Gurus should stop making long players and concentrate on short, sharp splurges of technicolour. GEORGEKAY CHRISISAAK Heart Shaped World - (Reprise) : Isaak’s background is detailed in his interview but it's worth stressing that this guy has been touched by the Sun Sessions. He has seen the light— even the filament— thatlit rock n’ roll back in the 50s. And although he professes to be no purist, his three albums have stuck pretty damn close to the old essentials of rockn’ roll: three piece bands, songs about girls, loneliness and carsand a sound that echoes with the ghosts of Sam Phillips’ studios. Isaak has everything going for him; he was wise enough to quit a boxing scholarship to bum around and bide time before trying a rock career. He was even patient enough to wait for the right musicians, and in his three piece backing band, Silvertone, he's gotthe players with the required credentials to evoke his songs— lonely moon-lit nights, teen dramas, teardrops, cheating hearts— and his voice, like the Big Os, is always frembling and on the edge of a quiver as it tries o hit ?oies that he’s got no business trying or.

Forthe record, Heart Shaped World is his third album, a refinement of the traditional angst that he displayed on his firsttwo, but this time he’s

concentrated even more on his major strength whichiis the Isaak ballad, laced by guitarist James Wilsey's sparse and haunting picking. So ‘Kings Of The Highway’,'Wicked Game’ and ‘Nothing’s Changed’ are right up there with ‘Blue Hotel’ as the best of Isaak’s sad eyed ballads. Both the title track and ‘Wrong To Love You’ get more up-tempo, under pinned by two classic riffs and ‘ln The Heat Of The Jungle’ is left to end the album with a dense, steamy shot justto show that Isaak can tackle any style. e e Heart Shaped World confirms what his second album told us loud and clear — Isaakis definitely the king of his particularstreet. GEORGEKAY : NOTDROWNING, WAVING Claim : (Mighty Boy) This albumis a grower. Straightish 80s rock meets Japan/Eno style textural music. Sounds unpromising, | know, and the album doesn’t immediately hit, but there’s plenty here afterafew listens. A mixture of - instrumental numbers and songs with decentlyrics (justfor a change) that are part political comment about Australia and the Pacific (intelligent but not too preachy) and part strong visual imagery. A good mix ofinstruments and sounds (eg: mandolin, didgeridoo, samples and kettledrums), some tracks without rhythms, some with full drums or vaguely Latin-sounding beats. At least a couple of pop songs appear— ‘Palav’ would do nicely on BFM— and there’s aseamless flow from track to track. This won't be everybody’s cup of tea asitdoesn't rock very hard most of the time, butit's certainly a lot more - adventurous, stimulating and sensitive than most Australian rock. It ll take me alittle while to discover whether this is a greatrecord orjusta good one, since there's a fair bit of careful detail here. Butfor now, thisis a recommended obscure record.

RICHARD JAMES

Ac