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Rip It Up, Issue 145, 1 August 1989, Page 32

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THETHE JEANPAULSATRE. Logan Campbell Centre, July 31 The unadvertised arrival of the JPS Experience on stage was as pleasanta surprise as their removal half an hour later was distressing. Anyone who abandoned them after 1987's woefully insubstantial Love Songs LP would be well advised to see them again at the next opportunity. Your prejudices will disappear before your ears. The draconian pop sensibilities that once stifled the band’s creativity have disappeared. The songs are now long and slow, creating in the space of minutes the kind of shimmering aural sprawl that many bands labour over for whole albums. The guitar parts are all fluidity and lateral movement, the bass and drums emphatic rather than dictattorial. It's perhaps significant that ‘Flex’ from the bands’ first EP fits in with the new material as easily as if it was written yesterday. The The, on the other hand, obviously neverintended to surprise. They sounded just like the records, only louder. In the cases of ‘This Is The Day’, ‘Heartland’ and a few others this meant thattheir sound was a huge scale exercise in the Sparkle every pure pop band wishes would Shine on them, a virtual manifesto of swooping melodies and swooning chords. Unfortunately these moments of brilliance (in the most literal sense of the word) were all too rare. For the most of the set the dominant sensations were the headache a-go-go 4/4 crash of the enormous drumkit and the desire to run along way from the sequencer - keyboard interface, the sound of which

I can only describe as “glutinous”. Matt Johnson missed his opportunity to convert the youth of Auckland to revolutionary socialism as there was so much reverb and delay on the vocals that it was impossible to distinguish one word from the next, let alone make out whole sentences. : : Johnny Marr, probably the main reason most of the audience were present, never really gotthe chance to dazzle, or even, in many songs, to be heard. Call me old-fashioned, as Dame Ednawould say, but it seemed a little strange fo me to see the man responsible for the frisson of Rickenbacker whimsy that was ‘This Charming Man’ waving his fist in the air and snarling “Islam is rising.” Allthings considered, The The made a perfectly adequate support act for JPS. It's just a pity they played after them and for twice as long. MATTHEWHYLAND

NATADDERLEY Club Montmatre, July 27 The Adderley brothers Cannonball and Nat are etched firmly in the minds of most jazz fans. After the death of Cannonballin 1975, Nat had to carry onthe legacy of funky jazz and blues alone, so it was great to see a player of that calibre performing in New Zealand. . The opening set of the Murray McNab Trio gave the audience some excellent music to warm to. Bassist Kevin Haines played some wonderful lines behind Adderley, and drummer Frank Gibson rose to the occasion by playing with a driving swing reminiscent ofthe Cannonball’s group. Adderley’s cornet playing since performing in his brother’s band during the 50s and 60s has changed little. He played short phrases which noodled their way through standards like ‘Seven Steps To Heaven’,’Autumn Leaves’ and You Don’t Know What Love Is', staying mostly in the middle or lower registers. The few times he attempted the upper registers, the notes simply didn’t : appear. One surprise of the evening was an unscheduled appearance of a hippy flute player who rose out of the packed and smokey audience to join the band in a funky original called ‘Miss Sally’s Song'. Tenor saxophonist Brian Smith let out an apprehensive “Hey man!2” but Adderley raised his hand and let him continue. Atthe song’s end, _ Adderley exclaimed “This is a unique place!”, adding that everyone should be given a chance to express themselves— once. Butthe most popular numberwas ‘Adderley’s Worksong’, which became astandard when immortalised by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Alpert's version sold 1.5 million copies, whereas the original by Adderley sold 10,000 —

still a good figure for a jazz album. “It's the favourite blues | wrote,” he said, “butllove it even more when the royalties comein.” Overallthe concert was a success, and the little club was packed with appreciative people and good atmosphere. It goes fo show there is an audience for jazz names in this country, so let's get some more out here. NATHAN HAINES .