Albums

Rip It Up, Issue 153, 1 April 1990, Page 24

Albums

VAIN No Respect (Island) "Go ahead and use me baby when it ’ comes to it you ain't got no self-respect" so sings the gloweringly wanton Davy Vain on side two of a debut album which shoots the long haired pouting five-piece from San Francisco straight into a niche all their own. . An update on the glam-rock genre, Vain ooze sluttish sentiments sung seriously enough to move you. This is slanting cheek-bone metal, grovelling and moody, but with strikingly sensitive bits. Davy's voice tugs at the heart strings on 'Without You' because, like a candle in the wind he's easy to put out (quote). The whole song echos with heartbroken drumming and ends with a virtuoso guitar solo plunging in and out of the minor key. 'Whose Watching You' and 'Bite The Bullet'are petulant, powerful and trashily perfect, there's real drama here, a soundtrack begging for the world's first metaller's soap opera. On the back cover they've got the biggest lips, the biggest hair and the tightest pants of any of the new wave of metal bands but they don't really need to unbutton their shirts to their navels to get attention. A class act. DONNA YUZWALK PSYCHEDELIC FURS Book of Days (CBS) Like ghosts from some punk past that's still the preserve of the Clash, Jam and Buzzcocks, the Psychedelic Furs come out to play for the sixth time. Memories of their debut single Sister Europe still stick with its tired, gothic world wearniess. It's that same stately but decadent scuzziness that's ; re-kindled mild critical interest in the band courtesy of Book of Days. Richard Butler has always tried to be an enigma and he's led the band through his personalised wastelands stretching from the American bid of Forever Now to the pop sell-out of . Midnight To Midnight. Recovering from alcohol and drug dependency Butler has managed to find the energy to drag the band into an album whose intensity wavers between tedium and hypnosis. Songs like 'Parade' dwell too longingly on the joys of depression, a fault that the title track narrowly avoids by way of Butler's droning soul. The best have to be 'House' where John Ashton's guitars crawl above the pessimism and 'Should God Forget' where the band muster enough aggression to proclaim there's life after disintegration. Book of Days sounds wasted, a suitable soundtrack to the demons that have haunted the fluctuating fortunes of this band. And after twelve years of rock n'roll it's to their credit that they've a power and relevance that's farfrom disposable. GEORGE KAY

LENNY KRAVITZ Let Love Rule (Virgin) Have you noticed how all of a sudden the love everyone's singing . about is not carnal but cosmic? This is the age of Aquarius and the mood for the decade is peace, love and harmony (beautifully summed up in the video for Arthur Baker's 'Love Is The Message'). And beautifully committed to vinyl by Lenny Kravitz. Lenny is married to Lisa (Cosby Show) Bonet but his debut album demonstrates that he's got a unique, shining talent of his own. He's a young troubadour for new age flower children. On the 'Let Love Rule' video he leads a trail of children and gentle looking musicians through a forest, dressed in sixties style op-shop threads. The film is grainy, the colour is faded, as if we're watching from the sixties. There are songs about caring for the. planet ('Fear'), and salvation ('Rosemary') and being real ('Be') sung in his pleasantly raspy voice. Some of Lenny's songs sound like the Beatles with a black soul: the musical arrangements have a sparse, spectral 60s feel with haunting violin and • Beatlesque guitar (as in 'Lucy in the Sky' or'Sergent Peppers'). But where the 60s wallowed in druggy depression, Lenny's message is uplifting and ennobling. DONNA YUZWALK THEWYGALS Honyocks In The Whithersoever (Rough Trade) Maybe it's marketing or maybe it's musical direction butthe Wygals have an identity problem. Emerging from the New York underground is an achievement in itself but singer / /songwriter Janet Wygal is getting lumbered with Pretenders comparisons when she sounds like she'd rather be Maddy Prior or fronting 10,000 Maniacs. 'Her Heart' is a good song in any idiom and 'Slap Like a Wave' sounds like something Chrissie Hynde mighta written butthe rest belongs to pleasant confusion. Direction needed. GEORGEKAY

THE ALMIGHTY Blood, Fire and Love (Polygram) With a name like the Almighty and songs about blood, fire, women and love, anyone would expect this lotto be a dynamic Cult-ish band. Not quite. Ex-New Model Army vocalist / guitarist Ricky Warwick's singing is more of an attempt at Zodiac Mindwarp and the keyboards could have been sampled from the Doors'Light My Fire'. There are promising pieces ('Resurrection' and the title track) but really there's no ground here that hasn't been well scorched before. They're probably a lot better live. GEOFFDUNN. MILES DAVIS Aura (CBS) When Miles Davis played in Auckland he perplexed as many people as he delighted. He left much of the heavy work to his young and very rock-orientated band, played solos that could kindly be described as minimal, and departed leaving some asking just who he's playing for these days. This double LP is unlikely to give any answers. Aura was actually recorded in Copenhagen in 1985. The effusive sleeve notes explain that it was composed by long-time admirer Palle Mikkelborg from a ten-note theme based on the letters of Davis's name. The theory behind this will escape all butthe experts, so let's concentrate on how the thing actually sounds. The ten-part suite featuresa mainly European cast of musicians save for Davis himself, guitarist John McLaughlin and Latin percussionist Marilyn Mazur. The opening piece, imaginatively titled 'lntro', moves along at a brisk pace, recalling 'Decdy'. In fact, the piece is played twice more, in 'Red' and Electric Red', becoming quite metallic in its final incarnation. White' and 'Yellow' are ambient pieces, the first relying heavily on synthesisers, the second more classical with attractive woodwinds. Their style is reminiscent of Miles's collaborations with the late Gil Evans, to whom the work is also a tribute.

'Orange' and 'Blue' are the standout tracks, Miles discarding the mute to blow freely over a funky rhythm on the former. McLaughlin also gives his fingers a solid workout, recalling his Mahavishnu days. 'Blue' is described in the sleeve notes as reggae, though for

the life of me I can't skank to it. Davis again cuts loose with a strong rhythm section, so Tutu'fans won't be entirely disappointed. Of the rest, 'Green'is pastoral and meditative, 'Violet' is a sombre blues enhanced by McLaughlin's fiery solo, and 'lndigo' is a furious piece featuring piano and percussion, with Davis nowhere at all. The participants in this exercise. ... appear well pleased with the results. While Aura has its moments, they are few and far between, especially for the price of a double LP with the contents spread rather thinly. It is very much a European exercise, with all the earnest formality that they bring to the jazz idiom. The fact that it's sat around for more than four years awaiting release suggests that there were doubts over its selling potential. Those who were disappointed with Aman won't find any reassurance here and will just have to wait till Miles comes up with something new of his own. DUNCAN CAMPBELL ARTHUR BAKER AND THE BACKBEAT DISCIPLES : Merge (A&M) Arthur Baker is owed respect. He's responsible for some of the finest dance music I've ever heard, from the early days of'Breaker's Revenge'to the present. His production skills have been used or copied countless times, helping define what is basically his own distinctive sound. Fundamentally, the man's a genius. However, even genius's stumble at times and with Merge Arthur . has fallen flat on his face. It's an intensely mediocre affair, using unknown guest vocalists or second rate English white soulsters like Martin Fry and Andy McCluskey. I would consign the album to the dumper if it wasn't for the presence of'The Message Is Love.' Featuring the heavenly vocals of Al Green over a chunky Soul II Soul inspired beat, it's a soaring masterpiece. At least Arthur came up with one diamond in the rough. KIRKGEE M.C. HAMMER • Please Hammer Don't Hurt'Em (Capitol) z It was inevitable that rap, like any other musical form would eventually become tailored to The mainstream. A . few artists have tried but none successfully. Now we have a seious contender in M.C. Hammer. His first LP set the tonea raucous, energetic shout-along style and now he's back with a sort-mature LP that side steps the second LP slump. Hammer keeps that pumpin'sound coming and although finesse doesn't enter into the deal it's catchy stuff. There's a few singles lurking in this one, from standard Hammer fare like .. 'Dancin' Machine'to clever reworking of Prince's 'Soft and Wet'. Mr Hammer is also a sensitive soul which he sets out to prove with some surprisingly listenable ballads that incorporate chunks of Marvin Gaye and the Chi-Lites with a fair bit of social concern. Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em' could well become the acceptable face of pop I rap and deservedly so. It's fun, it's funky and you can dance to it. What more do the youngsters want? KIRKGEE .

SYDNEY YOUNGBLOOD Feeling Free (Circa) This glut of young soul singers is quite a worry for a number of reasons. Mainly, where do they all come from? (the Gospel choirs must be desperately - lacking soloists). And why do they all use the same album formula? Mr Youngblood falls into this trap at times. He's got the Soul II Soul bit ('Congratulations'), he's got the old hit. with crunchy new beats added ('Aint', No Sunshne') but he's also got enough talent to make it all work. Tracks like 'Feeling Free'could be very standard, just another duet, but its elevated by some heated vocal exchanges with Elaine Hudson and some nifty beats. Young Sydney really excells on the smooth side, though. He's got a nice, languid style, especially on 'lf Only I Could' with the vocals flowing over a funky-as-hell beat peppered with Spanish guitar. All in all, Feeling Free is a pleasant enough debut loaded with some great funk and a lot of possibility. KIRKGEE THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS Love Junk (Chrysalis) TPOH is the vehicle for Moe Berg's seventies infatuated songs about lust and more lust. A native of Edmunton, Canada, Berg moved to Toronto where he formed TPOH in the late eighties. Fuelled by what he calls the "unwimpy pop music" of the Raspberries, Badfingerand Todd Rundgren, songs like 'Beautiful White' and 'Looking For Girls' shoot from the groin. Tying his hormones down Berg can write seamless pop songs like 'When The Sky Comes Falling Down' and the youth compassionate 'She's So Young'. His cynicism and incisive wit combine on 'l'm An Adult Now'to provide a raunchy reverse 'My Generation' philosophy. The highs of hove Junkwill have the Replacements kicking their juke boxes and if Berg can keep his hpftd together, TPOH's next album Sp u Id lead to spontaneous orgies. GEORGEKAY BONHAM The Disregard of Timekeeping (CBS) One scene in the movie The Song Remains The Same has LedZep's drummer John Bonham looking on as his baby son bangs away on his own little drum kit. This drumstick twirling kiddie is Jason Bonham and it seems he was destined to follow in his father's foot-pedal steps. He started out with a band called Virginia Wolf, played and toured on Jimmy Page's Outri cferalbum and even played for Led Zeppelin when they reformed forthe Atlantic Anniversary. Now he's stepped out with his own band, though there's no escaping the link with dad's super-group. Vocalist Daniel Macmaster sings in the Robert Plant style and the guitarsolos in tracks like Wait For You' and 'Playing to Win' sound like intentional Zep copies. Even the band logo contains the three circles of Bonzo's personal symbol. But comparisons aside, the band are still talented and apart from the odd bland chorus, this is a good, solid, well produced album.

GEOFFDUNN