Albums

Rip It Up, Issue 154, 1 May 1990, Page 24

Albums

ARKANE I (Rough Trade) AR Kane are East London's answer to everything. Alex Ayuli and Rudi Tambala have covered damm near •. every musical style in God's little acre in their lead-up to this double album. Early observers had these guys sussed as a black Jesus and Mary Chain duo and then they were held responsible for MARRS 'Pump Up the Volume' and then they did jazz/disco on 'Listen Up' and then... ' 'Pop', a single that with its cunning, ingratiating funk was in the form of an introduction to the wonderfully varied double feat of I. It boasts twenty-six tracks, but forget that 'cos half of them are mere ten twenty second fragments dividing the real songs and these cover whatever's your fancy. 'Love From Outer Space' and 'Snow Joke' are the pick of what makes you dance and shit they're sumptuous and . beguiling. 'Supervixens' is strung out on a guitar-vocal intensity that's • reminiscent of Straitjacket Fits and they finish that side with reggae dub, 'Catch My Drift'. Next to 'Pop' is the rediculously catchy 'Miles Apart'—the opposite in sound and intent to 'Conundrum' and 'ln A Circle' which are typical of the light-hearted experimentations of Side Two. If variety is the spice of life then these guys are spice pushers and ironically it's the varied nature of this double that is its strength and weakness. There's; probably too many ideas and directions here for it to be a potent. - single-minded entity but you'll enjoy almost every inch of the ground it covers. ; / GEORGE KAY ROBERT PLANT Manic Nirvana (Atlantic) Top quality music is what Robert Plant has always provided during his dozen years with Led Zeppelin or the last decade on his own. Manic Nirvana is his fifth solo record and it shows he's reached peak level as singer, writer and musical director. > Same band as Now Zen, well i

experienced after that long tour yet still young and hungry players. First track 'Hurting Kind'is a perfect blend of ! nineties pop and hard rock and should have been a number one single. , ' , Likewise 'Big Love' with its big sound, ;• loveable chorus and wailing guitar masterfully weaving in and out of the mix. The collage of sound and dynamics continues with 'SSS&Q', 'I Cried' (focusing on his lyrics and singing), and . 'Nirvana', a sparkling pinnacle of . expression (it's ace!). Other highlights include the dramatic march of 'Anniversary' and the album's closing crescendo 'Watching You', packed with eastern drum rhythms and those unbeatable vocals. Robert Plant is at the top of the rock not least for his up to the minute \ awareness and committment to . perfection. Without a doubt, Manic . Nirvana is the best album for 1990. So far. ■ : - GEOFF DUNN * r J DAVID BOWIE Changes Bowie (EMI) With the grotesque aggression of the Tin Machine being the most recent manifestation of Bowie's decaying process, it's worth refreshing the memory as to what the world's greatest assimilator and manipulator was .; ■ • capable of during his fifteen years of polishing the crown. This double album is basically an amalgamation of his Changes One/ Two compilations with some track ' changes and up-dates that include

'Fame 90', a re-mix from Young Americans, an album that (along with the Average White Band's second) brilliantly helped define Britain's response to American soul in the seventies. That decade belonged to Bowie—'Golden Years'when he created glam rock (Ziggy, Aladinsane), or crossbred USA with Europe via Young Americans, Station to Station and everybody's masterpiece Low. For the convenience of some rational perspective, the eighties was the decade when Bowie's earlier initiatives paid commercial i dividends and he became as big as the Muppets. - ? V Concluding this compilation is 'Blue Jeans'from Tonight, the album ’ ; ; generally regarded as Bowie's descent into disposability yet I for one would argue the point. Whatever, this album may have been better served by V < concluding with another single from j ; Tonight, 'Loving the Alien', which in some ways can be construed as his' ■ acceptance of the various characters that drove his personality forfifteeri < years at the top. ■ •

GEORGEKAY