Singles

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

Singles

THE WEDDING PRESENT (Brassneck)l2" The first track from the extra-fine Bizarro has been re-worked and roughened up by new producer Steve Albini giving the song a furious,

venomous aggro that the album version never reached. This is pulverising stuff and Gedge, who was worried about howto avoid repeating the George Bes/formula, has hit on a new direction forthe band. The other three tracks take no prisoners either: 'Box Elder' sounds like the Fall on form and if'Don't Talk, Just Kiss' and 'Gone' open like polite Wedding Present songs don't be fooled — they slip up a sonic gear just when you think they're slipping into predictability. Absolutely mandatory •for all lovers of applied kineticism. GEORGE KAY THE STONE ROSES Made of Stone 12" Elephant Stew 12" (Silvertone) As Stone Roses mania sweeps Britain a little adoration forthe band has filtered through to the colonies • promoting gatefold re-issues of their album and guitarist John Squire's paint-splattered series of their 12" singles. . , , . 'Elephant Stew', produced by New ’ Order's Peter Hook, came out in 1988 and it's a classic piece of Rdsery. The A-side is a typical 12" mixdrums . providing an intro and platform for Squire's charming guitar and Brown floats over a mix that echoes in space. Flip over and the 7" version offers a more compact, concrete scenario. 'Full Fathom Five' is all phased simulation of what it's like to be thirty feet below. Curious, but really leaves any hidden joys to the tingling The Hardest in the World.' ; *■ : Loovely stuff, as they say in

Manchester, but not enough to inspire mania. 'Made of Stone' is lifted directly off the album and it has an insistent, spiralling melody that's made it their most impressive, substantial single. The B-side gives you 'Going Down', which is way too nice and innocentto dislike and 'Guernica' is the aural equivalent of what it was like being bombed by fascists in Spain fifty years ago. It ' should've sounded more harrowing. Stone Roses freaks will already be drooling over their singles. The rest of the country should sample now before this band becomes yesterday's heroes. GEORGE KAY