Pump up D'Angelo

Rip It Up, Issue 179, 1 June 1992, Page 25

Pump up D'Angelo

CONCRETE BLONDE Walking In London (EMI) Most of us remember Concrete Blonde from their late 80s hit 'l'm Still In Hollywood'. Walking In London is definitely a study in contrasts. This group's career has been dogged by personnel changes and law suits, but Concrete Blonde have risen above these problems to make this beautiful and haunting record. « Concrete Blonde is all about making do with what you have been given. Johnette Napolitano is not the most gifted of singers, but she can pull a fine song out of the bag and give if that punky, dreamy, quality that reeks of Los Angeles trash culture. Indeed, urban life through a fish-eye lens. Her songs cast a dark, sarcastic shadow over everyday subjects and attempt to find resolutions for the most common human problems, like sex and relationships. The moody rendition of James Brown's 'lt's A Man's World' shows that Napolitano can be more powerful with irony polemic. 'I Wanna Be Your Friend Again' and 'Ghost of A Texas Ladies Man' paint a comical < picture of life's trivial pursuits. This is undoubtedly a mature album and the long crafting time was certainly worthwhile. Concrete Blonde deserve to gain a whole new audience with this excellent collection. LUKE CASEY • CLARENCE GATEMOUTH BROWN No Looking Back (Alligator) The career of Texan Gatemouth Brown began over 50 years ago and he has recorded for MCA, Rounder and now Alligator. He is one of the' most honoured blues musicians in America being a two-time winner of the Instrumental of the Year at the prestigious WC Handy Awards and was the 1983 Handy Entertainer of the Year. The "Texas Twister' is known as a bit of an ornery critter and on No Looking Back he has more twists and turns in style than a rattlesnake. Moving effortlessly through r&b, bebop, country and funk, Gate takes us on a travelogue of southern roots styles and sounds. At its heart the music is slick Texas r&b, a long way from Gate's mentor T Bone Walker and closer to Bobby Bland's loping Duke recordings, particularly in the hom arrangements. Gate's guitar sound is . dirtier and funkier than T Bone and his

voice, although showing his age, is still on it, making up in phrasing what he may have lost in pitch. Keeping things contemporary, he has Michelle Shocked guesting on vocal in one of the country swing songs and two instrumentals feature Gate's fine fiddle in a jazz-tinged r&b sound. Initially, this set sounded a little lightweight, but it rewarded with repeated listening. JOHNPILLEY GUN Gallus (A&M) Taking On The World got Gun off to a promising start with its cgtchy single 'Better Days' and secured them the support slot on the Stone's Urban Jungle tour. Now with Gallus, which is Glaswegian slang for "the best", Gun have gotten a more distinctive and hard-hitting sound, most notably on 'Money To Bum' and 'Welcome To The Real Wjrld' (which closely resembles Aerosmith's 'Love In An Elevator'). The band have a sort of Bryan Adams commerciality about them, but add guitar fire power when necessary without overdoing it in any way. That's probably why the strongest song is 'Watching The World Go By', an acoustic ballad which closes the album in a most melodic style. Fora group who are only in their early 20s, Gun have come a long way in a short time and are sure to go a lot further with Gallus. GEOFF DUNN MAJEK FASHEK AND THE PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE Spirit Of Love; (Interscope/ East West) Majek Fashek is Nigerian-born and raised and now living in the United States. Spirit Of Love is his second album and his reaction to moving from Lagos to New York and the cosmopolitan confusion of the 90s. His narrative style deals with the thoughts and emotions of a move from the slums of Africa to the so-called promised land of America and encountering the same problems and frustrations only on a larger scale. Majek's response, as with many Afro-Americans, is to revert to the traditional music of his homeland with his group the Prisoners of Conscience and have an American influence through producer Little Steven. Little Steven has handled the task well, with little of his usual heavy-handed brass and lead guitar runs. The brass arrangements are kept

low key and back in the mix in a more Skatalites style, leaving the chanted and call/ response vocals to lead the songs. Overall, Little Steven and co-producer Majek allow the songs to speak for themselves with simple

arrangements building depth with percussion instruments and backing vocals. The result is smoother and fuller than Fela Kuti or Sunny Ade, but not as atmospheric as Youssou N'Dour. Lyrically some of the songs read as

Dear Rip It Up, I can't believe you bother printing all those letters bitching about Donna Yuzwalk, Kirk Gee, Matt Hyland, etc. I'm sure they're writing those letters themselves just to raise their profiles. And if they're not, I bet it's their friends and relatives writing on their behalf. I know this must be the case, because if your readers were really going to complain about your writers they would bitch about Nick D'Angelo. He's the worst! He's so sexist, homophobic, mysoginist, you-name-it-he-is-it! He's just plain pathetic. He's bad as in bad, not good. Regards, SIMON LAAN P.S. Ha, I'm just kidding. I think he's really funny. Boy, I wish I could be like him. You should fire those other deadbeats and give him a payrise. Dear Domestic Power User, ' V We regret to inform you that this month we will be forced to institute power cuts to domestic users in your . area. This rationing is required because over the last 12 months we have been encouraging everyone to

hymns and songs of praise. Marcus Garvey, Selasie, Jah and Mohammed sit alongside Martin Luther King, leaving no doubt that "religion is politics" and can be blamed for much of the "suffering" and "weeping" in the world. Majek's answer is a world united by brotherly love. A bit old fashioned, but surely still, and perhaps even more, relevant today. An uplifting album. JOHNPILLEY

use more electricity and now the -j demand exceeds available supply. • Due to the shortage we will be cutting your supply so that we can ensure continued uninterrupted supply to big business and heavy industry users. You will soon see advertisements in the daily papers telling you how you can save energy in the home. Fun hints like wearing football socks and jerseys inside, the joy of mid-winter barbecue dinners, showering with a friend (wink wink, nudge nudge!), and farting in bed because there is no hot water for . your hot water bottle (or power for your electric blanket). Although we expect to achieve the bulk of our energy efficiencies from domestic users, please be assured that when privatisation of the energy ./ supply finally occurs your importance : as a customer will be relegated to last place. You can guarantee that your electric power bills will go up so that we can give volume discounts to big business and industry. This is because they can find alternative energy solutions and you can't. (We know you can't plug your TV into the gas supply). Therefore we are sure you will look upon these power cuts not as an inconvenience, but rather as an opportunity to practise energy saving principles. These will be required next year when we hike up the price of electricity. Yours honestly, THE LOCAL POWER BOARD

Dear Sperm Carrier, As a male you will no doubt have become aware in recent times of the wisdom of using condoms when having sexual intercourse. Sadly, most adolescent heterosexual males have shrugged off the dangers of contracting the HIV/Aids virus, believing it couldn't happen to them. If the fear of death through unsafe sex doesn't faze you, then perhaps the following words will: Liable Parenthood. Yes, if you engage in any sexual act where an exchange of sperm takes place you could find yourself becoming a Liable Parent. The fact that you were only engaging in recreational sex will not prevent you from becoming a Liable Parent. Even if it was only a / f one-night stand you could still become a Liable Parent. It is no defence to claim she assured you she was on the Pill, you are still a Liable Parent. ' Any woman who becomes pregnant by you is entitled under NZ law to seek financial support from you for the maintenance of that child. If you do not agree to this, the Mother may apply to the government for a Domestic Purposes Benefit. These monies paid to her will be recovered from you via the Liable Parent Scheme of the Inland Revenue Department. . Being smart enough to know there is no escaping the clutches of the Inland Revenue Department (and their billion-dollar computer containing your Unique Identifying Number), perhaps now you will be equally smart enough to use a condom when having sex. Remember: It doesn't matter if you only knew her that one time that one night; it doesn't matter how much she begged you to plant your plonker in her moist muff— if she gets pregnant and won't have an abortion YOU will pay for that child for the rest of your life! Yours cost-effectively, THE LATEX CONDOM COMPANY Dear Third World Nation, _ . I am writing to let you know that you will not be allowed to enjoy the fruits of the modem industrialised world. We in the Western World have fucked up the environment over the last 60 years with our polluting industries, chemical dumping, and unbridled use of the automobile. In order to save our bacon and protect the Ozone we cannot allow you to strip your forests (as we have done over the last 200 years) so that you can develop your own

industry. . We must insist that your people'. continue to walk or peddle around on bicycles rather than purchase motor vehicles and raise the worldwide level of gas emissions. Modern conveniences that we have enjoyed for years, such as refrigerators and ... air-conditioning, have turned out to be bad for the environment, therefore we expect you to do the "green" thing and deprive your citizenry of them. . We will assist you in acheiving this by keeping your people poor. Considering your huge debt to the International Monetary Fund this won't be hard. Naturally, you would expect us to get our own house in order first and ideally it would be so. Unfortunately, we in the West have become so entrenched in our ways that rather than give up our addictions we will merely prevent you from getting caught up in the trappings of. the civilised world. Honestly, you'll thank us for it. Fraternally yours, GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER Dear Richard (Dick) Carey, I recieved your letter and the copy of Girls Next Door Magazine. The magazine is available here in Sydney, but I'm glad you wrote because now I know your current address (I'd like to know who gave you mine). Why you think I'd be interested in being pen-pals with a dumb ugly ass-wipe like yourself is beyond me. You are the worst fuck I ever had and I'm ill just thinking of us together. You told me there was no film in that camera, you promised me! You are the slimiest sonofabitch pervo sleazoid I have ever met and fackwits like you really don't deserve to live on this planet. Your death will be as painful as my time was with you. Fuck You!! LISA . P.S. Did you notice this envelope has an Auckland postmark? Start sweating asshole, I'm coming to get you. You muthafucker! ■' - Dear Michael Jackson, I was listening to the instrumental version of 'Do The Bortman' the other day and now I know where you got the music for 'ln The Closet' from. I'm on to you mate! Yours,

NICK D'ANGELO