RECORDINGS

Rip It Up, Issue 182, 1 September 1992, Page 22

RECORDINGS

NEW ZEALAND JAN HELLRIEGAL The Way I Feel (Warners) First single from her new album swerves and swoons and sweeps you up irrisitably in its wake just like a serious radio friendly pop song should. - OK, so she pronounces some of her words funny and uses some funny words ('quagmire’? In a pop song?) but 'The Way I Feel’ has got some sass. DONNA YUZWALK DEAD FLOWERS Lisa (Wildside) < . After a brief lead gtr tribute to G’n’ R’s ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’ this song kicks in with a wah-wah thomp but skids all over the place, messy as - Brian’s hair when he sings. ‘Walking in the Sun’ has a much better hook and sees Dead Flowers sounding suitably sulky and reckless. DONNA YUZWALK , HEAD LIKE A HOLE Beelzebeasts (Wildside) It’s all here on this four song cassette — stomping rhythms, pounding chords, freaky samples, nonsensical lyrics. Not so much heavy as loud. Head Like A Hole could be seen as the colourful, fun-filled, uptown alternative to Metallica. Four little embryos tossing merrily around in the womb of the local music scene before they get shoved into the big wide world. Harmless fun from Wellington’s top pin-ups. DONNA YUZWALK ETCH Feast of Stevens (Failsafe) ALL DIFFERENT THINGS Throw (Failsafe) These are two new EPs from Christchurch’s once-cassette-only-now-CD-too Failsafe label. Much of Etch sounds remarkably like the classic — dare I say it — Dunedin sound, with twin guitars and vocals complementing each other lead and back-up wise, over bass and drums. Songs vary in style to a first-EP-era-Bats-sounding 'Sunday* to 'Old Man’, ‘Eyes’ and 'Chance Belief which are rockier, reminiscent, maybe, of the Only Ones . .. Over seven individually strong songs Feast of Stevens present a good sense of melody in guitars and voices, but perhaps don’t cover as much ground as they might, playing things a wee bit safe song structurewise.‘Alone At Home’, the last song, suggests things might get a bit noisy, but even that is kept in check by fairly sensible arrangement. Maybe fewer, complementary (but contrasting) songs might present a stronger package, but then again seven tunes on an EP can’t be too bad a thing. Stronger both in songs and sound is Throw’s All Different Things. With a warm, lush production (by bassist/Failsafe label boss Rob Mayes) the four songs here make a solid whole, but stand as four rich, separate slices — pretty but powerful, and managing to avoid the dreaded “power pop”. Highlights are probably the title track and ‘Away*, which has both a quiet beauty and a driving backbone, but ‘Wishes From Her Heart’ is a great little pop song too, with a lilting, almost-dancey rhythm. Guitarist/singer Jeremy Taylor has a great voice that skips easily (except for just a couple of slightly dodgy melodies) through the songs, backed up a solid base of layered electric and acoustic guitars and bass and drums that fill out the rhythm and melody nicely. - - ? ■ - All Different Things ends with a kind of pointless remix of ‘Wishes From Her Heart’ (almost the same, but with a few cheesier drums sounds), but all in all it’s a fine collection of songs. JONATHAN KING ; / MERENIA When You Leave (Pagan) Merenia is a sultry bad-girl-woman to Ngaire’s sweet-voiced girl next door. Striking a bizarrely adult emotional tone for one so young, Merenia sounds as if she’s clawed her way up through a decade of provincial motel lounge bars when in fact she's a teenage daddy’s girl from Whakatane. Here she writes and sings her own material, sounding frighteningly sophisticated and worldy wise. One tender song, one spiced up with funky wah-wah guitar. . DONNA YUZWALK f ? NINE LIVEZ Take Me Back (BMG) This’ll make FM radio rock jocks wet their panties! Put Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Motley Crue in a blender and whaddya get — an internationally smooth ballad-rock song with a touching Skid Row acoustic bit at the ' end. B-side ‘Stroke My Ego’ — hmm, somehow I don’t think these boys’ egos are in need of stroking, I’m sure they’re already as big as ... as .. . the reverb on their vocals! DONNA YUZWALK NGAIRE Attitude (Southside) ‘Attitude’ is a finger-waggin’ ditty, kind of old fashioned sounding but noteworthy for the fact that M.Cammick himself penned the lyrics. ‘So Divine’ is retro in the best sense, faintly reminiscent of 70s disco classic ‘Ring My Bell’. Could be popular on hi-energy dance floors (do they still have them?) especially with its repeated use of the “Divine” word. B-side ‘l’m Naming Names’ floats by on a cloud of Ngaire sweetness and light. DONNA YUZWALK SOUTHSIDE OF BOMBAY All Across The World (Pagan) Feel good music for grown-ups with lite-reggae/ ska inflections. Up-beat, up-market, sweet natured and smoochey with sophisticated instrumentation — trumpet, tenor sax, trombone, keyboards as well as bass, drum, guitar. Includes ‘What’s The Time Mr Wolf’. DONNA YUZWALK

ANNIE CRUMMER See What Love Can Do (Warners) Annie has grown up! Got serious! Where once she got down with the Cats on ‘Melting Pot’ now she’s crooning in a restrained, elegant manner about “seeing what love can do” — nouvelle cuisine to the Cats messy gumbo stew. ‘Make Up’ is a spare, torchy number reminiscent of Barbara Streisand’s ‘Memories’ only not as strident. Totally elegant packaging too. DONNA YUZWALK DAVID PARKER In Summer I Fall (Edge Music) From the Donny Osmond of local white boy soul, four very Auckland tracks. Dig the names of the mixes: ‘Stylee’, ‘Raga Less’ and ‘Selector’ and at least one of them is done by Mark Tierney. Teremoana Rapley provides backing vocals on one. What it is, is gentle dub reggae with Parker undulating tastefully over the top. Smooth as a baby’s bottom, cool as a summer breeze etc. ‘

DONNA YUZWALK

LOS LOBOS Kiko (Liberation) DRAMARAMA Vinyl (Chameleon) DIESEL PARK WEST Decency (Food) DEL AMITRI , Change Everything (A&M) Advances in studio technology aside, these four albums could've existed quite comfortably in the early seventies and that's no criticism. In fact, there's proof enough here that the rock n'roll medium doesn't have to exhibit the full bloom of fashion to be relevant or exciting. . This applies particularly to Los Lobos whose Kiko is an inspired assimilation and utilisation of rock n'roll, R&B and country traditions with their Mexican heritage adding spice to the fringes. Up until now their albums have been solid, stolid affairs of well-conceived material too conservative to enthrall; Kiko changes all that. In mood, consistency and general sophistication, this album re-calls the hey-day of the Band. Mitchell Froom's production and the band's weighty, pessimistic sixteen song expanse result in an impressive, brooding presence that occasionally cracks into -Rio Grande sunshine as in 'Saint Behind the Glass' and 'Two Janes'. Of the outright ballads the percussive echoes of 'Angels With Dirty Faces' and David Hidalgo's worldweary 'Just A Man' are nigh on brilliant. In the classically restrained rock mould, 'Wake Up Dolores' and 'Reva's House' are simmering exercises in rock n'roll tension, just as 'Wicked Rain' resonates with the ageold but true imagery of hard - rain and hard times. For those of you who thought Los Lobos meant 'La Bamba', Kiko screams think again, and if there's justice in the world there will be due recognition for this very powerful album. Down a notch, but barely, and we step on Dramarama. Careening out of New Jersey fuelled on New York DollsStoned energy, they settled on the west coast where they pumped out records on their own label before finally landing a major deal with Chameleon. Looking like the archetypal rockists of yore with shaggy haircuts, mascara-lined eyebrows and bloodshot on-the-road eyes, they're really the pop/ rock equivalent of the Black Crowes, a comparison verified by the rolling R&B of 'Train Going Backwards'. Vocalist John Easdale is an effortless Jagger-Petty understudy — one of the reasons for the band's great sleazy cover of the Stones' 'Memo From Turner'. In the psychedelic stakes 'What Are We Gonna Do' has been the surprise hit single of the year, a style they reconstruct on 'Tiny Candles'. But the album's real winners are the rockers; 'l've Got Spies' lurches with real venom, 'Until The Next Time' is a cracking threat delivered and 'Ain't It The Truth' uses the old cliche of studio phasing to stunning effect. Ignore the implications of the band's silly name because Vinyl is a very fine piece of timeless rock n'roll.

Down another notch and across the Atlantic to Surrey, home of the Diesel Park West fan club where they can add half-a-fan for their second album, Decency. They first appeared in 1989 with Shakespeare's Alabama, a sturdy mixture of U2's heroism and Springsteen's less pretentious work ethic. Decency is more of

the same except that it's more consistent, the songs are more . carefully honed and are executed on better tunes. Relying principally on singer/ song- , writer John Butler, the band are right behind him with ringing, spiralling guitars on the big . imagery of 'Walk With The Mountain' and 'Somewhere In The Afterglow'. Diesel Park West are hardly working over new ground but Butler is at least a distinctive enough singer and honest enough song grafter to eke out a credible existence for " his modest employees. Glasgow's rock n'roll heritage is richer than most. From the whiskey throats of Alex Harvey, Frankie Miller and Maggie Bell to the wide-eyed Euro-romanticism of Simple Minds to the current crop of crusaders like JAMC, KLF and Primal Scream, the city has been a breeding ground for a variety of talent, if nothing else. Del Amitri are benefactors of the Harvey-Miller hard work, no-shit lessons in integrity. This is only their third album in ten years but three years ago they slummed their way around the States absorbing vibes to give their music an empiricism absent from the phonies. The result was Waking Hours, unspectacular but sincere. Change Everything is a further step towards Glaswegians sounding like natural born Americans. They cut some handsome tunes in the slow burning single 'Always The Last To Know' and 'When You Were Young'. They get meaner on 'Surface of the Moon' and more " ambitious on 'Just Like A Man' and 'As Soon As The Tide Comes In'. All good songs but only adequately defined by producer Gil Norton and still too indebted to the Youngs and Springsteens in foreign lands. Del Amitri should shrug off the modesty and carve their own way out of anonymity. GEORGE KAY 25TH OF MAY Lenin and McCarthy (Arista/ BMG) FATIMA MANSIONS Valhalla Avenue (Kitchenware/ BMG) It seems that pop and politics are allowed in the same room again. So in America they have mass poverty, homelessness, drive-by shootings and the gigantic neurotic seizures of Con- .. solidated and Hiphoprisy. In England they have the 25th of May, who dream of "Mass collective action" and sound a bit like early Pop Will Eat Itself. When, as on 'Fuck The Right To Vote' they stumble across a really nasty sample, they start to sound like a simple, effective rabble-rousing/ adrenalizing machine. Mostly though, the noises are too friendly, too musical, the raps strident but unthreatening, and the beats and basslines just comfortably, pointlessly funky. BMG should send them to Libya or Cuba for guerilla training, then unleash them on the music industry. Uglier, less "contemporary" in every respect, but probably angrier are Ireland's Fatima Mansions, fronted by exMicrodisney spleen-idol Cathal Coughlan. Their sound is un- • compromisingly, brutally awkward: AOR instruments . —

electro pianos, clarinets, shrill synths and leaden, undanceable drum machine patterns are mixed up with pugilistic guitars, monomaniacally repetitive structures and Coughlan's alternation between Sinatran baritone and animal howl. The best moment is a cover of REM's 'Shiny Happy People' that casts the original's smug chords into

a cauldron of toxic samples including one that cackles 'fuck your showbusiness' over and over again. Most of the time Coughlan's too moral to live up to his own t-shirt slogan and "keep music evil", but not always. MATTHEW HYLAND HOUSE OF LOVE Babe Rainbow (Fontana) A House of Love album with a title — unique, even if it is only an obtuse psychedelic allusion that ties in with Chadwick's appreciation of rock culture. An appreciation that has led to Beatles and Cream covers on the Feel EP. And like, say, Martin Phillipps, whose 'Pink Frost' he's also covered, Chadwick's informed and extensive listening tastes have added depth and maturity to his writing rarely encountered in post House of Love/ Stone Roses bands.

This background, combined with Chadwick's own sizeable ego and writing flair have ensured his status as one of the few current writers capable of making a truly brilliant album. Babe Rainbow isn't it but it takes him and the band one step closer.

In many ways, Babe Rainbow harks back to their first album on Creation with its insistent, aching guitar arrangements and its ten tracks are Chadwick's most compact and consistent statement. Leading the race in the melancholic stakes have to be the two singles, 'Feel' and 'Girl With the Loneliest Eyes'. Both, criminally, have failed to sell in droves. 'You Don't Understand' is a sign of Chadwick's minor debt to lan MacCulloch with its graphic, lavish imagery and dramatic melody. By comparison, 'Fade Away' is a beautiful acoustic apology and 'Cruel' borrows George Harrison's Indian vibes to make the only really dense track on the album.

Babe Rainbow certainly belongs to sparse, tingling textures, rising then subsiding as in 'High In Your Face', 'Crush Me' and 'Yer Eyes', leaving 'Burn Down the World' to simmer menacingly on the side. These

days a ten track CD album may be considered a meagre body of work but this is close to an immaculate conception of disciplined, focused writing and execution. Chadwick's next album could be his genius move but it's possible that Babe Rainbow could be held in that esteem in time to come. GEORGE KAY VARIOUS ARTISTS Tribal Stomp (Tangata) Tangata Records might not want to be all things to Maori music but it has a pretty good shot at it with this compilation of their artists. The diversity of styles on Tribal Stomp have at least one thing in common: high standards. More tenuously, there is a link in the way the musicians have assimilated outside influences with their own cultural background, so no matter whether it's hard rock or soul ballads it's our music. The influence of Herbs encouraged a generation of musicians to play a uniquely Pacific style of reggae. The only example of that here is by Survival, who manage to both sing beautifully and make the Urerewas the hookline of a pop song. The gentle singer-songwriter ballads of Ahurangi aside, most Tribal Stomp artists aim at being streetwise. Young and hip they may be, but not all have won the battle to find their own voice yet. Maree Sheehan's 'Make U My Own' would be the hottest song here if only the samples weren't so naggingly familiar, a problem shared by Ruaumoko's state-of-the-nation rap, though they borrow accents as well.

Vocal strength is something shared by all, be it as soloists or in harmony, and not just on the ballads (such as the sweet delicacies of Hinewehi Mohi); it's apparent even on the dated grunge of Aunty Beatrice's 'Mince Pie' (great title). The songs by Emma Paki particularly stand out, especially the sparse, hypnotic 'Wanea Ngakau'. Apart from the in-yer-face assault of 'Mince Pie', Tribal Stomp is a seductive sampler of classy pop from Aotearoa. It

couldn't come from anywhere else. You'll probably hear it ona tribal station near you, or squeezed amongst the black American pop on Auckland's Mai FM. • ' ' .. ■- CHRIS BOURKE FASTER PUSSYCAT " Whipped! (Elektra) Signed at the same time as G 'n' R, FP were predicted to be the next big thing. Their first LP was real fun and when Wake Me Up When It's Over came along they discarded some of the tack in favour of some grooves. Now, the - image has become even more ' secondary to. the songwriting. , ’’ Whipped! seesTaime Downie and co further defining the FP vision and . packing a mean punch with tunes by the truckload. 'Nonstop To Nowhere' opens up and if this sucker got on the .radio the .boys might have a chance of getting some of the recognition they dearly deserve. 'Body Thief' is almost Ministry with harmony while 'Big Dictionary' is one of those double entendre numbers that these cats are so good at, inspired, like sb. much ’of their sound, by Aerosmith ('Big Ten Inch Record'). 'Maid In. Wonderland' is a total groover and 'Cat Bash' is a collection of samples and abusive phone messages set to a chorus of "We don't give a shit what the fuck you think". / ‘ ; . A touching tribute to the sadly departed Andrew Wood of Mother . Love Bone comes in the form of 'Mr Love Dog'. It's a definite stand out with vocal back up supplied by the Pasadena Boys Choir. Let's hope Taime has learned from Andrew's bad habit mistakes or we could lose him in the same way. . ' . Faster Pussycat have developed into a mean, lean animal but still play honest rock n'roll so Whipped! deserves a thrashing. ' • . ’ GEOFF DUNN BARRY SAUNDERS Lons Shadows (Pagan) The way Pagan records tells it, this project was intended to be fun: Warratah's vocalist Barry Saunders grabbed his guitar, a few beers and headed for the studio to record some of his favourite country songs. Pagan says the album reflects that. But more beer would have loosened Long Shadows up nicely. : . Anyone who records a set of covers lays themselves open to criticism that they are out to turn a quick buck. Not this time. Saunders performs a set of lan Morris-produced classics which are more closely related to the chug-a-lug country of the 50s and 60s than the ass-wiggling Billy Ray Cyrus country-rock of 1992. > ’ ' ' - '

This is a worthy album, well sung. Maybe it is too worthy. Cover versions should be either reverential or damned good fun. The two Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Will The Circle Be Unbroken albums covered both of those bases but Saunders lands somewhere between. You aren't stunned by a version which lifts a song into a higher plane and you don't get the feeling

Saunders was having himself a great time in the studio. ' The .11 songs are goodies though — 'Cry, Cry, Cry' by Johnny Cash; 'Guess Things Happen That Way' by Jack Clement; and 'l'll Never Get Out of This . World Alive' by Hank Williams are the pick. KEVIN NORQUAY . THE FLAMING LIPS Hit To Death In The Future Head (Warners) ; Direct from a strange and twisted corner of rock's left field via Oklahoma city, come-the Flaming Lips with their fifth album Hit To Death In The Future Head. Listening to this album is the aural equivalent of viewing the world through a kaleidoscope. Songs collide into one another, snippets of sound: fly off on. their own tangent and melodies shimmer by almost subliminally. Sound like a confused morass? Not so — the sheer inventiveness and originality displayed manages to hold everything together as an (almost) coherent whole. *. ■ f Over a solid base of mighty fine mid-western, garage/ grunge rock, the ; Lips "lay on slab after slab of their own peculiar brand of psychedelia. It never smothers the songs but does give them an intentionally hefty bear hug on a couple of occasions. Lyrics never veer far from the ridiculous, from the opener 'Talkin' 'bout the Smilin' Death Porn Immortality Blues' through highlights such as 'Gingerale Afternoon' and 'Frogs' to the closing track 'Hold Your Head'. In fact, it's not the final track. To ensure that we, the consumer, get our dollar's worth from the CD format, the Flaming Lips have thoughtfully tagged on 29 minutes of unlistenable post-industrial noise. True value for mortey. MARTIN BELL SINGLES Movie Soundtrack (Sony) Movie soundtracks are usually a mixed bag, most of which you don't like, but now some wiseass has decided to go and make a movie about a very influential and very popular little city called Seattle. - Here we have a soundtrack that will be immensely popular because of the current liking by the kids for bands featured here like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. But this is a pretty cool soundtrack, - though it would have been nice to see a veteran Seattle band like the Melvins here — definitely the missing link. - This compilation does step out of Seattle for a couple of "raise your pint to this one mate" songs from Paul Westerberg. His songs have a . thigh slapping feel, with lots of "na na na" type choruses. . Not . very rousing at all. The two old dears from Heart are now in a .band called the Lovemongers who do not appeal at all. Lots of wailing witches type vocals and middle aged- acoustic guitars. This song should be on the Robin of Sherwood sound- ’ track. ■

However, the rest of the tracks are pretty damn pleasing to the ear, even the Pearl Jam

songs. Considerably better than anything on Ten, these ones have a more powerful feel, big massaging bass lines and are less bland.

There are too many highlights to mention. Mother Love Bone's 'Chloe Dancer', a seriously yummy sad song; 'Overblown' by Mudhoney, proving that they're still the bitchinest rockers (in their cool, simplistic way) in Seattle; Jimi Hendrix (get out your incense for this one); Screaming Trees 'Nearly Lost You' produced by Gumball man Don Fleming, and 'Drown' by Smashing Pumpkins, a beautiful, dreamy number with many explosions of pure bliss and psychedelic guitar. Awsey.

But the coolest track comes from Soundgarden with 'Birth Ritual'. Brace yourself,, grab something lethal and hold on for dear life, this one's gonna push you off the edge and make you toss the lot down your throat without regret, leaving you drunk and joyous in its noise. Pure libido grooves, exploding heartbeat drumming, superb. . - SHIRLEY CHARLES CHRIS BAILEY Savage Entertainment (White Records) FALLING JOYS Psychohum (Volition) TALL TALES AND TRUE Revenge (RooArt) Australia has had its fair share of off-beat animals. Ed Kuepper, Cave, MacLennan, Forster, Kilbey and Chris Bailey don't fit easily into pre-conceived notions of rock n'roll normality. Take Bailey, a man of many parts, most of them working. He emerged as a pioneer of Oz punk and became one of the most colourful and enigmatic songwriters of the 80s. His last album Demons, with its big Memphis budget diffused the Bailey charisma and psychosis but ample compensation is at hand with Savage Entertainment, his best music since, the Saints' All Saints Day. Recorded in a two week rush before his European tour this year, the album is a decadent and varied exorcism, of the indulgences, fears and insights of an Australian goth. Described by some as his Blood on the Tracks, this isn't far off the mark, although ghosts of Cale's Paris 1919 brush across the surfaces.

Whatever, in magnificent down-beat form, Bailey releases gothic visions of excess on 'The Road To Oblivion', 'Babylon' and 'Getting Friendly With The Devil'. Oskar Salazar's beautiful pipes on 'Hotel de la Gare' reinforce Bailey's drunken melancholy and on 'Do They Come For You' an understated nudge of orchestration keeps his ambivalent hopes and paranoia alive. Superb. On the title track Bailey reaches the conclusion that "we all need savage entertainment to brighten up an otherwise ordinary day". Here is your classical savagery — restrained, lucid and wonderfully entertaining. ■ . . .

Tearing ourselves away from the devil's drinking partner we confront the Fallingjoys whose Wish List debut had them brack-

eted as keen crossovers mixing pop gentilities with the flintier edges of rockism. InSuzie Higgie the band has a two dimensional writer able to sculpt metallic pop without lapsing into the turgid predictability of hard, ahem, rock. Ned's Atomic Dustbin producer Jessie Corcoran has helped the band retain that balance, especially on the crashing sexual imagery of 'Dynamite' and the armoured beauty of 'Ending or Beginning'. Talking extremes means 'Black Bandages' with its kill-the-wounded freneticism while 'A Winter's Tale' and 'Challenger' show Higgie's sensitive side. Psychohum proves that Falling Joys have arrived and are doing the business now. Tall Tales and True have been creeping their way up the ladder since they arrived in Sydney from Perth eight years ago. A trio dependent on singer/ songwriter/ guitarist Matthew de la Hunty, they made some impact three years ago with • Shiver which bore signs of potential in de la Hunty's sparse, restless and perceptive material. Owing more to hard-wear-ing bands like the Sports or Paul Kelly than the instant appeal of pop, songs like 'Summer of Love', 'Lonely Hearts Club' and the head-on attack of the single 'Looking For A Place' are polished, catchy but hard edged gems. The more far-reaching

orchestration of 'Anything For U' and the sprawling 'Main Attraction' have you believing the Sydney Morning Herald's claim that Tall Tales are "the royalty of Sydney's independent rock bands." GEORGE KAY TORI AMOS Little Earthquake (Warners) 'Crucify' gives a fair indication of what the album is like, thankfully ' managing to avoid the nauseous lyrical sentimentality of soundalike Kate Bush. Amos' tremolo filled warbles are gutsier than Bushes, slightly more limited in the crystal-shat-tering stakes but otherwise a faithful reproduction. Her voice is obviously the major appeal so is duly emphasised by uncomplicated piano tunes and

the odd rudimentary backbeat or acoustic jangle. Little Earthquakes is a solid marketing concept — kind of "nice" and vaguely challenging, like Kate Bush without the frilly blouse attitude and fluffy lion costumes. Amos fits snugly into the "angry young woman" pigeonhole, giving it to us like it is with a fair degree of poignant thought. It's music for those poor, confused individuals who like their easy listening hard and heavy. TONY MILLER DREAM THEATER images and Words (ATCO) Nearly three years ago Dream Theater released their epic debut album When Dream And Day Unite. Poor sales and a departed vocalist led to a long

hiatus before they could release Images and Words. Dream Theater are one of the few bands that add something to the titanic Rush legacy. The musicianship is exceptional with fine performances from drummer Mike Portnay and new vocalist James Labrie. However, unlike their debut record, technical ability does not overshadow the songs. Dream Theater have attempted to maintain a groove element to the material while still making it musically interesting for themselves. Particularly with the three possible singles, 'Pull Me Under', 'Take The Time' and 'Surrounded'. This more accessible material means Dream Theater could finally gain the attention they deserve. Images and Words bubbles

with positive energy from a group undoubtedly pleased that patience and persistence has paid off. If you aren't a musician, check out the A-side and wallow in melody. If you are a musician, check out the B-side and experience musical nirvana. LUKE CASEY RUMBLEFISH Freaky Dog Live (Wildside) They coulda been contenders? Maybe so. For a while there it looked like Rumblefish were walking the path that Push Push took to local metal stardom and the bedroom walls of thousands of teenagers. But the proverbial 'artistic differences' reared its ugly head and now we're left only with this live show. Still, for what it's worth this is a great way to encapsulate what Rumblefish were about. They had. started to head away from the pop funkmetal sound of 'Pull Up To The Bumper' into a nastier and more psychedelic sound that can be heard in all its messy live fury here. Self-penned tracks like 'Psycho Logic' and 'Concrete Soul' have a bit more depth to them and this final version of the band certainly has a nice sound happening. The guitars do the Funkadelic if they had listened to Van Halen thing and Rumblefish had finally found a drummer that could keep up with whatever it was that Si Nicholls did to his bass. The old Rumblefish exuberance is still very much present. A huge version of James Brown's 'Turn Me Loose' — always a high point in the band's live set — is very much present and there's even a version of the Beastie Boys 'Fight For Your Right To Party' that may well top the original in sheer stupidity (especially as it features one of the best recordings of a burp I've ever had the misfortune to hear). So whether they were bound for greatness or not is up to you to decide but either way, freaky Dog Live is a cool chunk of NZ

musical history. Sure, it's a little flawed, but so was the whole scene, so this documents the time very nicely. Dumb but fun. KIRK GEE WASP The Crimson Idol (Capitol/ EMI) Wasp have a long history of exploration into the depths of glam shock rock. Blackie Lawless has now been left to carry the Wasp flag alone and has decided to follow his heart into the arena of the rock opera. Don't laugh too quickly. The story (similar in many respects to Tommy) follows the life of one Jonathan Aaron Steel, a young boy beaten by his parents because he didn't live up to the image of his perfect older brother who dies in a car crash on Jonathan's fourteenth birthday. Heart wrenching stuff. Johnny runs away, buys a guitar and embarks on a journey of sex, drugs and rock and roll, encountering sordid industry characters along the way. . All very epic, but is anyone interested? Blackie Lawless may have exorcised a personal demon but is anyone willing to listen to his undoubtedly heartfelt anguish? The problem being that his whole life is rather ironically similar to the tragic rock opera storyline. Or is that the point? LUKE CASEY COWS Cunning Stunts (Amphetamine Reptile) A slap on a baby's bum and a baby's gutsy screaming starts off this freaked out and very amazing album. This bunch of smart-asses really know how to make a quirky but intensely rocky album. Strains of the Butthole Surfers sometimes show through but otherwise it's basically influence and cliche free. Kind of cow punkyat times but the overall feel of weirdness, meowing guitars, spitting harmonicas, spooked keyboard — all with a backing of gQod solid rocking bits — will defi-

nitely stop this album from being pushed into the pit of individuals looking for a hot new bit of alternativeness. Shannon Selberg shows off his very weird and amusing lyrical style throughout and delivers them with gusto, sometimes sounding like he's got a moose up him. Check out'Terrifique', the all-American song about your parents being killed on TV — "I'm decked out in my father's best and the dog's looking good in my mother's dress." Poetic. 'Heave Ho' is definitely one of the higher points on the album — they do trumpets and punk in a more crazy and uplifting way than the Chilis will ever do. This album is a long, sick merry-go-round of songs, you'll definitely loose your pop

corn if you listen to it regularly. A delightful mixture of heaviness and weirdness, if you enjoy having your face ground into gravel then you'll love this album. Groovy! And check out the devious spoonerism of the album's title . . . cunning indeed. SHIRLEY CHARLES THE HOD Thirsty Work (Independent/ Sniper) Here is the first full length CD from the Nod and a great piece of work it is too. The production and packaging are very good — at last a group with independent business sense as well as good material. Recorded between December 1990 and June 1992, the long hours have

certainly paid off. One thing you notice early on is the quality of the Nod's musicianship. The guitar playing, courtesy of Glenn Dawson and lead vocalist Darren Broughton, is positively awesome. This is particularly noticeable on the two great ballads, 'Acid Rain' and 'Twilight'. Personally, I feel the Nod's potential is evident on these tracks and given the humorous, nature of the album, they would be wise to develop the more serious side of their character. However, they can be commended for taking on social issues as they do on 'Problem City'. The Nod deserve high praise for the care and attention to detail they have put into this fine release. Hopefully the general public will snap up this morsel and be left to enjoy the best (only?) heavy rock release in New Zealand this year. In a language the Nod would appreciate, "cheers, let's have another one." LUKE CASEY BIG DADDY Sgt Pepper’s (Rhino) Big Daddy consists of eight Californian chaps who like taking a post-modern scalpel to the sacred cows of pop music. For their latest project they've sliced up that ultimate icon of 60s rock albums, reconstructing every track as if it were conceived by a star of a decade or so earlier. . Hence the title number is set to the Coasters' 'Poison Ivy' riff. 'Little Help From My Friends' becomes a Johnny Mathis lounge room ballad. 'She's Leaving Home' is treated a la Paul Anka's 'Diana'. And 'A Day In The Life' is lifted directly from the Buddy Holly canon, guitar riffs, vocal tics and all. % While some songs retain the original tune pretty much as is 'When I'm 64' was a campy period piece to start with — others are virtually unrecognisable. It's only the lyric that re-

minds you that 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' wasn't originally recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis the same afternoon he cut 'Great Balls of Fire'. A couple of times the reworking reveals more than you want it to. The words of 'Within You, Without You' once mixed well in with the sitar drone. Now their daft cosmic pontificating stands exposed in a beatnik treatment of 'poetic' declamation accompanied by bongos, flute and double bass. It's all pretty hilarious first time out although there's the usual danger of humour wearing thin through repetition. However, most tracks gain a certain musical credibility irrespective of their famous referrents. I'm enjoying this doo-wop 'lt's Getting Better' as much as the original (been playing them back to back). So yeah, sure, Sgt Pepper's is the work of a bunch of smart alecks. And you bet it's calculatedly pandering to baby boomer nostalgia. But if Dread Zeppelin can mess about with the 70s then there's no reason why Big Daddy can't go further back for the same sort of fun. Relax and enjoy. PETER THOMSON OPUS 111 Mind Fruit (Warners) If you can imagine Julie Cruise being sent to Sinead O'Conner's hairdresser and then having her ethereal vocals backed by a lighter version of 808 State, you've got a pretty good idea of Opus 111. Theirs is a very delicate techno mix. Breathy whispers, , echoey synth and . inoffensive beats. And just in case you're unsure of their mood,' they've included an appropriate poem, the Desiderata, on their CD sleeve — "go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence ..." How thoughtful of them. 'lt's A Fine Day', their perfect techno pop moment, is never really bettered but it doesn't seem that

they ever intended to. Mind Fruit proves they're perfectly happy with variations of a theme (they are on Pete Waterman's label, after all). Track after track we hear Kristy's innocent vocals, pulsing basslines and airy synth melodies — delicate and breezy one minute, delicate and pacey the next. Which is all very well as long as you keep in mind the word 'moderation'. An overdose of their light fluffiness would prove soul destroying for even the most devoted techno pop fan. JOHN TAITE DISMEMBER Pieces (Nuclear Blast) A four track CD from death metal group Dismember, part of a whole group of releases that will soon be available because of those nice chaps down at Ima Hitt records in New Plymouth who have arranged to distribute the Nuclear Blast label in New Zealand. This particular release features one of the most horrific cover shots I've seen for a while. All five band members with their heads decapitated. Still, I don't suppose they'd put a little fluffy lamb on the cover. The music is fairly generic death metal and will only interest the genuine collector. Let's hope future Nuclear Blast imports are more challenging. Keep your eyes open. LUKE CASEY

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN Back To Basics (Festival) A decade before Kylie there was Ollie. Both Aussies, similar voices (well, maybe not quite so 'budgie on helium' as Kylie but just as devoid of depth). Anybody with any taste despised her; anybody who didn't had none. But then something happened, almost a metamorphosis. Some say it began with her role in Grease but I'd argue it was 1981's Physical: a new image and a terrific new album with its title track the most brilliant pop single of the new decade. Suddenly Ollie was hot and she became the first princess of the pop video. People even began to acknowledge that perhaps there were one or two prePhysical songs which were OK too. More good singles followed 'Physical' (and not only from the album) but everything stopped after 85's torrid Soul Kiss. Back To Basics is subtitled The Essential Collection 19711992 and although containing a generous 21 tracks still falls somewhat short of its claim. The first four tracks are brand new — to ensure that the completist fan must purchase — and while competent and respectable, at most only one might be reasonably regarded as belonging with Ollie's best. There's also the inevitable large dollop of the dire drivel she

recorded during the 70s. What this means is that at least three or four neat eighties tracks (for instance 'Tied Up' and 'Heart Attack') are left off. So not the perfect compilation it could have been but not bad either. Ollie's well into her 40s now and, as she sings on the album's first new track, "holding out for something more than physi- . cal". Maybe she's got a future again. PETER THOMSON RECOIL . Bloodline (Mute) ' ’V,■ It's taken him .two albums and god knows how many years to get it right but who cares. By inviting a handful of guest vocalists, Alan Wilder's, electro outfit Recoil has finally moved in a more approachable and relevant direction. Bloodline is a chameleon, varying in pace and atmosphere with each of the four singers involved. Nitzer Ebb's Douglas McCarthy adds his darker, more industrial influence on 'The Faith Healer' (a cover of rock dinosaur Alex Harvey's track). . And despite rather huge genre jumping, 'Curse' provides a credible electro-based background to the (very politically correct) rap of Moby. It's Toni Halliday though that produces the album's stunner. Her depth of performance on the title track finally crushes the "Annie Lennox of the 90s" title she's picked up from Curve. Pervading beats, erratic synth crashes, tempting whispers, distorted wails and a climactic chorus of "you just never ever get what you want". It's a breathtaking highlight. Not every track works. The experimental 'Electro Blues for Bukka White' drags on for far too long (about 7.46 too long to be exact) and Wilder's two instrumentals sound too absent and clinical. But overall Bloodline has moved Recoil from the easily dismissed to the essential. JOHN TAITE WILSON PHILLIPS Shadows and Light (EMI) Let's ignore the political issues here — like how come a sleeve photo taken at the beach shows the two slim ones frolicking in their bikinis while the fat one stays wrapped in her dressing gown — and get straight to the burning musical question: is

there anything on this album as good as the last one's 'Hold On'? (it was that track, after all, which took Wilson Phillips from being merely a gimmick group with famous dads to gaining their own valid entry into girl-group heaven). Well the answer is definitely "no" but that probably won't stop the album yielding up at least a couple of. hit singles. With a snappy video clip — especially if it features the heartstopping Chynna—either 'Give It Up' or 'Fuelled For Houston' could, ahem, 'rock' up the charts. Then again 'This Doesn't Have To Be Love' or 'Flesh And Blood' could do well in the soppy ballad stakes. = > One at a time these tracks are rather pleasant but the album's overall effect is mindnumbing. The sound is so relentlessly layered and glossed that you .want to scratch away at its surface to let some humanity out. As it is, the most interesting things about Shadows and Light are extra-musical. For example: Item One: the Wilson sisters' 'Flesh and Blood' is a letter to Brian and might seem like a pretty hokey exploitation of the old man's condition were it not for the fact that getting this song played on the radio quite probably really is the best chance they have of communicating with him. Item Two: Chynna Phillips's 'All the, way from New York' adds a reconciliatory footnote to the saga of Papa John's drugaddled destruction of his ilyitem Three: 'Goodbye Carmen' may well be the only song ever written in which three wealthy Californian wasps bid farewell to their maid who is returning to Mexico. Ain't it comforting to know that Wilson Phillips are politically sensitive after all? PETER THOMSON LETHAL WEAPON 3 Movie Soundtrack (Reprise) Michael Kamen knows a good dodge when he's found it. The scam is to churn out a crap instrumental score for a big budget movie, preferably one in a hit series such as James Bond or Leathal Weapon. Next,, invite in a proven hitmaker with a loyal audience to provide one vocal number. Then release the guest artist's track with flash

videoclip tieing it to the movie. Sit back and wait for the inevitable chart action. Not only do you collect your fee for scoring the movie but you cream in composing royalties everytime a fan of the guest pop star buys the album. This time our Kamen's been extra smart by hooking up Sting with Eric Clapton for the single, thus doubling the market base. He's also got Elton John with Clapton for track two. Triple whammy! Sting's 'lt's Probably Me' is certainly as good or better than anything on his last album and Clapton plays beautifully. Elton's 'Runaway Train' is okay too because Clapton relieves him of some of the vocals. The rest of the album is Kamen's usual crap. PETER THOMSON

GLENN FREY Strange Weather (MCA) The last time I noticed Glenn Frey he was acting the part of a record producer on TV's Wiseguy. With Eagles royalties continuing to pour in I guess he can afford to dabble. His last solo album was four years ago so he can take his time about recording too. In the interim, Frey wants us to know he's been doing some reading. Five tracks on this 65 minute album are dedicated to different authors (and not just the likes of Stephen King; Rachel Carson's there also). • (Literary digression: the seductive 'A Walk In The Park' becomes the second ballad to be inspired by Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire, Sting's 'Moon Over Bourbon Street' being the first). Another ex-Eagle once wrote a song called 'Life's Been Good' but it was semi-ironic. Everything about this album conveys the impression that for Frey the statement is true. Tempos range from the luxuriantly slow to a mid-paced cruise and the musicianship is immaculately professional. When he sings about a " long hot summer . . . everybody's crazy from the heat" you know from the cool, relaxed ambience that Frey's vantage point is one of air-conditioned comfort. The only time he gets worked up is when bemoaning his inability to pick up the women he fantasizes about at night-clubs. Strange Weather presents the

smooth sound of a wealthy middle-aged man indulging his facility for creating sweetly pleasant AOR. . And make no mistake, Glenn Frey is still very good at it. Over the summer months expect several tracks to be playing on an easy listening station near you. PETER THOMSON DANZIG 111 How The Gods Kill (Def American) . • I dig Danzig's aesthetic consistency. From the HR Giger cover drawing to the way three of them sport black Jesus Christ beards to the lyrics, in which the word "black" is mentioned an awful lot. The music rolls like distant thunder while Glenn Danzig's Jim Morrison meets Elvis on a dark day in hell vocals wander all over the songs, talking about being lost, godless, asking if you 'wear the mark', celebrating a 'dirty black summer'. He produced this album himself so his vocals are mixed to the fore and the whole album seethes with his lonely, brooding, Heathcliffian spirit — ten songs later you've maybe had enough of his squalling tenor, but not the music. The songs here don't rope you in as instantly as on Lucifuge but you won't get sick of them as quickly either: subdued, sullen intros crash into heavy rhythms, guitar/ bass catching you up in their slow grindin' wheels and dragging you along for the ride before Glenn's voice trails off vaporoursly. A jolly good time for the ghoulish at heart. DONNA YUZWALK RODNEY CROWELL Life Is Messy (Columbia) MARY-CHAPIN CARPENTER : Come On Come On (Columbia) A restatement of the obvious: much of the best Songwriting these days is arriving courtesy of country. Anyone still requiring proof need check no further than the previous releases by Rodney Crowell (Keys To The Highway) and Mary-Chapin Carpenter (Shooting Straight To The Dark). Both albums are chock full of melodically haunting songs exploring adult emotional concerns with a clarity and astuteness rarely found in other branches of popular music. The fact that both albums were stunningly well performed didn't hurt either. So where to next for artists

who each had hit a personal career peak while also extending their genre's boundaries? For Rodney Crowell the answer is not so much deeper as broader. Lyrically Life Is Messy may contain nothing to match the poignance of the previous album's song to his dead father but there are still plenty of sharply observed commentaries here. Try, for instance, the disingenuous 'lt's Not For Me To Judge'.

It's in some of the musical arrangements that we find Crowell stretching out. 'I Hardly Know How To Be Myself' creates a quietly brooding atmosphere with pattering drums under stabs of organ and piano, 'Alone But Not Alone' develops his Orbison fascination to new heights of beauty while 'Let's Make Trouble' makes effective use of the distinctive tones of backing vocalist Sam Phillips. Actually there's not one dud track anywhere. Nor on Mary-Chapin Carpenter's Come On Come On although several of the fast ones do come rather close to being merely competent (and that sort of qualified praise could never be levelled at her last album). Perhaps it's because this time out she's co-written several tunes that makes them sound less distinctive. The most melodically attractive stuff here is hers alone. The best news is that Come On Come On more than confirms Carpenter's status among music's premier wordsmiths. The title lyric evokes a beautiful

sleeve photo. The narrator of 'I Am A Town' is indeed a decaying country settlement. On 'I Feel Lucky' Carpenter cheerily fantasizes having Messrs Yokam and Lovett vie for her affection. And 'He Thinks He'll Keep Her' presents another of her deftly sketched female dilemmas. If Come On Come On lacks the overall consistency of its astonishing predecessor that doesn't alter the fact that its best tracks still show MaryChapin Carpenter's talent shooting remarkably straight. PETER THOMSON LIFE SEX AND DEATH The Silent Majority (Warners) BOOTSAUCE Bull (Polygram) Glenn Danzig, Chris Cornell, Trent Reznor, Henry Rollins. Hard rockin' names that just ooze anarchic decadence. In contrast, "Stanley" is a name that can imply nothing but roman sandals and socks on a pimply kid whose gym shorts are too small. Coincidentally, it's the name of the bespectacled Barney Rubble figure that fronts equally shite named Life Sex and Death. They're up against it from the start. Chicago born, but seemingly LA bred, Life Sex and Death are a nondescript filling in the American rock sandwich. While occasionally they stumble out of the rock-by-numbers mainstream to pen a thumping, wailing gem ('Train', 'Hey Buddy', 'Jawohl Asshole') more often it's a case of exhuming tired riffs the G 'n' R mob have bored

us with a billion times before with Stanley's competent baritone slipping into Van Halen harmonies a few times too many. There are a few other nasty surprises: a square dance type ditty recorded on a motorway (presumably a bad joke) and 'Rise Above', a completely unmoving lament that owes a lot to George Michael's Listen Without Puking album. As the title and cover suggests, there's an attempt at political correctness, achieved with 'Guatemala' but blown away on 'Wet Your Lips': She wanna wanna sucka sucka, girls around the world wet your lips, give the nuts to the squirrels. Not exactly the lyrics of a new ager. Life Sex and Death are rock orphans. They don't know whether they're PC or sexist rockers, nor do they fit comfortably in the mainstream or alternative rock genres. It seems they've just decided to be crap in the meantime. Now Bootsauce is a name any self-respecting band would kill for. Led by Baculis Pere Fume (kind of a hard name) this four piece are huge in their native Canada (not terribly impressive considering Tom Cochrane is too). They're light hearted musical sluts pinching styles from every genre imaginable. 'Love Monkey #9', the breakthrough single that landed them in the cash, is heavy funk rock highlighted with Peter Sellers samples. The Lemonheads meet Simply Red on 'Watcha Need' while 'Big Bad and Groovy' is more your Chili Peppers battling C+C Music Factory type number. 'Touching Cloth' is a Beastie Boys impression, 'Dog Pound' a Tom Waits one. The final track is hardcore grungorama with Lemmy guesting on vocals’ Bootsauce bind it all together with ultra funky 70s guitar. 'Bull' is basically one big pisstake (hence the title) and understandably any attempt at a rap-rock-funk-techno bluessoul crossover has problems with continuity and lasting appeal. What the cocktail translates to is a disjointed collection of throwaway pop rock from an imaginative band that limit themselves to mediocrity by being (excuse the cliche) a jack of all trades and master of none. TONY MILLER

LUNA 2 Lunapark (Warners) ' Lunapark, the debut album from Luna 2 , heralds the return of one of indie music’s prodigal sons—ex-Gaiaxie 500 frontman Dean Wareham. Also featuring are one of the 100 or so ex-Chills currently in the galaxy, bass player Justin Harwood, as well as drummer Stanley Demeski, lately of the Feelies. Luna 2 have retained much of what was special about Galaxie 500. A certain understated elegance runs through all the songs but whereas Galaxie 500 would sometimes wallow and drown in turgid reverbladen arrangements, Luna benefit from the extra power and good impetus provided by the new rhythm section. Tracks such as ‘Can’t Wait’, ‘Time To Quit’ and ‘We’re Both Confused’ positively race along, Wareham’s voice is not likely to set the world on fire, nor are his fingers likely to cause pyrotechnics on the fretboard, but in the context of- Luna they sit perfectly together. Songs about insecurity and unsureness are reflected in his voice. There’s a pleading, questioning quality to it which achieves a rare intimacy far removed from the typical bombast of the rock singer. \ ' Sound takes precedence over song — many tunes being in themselves largely unmemorable. However, by employing deceptively simple song structures and sparse arrangements, the end result is often mysteriously hypnotic. The advantage of this approach is that the easily obscured subtleties of tone are given new freedom; the smallest of nuances is afforded room to breathe and the vaguest shifts in inflection can have a dramatic effect on the overall song. This is where the charm of Luna 2 lies. It creates a personal, earthy live-in-your-livingroom feel. If you liked Galaxie 500, then Luna 2 are more of the same only better.

MARTIN BELL