SINGLES

Rip It Up, Issue 182, 1 September 1992, Page 24

SINGLES

A veritable orgy of the little chunks of five-inch plastic this week — nuthin’ brilliant or heart stopping but there’s some bliss in the first bracket of compact grooves ...

-: Starting at the top means the Pale Saints who make delicious EPs and they lift the glorious, crashing ‘Throwing Back The Apple’ (4AD) from In Ribbons. Of the three new additives, Meriel makes sweet ‘Kinky Love’ noises on ‘Blue Flower’ and ‘Half-Life Remembered’ is one of their frosted glides from the sublime to the subliminal. Manic Street Preachers have lavishly packaged their hymn to modern futility ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ (Columbia) in triple -fold splendour befitting the status of the song. Of the three other preachings, their cover of Alice Cooper’s ‘Under My Wheels’ crunches a raunchy tread and ‘Crucifix Kiss’ live shows that they may have performances worth slashing your arm for. L 7 take the right option from Bricks Are Heaven the swaggering 'Pretend We’re Dead’ (Liberation) — coupled with ‘Shitlist’, babe, what else? Staying, with guitars that threaten -forms means the new darlings of the British indie scene the Daisy Chainsaws who reflect their name with, a generous five track EP. ‘Love Your Money* (Liberation) swings like a serrated machete, ‘Pink Flower’ is pogo time, ‘Sick of Sex’, ‘All The Kids Agree’ and ‘Room Eleven’ are a manic kinetics dream of guitar heaven. Almost indispensable.

Still with maniacs, Suzanne Vega’s changed her style to make a percussive/ electronic pleasantly irritating itch in ‘Blood Makes Noise’ (A&M). And just sneaking into the hitlist is the Neville Brothers’ gently funking ‘One More Day’ (A&M) with the tape featuring a spontaneous “Maori Chant” of ‘How Great Thou Art’. One for us Strolling Bones in Sting/ Clapton's effortless phrasing and playing on the Lethal Weapon ///theme, ‘lt’s Probably Me’ (A&M). And Ministry wreak a little inner city industrial grunge on ‘NWD’ and ‘Fucked’ (Sire). Of course. Movin down a bracket to OK City where the population’s growing. Siouxsie is at home on the gothic waltz theme from the Batman Catwoman dance scene ‘Face To Face’ (Polydor) while Jeanette Katt gets all animated and cute around ringing guitars on ‘Girl Noise’ (A&M). In droll town The Wolfgang Press’s ‘A Girl Like You' (4AD) and Recoil’s techno ‘Faith Healer’ (Liberation) with Nitzer Ebb’s Doug McCarthy on vocals get the Leonard Cohen deadpan awards. And talking of monotones, Roddy Frame returns with a spritely acoustic stepper on ‘Spanish Horses’ (WEA) and three live tracks to boot, one being the brilliant ‘Killermont St’. San Francisco’s Faith No More are definitely warming to the singles game with ‘Small Victory’ (Liberation). On a par are Australia’s Falling Joys with ‘lncinerator’ (Volition) and Tall Tales and True with their most instant moment ‘Looking For A Place’ (Roo Art) from their Revenge album. But let’s float out on the Church’s ‘Feel’ (White), one of the better tracks — though that’s not saying much — from the disappointing Priest-Aura. Gotta stop, my ears have fallen off. . . see ya.

GEORGE KAY