singles

Rip It Up, Issue 242, 1 October 1997, Page 34

singles

It’s been a while, so there’s a pile of these revolving little discs bigger than the Gallagher’s egos waiting for the axe. And speaking of Manchester’s enfants terrible, enough time has passed to get a perspective on Oasis’s overblown ‘D’ You Know What I Mean?’ (Helter Skelter). A big production job and some sonic guitar periffery can’t disguise the fact that this isn’t one of Noel’s better tunes, but there is some compensation in the jaunty ‘Stay Young’ and the acoustic demo of ‘Angel Child’. They also pay homage to Bowie’s ‘Heroes’; they dedicated it to themselves I guess. To real songs and real heroes, and Primal Scream’s beguiling subversive Star (Creation) sneaks its way into the soul as does other Gillespie slo-fi groovers on the EP, ‘Jesus’ and ‘How Does It Feel To Belong?’ The problem for the Verve was how do you follow the year’s best single in ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, and their solution is almost as brilliant with the forlorn country understatement of the beautiful ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ (Hut). Still with the supremely downbeat, and Radiohead are coming to take you away with their ‘Karma Police’ (EMI) — a moving account of paranoia, but not as animated as its related predecessor, ‘Paranoid Android’. To Scotland, and the nightingale tones of Andrew Montgomery lead the band of young faithfuls, Geneva, through two incan-

descent EPs, Into The Blue (Nude) and No One Speaks, which also boasts the wracked, fragile strains of ‘Closer To The Stars’. In contrast, Glasgow four piece, Travis, wouldn’t be caught dead in cerebral mode, their tastes begin and end below the navel as the likeable, unpretentious, self-explanatory ‘naa na na naa’ of ‘U 16 Girls’ (Independiente) testifies. It took American writers years to make head or tails out of British punk, the reason being, they couldn’t see where it could fit in their mosaic of orthodox rock ‘n’ roll. They’re having the same problem with the British brand of techno, in particular the Chemical Brothers, whom they’ve dubbed the 'Aerosmith’s of machine music’. If in doubt touch home base — but Aerosmith? It’s hard to see what the breakbeats, sampling, hiphops and general anarchic chicanery of ‘Elektrobank’ (Virgin) have to do with hoary old rockists. Staying with elektrohead, and Sheffield duo Autechre’s five piece suite ‘Cichlisuite’ (Warp) impressively straddles the divide between techno and ambience with their mutant heartbeats, bubbling synths and underlying fragments of melody. Back to the mainstream, and from the valleys of Wales emerge the Stereophonies, a trio determined to continue their fellow countrymen, the Manics, drive for rock ‘n’ roll integrity. Their four track EP, Local Boy in the Photograph (V2) is a worthy,

compassionate and perceptive series of guitar-based observations. Just like the Manics, admirable and not a bit dull. The same could certainly be said for the Pixies, one of the saviours of late 80s rock ‘n’ roll. They’re to be subjected to an anthology, and as an advanced taster here’s their classic brain-shredder, ‘Debaser’ (4AD) leading a pack of live-in-the-studio re-visits to things like ‘Bone Machine’. Still sounds wild, man. In the ordinary bag, and Slacker shake the life out of a techno/disco ditty, ‘Scared’ (Seismic) and Echobelly actually manage to come up with some sturdy guitars and a fair tune in ‘The World Is Flat’ (Epic), while Liverpool’s ManBREAK do rousing terrace Oasis impressions on ‘Ready Or Not’ (Alm Sounds). Soundtrack specialists Sneaker Pimps hit a moderately inoffensive groove on ‘Spin Sugar Spin’ (Clean Up), and chantress Ultra nate skips the light fandango with some serious dance mixes of ‘Free’ (Strictly Rhythm). In the duff bag, Edwyn Collins misses the mark with the corny ‘The Magic Piper’ (Setanta) and yet makes up a bit of ground with the second track, the gently jangling Marrs-ish guitar-led ‘More Than You Bargained For’. Sydney duo Wonderkind are impossibly bland on ‘Shifting Sea’ (Probe) and Reef do their strangled R&B impersonations on ‘Yer Old’ (Epic). True, but yer awful. Finally, the Spice Girls want to ‘Spice Up Your Life’ (Virgin). Interested? See ya.

GEORGE KAY