MUSIC LIST
o ASPIRING STARS should take note at an upcoming band contest run jointly by Random Promotions, The Cut, and Sound Control, to be held In the last lortnlght ol July and the tlrst week in August at the Calton Studios. A large ailair, the tlrst week consists oi heals and a ilnal ior blues/RG8 bands, the second tor lunk/soul bands and the third ior contemporary rock. Heats are on the Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays oi each week, with the ilnal being held on the Friday night. Entry lonns are available irom Sound Control, St Mary’s Street, Edinburgh, irom 1 July and completed iorrns and demos should be returned by 11 July.
0 SUDDENLY TV again seems interested in Scottish music, with a new series oi FSO seeminon continued tor later in the year. Added to this, Scottish Television are leaturlng Scottish bands on the Terry Neason Show, including Wyoming, Horse, Deacon Blue and Danny Wilson. Too good to be true? Yes, each show also teatures Victor and Barry.
0 IT WOULD APPEAR that Love And Money are to work with Steely Dan/Rosie Vela producer Gary Katz. 0 WORTH A SPECIAL MENTION is a gig taking place at Fury Murrys on Sat 4 July, tor the Saturday Club lor the mentally and physically disabled. Starting at 3pm, the bands appearing include The ileartbeats, Horse, and the gzream Coyotes. Admission Is a mere .50.
e FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS oi their ‘Wishing I Was Lucky’ debut, Wet Wet Wet toilow it with ‘Sweet Little Mystery’, a song produced by Michael Baker, on 13 July. The night beiore they play their only Scottish gig at the Pavilion in Glasgow.
0 is lT REALLY ALL WORTH IT? A sad sight indeed to see the usually vibrant LlSTEN-ers curled under their desks in the loetal position sobbing into their , low-calorie lm Bru . . . what has caused this depression? Maggie going ‘On and On’? Being iorced to watch the ‘Royal It’s A Knockout’? More likely because they didn't get tickets ior Prince . . .
0 AND TALKING oi His Short Sexiness
. . . his new lilm is called ‘Dream Factory’ and can only, surely, be better than the last two; his new protege has
the extremely un-exotlc name ot Jill
Jones and we can expect her debut single ‘Mia Bocca’ to be released imminentiy . . . we can also expect the usual nonsense irom the press calling her ‘the new Madonna’ (again) ’cos her vld was made by Ms Puerile’s director Jean Baptiste Mondino . . .
0 NOT EVEN HEARING that Zodiac Mlndwarp was nearly arrested (again) tor touting iirearms in the studio has cheered us up . . . apparently he got rid oi the gun in time but couldn’t cover up the bullet holes in the walls . . . remember kids this is not the sort ol thing you should try out ior yourselves.
o DANNY WILSON the Dundonian band currently touring with The Christians, look set ior chart success in America with their debut single ‘Mary’s Prayer’. Their new British single, taken irom their debut album is ‘Davy’.
o BIZARRE STORY oi the week is Michael Jackson bidding lor the remains ol The Elephant Man (as it the poor soul didn't have enough agony in his iiletime). Reported Jackson bids have been anything between 50,000 to a million quid with American rap outiit Lisa Lisa claiming to be going tor it with 1% million . . . sick. . .
0 WHO ARE BOYS WONDER? Why do people think they used to be the Hammersmith Guerillas and how can All About Eve think they’re lovely? It you understand any at this please write inateilus. ..
o COMPILATIONS to watch out lor are ‘Bugs On The Wire‘ on Foghorn Leghorn (great name) leaturing The Fall, Lee Perry and it’s Immaterial; ‘Wide Open’, a compilation oi Edinburgh acts leaturlng The New York Pig Funkers and a track irom Goodbye Mr Mackenzie under an assumed name . . . write in and tell us It you don’t want to let anyone know who you are either.
Scottish/Zimbabwean band in existence, the wondertul Scottish-adopted Bhundu Boys release a new LP on Discatrigue this week. It’s called ‘Tsvlmbodzemoto’ . . . It you know either what it means or how to pronounce it write in and tell us . . . (in tact, why don’t you just write the whole page tor us . . ?)
LIVE REVIEW
0 Iggy Pop (Edinburgh Playhouse)
lil hadn’t already known, and admired, the visceral raw power oi the original Stooges, but had been one oi the new converts out mingling with the black leather and denim here tonight, i might well have come away with the impression, a conclusion many have already reached, that yes, Iggy is God alter all. The Edge is gone tor the new cleaned-up lg. People don’t turn up any more to see it he’s going to go the iull way and top himsell on stage, so he has to work harder at being a periormer- a role he was surely born tor. The most surprising moment ol the night came with the laid-back ‘Shades’ (the tlrst oi only tour numbers he played irom his new, generally-dismissed Blah Blah Blah LP), which burst out at the antiseptic contines oi the record in all its mock-Hollywood Poperatic -. splendour. And what do you know, he pulled it oil, in considerably good voice. And he’s no slouch physically either. A better dancer titan Jagger could ever hope to be, the lg dynamo turns, twists and kicks his way through the gig, as I said, a born perlorrner.
Why else would anyone allow himsell to be ogled at, the way the better-oil and, ahem, ‘well brought up’ voyeurs In the audience ogled, laughing and nudging their dates? Meanwhile, back. in the spotlight, lggy‘s playing the clown to the hilt. (Mab)
REVIEWS
0 Clara Grogan: Love Bomb (London). We’ve had Clare Grogan as Shirley Temple schoolgirl, Claire Grogan the soplstlcated debutante (a bit oi a llop) and now Clare Grogan Disco Queen and (gulp) Love Bombl Phew! ll cats could sing they’d sing like Clare, and these days you can allow yourseii to be turned on by the unique way she twangs and twists her vowels, without terrible leellngs ol paedophiiic guilt. Love the voice, not sure about the music, but this being disco the music matters less than the personality bubbling through the speakers. And Clare’s got that in abundance.
0 Jesse Garon and The Desperadoes: Billy the Whin EP/The Fizzbombs: Sign on the Line/Baby Lemonade: The Secret Goldtlsh (all Narodnik). Turning away irom overtly masculine, aggressive and progressively more boring rockism, Edinburgh’s new Independent record comapny Narodnik have iound solace in a retreat to the values oi the SOs: values like innocence, sunshine, rain and songs with real melodies. Though the Finbombs wear their punk rock colours on their sleeve with their raw production and overdriven luzzbox, they’d really like to be The Shangri-Las. From Baby Lemonade’s gentle acoustic ballad (and is that an oboe soloing at the end?) to the Specoresgue wall at guitars that the Oesperadoes so proudly display, it’s all very 60s and very sweet. Best oi the hunch is the Desperadoes’ EP lor the inclusion oi Narodnlk’s only really classic single solar, Splashing Along. 0 Fun Patrol: The Right to be Wrong (Thrush). The latest project at the legendary James King, alleged hard man at the Glasgow music scene, The Right To Be Wrong is good, hard, old-iasloned rock ’n’ roll with shades oi CGW. Fun Patrol could be Scottish Flamin’ Groovies, but the chorus has a rapturous hint oi The Undertones at their most disarming. Recommended. 0 The Beat Poets: Glasgow, Howard, Missouri (53 8: 3rd). Sigh. . . everyone’s being nostalgic this week. Still, that shouldn‘t cloud anyone’s )udgement oi this EP, a clutch at rock 'n’ roll instrumentals tor guitar, more guitar and saxophone. The twang's the thang, and these boys lrom Glasgow have got more than most. Even the purists, and those who were there the tlrst time around, will nod approval.
0 Madelalne Taylor: Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves (Rubicon). That’s right, Madelalne is the sister at lormer Shop Assistants’ singer Alex, and yes, this is a cover ol the old Cher song. And it‘s never sounded better, an excellent arrangement oi just 12-strlng acoustic guitar, bass and drums with Mad's superb voice telling the sorrowlul tale. Deserves to be one oi those lreak hits we have every so olten when the pluggers irom the major record companies don’t have It all their own
way. (Mab)
The List 26 June — 9 July 39