MUSIC LIST/ROCK
I VIRGIN RECORDS have shown immaculate taste and judgement by signing the excellent Indian Givers, alter a law ialse alarms and many rumours have llown around concerning the eventual home oi the Edinburgh group. An insider, originally alerted to the band’s existence by a iavourable write-up in this very magazine, says that the most recent tape is oi such high quality that a single should be expected ‘very, very soon’. Latest report is that bespectacled singer Nigel Slealord is now toting a bass guitar, making it look ‘just like a real band’l I MUCH-LOVED beat combo oi the West, The Styng-Rites, have decided to call it a day, and get sensible jobs at - last. They’re determined not to go out with a whimper, though, and a big larewell gig is planned tor some time In October, with planned appearances lrom every member who has passed through their ranks. The sounds oi a nation weeping may be drowned out by a possible live album recorded at the event. I OUR OWN distress at the decision at Jesse Rae to lilt up his helmet, pack up his sporran and depart the world at music-making is it anything even greater. The respect ol some oi the linest American iunk creators means little to a record company who can’t shilt units, and who turn green at the thought at dealing with a maverick individualist Scotsman. All the best, Jesse, and have a dram on us. I A NEW VENUE ior Glasgow! The Revue, situated inside the Barrowland Ballroom, is scheduled to open at the end oi the month, iilling a sorely-needed gap in the city’s live music scene, and opening up Scotland still turther to medium-sized bands who never seem to extend their tours lurlher north than Newcastle. One advantage oi The Revue is that, unlike other Glasgow venues which ior one reason or another restrict live bands to certain nights, the organisers are prepared to put on bands any night at the week. Some bands playing one-oil Scottish gigs have charged lees that have made it impossible to turn a prollt, and more places to play up here makes individual dates cheaperto put on. With a capacity oi 350 to start with, The Revue is planned to expand to 450 within a month oi its opening, and lacllities to cater to up to 750 should be introduced by the and ot the year, by using the enormous cloakroom iacllitles(l). The timing ol the Revue's opening catches the beginning oi the autumn touring schedules, hopelully opening up the way tor a lot more up-and-comlng bands, who might not have the pull oi a Barrowland act, to Include more Scottish gigs on their itineraries. I THE CURRENT ‘Balearic beats’ hype has to be the most senseless since a bunch oi publicity-seeking clotheshorses dubbed themselves The
Cult With No Name, only it's precisely the opposite. Everything and nothing can be Balearic, depending only on which DJ sees lit to play it. The most telling thing about it is that the term was coined by a group of London club DJs who went on their hols and discovered (gasp) that the lbizan DJs were playing a VARIETY oi records, all in the one night. The moment they jabbered into existence 3 name lorthis extraordinary phenomenon is the moment that the narcissistic, over-hyped London club scene and its scribes disappeared up their own backsides tor good. Still, it’s been good news lorthe Edinburgh band Fini Tribe, whose 1987 single ‘De Testimony’ has become a lirm dancelloor lavourite down south, and is now released in a spanking new term, drastically remixed and dance-enhanced. The vocals, by a now-departed member, are gone, but the tamous sampled bells are still to the torelront. The track also appears on the London Records Balearic compilation, and things augur well tor the imminent release of their lirst album, ‘Noise, Lust and Fun’, any minute now.
I SURELY NOT. . . is itlrue that Duglas BMX Bandit has just started a new day job as a primary one teacher? I ANOTHER LISTEN world exclusive - the track listing tor the new Love and Money album, Strange Kind oi Love. ‘ The eleven tealured songs are Halleluiah Man, Shape oi Things To Come, Strange Kind ol Love, Axis at Love, Jocelyn Square, Walk The Last Mile, Razor’s Edge, lnllammable, Up Escalator, Avalanche and Scapegoat City. The album should be out in early October, when the band will also be playing some gigs. In the meantime, they have just completed lilming the video lorthe new single, Halleluiah Man in Japan...
I ALSO WITH AN ALBUM coming out in the loreseeable tuture . . . SECESSION. This comes out on September 26th and is called A Dark Enchantment. Tracks include the singles Promise, Sneakyville, Radioland and the Magician.
I HUE AND CRY return with the lruits oi their recent New York recordings on the same date (26 Sep) with a single, Ordinary Angel.
I WET WET WET also iinally get round to releasing the results oi their work in Memphis with Willie Mitchell, more than two years alter the recordings were made. Provisional release date is 7 Nov — which just goes to show that people are thinking about where your Christmas money is going already.
I FOOTBALL RECORDS seem to be a permanent iixture these days — and not even at Cup Final time. Making a splash in the charts this week at no. 95 is ‘Hibs Heroes’ by the Hibernian Football Squad, which seems to have
made a bigger impact than the single they sponsored by Just Add Water. Also out on September 5th is The Celtic Rap - so don’t say you haven't been warned. And, RICKY ROSS oi Deacon Blue has promised to write a song for his beloved Dundee United, iorcing the DUFC lanzine, The Final Hurdle to ask ‘will Jim McLean now subscribe to the NME?’ Maybe it they promise to pay his next SFAiine . ..
I STILL ON FOOTBALL ianzines, and there seem to be more at them than music ones these days, Meadowbank Thistle suppporters have a rather excellent publication called AWOL out now at the cost at £1 with a tree single leaturing tracks by THE CALL GIRLS and VATICAN SHOTGUN SCARE. Also included is a DOG FACED HERMANS ieature. Send your 21 and a large A4 s.a.e.(32p) to Meadowbank Thistle Brake Club, 11a Forth Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3LE.
ALBUMS.
I The Stayrcase: The Stayrcase (Mublln’). Twenty years on, and this kind at American garage psychedelia is treated with the reverence normally reserved lor artelacts and institutions like the Turin Shroud orthe Royal Family. For that reason I didn’t expect to like The Stayrcase. Despite myselil do. They’re a strange assortment, this band. Two Thanes, a spikey, leathered OI Polloi member on bass and Rote Kapelle’s (lormer?) keyboard-player- turned-Stayrcase-lrontman, who has adopted the hippest coiiiure in Transylvania and shrieks and growls in excellent lorm throughout. The end result is an explosion at juvenile dementia, worthy ol at least a law oi their mentors. ‘Only pricks know all the answers,’ snarls Ian at the end oi one lysergic-tinged track, a suitable dig (it that was the intention) at the acid gurus who both inspired and ruined some at the great music oi that era. The Stayrcase won’t get too big lor their boots. (Mab)
Mica Paris: So Good (Fourth and Broadway). On 28 March this year, Mica Paris played one ol these hideous showcases at the Tron Theatre, with an audience oi lashion casualties and media nonentities (mysell included - loosely), most oi them there with the sole intention of using the tree bar (sell not included).
Even so, most ol them managed to ascertain lrom the performance that Mica Paris was a colossal talent, and ridiculous claims were made ior her.
The ‘new Anita Baker’ seemed to be the general assessment— and coupled with the lact that she is British and not American- a huge media hype lollowed. in these situations the eventual product usually is a letdown.
While this album does not come close to ‘Rapture’ (which is a classic), it is by no means a let down, with the current single, Like Dreamers Do, probably being the worst track. My One Temptation, Sway and So Good are all excellent vocally, and Words Into Action, a duet with Paul Johnson, is the slush ballad ol this, or many other, years.
There are obvious tlaws- some at the songs are too long, others move in iairly well trodden circles- but this
alter all is a debut album, and Mica Paris may well one day record an album as good as Rapture.
SINGLES
I Billy Bragg: Waiting lorthe Great Leap Forwards (GolDiscs). i've listened to this live times now, and I’m still not sure it I‘ve got the gist oi what old Bill is actually saying. Although he more than adequately iills his quota ol loot-in-mouth couplets, there are delinite tlashes oi sell-deprecating wit, and more to the point the song is a lovely builder, lrom the lonesome guitar to the joyous massed chorus at , the climax. Is he condensing the entire works at Engels into that impassioned scream oi ‘Beam me up, Scottie’? We can only hope so. (Mab)
I Dog Faced Hermans: Bella Ciao (Calculus). Released alter some delay. the mighty Hermans grapple with an old Italian Partisan anthem and come out on top. For a group with a ‘diliicult’, ‘indie cult’ image, this is almost obnoxioust catchy, though treading water a little alter their mammoth llamenco-rock epic ‘El Doggo Speaks’. The other side, live lavourite ‘Mlss O’Grady’, sees them spiclng up a hypnotic, echoed guitar rilt with snatches oi the ‘Coronation Street’ theme. Why? Does it matter?(Mab)
,, . . ~ I M.C. Syn-Dee: Best 2 B a Girl (Virgin). ‘l'm not here to please you, I’m here to please myselt,’purrs Syn-Dee over the kind oi beatbox sound lavoured by Cut Creator or Eric B., and who can argue with that? Syn-Dee likes to till it out a bit more than the boys, though, and the result is delinitely worth spending sometime with. Fllp it over tor a non-vocal demonstration oi her prowess on the wheels oi steel.
PLAYIJS'I'
Mab with the Listen! iortnightly Hit List 1. GOODBYE MR MACKENZIE: Goodbye Mr Mackenzie (Capitol 45)
2. FINI TRIBE: De Testimony (batter mix) (Finlllex)
3. TRACEY THORN: Plain Sailing (Cherry Red re-issue LP track)
4. LITTLE JUNIOR AND THE BLUE FLAMES: Feelin' Good (Sun re-Issue track)
5. REVOLTING COCKS: You Goddamned Son at a Bitch (Wax Trax LP).
6. lNDlAN GIVERS: Love Come Down (demo)
7. YELLO: The Race (Mercury 45)
8. THE BIG DISH: Bum (Virgin LP track) 9. PRONG: Force Fed (Spigot LP)
10.(l MADE LOVE TO) JOHN MERRICK’S REMAINS: Blood on the Rocks (Hall 45)
The List 2 — 15 September 1988 53