MUSIC LIST/ROCK
‘9
I TO MAKE UP tor their non-appearance on the Rapeman tour a law weeks ago, the eagerly-awaited Dinosaur Jr set up their abused amps on stage In Glasgow on Wednesday 9 and Edinburgh on Thursday to (see listings). The hottest post-Sonic Youth nolsemakers currently touring had to
pull out oi the Rapeman bill due to a ridiculous touring schedule which ruled out any possibility oi making it to Scotland in the time allowed, but the excitement surrounding their latest LP Is still high. A worthy successor to the brilliant ‘You're Living All Over Me’, it's called ‘Bug', presumably because attop volume It makes you leel like you’re being splattered across a windscreen.
I ONE LITTLE Van-ecdote that never made It into our Ricky Ross interview:
as the Deacon Blue singertells it, he
and the band were in France tor a music lestlval when he chanced upon Paddy
Maloney oi The Chieitans with whom
I Van' Morrison recorded the epic ’Irish
,Ne'e'rlbeat’ LP, released this yearto
‘ffgreatiuss irom all quarters. Up walked Ross, to tell the renowned Irish iolkster
>~how enthralled he’d been with the Van
,-“andThe,Chieitans gig at Govan Town
. Hail ln Maytest. Thanking him,
Maloney added: ‘Dh, I’m just sittln’
here hidln’ irom the quare tella. He
’ arrived last night, but i haven’t told him
I'm here yet.’ Their working
relationship has been described as ‘not
i dliiicult In the least'. Oh well, do unto
. others . . .
INGLES
i I__Hue and Cry: Ordinary Angel (Circa).
Jim and Cry’s most oli-the-wall
; production yet, by way oi a sitar planking away in the opening bars. The
'- song doesn't need It. The Kane brothers' usual Broadway stylings, but better by iar than around two-thirds oi the songs on the “Seduced and Abandoned’ LP. (Mab) I Bryan Ferry: Let’s Stick Together ’88 Remix (EC). A rather pointless ploy,
I considering it has virtually zllch to do
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with Perry’s outpourings since he leit Roxy Music, and only there to promote the Greatest Hits. The remix doesn’t add anything to the original, and it’s not dated enough lor nostalgia value. A miss. (Mab)
I Uriah Heep: Easy Livin’ (Legacy). Recorded live ih Moscow last December, it makes you leel sorry tor the Soviets, who must have a very distorted idea at Western rock with the motley collection oi acts that visit the country. This is proto-heavy metal, which would have been sneered at in - 1974. In 1988 it sounds even worse. . (Mab)
I Love Train: Lighten Up (Siren). Moderately iunky little number irom a young group who played Glasgow in mid-October. Catchy, and on daytime radio near you soon. (Mab)
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I Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe: Barcelona (Polydor). Even diehard Queen/Mercury tans will be” thinking very careiully about this one, but in many ways it’s Freddie at his most extreme Freddie-ness. The massed ranks at chorallng voices that - pepper this attempt at a lusion oi rock and opera are instantly recognisable to anyone who has had even a passing acquaintance with Queen In the last ‘ liiteen years. And the orchestral range gives him the chance to be as ilamboyant and melodramatic as he’s always yearned to be. And boy, Is he
“ever! Even Hollywood, where dreams
‘ become reality, could not boast at
making anything larger than lite than this.
‘The most pleasant thing to discover about this project is that Mercury the singer doesn’t come out ol It badly at all. Even In the company oi one oi the world’s ioremost operatic singers, his voice (or brass neck) ls strong enough to pull it oii. He sounds (and this is where the problems start) much more athome in an operatic surrounding than Caballe does in the ill-advised linger-clicking pop interludes.
Mercury the producer is completely lost, as is the listener by the end ol the excruciating second side. Sell-Indulgence is the order oi the day, as a boogie-woogie iollows a gospel passage, which ioliows an orchestral section hideously ruined by gratuitous backwards eiiects. it’s a mess, and as cluttered and nonsensical as every attempt at “rock opera’. The title track, however, is Mercury in exceisis, that is, completely OTT. (Mab)
I The Waterboys: Fisherman’s Blues (Ensign): No doubt the powers that be at Mike Scott’s record company were hoping that this would be the album to take Mike Scott into the stadium arena. All the indications suggested that was where he was going, a support tour with Simple Minds and an album, This Is The Sea, which spawned his iirst hit single.
However, Scott has chosen to do as he pleases, rather than do as the record company hopes, and tar that he should be congratulated. Perhaps his work with We Free Kings was a better indication oi his own musical interests than the Simple Minds tour, as all but one oi the tracks on this LP are graced with Steve Wickham’s iiddle playing - sometimes irantic, sometimes subtle.
This is essentially a talk album, in the same way as the Van Morrison & Chieitalns collaboration irom earlier this year. The main iascination, again like Irish Heartbeat, is in the voice. Scott, like Morrison, whose Sweet Thing is covered here, has a voice at timeless beauty which perhaps succeeds on occasions in covering up the weaknesses oi the songs.
However, with Fisherman’s Blues, the songwriting Is not really a problem. The title track, We Will Not Be Lovers, World Party and And A Bang On The Ear are sensational, and the others are more than adequate.
The key to this album is patience. Three years waiting tor it is bad enough, but several plays are required belore it can be lully appreciated. And whatever the next album sounds like, please ensure it comes out belore 1991. (John Williamson).
I The Tom Tom Club: Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom (Fontana): it is always quite dliiicult to work out what is going on in the minds at any Talking Head at any one time. Perhaps the iascination oi the band to many is exactly that, with the various solo projects merely throwing the occasional spanner in the works when you think you have worked them out.
ii I was guessing, I would say that Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz (with a notable contribution also irom Laura Weymouth), have tried to make an album that will appeal to people who
either don’t like Talking Heads, or who have drlited away irom the increasing complexity at their recent albums.
This is a simple pop album, and as ‘ such a clear success. Suboceana, Shock The World and the single, Don’t Say No make tor a powerlul opening, belore the disorientating but surprisingly successlul, Challenge oi the Love Warriors, an instrumental, topped with the Weymouth sisters’ breathing! The much discussed version at Femme Fatale, ieaturing Lou Reed and the remaining Talking Heads, ends side one, and along with the Frantz . sung cover at Dylan’s She Belongs To You Belong To Me give scope tor the power oi Baker’s voice, occasionally reduced by the production/songs, to shine- and a lrighteningly emotive vehicle it is too.
This album may just be testing the water for iuture development rather than a quantum leap, but it should be tiled next to Rapture in the albums which capture timeless and beautiiul emotions extremely well. You just know that it will still sound great in ten years time. (John Williamson).
I Anita Baker: Giving You The Best That I Got (Elektra): Her last album, Rapture, was a genre classic. No questions. This collection gently extends the successes at Rapture, with slightly better songs, yet nothing that is likely to attract anyone apart irom those who were mesmerised by the eliortless beauty oi Baker’s gospel vocals on the big ballads.
Extending a (successiul) iormula is one thing, but there are enough hints dropped here to suggest thatAnita Baker could yet move into wider musical territory. The jazz tinged, Good Enough, and the piano vocal intimacy oi the intro to lead me into Love are stunning, and conjure up thoughts at what an acoustic Anita Baker album might be like . . . Priceless and Rules sound like obvious singles, while the closing two tracks, Just Because and Me, makes iortwo pleasant, unremarkable covers.
Broken Promises and Mighty Teardrop, both on side two can be marked down as the album's iiiy moments, but on the whole an enjoyable, lightweight collection, which is almost the periect complement oi this year’s TH’s album. (John Williamson).
_ PLAYLIST
- Alastair Mabbott with the LISTEN!
iortnlghtly Hit List.
1. SONIC YOUTH Daydream Nation (Blast First double LP)
2. HM TRIBE Zulus(FlnIiiex12ln 45) 3. ART OF NOISE AND TOM JONES Kiss (China 45)
4. JULIAN COPE My Nation Underground (Island LP).
5. D MOB We Call it Acleed (London)
5. CUD Slack Time (Dug 12in 45)
7. JALI MUSA JAWARA Direct From West Airica (GolGlobal LP)
8. THE OFFHOOKS No More Tears (DDT LP track).
9. RUBEN BLADES Pedro Navaja (Callente Latin sampler track)
10.BILL WITHERS Lovely Day (CBS 45)
42 The List‘28 Oct — 10 Nov 1988