MUSIC LIST/ROCK
I FURTHER TO OUR announcement last Issue ol the re-release oi the Friends Again album, we hearthat lormer Friend Chris Thompson oi Bathers lame has been in the studio with various Commotions, now at a loose end since they parted company with Lloyd Cole. Island Records are looting the bill tor the sessions, and the results should be interesting at the very least.
I LATEST ON GLASNDST: The newly-termed Scottish Records Industry Association, having made potentially lruittul links with other countries at this year’s MIDEM conierence in Cannes, have received an invitation lrom the Kislljov Music Centre and the state record company Meiodiya tor a delegation to visit Leningrad in June, and to see 12 Russian bands there. Despite the short notice some members are hoping to attend. The promise oi some rare recorded product irom China has been oiiered by the Illslljov as extra lncenHve.
I JUST ABOUT to roll into action as we go to press Is Ell Rockiest '89, held in several venues in that important tributary oi rock history East Kllbride. Its major objective is to promote the town as a music centre and highlight Rockschool Eli, a project which has enjoyed the participation oi overlSD young people in the area since it started last December. Rockschool Ell sets out to provide as much lnlormation on every strand oi the music business as possible to anyone considering a career as a musician, writer or even a roadie. Bands taking part in Rockiest include Gun, Giant, Tonight at Noon and Runrig, who are presenting a £1000 cheque to Rockschooi.
SINGLES
I The Adult Net: Where Were You (Fontana). The kind ol sparkling West Coast pop that has guest reviewers on Radio One iabbering about ‘great hooklines’ and were it by The Bangles would have the pundits screaming
about a creative renaissance. Even it it is a cover. As a bonus, the B-side ol the 12in is a re-release oi their lab tribute to Edie Sedgwick. (AM)
I The Beautilul South: Song tor Whoever(Go!Dlscs). Llie alter The Jam proved to be The Style Council, and iile after The Housemartins has more than a shade oi The Style Council as well. ‘Song ior Whoever’ is a piano-driven ballad with the sort ol lyrical naivete and, let’s lace it, tweeness that would reduce even Hal 9000 to a spluttering wreck ii Paul Weller evertried it, but which Paul Heaton carries all rather sweetly. (AM) I The Nomads: Fire and Brimstone (Amigo). So desperate to maintain that precise garage attitude that I‘d probably hate them ii i saw them live, ‘Fire and Brimstone’ still scores The Nomads a lot oi points Ior being catchy and staying on the right side ol the Cult border. Johnny Thunders guests on another track, which should give you a good idea where they’re coming lrom. (AM)
ALBUMS
I Crime and the City Solution: The Bride Ship (Mute). A lew times on the iirst side the singer recalls the epic yeamings oi Mike Scott or Ian McCulloch, but they never plumbed such desperate depths as this. He sings like his very soul’s at stake as the band mark out, with dragging drumbeats and minimal slide guitar, tortured landscapes like the war-torn cover painting by Thomas Cole. Since C&TCS have Mick Harvey pounding the skins as though the burden ol ages had been balanced on his shoulders, and once could claim Rowland Howard in their ranks, it’s not surprising that the band lind their closest relative in Nick Cave, working his way through similar tortured dirges. But C&CTS never seem to reach the point ol catharsis that such tension begs, and it’s hard to separate their approach from Cave’s until you get to a song like ‘Stone', where Led Zeppelin get down with Joy Division in
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a most unholy alliance. It’s an impressive moment, but not much reiiel lrom the torpor that pulls down most oi the LP. (AM)
I The Humplt Family: In the Family Way (Moonshine Music). I suspect they’re not really a tamin at all, this bunch (11 oI them) that clutter up their sleeve with cowboy hats, bootlace ties, banjos and contederate ilags. I suspect in tact that they’re part oi a thriving underground dedicated to gradually turning Edinburgh into a detached region ol Texas. Still, how can you turn away irom a band that can make a song entitled ‘Love, Death, Divorce, Prison, Alcohol, Rivers and Trains’ live up to its title? To make it an even more inviting prospect, the band’s jokiness belies their lluid and accomplished playing. Check them out on their regular pub gigs in Edinburgh, belore they get too big lorthem. (AM)
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I Frazier Chorus: Sue (Virgin)/Shelleyan Orphan: Century Flower (Rough Trade). To be honest, I was so taken with Frazier Chorus on their recent sojourn up here that I went straight up to the Virgin press oilicer afterwards and demanded he send up a copy oi the LP torthwith, sol can hardly be expected to be completely detached here. As good as ‘Sue’ is, I miss all at Tim Freeman’s between-song banter (as drily lunny as his songs are delicately precise) and his casual, somewhat untogether stage presence. But the melancholic delights oi ‘Ski-head', ‘Sloppy Heart' and the cheery single ‘Typicai' are here. Shelleyan Orphan also preier acoustic instruments and dreamy textures, though they’ve more at an aggressive streak, and don’t always like to tie up their melodic ends as neatly or conventionally. A grungey electric guitar occasionally appears in the middle distance, and at one point they sound like they’re making a homage to the Velvets’ ‘Femme
The Beautilul South Fatale’. Both albums are something their creators can be proud oi, and even it something tells me that groups like i these may turn out to be as . embarrassing in a law years as certain groups and singers ol the early Seventies. Hell, they had a lew lans too. (AM) I Champion Doug Veitch: The Original (Bongo). It’s been too long since we last heard lrom Hawick’s neglected mad genius, and although this is a compilation oi Veltch’s old singles and radio sessions, readers are unlikely to own all, most or even some oi the material it contains. Take it lrom me, your collection is begging lorthls record, wherein collide cajun, zydeco, country, mbqanga, Scots rap, to name but a lew, all stirred into the cultural . melting pot oi a wicked dub sensibility. Even though most ol the tracks are three or tour years old the man is still ahead at the pack. Buy this so he can stay there. (AM)
John Williamson picks the lortnightly Listen! hit list.
1. 10,000 MANIACS: Headstrong (Elektra LPtrack)
2. DANNY WILSON: The Second Summer oi Love (Virgin 45)
3. TIN MACHINE: Crack City (EMI LP track)
4. LDVETRAIN: The Way oi All Flesh (Siren 45)
5. DARDEN SMITH: Two-Dollar Novels (Epic LP track)
5. INNER CITY: Paradise (Ten LP)
7. CYNDI LAUPER: I Drove All Night (Epic 45)
8. mm MITCHELL: Court and Spark (Asylum LP)
9. THE THE: Gravitate to Me (Epic LP track)
10. A CERTAIN RATIO: River’s Edge (lorthcoming ABM release)
SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE
46 The List 2— 15 June 1989