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when the assailants are taken to court. a plea bargain with Sarah's lawyer Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) reduces their charges. When both women realise this isa sell-out. they decide to bring charges against the men in the bar who cheered on the attack and offered encouragement to the rapists. Standout performance from Foster in this sympathetic and responsible treatment of difficult subject matter. whose firm grasp of character and honest intentions help allay one‘s reservations about the content. (CIC) Rental
I Dead Ringers ( 18) (David Cronenberg. US. 1988) Jeremy Irons. Genevieve Bujold. Heidi
Palleske. 115 mins. Extraordinaryexamintion of sexual jealousy on identical twins. Irons plays gynaecologists. arrogant Elliot and the more studious Beverly Mantle. who fall in love with fading actress Claire Niveau when their clinic treats her infertility. As the emotional turmoils mount up. the trio become involved in a frightening downward spiral of drug-induced mania. Deeply melancholic. irrationally powerful exercise in wayward psychology. which boasts magnificent and carefully differentiated characterisation from Irons. (CBS/Fox) £9.99
I Rain Man (15) (Barry Levinson. US. 1988) Dustin Hoffman. Tom Cruise. Valeria Golino. 114 mins. lmpecunious smalltime hustler Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) ends up kidnapping his previously unknown autistic savant brother Raymond (Hoffman). when their late father leaves his $3 million fortune to the latter. However. as the two cross America by road genuine feelings of fraternal affection well up between them. The 1989 major Oscar winner isa warmhearted and touching buddy movie that scrupulously avoids sentimentality. and boasts a detailed performance from Hoffman that skilfully elicits both compassion and frustration. (Warner)
£14.99
The single biggest influence on the
sounds of the 1980s was
continuing explosion of rap. house and hip hop. but the rev as they tend to be. singles-based. (In addition to the list below. honourable mentions should go to Stetsonic. Boogie Down Productions. Eric B & Rakim and ‘The House Sounds ofChicago'
series ofcompilations.)
The story was much the same with
the
olution was.
enjoy its best decade.
New Age? Forget it. It was a bad dream. The real standout feature of the 19805 was the huge influx of World Music. from the pioneering first steps with African artists like King Sunny Ade and Fela Kuto to the kaleidoscopic choice of today.- To the albums listed below could be added dozens. mainly on small labels ‘
like Cooking Vinyl. Globestyle.
soul. which. albums-wise. didn't
THE BIG MU IC
I Simple Minds: New Gold Dream (Virgin, 1982) The moment when the confused Euro-influenced band discovered textures. moods and tunes that they've never bettered.
I U2: The Joshua Tree (lsland.1987)Their embrace of rock as a healing force got them stick from some quarters. but few could resist being
suekedin.
CULT ITS
ITallting Heads: Remain in Light (Sire. 1980) Prefiguring the African obsession among pop intellectuals. and to many listeners the last good record Talking Heads made.
I Joy Division: Closer (Factory. 1980) Much imitated. never bettered. Glacial. terrible beauty of the kind that rock music can only produce once in a blue moon.
I Echo and The Bunnymen: Crocodiles (Korova, 1980) The most controlled set of songs the Bunnymen produced. and the debut that launched a thousand raincoats. Transformed live. the songs became some of the freshest and most compelling rock of the early part ofthe decade.
I The Blue Nile: AWallt Across the Rooftops (Linn. 1983) One that many will carry with them into the ‘90s. Moody. evocative and quite out of step with the happy-go-lucky pop propagated by DJs like Steve Wright. but enough people thought that ‘Tinseltown in the Rain‘ was in its own way the most commercial song released that year.
I The Smiths: The Smiths (Rough Trade. 1984)The Smiths provided the British indie scene with an impetus and direction when it was sorely needed. but there were
few who could handle the - expanded vocabulary that ' Morrissey bequeathed to
7 pop. and none who could
' match his gallows humour.
I The Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy
(Blanco y Negro, 1985) The
‘80s obsession with finding
the inheritors of the
Velvet Underground’s
mantle meant that
Psychocandy was bound
to be hyped to the skies.
I Husker Du: Warehouse:
Songs 8 Stories (Warner
Bros. 1987) What happens
when hardcore musicians
find grey hairs in the sink'.’
They slow down. enhance
the melodies and play with
the power of a breaker
I totallingabeach-hut.
I Sonic Youth: Daydream
Nation (Blast First, 1988)
Taking guitar abuse to new heights and building discordances up into glorious skyscrapers of
noise. the darlings ofthe
T New York scene produced their finest album to date.
the tongue-in-cheek
f reminders ofprogressive rock were a bonus.
SOLO -
I Grace Jones: NightclubbingUsland. 1981 ) There had to be at . least one record produced by Sly and Robbie in here. and the obvious contender was this. the epitome of cool in the early part ofthe decade and an album destined to sell for a long time to come. I Tom Waits: Swordiishtrombones (Island, 1983) After years I of cult bohemian : singer-songwritersuccess. Waits changed labels and altered his sound entirely ‘ to this ‘junkyard orchestra‘. I Suzanne Vega: Suzanne Vega (ASM. 1985) Like it or not. this album brought I the singer-songwriter . back into vogue and 1 probably opened upthe media enough for the likes ‘ of Tracy Chapman and Michelle Shocked to slip through. I Elvis Costello and The Attractions: Blood and Chocolate (Demon. 1986) So central has Costello‘s work been to the decade that it seems almost arbitrary to pick one album. Blood and Chocolate. though. was
Stern's and. ofcourse. WOMAD.
the last to be billed ‘and The Attractions‘ and the band. produced by Nick Lowe. excel in their limitations. Elvis is on good form too.
I Prince: Sign ‘0' the Times (Paisley Park, 1987) The Sergeant Pepper of the '80s. Correspondingly. the backlash may take a decade in coming.
I Roy Orbison: Mystery Girl (Virgin. 1989) Dealt a greater poignancy by the Big O's death followingits completion. Mystery Girl was an enormously affecting final curtain. No voice could convey sheer naked hurt quite so powerfully.
BREATHING NEW ” [113:
I The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy and The Lash (Stilt, 1985) Nudges out the follow-up. [fl Should Fall From Grace With God by virtue of the presence of ‘Sally Maclennane'. ‘Dirty Old Town' and the sublime ‘A Pair omewn Eyes'. In the running for band/songwriter of the decade.
I Dexy's Midnight Runners: Searching iorthe Young Soul Rebels (EMI. 1980) He may be the spitting image of Sid the Sexist now, but in 1980 Kevin Rowland had the market sewn up for passionate. committed performance. an attitude bordering on arrogance and damn good horn sections. I Living Color: Vivid (Epic. 1988) Though the last ten years has seen a tremendous resurgence in heavy metal. the bands. some thrashers aside. have been conservative and brattish cases of prolonged adolescence. In the hands ofa black group with a keen sense oftheir musical roots. it became a powerful statement once again.
RECORDS
I Public Enemy: Yol Bum Rush the Show (DelJam. 1988) Public Enemy's debut was one of the most titanic ofthe decade. and those intrigued by the hype were
. rewarded by rock-hard
beats and an attitude that wouldn't quit.
I LL Cool J: Biggerand Deher (DeiJam 1987) It was hard to believe LL Cool] was as tough as he made out. but that he could rap the hell out of all-comers wasn‘t in dispute. Inaugurated ‘lovers rap‘ with ‘I Need Love‘ and kept attention all the way through to the end.
OTHER VOICES
I Bulgarian Voices: Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares (4A0. 1987) The discovery of these women‘s voices alone would justify the prevailing interest in world music. The introduction to one of the most devastatingly beautiful singing styles in the world.
I Salil Keita: Soro (Stern's. 1987) A sumptuous meeting ofMalian griot tradition and Western studio technology.
I Youssou N'Dour: lmmigres (Earthworks, 1988) The recordings that encouraged Peter Gabriel to champion the
l Senegalese superstar. and
more traditional than his recent work. Youssou‘s voice soars regally above the staccato mbalax rhythms.
JAZZ .
I Deiunlrt: Deiunlrt (Hannibal,1980) Trombonist Joe Bowie sparked this furious collision between jazz and funk. and set a new. but sadly undeveloped agenda for radical dance music. I Lester Bowie: The Great Pretender (ECM. 1981) Bowie‘s brilliantly parodic re-casting of popular music traditions marked the avant-garde‘s move toward a more mainstream rock audience. and sowed the seeds ofthe Brass Fantasy‘s mutant populism in the process. I David Murray: Murray's Steps (Black Saint, 1983) Murray just edges out
Henry Threadgill (who is on this record) and Anthony Braxton as the most inventive and exciting saxophonist on a crowded scene. while Black Saint earned the accolade of jazz label of the decade.
I Joe Henderson: The State of the Tenori 8 2 (Blue N018. 1986,1987) Masterly. state of the art small group jazz which grew out of the Hard Bop revivalism of the 19808. but. like Wynton Marsalis's Black Codes (1985) and] Mood(1986). refused to be constricted
I Dmette Coleman Duartet 8 Prime Time: In All Languages (Caravan of Dreams. 1987) A seminal figure for three decades. this mixture ofOrnette‘s original Quartet with the best recorded work by Prime Time underlined both his surprising
l diversity. and the
; continuity ofhis
: epoch-making music.
| W
5 I Philip Glass: Glassworirs (CBS, 1982) The record which‘established Glass's
j highly rhythmic
minimalism in the
i mass-marketaheadofthe
Music Theatre extravaganzas which
dominated his 19805
work. Still his brightest.
most accessible music.
I Michael Nyman: The
Draughtsman's Contract
(Charisma, 1982) First of
four collaborations with
Peter Greenaway. this set
of minimalist variations
on themes by Purcell replicated the success of the film. and established
Nyman as a major figure
in modern British music.
. CLASSICAL
I The Glyndeboume Chorus and London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle: Porgy and Bess (EMI. 1989) An instinctive and full-blooded performance of Gershwin‘s classic. in which bass Willard White particularly excels. I The London Classical Players conducted by Roger Norrington: Berlioz' Symphonic lantastique (EMI. 1989) An excellent recording. and notable for using the same instruments that would have been heard in
Berlioz' time.
The List 22 December 1989 - 11 January 1990 77