F
production. but when
troubletocapture a
vrcuss W
I Lenny Kravitz: Always On The Run (Virgin America) It's boring to comment on
Kravitz goes to all that
OISflWj
rough. iii-your-face early
70s sound. it's unavoidable. No doubt. the contribution of ( illlts
'n‘ Roses guitarist Slash
would have sounded several shades w ecdier
without it. The song itself isa notparticularly
have atoo-familiartang.
already 1’ ’l'hey‘re feisty
ll (Virgin) We all know that
personsofecclesiastical
notable homage to Krayit/‘s idols ( l lendrix winningout ). (AM)
I PowerOl Dreams: EP (Polydor) Apparently . I‘ve only heard one ofthese songs belore. but they all
SBNllSl'l
(‘an l’()l) be in a rut
tracks. though. and the band play as though their lives depended on it. (AM)
I Enigma: Mea Culpa Part
some unfortttnates find nuns and. let‘s face it. any
persuasion. deeply sexy. Book-jacket designers and filmmakers have cashed in on this for decades. and now w e hay e linigma. while purporting to evoke the awe of cathedrals and masses. making a real habit-ripper. a ‘Je T'Aime' with aisle cred. (AM)
I Inter-Projection: Our Time (MCA) You know how you hear of hot underground white label dance tracks that only two DJs in Britain own. and guard jealotisly. and to get them they had to flyto Miami and meet a tall black man at a crossroads at midnight w ho asked them for 530.000 fora copy . and then it crops up on a major label a few months later and it‘s as tired and passe as they come‘.’ Well. I'm not saying that this is the route that Inter-Projection took. but the end result is the same. (AM)
L7 WAllSEH )l‘lOd UV 0180M ’9 )HOi 68 22W 98 83018 '9 X308
: I Vagabond Joy: We're Going Home EP (SBK)’I‘he
best of both worlds on the title track; enough piano. guitarsandeven accordion to delight ‘real music' buffs. and a sinuous. shit-hot rhythm section too. The remaining tracks aren't as cohesive and commercial. but show that Vagabond .loy are not easily classilied. (AM)
3—01.1‘7he List 22 March — 4 April 1091
MUSIC
Sheer Chart Attack
star/and ggg!(0fll'0
After three tortuously slow years, the Scottish Record Industry Association’s separate Scottish chart is now a reality, with the lull co-operation ol BBC Radio Scotland. Its inauguration was otticially announced on 14 March, with assurances that the chart will be much more than just a mirror of Scotland's record-buying habits.
Robert Noakes oi Radio Scotland said it heralded ‘a new era in Scottish pop music’, and announced that the chart will ‘Iorm the cornerstone at all our pop programmes“.
Indigenous records that appear in the
new chart seem certain to be taken more seriously by the UK industry than they are at present, so its value as a way of increasing investment in the music business was continually
stressed. John Laydon oI Scottish Enterprise compared the 25—10 million the Scottish music industry was worth to the 22.5 billion oi the UK industry as a whole. All concerned Ielt that the chart had a part to play in a possible doubling ol the Scottish turnover.
The SRIA’s Neil Ross roundly praised Gallup, which will monitor the sales at 160 Scottish shops, as being the most accurate compiler in Britain. ‘When you go beyond a one (shop) in tour sample,‘ he pointed out. as Gallup has done in Scotland. ‘you‘re verging on thetruth.‘
There is alreadytalkolsetting up Iurthercharts, including two lorvideos and a labels chart, where record companies can lollowtheirprogress in relation to each other. Butthe new
albums and singles chart is the one that
the SRIA has been lighting tor since its incephon.
As well as Radio Scotland (which Ior years compiled a Scottish chart that was never taken as seriously as it deserved), itappearsthat other local radio stations are keen to adopt the chart, and negotiations are continuing with newspapers. ‘Music Week‘ has agreed to print it, and even iron) the BBC in London reaction has been lavourable.
The iirst chart will be presented by John Collins on Radio Scotland on Mon 1. (Alastair Mabbott)
House of shards
Pity the poor music hack, sympathise
i with his plight. Manchester has been
emphatically consigned to the bottom
drawer, because it‘s been at least three
minutes since an indie dance record was released. Where does that leave
him? Several generalisations short at a
‘scene‘, that's where. Time to culture a new leviathan and eyes south lor the inspiration. Yet again, geographical distinctions hold as much sway as generic. and now the Home Counties, at all places, isthe epicentre, quaking
to the brittle sounds at ethereal guitar
drone meeting bludgeoning grunge power.
As one at the chiei protagonists in this all-new media wave, Reading‘s Chapterhouse are aware of the pros and cons at such a creation. ‘There's a certain amount to be said lor middle class suburbs breeding bands,‘ admits Stephen. theirvoluble singer/guitarist.
‘It tends to happen everywhere
because there’s so little going on, and that area is so devoid at any detinite culture. But we‘ve always tried our hardest not to let any kind at scene happen, because ultimately itjust destroys it.
‘II you look at the Manchester scene, there were three good bands who got blown out of all proportion and then they started signing the dregs ol the area and it dragged the scene down. It
anything lrom the tact that we existed,
i any of the other bands round here got
Glasgow on Thurs 28.
I
Chapterhouse
I‘d be quite distraught because they really are atrocious.‘
Nevertheless, it must be tempting to surteiton yourprospects when comrades like Ride crash into the charts and, ahem, wander aimlessly on to ‘Top olthe Pops“. Again, Stephen is sure and convincing in his assessment olthe possibilities.
‘In some ways it‘s a product at the ambient house stutt getting big inthe charts. People are accepting records with low vocals and a certain atmosphere whereas betore they'd write them otlbecausetheydidn'twork within the structure at loud drums and vocals. They didn‘tknow whatto do with it except say “It's My Bloody Valentine", but now they‘re getting used to It. I'm leeling pretty optimistic that this whole genre is going to be something to be reckoned with.‘ (Fiona Shepherd)
Chapterhouse play The Venue, Edinburgh on Wed 27 and King Tut's,
V FOLK
«- But is it
folk. . .9
As the Edinburgh Folk Festival comes around again. Kenny Mathieson checks out the points where jazz and folk collide.
Definitions are always a vexed issue
in music. and arguably nowhere more so than in the murky and increasingly variegated fields we file under folk and jazz. Both categories
now shelter so many offspring under
their gigantic wings as to be rendered virtually meaningless as anything other than a useful shorthand. 'l‘hings get reallycomplicated when the practitioners of these arts decide to mix things up even more. which is
precisely what is going on in Scotland
these days. 'l‘lie lidinburgh Folk and l larp Festivals will play host to a
nurnberofthese miscreants. ( question that the promiscuous interininglingol‘jazz and traditional
While it may make the music writer‘s job tougher. there is no
music has been one of the most notable developments on the