PREVIEW MUSIC
V ALBUMS
I Heidi Berry: Love (4A0) Heidi Berry stands accused of being one short leap ofthe imagination from the pseuds' sweetheart, Beverly Craven. The evidence for the prosecution: she‘s a female singer/songwriter with a predilection for slow, simple. sparsely arranged tunes played on traditional instruments. And she's got long dark hair. The defence: her album is on an indie label. so it‘s hip. not yuppie. To prove this, she has drafted in the likes of Pete Astor and Terry Bickers. She‘s not afraid to venture off the beaten track ‘ a string quartet here. the odd jazz-inflected arrangement there. But here comes the masterstroke: the songs are beautiful, gentle. evocative slices of melancholia and contemplation. Not guilty! Heidi Berry, you are not Beverly Craven. You‘re Joni Mitchell instead. (Fiona Shepherd)
I Ozric Tentacles: Strangeitude (Dovetail) It‘s notjust that there are people who tart up old hippy prog-rock with hooded tops and techno-bleepery; the fact is that there are some who don‘t even bother doing that. Strangeitude -— its sleeve, its titles (‘White Rhino Tea‘, ‘Bizarre Bazaar')— is an instant trip back to the days when Camembert Electrique. Rainbow Dome Musick and a carrier bag of mushrooms were the inevitable accoutrements ofa good night in. It contains six instrumentals. very nicely played, and altogether very pleasant background music — you could probably intersperse it with ambient house without destroying the mood - but attentive listening without preparatory substance abuse could result in disappointment. (Alastair Mabbott)
GOO’SULTIMATE NOISE
Invent Yourseli (Nightshiit)
The image that ‘lnvent Yourselt' brings to mind, and it seems as good as any way oi getting across the ilavour oi God’s Ultimate Noise, is this: a group oi serious young men stand in a dank Newcastle rehearsal room, grimacing as they urge each other towards a Bunnymen-Iike intensity, when through the door crashes some lunatic interloper, immediately taking charge of the microphone and screaming something overwrought and unintelligible regarding ‘little lishiieees’. The band glance wordlesst at each other, shrug and decide they’ll try it his way.
And I mean that in a nice way, possums. 0n the evidence at this debut, they honed their skills and style while underthe iniluence of various 80s English guitar bands and then got led up with the sheer po-iacedness oi it all, while retaining a loudness tor the impact that it could have. They're not a joke band, although those brought up on a steady diet oi U2 or Jackson Browne might think so. Fans oi Fugazi and Jane’s Addiction iound GUM to their taste on recent support tours and Snub-TV thought highly enough at “Kissing A Fish' to video it ior their next series.
And this is because, predominantly, that mad bugger’s voice works as a component in a prickly torrent, irom time to time straying into whimsicality to remind us that it's only rock’n'roll. And I (quite) like it. (Alastair Mabbott)
wants. . . what?
To be the Quincy Jones at House, perhaps, judging irom the ambitious spread at styles he has tried to cram on to his iirst LP as producer/artist (or perhaps overseer would be closerto the mark). Would that Knuckles' shoulders were broad enough to carry it all and his teeth bared to endow the project with some sorely-needed bite. ‘Beyond The Mix’ spends most at its time sitting on the lance that divides sophistication irom atrophy, usually dipping its toes on the wrong side.
The balance is right on the ilute instrumental “The Whistle Song’, but the sincerely-ielt gospel number ‘Soon I Will Be Done' is a jarring iinish. In another place, it might have worked iine, but coming at the end of an album's worth oi reiined rap and bIame-it-on-the-session-men AOB ballads, it comes over-trite and melodramatic. The journey irom the danceiloors oi Chicago and New York to ln-Volvo entertainment is one to be undertaken with care. (Alastair
Mabbott)
_ FRANKIE KNUCKLES
Beyond The Mix (Virgin America) As it producing and remixing some at the landmark singles ol the last few years weren’t enough, as it sharing the credit for inventing House itseli still leit him unsatislied, Frankie Knuckles also
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Concerts listed are those at major venues, ior which tickets are on public sale at time at going oi press.
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I GLASGOW BARBOWLANO (226 4679) All About Eve. 8 Sept; lce-T. 26 Sept; Level 42. 3 Oct; Kevin McDermott, 12 Oct; Billy Bragg, 18 Oct; Stiff Little Fingers. 19 Oct; Carter-The Unstoppable Sex Machine, 2 Nov; James. 6 Nov; The Farm. 1 Dec.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (332 3123) Chesney Hawkes. 22 Oct; Neil
Sedaka, 24 Oct; Tammy Wynette, 12 Nov; Deacon Blue. 27—28 Dec.
I GLASGOW SECC (557 6969) Dire Straits, 11—14 Sept; Whitney Houston. 17-19 Sept; Status Quo, 21 Sept; Sting, 23 Nov; Chris Rea, 29 Nov; New Kids On The Block, 8 Dec; Gary Glitter. 23—24
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Abba, 1 Sept; Blues Band, 5 Oct; Don McLean, 16 Oct. I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Marillion, 22 Sept; Lloyd Cole. 18 Oct; Chesney Hawkes, 21 Oct; Kylie Minogue, 4 Nov; James, 9 Nov; Deacon
Blue, 2930 Nov; Fish. 31 l EDINBURG" QUEEN’S CLASSICAL Dec. HALL (668 2019) Carla I someuecu aueeu's Blcy Tno. 30 Aug:Tam I GLASGOW COW“ HALL (668 2019) Beverley White Bend. 30Aug: “All (332,333) ( "Y “‘ Craven, nscmdamy Capcrcailhc‘31Aug; Glasgow I hil,3()Attg. 1.6 Bragg. 20 Om. Clancy Brothers, 26 Sept. 501"? 11""93(’f"wf*."~ 3' I LIVINGSTON FORUM Aug; M0353? 29‘3"?” (557 6969) The Shamen, QECh‘S‘f‘“ “‘* MP" 4_5 Oct. E; (31,4Scpgsllallc ‘II ' . . ‘ I'. I cuscow PAVILION Bgcggg; ,0 gym. 5 JAZZ & FOLK (3,3218%)Dém'mc Scottish Opera Orch& K'me' 80C" Syd'fcy Chorus. I 1 Sept; Czech Dcv'm'24‘26 OCI‘JOC Philharmonic. 12—14 Sept; I GLASGOW CONCERT Longthornc‘ 3” OCt' Scottish Fantasia 15 Se t' HALL (3323123) Herb I EDINBURGH PLAYNOUSE G _ ) -, St, t; ' I p ' Miller Orchestra. 25 Sept; (557 2590) Marti Webb & O“; 9‘“? 2‘3‘5', ,T k , Whistle StopJazzTour,26 Mark Bamay, 70a; . rc estrd‘ ‘ .Lpt‘ 0 w . SO. 8 Oct: Leningrad Ntavuscow PAVILION Rebecca Storm, 11 Oct, Phil 7] Nov I John Denver 20 Oct' "' ' ' o s (332 1846) Branford Elkie Brooks, 2 Nov; 597 Marsalis. 6 Septfnic Engelbert Humperdinck, Dec ‘ ‘ ' Chieftains, 21 Oct. 21 Nov. '
The List 23—29 August 199177