MUSIC RECORD REVIEWS
)aunty swing from the camp of David
Craig Ilcuan reviews the THE BELOVED Morales and llobert liwens; “iooo new ideas. Conscience (East West) Yrs From Today’ is a breezy l ’ Three years ago, we all watched ‘The futuristic love song that wouldn’t be I ' Sun ltlslng’, expressed our inner found wanting within the Larry ‘Mr " ‘iiapplness’ and then, when bored, got . Fingers’ lleard experiment, while the totally ‘Blissed liut’ with The right-on ‘llock To The llhythm (it love’ . Beloved’s .lon Marsh. Since then, is not a million light years from Gary Steve, the other half, has been Ciall’s ‘Who Pays the Plper’. i replaced by .ion’s better half, Helena, War, famine and suffering may on production and writing duties. plague the Earth but Jon always finds 3
little has changed, and if anything room to be optimistic. The music is l _ The Beloved are even mellower than wholesome, clever guitar riffs and l . - .' ‘7 before. keyboard loops dot the picture, while i .l k. . h . . . | sittegiegwlfeiyr “lmm'flfl'y 'mm't'mwd'ls excellent vocal hannonles on the likes
lonely seven-inchers of a ‘COIISGIOIIBO 10"” WNW 53"“ of ‘You Got Me Thinking’ and ' Scotocentric bent. line a plgeon-holelng, too slow to be dubbed scelehme you, met serve to prove l
cry represent the middle. garage, too fast to be deemed i the Beloved’s meted", heed hem ‘1‘“ ages 0f 39"“?0" ' . amulfim- CMW'SON “mt out“ ‘Lose Yourself In Me’, ‘Conscience’ is i ersatz soul polish. Wearing dance moguls an f", M can be onward)
suits. In l987. the Kanes could get away with ‘Labour Of Love' (Circa)‘s
gm” “5" '“ '9‘7’3' . .. . “ ‘“ ' _ This, after all, Is lust a day in the life 21:25.? 1- ' ._ of the tweesome threesome (chats, And neither do Boyfriend. " ~ r Skits! thoughts) as set to a space'mnk despite being firmly v) ' ‘gg‘ ,. heaehh.’ (h he“, Begum.” m nme soundtrack. 0n side one, the flow of founded on the tenets of rest? And space) (Hekm) conversation, heart-murmur beats and
musical Glasgow‘s newest creed: ‘Thou shalt be lank and thine guitars shall go dur-dur-dur like you don't care-eth'. ‘Hey Big Star‘ (August) is as duff and obvious as its title. A plague
noomabu , (a u , gutter" _ it loosely woven lazz threads is this rap is it... 3:33.30. the shim, hss unbreechable. Only the single ’lleblrth
Sesame Street, gigehle mahets are 3 0f Slick (Cool Like Dat)’ sticks out like ilew York trio for whom, now that the a mommy thumb-
dalsy rage has died down, (he field .3 Side two is more curvey, whether via clear (bar, that is, the corner that has sharp lyrics l‘la Femme Fetal’s poetic
git-i _.‘1';" g '
on ye plagiarists! 0r. been so well ploughed by Arrested 'ambaw,“ 0' "5 anfl'abomm‘ ‘ 93W?” Sifts“: both Digable Planets and no is that 3395’, :3'00'} WW, and 58°39"? y.:fi..i.:l::%'.::::i:: newtsranmauenviaw-uack Item":ggelyw'amithsfgggz:° and make you shout .chaati. lngenues, of whatever sex. lio s“"°l:" H “" ts'api’ "'9 gt"; d9]- But look yonder! It‘s those “Bowling, "0 Fender'specmc mgab e ane are a m" 0? goo ’ sleek big cats. unbroken by posturing, no egocentric spoutings. I 3° spontaneous and ‘0“ V ca m 3'3
lleachln’ (A law iletutatlon or Time ‘ the" happy urban raps- As floatsome.
And Space) takes these self-effaclng 9'9" 59" h'P'hOP. though. it can’t be homllies to their (ll)logical extreme. it bettered- Until. that Is. the Sesame
the broken years — SkinAndPimFromHipsway are back! Now they‘re the
brash Plepsurtillfordls.d sounds so easy and “mm. that you or Street crew get the groove. (Craig 33:;56’13‘: gig? I could have a passable crack at it. MCI-ea“)
Records) which is raunch
and rawness of a heavy metal blues hue. No smooth slinkiness nor AOR
bombast now. And no onset
of octoremixology either. A
Good Thing. ‘ Wandering Spirit (East West)
PM”? offer mute assent Mick Jagger’s third solo album, and mm m": D'YFpi’f‘dk‘L. f , the first generally reckoned to be ‘ail 8mg“ “‘8 . F“ ‘ 6 right really’ kick-starts with a
(Human Condition). The , ,
first release for [his rough n tumble Stones-style rifferama, Edinburgh label is “Wired All illght’, which only sounds disembodied thrash that ridiculous when you remember that
even a cement mixer would it’s IIIIIIIOMITB fop MICK 38998! that’s have rtlrougle jiggling abom. singing it. But by the same token, he’s Anot er 00d Thing- 11388 - created a style which is lust . . . Convincing ‘5 G'asgow's ' Jagger and it’s become pointless to iienry Brothers‘ ‘Shining ’ Days. (Rockytonk). whose measure him up against the ace bmked to m , shouters he started off lmitatlng. This . ge er country- cajun joviality is enthusiasm '8 “at he doe" 0m ability. same almost We may have llick llubln to thank tor finally. complete our pan- a what vigour ‘Wanderlng Spltlt’ does galactic time-trawl across 3 have, though It still doesn’t cut it Scotland‘s music. ‘Bum A I when sat up 393m“ cumm Industry Hole in Me (Manatee). after : standards "kc, 83', mm, mum 3:;gtaggegefugfid Perky - i colour or Jane’s Addiction. But by his reapproximation of The ‘ own mndam’ shflveuod as may may Sound of Young Scotland. be, it holds its head above water. lie And afore ye go . . . Special I "mks: although on' do” I" "'9 mention to the dramatic Impression that it’s only to prove he splendour of ‘I Feel You‘ Still can. lb does the high '0'“, (Mute) by Depeche Mode because it’s one of the few weapons ‘33“ "'P‘IS'E‘ZX in his armoury. And he slows down to a “23:23:31), #322233?" comtortabie pace, once in a while, to .COS Dave Gm“ granny show that, hey, he’s a sensitive, aware used to cut the half-time 9'" and" a" the Nude" oranges for Meadowbank Thistle and Jarvis Cocker is But hardly tlrst-rate. Gaelic for ‘prissy old fop‘. (Alastalr Mahbofl)
32 The List 12—25 February 1993