MUSIC RECORD REVIEWS
American idols - that light Programme formality, where you keep
thp Dom“, sorts out THE BEATLES expecting the liiik-men to address
the turkeys from the Live At The sec (Apple) each other.” Biqglcs 0r Ginger. must crackers. the repenoiie is the star on this have been infectious - they still retain Nightmare before douhis.“ at pisviousiy unreleased their freshness. They can tear it up,
Christmas? Tim Burton should try listening to some of these turkeys. The best. and that's only because it contains a modicum of humour. is Zlg And Zag’s ‘Them Girls. Them Girls’ (RCA). It sounds like Reel 2 Real's ‘I Like To Move lt’ because it’s been written by the same bloke. Instead of a mad stuntman. Zag plays the wicked raggamuffin. with Zig a raisin muffin. But it’s Ivor Novello material when compared to Bednex's ‘Cotton Eye Joe‘. Number One in Holland. Germany. Denmark. Sweden. and Number Ten in Switzerland (oh. those crazy Swiss). its destiny lies as our Christmas Number One. There will be no escaping this record over the festive period and everybody you know will be moseying on down to this square trance set over a sonic Eurobeat fusion. Horrible though it is. at least it’s original. which is more than can be said for the abysmal ‘Whiggle in a Line’ by Black Duck (Flying South). Not only does it take the hook from Whigfield’s ‘Saturday Night’, but the vocal as well. The difference? Some friendly ragga. man. If you wondered where
Pabs at the Beeb material broadcast t°°s 0" "30"5 "k9 the MccartneY' between 1963 and ’65. Songs by Chuck "0”?" than"?-
geny, titth, Richard, Nth", cihdup, Their own material doesn’t stand up can peikihs and his", _ this was the quite so well compared to the versions stutt honed in eighth“, shitts in recorded over at Abbey Road, and are "shitting. the hand stubbornly, and really only ofcuriosity value. But for rightly, believed rock ’n’ roll wasn’t 3 those Who thlll'f theY’" listen more fad that would die like the hula-hoop, than once in this atlractrvelv-
and both Lennon and McCartney packaged set, it’s a privileged glimpse returned to that primal sound in later 0' to!" Ehgtlstl lads engaged ill
years. These songs are the roots of a keeping lock ’0’ l0" alive IllSt as theY revolution, and even today the WBTB starting to turn into something renditions sound un-funky, he‘ll- (Alastail‘ Mabbott)
unconvincing imitations of their 1
Spreads’, the opening ‘Breaking Into
Heaven’, the amazing amyl nitrate rush THE STONE ROSES of ‘Begging You’ and a few other Second Coming (Geffen) highspots (‘Ten Storey Love Song’, if Do we not like this? Well, actually, not you’re in a generous mood). Then
a hell of a lot, no. Look to ‘Driving along comes ‘Tears’, especially for all South’ for the key problem. John those who wondered what a . Squire is revealed as the new Hendrix crossbreed of ‘More Than A Feeling’, - his playing all over ‘Second Coming’ ‘All Along The Watchtower’ and
will cause jaws to drop - but all his ‘Stairway To Heaven’ would sound like. fleet-fingeredness is wasted without a And ‘How Do You Sleep’ is all very song to back it up. But at least it’s a pleasant until the mind jerks back good riff. ‘Daybreak’ is a bog-standard unbidden to past glories like ‘She funky jam that begs two questions: Bangs The Drum’, when the Roses What exactly were they doing with all could without qualification be called that studio time? And what must the inspired. Roll on the millennium and a out-takes be like? more together Stone Hoses. (Alastair
| There are saving graces: ‘Love Mabbott)
readily, ahem, accessed. But since the track ‘The Puppet Motel’, apparently
the Stock/Aitken part of the SAW hit-making team went, sadly. it is they who
LAURIE ANDERSON Bright Red (Warner Bros) Top-selling singles artist she may be — ;
about Internet users, is so scathing,
I perhaps not.
Anderson’s voice is, of course,
are responsible for encouraging those banned on the run Power Rangers to release their official single. There’s a bit on ‘Go Go Power Rangers’ (Saban) where their arch- enemy Rita Repulsive yells ‘I hate the Power Rangers’. Damn right. but at least it should be amusing to watch the kids dance and kick each other’s teeth out.
Bomb The Bass's ‘Darkheart’ (FAB) is a black, very black. release. Roaming into dodgy pitbull underground
‘0 Supermah’. thilteell Years 890 - but remarkable, a bewitching girl/woman, i i the art of making an album that works naive/knowing conundrum that’s as a satisfying collection is not one of always on the verge of telling you Laurie Anderson’s chief talents. So something you’re likely to rind I: multi-media-orientated is our heroine ’ fascinating, But it’s all too often that listening to one 0t her “’8, 8V8" bogged down in banal contemplations it it's StltCt'Y conceille“ as one. feels of video recorders, computers and the likecatchillg Mill 3 Slice 0' the like. There’s room for a lovey-dovey i actiilll- Like! aleh’t thele 50990886 t0 duet with current amour Lou Reed, ' be some accompanying visuals to E which is nice. But ‘Bright Bed’ mostly a this? A gesture. a cryptic phrase on stands as a reminder that the dividing g the backdrop to throw the lyrics into a line between high contemporary an ‘ new light? Perhaps her future lies on and a black-poIo-necked ‘Hello, This the Internet. where the multiple is Joannie’ is narrow indeed. (Alastair ,
shades of meaning can be more Mabbott) ' territory. this is stunning
ragga dub. The Sabres Of , , , , ' W! _ Paradise mixes are genius: 5'; . . ,- .. a - '1 -- ‘
stumbling. booming, ' - ' ' ‘ *“
maudlin and outrageously . .7 " 2 ' " ' M ' 5 ‘ High“ Pom" (30W)
addictive. In stark Your mission — should you choose to accept it - review the Big Audio album
contrast. there is The Tyrrel Corporation's without making any cracks . . . . . whatsoever about how they’ve ‘lost w'm Jones '" "Inmate “owe
‘Better Days Ahead’ (Cooltempo). More . - - . _ ._ throughout, this is a relentlessly postittliv: than zigope test :23! “Name quamy (bar “can” optimistic, spirit-enhancing record - it on e rsena ITS! team, ‘ ,' ’ ' ' ' ' niswmhoperuuyhave "alarm Seaman“ - it’lfai‘ii‘iite'iil'éf'iié'hiiiii'ii'l. similar success to completing a circuitous journey which n u I i rt t h . D:Ream’s ‘Things Can has led from The Clash’s "l7 sulphate 5' “'99” e c a? "9 Q"? 9 ’ r" ere’ '" Only Get Better': London travelogues through the global "333‘ name?" lucz'} "mans wanderings epitomised by ‘Sandinista’ “05ng $991“; ' [taye Jggfleems and B.A.D.’s ‘Ho 10 Upping Street’, 8 as comma "9 om"
back to the city he connects with en‘-
most. Bringing it all back home. Thus, like ' saidr '0‘” 0" cynicism: high on
we have Elvis with ‘washing powder up posmmy- ' m“? it- "ntashtonabtes his hose' on thaiiow Roads and maybe, but - y know, you could always
sample-delic Ealing fragments, 99‘ a me- (Damien l0”)
courtesy of Peter Sellers and ‘Eastenders” late Pete Beale on one hand, and African school-songs and the ghostly moaning howls of Leadbelly on the other (even, pop- pickers, a tiny Clash sample in there somewhere).
50 The List 16 December 1994—12 January I995
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