RECORD REVIEWS MUSIC
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I The Ramones: Adios Amigos (Chrysalis) Could this be the last time‘.’ All sorts of rumours suggest that the brothers Ramone may soon be hanging tip their collective leather and sneakers and heading for that big garage in the sky. This may not mean much to you. bub. but it's pretty tragic news for those of us with taste. lispccially as .'l(/f(l.\ xllllit'riv finds them once again beginning to fire on something approaching all cylinders. ‘I Don't Want To (irow l'p' almost makes tip for all the injustices Tom Waits has suffered at the hands of Rod Stewart. Dee Dee's back writing Dee Dee songs and. with the epics life’s A (ias' and ‘She Talks To Rainbows‘. Joey sings once more like the boy The Shangri-las used to dream about. ()nly bassist CJ's 'Scattergun' sits uncomfortably it doesn't say Ramone ~ but his '(iol A Lot To Say' rectifies this indiscretion by dint of Joey's vocal — 43-years-old and still younger than any trainee batik manager. (Damien love)
I Jerry Lee Lewis: Young Blood (Sire) l've got this fevered image of him. tip to his elbows in blood. clutching a revolver and whispering ‘Killer. . W Jerry Lee Lewis’s first albtnn in nine years opens
The Ramones: firing on all cylinders . . . nearly
with Hank Williams ‘l'll
Never Get Out Of This World Alive'. fittingly. in that. if anyone could. it'd
be of Jerrlee. It's in his . t'vt'x --jtls‘t look at those
Southern Comfort and sepia photographs. He doesn‘t think he's the
greatest. He knows.
llnshakeably. If you dig around. you find a lot of envy wild men making music on the fringes of 50s America. but somehow they let this guy in. albeit not for long. lint/re Blood is a gorgeous country-rockilf affair. the Killer's percussive playing and growlin’. hiccupin’. howlin‘. yodellin‘ vocals burning to a crisp any producer‘s sugar. '(‘ioose Bumps'. ‘It Was The Whiskey Talkin”. ‘llonse Of Blue lights" . . . wonderful. And still the only reason anyone should ever want to take tip the piano. (Damien Love)
I Therapy?: Internal Love (A&M) To paraphrase
'l‘herapy'.’ never let the
Julian Cope on Sky
Saxon: Therapy? may
only have one emotion. i but. boy. they feel it very intensely indeed. Infernal Love is the grimmest of
the grim. threatening in at least one instance to resurrect the corpse of
early Killing Joke. A disturbing thought. Except this album isn't disturbing at all - that would at least be a point in its favour — i just really. really wearing. Sample those lyrics: ‘happy people have no 5 stories' (a telling line that seems to sum up Andy 3 Cairns‘ current stance on songwriting). ‘here comes the misery" and the
succinct ‘disease disease a disease disease disease'. The conclusion in the closing track that ‘there is
a light at the end of the 3 tunnel' just seems tacked
on as an afterthought. Whether exercising
restraint or unleashing
their full thunderous fury.
mood lift. (Alastair Mabbott)
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I Philip Glass: La Belle et la Bete (Elektra Nonesuch) llard on the heels of The Kronos Quartet's excellent disc of Glass‘s Quartets Nos 3-5 comes this equally fine two-disc recording Ul. his opera based on C‘octeau‘s famous film. lt's a warm. romantic variation on his characteristic hypnotic style. played by the Philip Glass linsemble. augmented by strings. wind and brass. while the singers are led by Janice belly and Gregory Purnhagen.
I Schubert: Goethe Lieder (RCA Red Seal) The (ierman baritone Thomas Quasthoff made a huge impression at the Edinburgh Festival two years ago. and this disc confirms that favourable judgement. lle packs a large voice into a diminutive frame. with a rich. darkly-lined vocal timbre. precise articulation. and firm control of phrasing and metre. Above all. though. he sings with great expressiveness and spiritual empathy with the music. and is satisfyineg
accompanied by pianist ('harles Spencer on these demanding songs.
I Holst: The Planets (06) Joint liliot Gardiner turns his hand to Holst's concert staple The Planets with the Philharmonia Orchestra. It is accompanied by the less well-known orchestral ballet T/IU ll’urriuri~ by Percy Grainger. a characteristically quirky but hugely enjoyable work. His interpretations prove to be well worth having. with the changing impressions of Holst's evocative score nicely characterised alongside Grainger‘s boisterous energy.
I John llarle: Sax Drive (Argo) John llarle has been an indefatigible champion of contemporary saxophone composition as well as its most virtuoso practitioner. and this disc gathers together two concertos written for ltim -— by Stanley Myers and Michael Torke —- with Richard Rodney Bennett's ('(rltt‘t'rlnjrtr .S‘Irlll (INS. composed for btit never played by the late saxophonist. Harle tackles all three contrasting pieces with his customary relish and authority.
I Baltimore so: Dance I Mix (Argo) No. it hasn't ‘ slipped in from the wrong section — this particular Dame Mir is an
exuberant (if slightly f gimmicky) collection of short dances for orchestra i by contemporary 1 American composers. lt mixes better-known excerpts like Bernstein's 'Mambo‘ or Adams‘s ‘The Chairman Dances' with music from the likes of l-larbison. Kernis. Argento and Robert Moran. and is infectioust good fun for the most part.
I Mark O’Connor: The Fiddle Concerto (Warners) Mark O'Connor is best known as a brilliant bluegrass and l country fiddler. but goes all posit here with a “Fiddle Concerto' and a more laboured ‘Quartet'. The idioms will be familiar to anyone who has listened to Copland. for example. and ()‘Connor's idiomatic fiddle solos allow him to give full rein to his virtuosity in a way that is not always appropriate in his usual contexts. No masterpiece. certainly. but an enjoyable departure for this great musician. (Kenny Mathieson)
Ni: . - .. .......... THU .6 DUNDEE CAIRD HALL
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FRI 7 GLASGOW BARROWLAND
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Plus guests NAPOLEON'S STARFISH (featuring GARY CMRK)
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EDIN BUR H PLAYH USE Wednesday 12th July
TICKETS IN ADVANCE FRO'd PLAY-lOUSE BOX OFFICE MT 55/ 2590 \llRGl'il RECORDS UNION Sl GLASGOW. PRI‘UCLS SI LDWBURGH & CRLDll CARDS 0'31 557 6969
The List 30 Jun-l3 Jul I995 41