Roadrunner 3(1) 8 February 1980 by UOW Library

SINGLES 2 U E 1. P lea se Don't G o .. .K .C . & The Sunshine Band 2. D on't S top . . .M ichael Jackson 3. V ideo K ile d T he R ad io S tar ......................................... Buggies 4. B a b e ....................................... Styx 5. C om pu ter G a m e s ......... Mi-Sex 6. E s c a p e ..............Rupert Holmes 7. S u re K now S om eth in g .. .Kiss 8. C a r s ....................... GaryNuman 9. M essag e In A B ottle .................................... The Police 10. G im m e G im m e G im m e . Abba

(no particular order) G et W et ..................Mental As Anything G raffiti C rim es . . . . . . .1^-SeX P rim al P a r k ......... MondoRock S cream in g T argets ...................................... Jo Jo Zep E go T rippin g O ut .........................Marvin G a y e (s) R an kin g F u ll S top ..................................The Beat (s) R egatta d e B lan c .....................................The Police F lam in go R o a d ..................Popular Mechanics T he W a ll...................Pink Floyd L on don C allin g . . . .The Clash

M CY 1. P lea se Don't G o . . . K.C. & The Sunshine Band 2. D ream in g M y D ream s With You ................... Colleen Hewett 3. B lam e It On T he B o o g ie ............................... The Jacksons 4. D on't S top Till You G et E nough ......... Michael Jackson 5. B a b e ........................ Styx 6. V ideo K illed T he R ad io S tar ............................... The Buggies 7. M essag e In A B ottle .................................... The Police 8. D river's S ea t .....................Sniff 'n' The Tears 9. C a r s ....................... GaryNuman 10. S tay With M e Till Dawn .JudieTzuke

3 R R R -F M 1. T he M o te ls ........................Motels 2. H ea d In ju ries ............................... Midnight Oil 3. R egatta d e B lan c ....................................The Police 4. T he R e e l s ................ The Reels 5. G et W et ..................Mental As Anything 6. E P /S in g le ........... Boys Next Door/Kevins 7. Dam n T he T orp ed oes ...................................Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 8. O ne S tep B ey o n d . . .Madness I'm T he M an ......... Joe Jackson 10. N ew Y ork/L on d on / P aris/M u n ich ......................... M

4 B K 1. Don't S top .. . Michael Jackson 2. K n ight In B la ck L ea th er ............................... Bette Midler 3. R ain bow C on n ection ...........................................Kermit 4. E s c a p e ............. Rupert Holmes 5. C'Mon A u ssie C'Mon ............................. Mojo Singers 6. V ideo K illed T he R ad io S tar ........................................ Buggies 7. Q u een o f H earts ...........................Dave Edmunds 8. S tay With M e Till Dawn ................................. Judie Tzuke sa g e In A B ottle The Police u s k ..................Fleetwood Mac

ALBUMS

4 Z Z Z -F M (no particular order)

AUST 1. D on't S top 'Til You G et E nough .................................... ; ............... Michael Jackson 2. V ideo K illed T he R ad io S tar ....................................................................... Buggies 3. B a b e ...................................................... Styx 4. C om pu ter G am es ...................................... Mi-Sex 5. M essag e In A B ottle ........................... The Police 6. P lea se Don't G o .................................. K .C .& The Sunshine Band 7. S u re K now S o m e th in g ........... ......................... Kiss 8. G im m e, G im m e, G im m e ............................ Abba 9. N o M ore Tears ........... Donna Summer and Barbara Streisand 10. C ars .................................................. .GaryNuman 11. E sca p e ...........................................Rupert Holmes 12. T u s k ................................... FleetwoodMac 13. D ream P o l i c e ................................................Cheap Trick 14. C h oir G i r l ................................... Cold Chisel 15. S tay With M e Till Dawn ................................................................ Judie Tzuke 16. Driver's S ea t ....................................................Sniff 'n' The Tears 17. W e B elo n g To T he N ight ............................... ............................... Ellen Foley 18. B lam e It On T he B o o g ie .......................................................................Jacksons 19. R ain bow C on n ection . ...............................Kermit 20. G o o se B um ps . . ............................Christie Allen

1. ELO's G reatest H its..........................................ELO 2. D y n asty ...................................... Kiss 3. 2 0 . G old en G reats ........................... Creedence Clearwater Revival 4. T he W all ................................................PinkFloyd 5. B e e G ees G r e a te s t................................B ee Gees 6. R eg atta d e B la n c ............................................... The Police 7. D isc o v e ry ............................................. ELO 8. T u s k ............................................... Fleetwood Mac 9. T he L on g Run .............................................. Eagles 10. G reatest H its ...................................... Rod Stewart 1. S m ash A n d G r a b ......................................... Racey 12. W e t ............................................. Barbra Streisand 13. B est O f ......... ...........................Kenny Rogers 14. B est O f T he S olo A lb u m s...................... Kiss 15. D ream P o l i c e .................. Cheap Trick 16. B est O f....................................................... Skyhooks 17. O ff T he W all ............................. Michael Jackson 18. On T he R a d io ............................. Donna Summer 19. N ig h to u t................................................. Ellen Foley 20. B a ck sta g e P a s s a g e .................. Little River Band

US 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

C ow ard o f th e C o u n try ................Kenny Rogers D o That To M e ......................... Captain & Tenille R o ck With You ...........................Michael Jackson T he L on g R u n ................................ .The Eagles C r u is in '.....................................Smokey Robinson C razy L ittle T hing C a lled L o v e ........................................................................ Queen Kes, I'm R ead y .................................... ...... Teri Desario with K.C. Don't D o M e L ik e T h a t.........................Tom Petty S arah .................... ...................... .Rleetwood Mac E sca p e ............................................Rupert Holmes D eja V u e .................................. Dionne Warwick This Is I t ......................................................... Kenny hoggins I W anna B e Your L o v e r .............................. Prince R om eo's T u n e.................................................. Steve Forbert L a d ies N ig h t........... ..................Kool & The Gang P lea se Don't G o ..................................K .C .& The Sunshine Band Longer ......................................... Dan Fogelberg B a b e .....................................................................Styx On T he R adio .............................Donna Summer T hird Tim e L u c k y ....................................... Foghat

S A D 1. D ream in g M y D ream s With You ...................Colleen Hewett 2. D on't S top Till You G et E n o u g h ......... Michael Jackson 3. E sca p e ..............Rupert Holmes 4. P lea s e Don't G o . . . K .C. & The Sunshine Band 5. V ideo K illed T he R ad io S tar ......... ....................................... The Buggies 6. S tay With M e Till Dawn ...................................Judie Tzuke 7. B a b e .......................................Styx 8. M essag e In A B ottle ..................................... The Police 9. C om pu ter G a m e s ......... Mi-Sex 10. J e a lo u s y ..............................AmiiStewart

5 M M M -F M

1. B rass In P o c k e t ..................................... Pretenders 2. W ith You I'm B orn A gain .............................................................Billy Preston 3 : M y G ir l....................................................... Madness 4. I'm In T he M ood F or D an cin g 1. Pretenders ................. Pretenders 2. R egatta de B la n c ......................................... Police .......................................................................................Nolans 5. P lea se Don't G o 3 . One Step B ey o n d ................................... Madness 4. G reatest H its Vol. 2 ..................................... Abba ..................................K .C .& The Sunshine Band 6. B a b e .....................................................................Styx 5. Video S ta r s ................................................ Various 7. G reen O nions 6. B ee G ees G reatest Hits ..................... Bee Gees ......... ...............................Booker T. & The M .G.'s 7. The Wall ............................................. Pink Floyd 8. B etter L o v e N ext T im e ................1 . . . .Dr. Hook 8. G reatest H its .................................... Rod Stewart 9. I W anna H old Your H a n d ..........................Dollar 9. Sem i D etached S u b u rb an .........Manfred Mann 10. A n oth er B ric k In T he W all 10. 20 Hottest H its ............................ . Hot Chocolate 11 . Wo P lace To R u n ........................................... UFO .................. ..............................................Pink Floyd 11. T ears O f A C low n /R an kin g F u ll S top .. . .Beat 12. O ff The Wall ................... .. .Michael Jackson 12. It's D ifferen t F o r G ir ls .....................Joe Jackson 13. London C a llin g ............................................ Clash 13. I H av e A D r ea m .............................................. T^ba 14. Perm anent Waves ................................ Rush 14. L on don C a llin g .................................... The Clash 15. 20 Golden H it s .................................. Diana Ross 15. T oo M uch T oo Y o u n g .............................. Specials 16. Outlandos D 'A m our ................................... Police, 16. S pirits [H av in g F low n ]......................... Bee Gees 17 . S p e c ia ls ....................... Specials 17. I H ear You N o w ........................... Jon & Vangelis 18. P arallel L in e s ............................................ Blondie 18. W e G ot T he F u n k . ....................... Positive Force 19. Septem ber Morn .......................... Neil Diamond 19. Is It L o v e You're A fter 20. ELO 's G reatest Hits ............................................................... Rose Royce ...................................... Electric Light Orchestra

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

One S tep B ey o n d .. . Madness S p ec ia ls .......................Specials L on don C allin g . . . . The Clash F reu d ................The Sharks (s) C ut ................................The Slits W ork It Out ........................... 42nd Street (s) M y C ity O f S y d n ey .................................... XL Capris E n tertain m en t ............................. G ang Of Four H it A n d M iss Ju d y ......................... .. W reckless Eric S tran g er On A Train .......................................Sports (s)

1. T he L on g Run ............................................. Eagles 2. T he W all ................................................PinkFloyd 3. K en n y .................... ........................ Kenny Rogers 4. O ff T he W all ............................. Michael Jackson 5. On T he R a d io .............................Donna Summe^' 6. C o rn er sto n e............................................ Styx 7. D am n T he T o r p e d o e s ...........................Tom Petty 8. In T hrough T he Out D oor â&#x20AC;˘ Led Zeppelin 9. P h oen ix ......................... ............... Dan Fogelberg 10. M idn ight M ag ic .....................The Commodores 11. G rea test H its .......................................... Bee G ees 12. F reed om A t P oin t Z ero ....................................................Jefferson Starship 13. W e t ........................................... Barbara Streisand 14. S ep tem b er M orn ........................ Nei 1 Di amend 15. T u s k .............................................. Fleetwood Mac 16. G o ld &P latinum ........................Lynyrd Skynryd 17. H ea d G am es ........................................ .Foreigner 18. Jo u rn ey T hrough T he S ec r et L ife o f Plants ......... ................................................Stevie Wonder 19. R o s e ....................................................... Soundtrack 20. The G a m b le r ..................................Kenny Rogers

R eg atta d e B lan c ..................................... The Police Jon estow n S u icid e ...................................Nasty Nigel One Out (E.P.) .Mopsie Beans L on don C allin g . . . .The Clash E n glish G ard en ........................... Bruce Woolley R ep rod u ction .................. The Human League H ea d In ju ries .................................Midnight Oil D em o T a p e ........... The Hounds S p e c ia l View ........................... The Only Ones W rong With You .................... Street C om er Jack

6PM 1. D on't S tep .. .M ichael Jackson 2. P lea se Don't G o .. .K .C . & The Sunshine Band 3. B a b e ......................... Styx 4. R ain bow C on n ection . .Kermit 5. S he's In L o v e With You â&#x2013; ........................... .. .Suzi Quatro 6; V ideo K illed T he R ad io S tar ..........................................Buggies 7. E s c a p e ..............Rupert Holmes 8. R apper's D eligh t ......................... Sugarhill G ang 9. C om pu ter G a m e s......... Mi-Sex 10. S u re K now S om eth in g .. .Kiss

6UVS-FM

1. T he W a ll.................. PinkFloyd 2. R eg atta d e B lan c ..................................... The Police 3. In to T he M usic ............................. Van Morrison 4. One S top B ey o n d .. . Madness 5. T he S ou n d o f S u n bath in g ................................The Sinceros 6. D am n T he T orp ed oes .................................... Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 7. A n d I M ean It .............................. Genya Ravan 8. B u llsh ot ................... Link Wray 9. V o lc a n o .............................JimmyBuffet 10. F ic k le H eart .................... Sniff 'n' The Tears

Welcome the first Roadrunner of 1980. As you will see from our cover this is the first fortnightly issue, and also the second bir thday of Roadrunner. There have been a lot of changes in the last two years, both for the music scene and the paper itself, but by and large I feel the stance that we adopted when we started the paper has been justified by subsequent events. Quite simply that stance was, and still is, to report on Australian music and musicians, to examine and explain the structure that surrounds the music (i.e. the Industry) and to cover the new and/or in teresting r;jusic that is emerging overseas. We have always held the view that the biggest is not necessarily the best and so in the coming , year we . will continue to cover groups and music that you won't read about anywhere else at the time, but that you might hear on your radio after reading about them in Roadrunner. And that will include bands from all over Australia because we feel it's about time the music scene in Australia was thought of as a National entity, rather than the province of just one city. This first fortnightly issue includes the premiere of what will be a regular charts page. As well as providing a National chart we will be running the top ten singles from the top rating AM rock station in each capital city PLUS a ten album & single playlist from the non-commercial FM stations in each state. We feel this will give you, the reader, an idea of what's going down all over the country. For our Melbourne readers. I'd like to mention the Second Birthday Party that we're holding at the Crystal Ballroom on Feb. 10th. Appearing will be the Sports (the* first live performance since the addition of new drummer Ian McLennan), the Boys Next Door and Lemmy Caution from Adelaide. A special feature of the evening will be the presentation of the Roadrunner Rock Awards. Admission will be $6 and I'm sure it's going to be a night to remember. I hope you enjoy reading the paper and will continue to support us in the year ahead. Best Wishes, Donald Robertson Editor.

heroin. Cornwall is at present out on un conditional bail after appealing against the sentence. The Indian tour includes date in Bangalore, Calcutta, Delhi and a 25,000 seat stadium in Bombay. Now that's what I call real Bombay Rock. At the other Bombay Rock (Melbourne) Timmy & The Boys (stars of last month's Australian Penthouse) had a near capacity crowd going beserk when David Mason, lead singer of the Reels, got up on stage dressed like Marlene Dietrich and proceeded to enact out sexual fantasies with J & B's lead singer Iggy Jones. Other famous people to get in on the act were a 'not sober' Wilbur Wilder who played saxophone and Skyhooks' Bongo Starkie. Oh, between molesting Iggy David Mason (the son of the N.S.W . Leader of the Liberal Party) playing some harmonica (or was that mouth organ?). And I always thought the Reels were such nice Boys. ' V/hile Joe Camilleri is frantically writing songs so that Pete Soley will have something to produce when he finally arrives in the country to produce the next Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons album. Falcons members John Power, Gary Young and Jeff Burstin have got together with Chris Stockley and are playing round Melbourne under the name of the Rock Doctors. Their motto? 'Hoons With Toons'. Nice one lads. And speaking of the Falcons, an overseas deal has finally been sorted out for the band. In the U.S. A. they will be released on the Full Moon label which is owned by the Eagles manager Irving Azoff and ex-Atlantic Records' vice president Steve Slefman, which will be distributed*through Columbia (who, of course, broke Elvis Costello in the States.) In the U.K. and Europe W .E.A. International will be handling the band. All this hasn't stopped Joe Camilleri from setting up his own little label. It's called Mighty Records, The label will be launched in March with the simultaneous release of seven singles by Ross Hannaford, Gulliver

Another year, another issue, another Malicious Gossip. Ho Hum. I may as well drag myself away from the cricket and get down to it, I suppose. W hat? W e're going to press TOMORROW? O h. .. The new year has not been a very happy one for Kevin Borich (the understatement of the year so far — read on). While in Auckland to attend his father's funeral and settle his father's estate, Kevin got involved in a barroom ruckus in an Auckland pub which finished with Australia's Top Guitarist (ac cording to RAM) being pushed through a plate glass window. Kevin's right arm was severely gashed and apparently some ten dons in his wrist were severed. It looks like being at least three months before he can The first single from Flowers shouldn't be play again. too long in arriving as the band enter the The new year and the success of the studio on February 5th with producer G reatest H its package seems to have Cameron Allen. The track they will be doing breathed new life in Skyhooks. Their new is Can't H elp M yself and the flip will probably album F or T he O rient is going to be be S en d S om eb od y , a firm stage favourite. d ebu ted live on N ig h tm o v es (with A footnote to the whole affair was provided simultaneous broadcast on 3RRR-FM) when by C .B .S . who sent Ray Hearn a wreath when they play Bombay Rock in Melbourne on the news of Flowers signing was announced. February 14th. H ot F or T he O rient has been The note on the wreath said: 'Commiserations produced by American Eddie Leonetti (who on not signing Flowers to C .B .S .' Ray Hearn also twiddled the knobs on G u ilty 'Til P roven was so impressed with this gift he wore it In san e) and is apparently 'totally different around the Dirty Pool office for a day. and extremely varied'. The band will go into Elvis Costello, who headlined at the recess for a month after the Bombay ap pearance while guitarist Bongo Starkie goes Sweetwater Festival in N.Z. late last month, on a four week solo world tour (Japan, has run into some trouble over the release of U .S.A ., and the U .K.). While in Japan Bongo his next L.P. The company which he was will be picking up the cover photo for H ot F or recording with. Radar Records, was absorbed T h e O rien t from famous Ja p a n ese by its distributors, W .E.A. in the U.K. late photographer Hudeki Fujii (whose credits last year. Costello's manager, Jake Riviera, include the cover for Steely Dan's A ja]. The subsequently claimed that since Costello's contract with Radar was a verbal one with the n ips rea lly a r e g ettin g b ig g er. Mental As Anything's zany organist, la b e l's ex-M an ag in g D irecto r, Andrew 'Greedy' Smith, will be going to the U.K. for a Lauder, Costello was free to record with promotional visit to prepare the way for a tour whoever he liked. Riviera planned to release for the band later this year. T he N ips A re Costello's new single on his own label, F Beat, G ettin g B ig g er (now where have I heard that but W .E.A. then slapped a court injunction before?) has gathered fairly complimentary on the release of the single (called I Can't reviews in the U.K. press (It was 'almost S tan d Up F or F allin g Down]. The Court case record of the week' in Melody Maker), and is will be held soo n .; The Sports split seems to be a fairly receiving airplay on most stations. Meanwhile Regular Records, home of the Mentals, have amicable one, at least on the part of ex acquired Dirty Pool-managed Flowers and member Jimmy Niven. Martin Armiger, who Dirty Pool have added Mental As Anything to is going to be contributing keyboards to the their stable. All suggestions of a 'swap' are new line-up, has been phoning Jimmy up and firmly denied by Dirty Pool spokesperson Ray asking him how to play certain keyboard Hearn. 'They are totally separate deals', he pieces. 'He's been good enough to tell me',' said. 'As far as the Flowers deal goes, it was said Armiger with a smile. The Stranglers are reported to be doing a very close between Regular, E.M .I. and C .B .S . were also interested. Signing with tour of India (!?) in early March, despite the Regular gave us the maximum freedom on the eight week jail sentence handed out to international market, plus strong distribution guitarist Hugh Cornwall in London last month for possession of cannabis, cocaine and through Festival.'

Smith, Steve Cummings, loey Vincent (Camilleri under another name). The Honeyboys and Gary Young. The method of distribution has not been decided but Joe says he'd like to sell them out the bagk of a van. What a romantic he is! And Steve Cummings' label Big Girl, will be releasing the first single from John Dewier's (ex Young Modern) new group The Glory Boys, who include amongst their members ex-Spare Change guitarist Chris Langman. When asked if the name had any mod connotations (Glory Boys is the name given to a certain group of mods in the U .K .). Dowler answered, 'W e're about as mod as Stockley See and Mason'. Terminal Twist have lost their drummer, Keith Newman, and are off the road for a month looking for a replacement. Phantom Records in Sydney is setting up their own record label. Expect releases from The Visitors, the Shy Imposters and The Other Side. Zev Eizek, now manager of Midnight O il , currently in France shopping around for record deals, Gary Ashley of Mushroom Records, currently 'holidaying') in Moscow, and Martin Fabyni of Regular Records currently in Hong Kong. The Nips really are getting bigger. The Clash currently engaged on a large British tour (and strongly rumoured to be touring Australia in April) had a very special guest when they played at Brighton's Top Rank last month. Pete Townsend, who'd gone along 'just for a night out' met the band prior to the gig and had a few drinks with them. Towards the end of the Clash's set, Joe Strummer announced Townsend's presence and invited him up on stage, the veteran guitarist proved he could still cut it with the young bucks as he played with them on G arag elan d , A rm agideon Tim e, English C ivil W ar and L ou ie, L ou ie. 'He was really great', enthused Clash manager, Kosmo Vinyl, 'and the band were knocked out.' Well, on that cheery note, with musical and age barriers breaking down all over the place I'll take my leave of you for the moment, but I'll be back, same time, same place next fortnight. Hasta la Vista!

. ,

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"W hen we got back from the States we just you don't to your friends. Graham ' was blacks and whites in them, and they sing songs about racial tolerance, yet there they had to choose. Obviously you're reluctant to already in a band and Ian was available." in , this weird s itu a tio n ., change anything that's successful. But if we'd ' All the fuss about line-up changes, has were kept going as we were we'd only have been tended to obscure the fact that the Sports braw ling.. .fistfights. completed a reasonably successful tour of the doing it for the money." "I dunno what's going to happen over Martin Armiger is sitting in a small office in United States in December and before that there." he said with a rather rueful sigh. the Mushroom Records complex off St. Kilda finished recording their third album, to be While in the U.K. the Sports played two club Rd. in Melbourne, pondering on the reasons called 'Suddenly', in London, with honorary dates to what Armiger d e s c r it ^ as the "usual for the departure of keyboards player Jimmy Australian Pete Solley again twiddling the fanatical ex-patriate Australian reaction." On Niven and drummer Paul Hitchens from the knobs.-Armiger tells me he was, "quite pissed arriving in the U .S. A. the band weren't really off", with the guitar sounds on Solley's Sports. toned up for playing live, due to spending 5 previous outing with the band, 'Don't Throw out of the previous 6 weeks in the studio. 'We told Jimmy that we didn't really think S to n es. The new album has a much tougher Before tackling Noo Yawk City they did a that the keyboards were happening suf sound. couple of gigs in upstate New York. Armiger ficiently. The main thing was that with a six "It's less. . .m an n ered in it's production. described with sardonic relish driving up piece group we were comjng offstage not It's still quite smooth, but it's less s lic k . There through the backwoods and playing in bam s really knowing what had happened during are a few groove songs, a couple almost on the outside of town. 'It was pretty strange, I the set. W e thought that if we tried it without reggaeish. When we did 'Don't Throw S ton es' mean we're real city boys and these were like keyboards then there'd be a bit more space in we were just getting into things like reggae. re a l countiy style places. We did them as the music." This time it was a lot easier to play things like preparation for New York which is At the moment the Sports are rehearsing in that." lik e .. .city, city." Melbourne with new drummer Ian McClellan The firrt New York date was at the I asked if he noticed any significant (ex-Ariel and Mondo Rock). The new line up changes in London from the time the band Palladium supqpcaiing the Buszcocks and the will make its debut at the Crystal Ballroom in Fall. were there last March. Melbourne on February 10th. According to "In the U.K. the Buzzcocks are considered "When we were there before no-one Martin and lead singer Steve Cummings, the seemed to know what was going to happen to b e this real ^larp, aware batxl. But in the new Sports sound will be more "guitar i^ales they are considered punks. So when next. I mean bands were definfteiy Toetbased". Cummings suggested the Flamin' Punk'. They didn't know what they were. This they g o over they put on these shiny, spangly Groovies as some sort of reference point, to time round punk had disappeared, esKoeot for shirts, turn their a n ^ up to 10 and jump which Martin commented, 'Yeah, that's not a really hard cone Kke bands like the U.K. around a lot. And the crowd go crazy. W e bad comparison, as they are a band who use Stibs who a re dreadful. Bands like the went down O .K . but it was a real punk crowd two guitars really intelligently.' and I think we were a M t different to what Jam have taken over, as far as fashion goes. After the news broke about Paul Hitchens All the n » d b a n d s . . S e c r e t Affair were they'd expected." and Jimmy Niven leaving the band, Hitchens After N w York the band went to Boston, uge when we were there. 1 didn't really lfl» was q u o t^ as saying that he'd decided to at mudh either — it just seems so byrk dbwh to Philadelphia and then across leave the band mid-way the border to Canada to play the famous vative. American tour. I asked Armiger (Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello) El Mocambo "The othermalnnJOvernent is the skinheads Q u b , in Toronto. had informed the rest of the bend o f his vdio seem to be tied in with some decision at that time. C o n sid erably h e a rte n e d by th e ^ ineecticmary poiittos. There's this movement, Not in so many words, but it did get a bit tilusiastic response in Boston (where W ho caSed the B ri^ ^ Movement, which seems to strained. It was between all of us. Theae was L isten s to T he R adio' went top 20) and Toronto ^ muscle arm of the National Front. The obviously a problem and no one could really National Front has gone all straight and is they returned to New York for two headline put their finger on it. Some of us thought it trying to get elected so they've cleaved off gigs at Hurrahs. was the drums, some of us thought it was the toeir aggressive element which is now called "The first night at Hurrahs was like a real keyboards. I thought it would happen. fiie British Movement. celebrity audience. Mick Jagger, Billy Joel, he'd leave or we'd ask him to, one way or Vitas (Serulitas. And playing a real New York "W hile we were there we went to see a another." There were two people in the running for Specials/Selecter/Madness gig which was clu b ......... we were a bit nervous. The second night was a lot better." the vacant Sports drum stool. Ian McClellan„ taken over by this gang of about 400 After Hurrahs the Sports climbed into a who eventually landed the job, and Graham skinheads. They just smashed their way in through these plate glass windowns and couple of hire cars and in true explorer Perry from Man & Machine. fashion, drove off into the west.. Q eveland, "I think the main difference was that Ian started laying into the crowd with bike was more familiar with our stuff." said Ar chains, knives, bottles. .. .It was really St. Louis, Cincinatti. The gigs were good or bad depending on how together the record miger. "Graham's a fantastic drummer but strange and quite frightening. "O n that tour, the 2-Tone tour there were company (Arista) was in each city. In the mid the day we rehearsed with him we were ail a bit hung over and consequently a bit sloppy, about 14 gigs that had trouble from the west the Sports are regarded as a new wave whereas he was really sharp. The previous skinheads. It's because Madness are a band. "People would come up to us and ask, day with Ian just felt better. I mean, another skinhead band and they're involved with this thing. . . . people think you just go and steal really weird, violent group. The Specials & "What sort of rock'n'roll are you into?", and from a n y o n e.. . .well, you do (laughs). . .but the f l e e t e r are mixed groups, they've got we'd say, "Blondie", or something like that

and they'd say, 'Aw, yeah, but what about real rock'n'roll like. .. .the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix. . . .?' To them there's this golden stream of rock'n'roll, and we weren't quite on it. But when we got to California we found that the new bands like the Pop, the Beat, the Sinceros and the Motels weren't on it either. They were cracking in good on the east and west coasts but in the south and mid west they were having problems." The highlight of the North West section of the tour was staying in the Edgewater Inn in Seattle, Washington (of Frank Zappa's 'M others L iv e' and mudsharks fame — 'We didn't meet any of the gxrls he mentioned though' said A t m i ^ ) . In 6 a a Francisco the band played the Waldorf, supporting the Motels and in Los Angeles Vt was the WhiskyAu-Go-Go where there was a 'full, xe^on^ve, critical audiesnce/

Jb:td that was toe tout* In the 15 months sin ce Martin Armiger jenned the Sports toe band has, in his own words, gone 'boom'. And, when you look beck, ;tte list of achievements is quite impretoive, A competent second album, 'Don t T im m S ton es', a trip to England for a naticmal tour supporting Graham Parker and the Rumour, an E.P. on the hipper-than-hip Stiff Records, a tc^ 50 single in the U .S. A . at their first attanpt, their first American tour, and the third album in the can . And it's all been done fairly quietly, with none of the o s t ^ tatious blare that usually goes hand in hand with Australian success overseas. “You see we're not into the trappangs of being pqp stars," says Armiger. "W e don't want to spend the rest of our lives doing ra ^ o interviews, getting our hair done, doing photo sessions........... We d rather spend time in the studio. "And we don't want to play every pub in Australia 3 or 4 times this year. W e were sick of doing that 6 months ago. Getting away to England was great and the States was just fantastic." So what are the plans for the future? "Well, we're going to be recording with Ian in February, then we'll do a few gigs around Melbourne, then probably a concert tour with Split Enz. They're sick of doing the pubs tc^ (laughs). That should be really good. That 11 take care of March. April we're going back to the States. Then seeing as we've had some belated success with 'Who L isten s to th e R adio' in the U.K. and Europe we might do a U.K./Europ© tour. That should be good, Id like to see Holland, France, Germany

By Donald Robertson

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MAN AND Towards the middle of January the bass player from Eric Gradman's Man and Machine, Rick Grossman, left the band and they temporarily stopped playing. Not the sort of stuff that ma!kes front page news, you might say, but for the band's followers — and there are now plenty of them — it was a pretty tragic event. Man and M achine had become possibly the most powerful, exciting and original outfit on a very desolate Melbourne pub circuit and Grossman was an integral part of their sound. It can't just be a guirk of Australian bands that in an interview situation they can literally ooze confidence and positive thought and then turn around mere days later and do something totally oddball and opposite. Although M & M were a fairly outspoken band, one thing they didn't appear to lack was internal harmony — they were all committed to an ideal of remaining as in dependent as possible from established agents and record companies, of refusing to conform to the norm of playing as many gigs a week as possible. They nearly all had day jobs and hence didn't need a musical income, and the fact that they had no chance in hell of becoming massively popular in Australia didn't particularly worry them. Yet one of the main factors that led to, Grossman's leaving was simply that he didn't have a job and the band's working schedule couldn't support him. Although the band will never be the same now, Gradman is adamant that they will keep going. He says they'll use their period off the road to record and then put their thoughts to playing live again, probably with a new bass player. But it's typical of him that when asked for specific details he just says bluntly, "W e've got plans, but I'm not going to tell you what they are." Ifehaviour like this gives you some idea why Eric Gradman strikes many people as being just a little ........... o d d . Considering that Gradman is about as prolific as Wild Man Fischer (and almost as commercially suc cessful) his reputation in Melbourne is guite staggering. Luckily, there's little from the interview at Gradman's South Yarra hgme which is irrelevant now that Grossman's left. O b viously no bass player is irreplaceable and it seems highly unlikely after all his years in da biz that Gradman would let the band fall apart so easily. Particularly as he's never seemed closer to hitting paydirt, with the band currently in the process of signing a management and record deal - with former AC/DC manager Mike BrowningHistory: Gradman is remembered by m ost' as one of the leading lights in the now legendary Bleeding Hearts. Long regarded as one of the most original and forwardmoving bands Melbourne ever produced, the Hearts broke apart due to the oh-so-common vicious circle of personality tensions and disillusionment at flogging themselves to the public week after week. Gradman spent more than 18 months avoiding rock'n'roll after that, and much of the thinking behind Man and Machine was a natural result of the un deserving end the Hearts cam e to. He came out of hibernation determined to do things on his own terms for a change, and to that end set about creating Man and Machine's name, writing half their repertoire, choosing the rest, handpicking the musicians and then telling them almost exactly how he wanted them to play. Grossman, drummer G raem e Perry and guitarist Bob Kretchmer were all from a pop band called Parachute and from their ex perience playing at pub level for years, they knew what G rad m an m eant about disillusionment. Rhythm guitar player Mick Holmes had only played in a punk band called The Reals but obviously realised he was onto something special and stuck around. Gradman wanted a wall of rhythm from the guitars and drums, with the bass almost the melodic focal point. The end result wasn't that well-defined, but the band certainly made a big splash from their first, roughest gigs. They thundered through the same bizarre repertoire every night. Sixties' hits like A lw ays S om eth in g T h ere To R em in d M e and T he B ea t G o es On rubbed shoulders with material from modern local bands like Parachute ("Let's G et R ich T og eth er" ), the Hearts ("Boys"), and even Rose Tattoo ("N ice B oy s" ). Then there were the r e a l killers, newer Gradman songs like The B ath, C rim e O f P assion and D an ce O f L ife. This band had no obvious influences, except perhaps the Velvet Underground. Perry and Grossman played around with tricky, sinuous rhythms but could just as easily burst into the intense, lengthy surges of playing that Gradman's songs demand.

Kretchmer and Holmes stuck almost ex clusively to rhythm, except when Kretchmer unleashed a howl of feedback and white noise from his side of stage (always a lot of fun to watch). Gradman supplied the charisma, some dynamic vocals and a touch of ef fectively simple violin. Put it all together and you had an instant experience on your hands. They were also one king-hell of a dance band. After six months of rapid development in Melbourne, they went to Sydney for a guick visit, toured Tasmania, then went to Sydney a g a in , and re le a s e d two in d ep en d en t records. Even after a year they still regard the band as a public experiment, still talk like excited parties to a unigue id e a they have stumbled across. Unfortunately, the band just don't see their long-term future here, and Gradman ex presses a hope that Mike Browning will get them overseas — to England initially — at the earliest possible moment. Touring on vir tually any scale in Australia is a financial headache, and attempts at recording have been fraught with bother. Their first venture into the studio produced a six-minute, truncated version of C rim e O f P assion which appeared last year on a 12" Missing Link EP with two red-hot live cuts (in stereo) on the flip. It's an essential buy if you want an introduction to the band, although the actual recording was apparently an arduous process of battling with equipment and equipment breakdowns. The only other Man and Machine release has been a limited edition seven-inch version of T he B ath which recorded in Gradman's bedroom before the band had even played a gig — the live effect of the song is far more shattering. The band's problems with recording reached farcical level late last year. Gathered together in Gradman's lounge room, the band begin the interview by talking about their last attempt in the studio, which involved setting up mikes and video equipment in a metals factory next to Rich mond Recorders in the hope of getting a cavernous live sound down on tape. They got the required sound alright, but unfortunately so did the neighbours, who had the police usher them away after only a rhythm track had been laid. "It was a shame actually, because it was going to work", muses Graem e Perry. "It was really going to work . . . . " W hereas Bob Kretchmer says the band would like to capitalise on their live power by issuing at least some live material on their first album, Gradman seems keen on the idea of experimenting with strings and the studio, if they can get the money togerher. One thing's for sure, they have postponed further recording until at least February or March, when they hope to have a producer. As for record companies, well they're just one element of the biz that Gradman doesn't q u ite see eye to eye with. Basically, most of them think he's an arrogant prima-donna. "W e could have had a straight record deal by how — a couple actually — but we've persisted", he says. "Their system doesn't really suit us and therefore we are always relectant with them. And no-one appreciated reluctance." If, at .this stage, Gradman is starting to sound like some kind of ego-tripping pseud, don't worry — you're not alone. One of the biggest criticisms thrown at M & M is that they're self-indulgent (they can be on a bad night) and pretentios. Gradman, on the other hand, sees his songs as being fairly traditional in structure, inspired by soul artists he still admires and dealing with fairly basic emotional issues. "I think most people know what we're on about because it's fairly simple. It explores the same old things of, uh, getting up in the morning, working, how one gets from day to day. I don't think it's hard to understand what we're saying."

Now that Man and Machine are popular, they've watched their original ideals get whittled away slowly. They have to think about tangibles like money and recording, where they are heading in this country, and their original aim of acting independently of agencies has fallen to pieces — they're back in the same situation of playing to apathetic suburban audiences they wanted to avoid. "W e've got no fuckin' influence on nothing," says Gradman with a bitter laugh. "Everyone's finally worked out our game. “What happened for a w hile. . .we couldn't work out if we were being paranoid or if people w ere consciously fucking up our system. People were using the fact that we weren't with an agency as an excuse not to pay us." Although Gradman admits the band was "a

little lazy" in sticking to its basic repertoire for many months, their focus in now shifting from the early "bump and grind" material to newer songs like Id iot C h ic, M an an d M achin e, A ll Is M ach in e, H ey You and a revitalised B right B oy from Bleeding Heartsj which see the band straying further and further into their own, unchartered musical territory. Although the very (improvisational) nature of the band makes it difficult for them to pull new material together, these new songs (plus th ree so o n -to -b e -u n le ash e d numbers called T he M outh, C h in ese Burn and G irls With C ars ) are even more openplan structures than before. Gradman makes it clear the band is going to get more ex perimental as it progresses. "I'm just so sick of the whole head-banging thing, it's just getting worse and worse and worse as far as I'm concerned. Bands are either so shrill or so cliched. . .I'm just not interested in following what's doing these days." Gradman delivers the last sentence in a tone of mock disgust before launching an all-out verbal attack on the current vogue of white reggae. Trends don't exactly grab him. Obviously, Mike Browning's appearance on the scene iri a significant occurence for the band, who were floundering for a while. Gradman claims to have signed a complex and hard-line recording contract with Browning — one that even Gradman was surprised he agreed to.

"His concern really is taking us away from here," says Gradman. "He's interested in us and he's gotta keep something moving in this country just to amuse us." Certainly, someone who's already sold AC/DC wholesale to a slathering overseas market must have something going for him. "We just basically want to work everywhere. W e hope there's a bigger audience over there even though we'll work on more or less the same scale as we do now. There's just more money that we can afford to do better shows with." “Ninety per cent of what we earn goes back into the system, and that's just gotta change. Because we've got to the stage where we want to devote a lot of time to the band again. We spent a lot of time this time last year getting it together and by March we don't want to be recognisable. I want to be able to look in the mirror and know that it's a different b an d . . . "1 think everyone feels that way. It's not boredom, it's just that you've gotta keep moving. "Ctherwise," his cynicism takes over, "even the best things turn to shit. "Caviar on toast turns to shit anyway, doesn't it?" And we all laugh.

Richard Guilliat Roadrunner

YO U N G DOCTEURS

WHITE RIOT New Years Eve '79 in Tasmania. More precisely at Longford, a small town twenty miles from Launceston. If The Last Picture Show had been made in Australia Longford would have been an appropriate site. A punk band are playing to twenty aging hippies in the Town Hall. They're called White Riot and they play primitive three chord rock'n'roll mixing original songs with covers of Pistols, Q asn, Stooges, et al. It was not a pleasant sight. Woodstock generation in Tasmania trying to recapture ^ e fun of past years dancing to a cerified 1978 punk band in a cold, old hall. Babies who'd been brought with parents kept crying and getting underfoot. But it was interesting to see a Tasmania punk band kick out the jams with all the vigor, rawness and niavety of bands I was seeing in Sydney at the same time. White Riot were formed in August '77 by lead guitarist and vocalist Peter Court and Tony Kitson who plays bass and sings. The two had played in various lounge room band since leaving school in '75 and decided to form a 'real' band. They teamed up with Martin G reer, a versatile stick weilder and the basic rock'n'roll unit was complete. As Martin explains it, "Tony left from playing lead guitar with a group called Cargo, the night we were introduced to him at one of Cargo's gigs. We talked about the Sex Pistols and just for a laugh we got up and did this pretty unrehearsed version of P retty V acant." At this stage they were called Second Release. Unable to locate a permanent bass player they talked Tony into swapping from lead to bass. "The first gig was at a local football club during April 1978. We played stuff by the Ramones, Pistols, Clash, and The Who which upset most of the people there. They started throwing cans and bottles at us, so we pissed off." The band didn't get another gig till Sep tember that year where they played a Launceston pub called Stumples whose prime clientel are those in search of rock'n'roll and

hefty, unpleasant bikkies with gang names like Devils Henchmen and Satans Riders. G ee, it must have been like Altamont. A few weeks after that the name becam e White Riot. They played around Launceston, building up a small but loyal following. The last show was supporting The Angels at The Albert Hall when The Angels visited Tasm ania.' And what was White Riot all about? "W e believed the main theme was anti-youth apathy and the need for good rock en tertainment as opposed to bands who promised energy and gave cabaret" says Martin. "This attitude had a definite backlash with several groups telling us to give up and we were banned from some pubs". Peter is presently in England having a holiday and investigating the possibility of getting a singer to come back and aid a possible White Riot reformation early next year. White Riot have a cassette EP available. It's calledS/jouf Out and contains seven originals written by Peter — M y B ric k W all, S hou t Out, N in eteen , G ettin g C loser, Your R ock'n'roll, T een ag e Iden tity C risis and L e e c h . All are typical buzzsaw epics, no better or worse than most other Australian punk stuff — you know it all, screaming vocals, indeciperable lyrics, frantic guitar. Much more a live experience than something to listen to in the living room. "The EP was recorded in Peter's house for friends who wanted a copy. We also sent it to 2JJ and 3RRR, and sent a single package of T een ag e Iden tity C risis and S hou t Out to local and overseas record companies." White Riot aren't gonna change the world but they're kids who've got the initiative, guts and desire to play the music they like and make sure as many people as possible near it. And believe me, trying to do things like that in Tasmania is damn hard. Those interested in investigating further can write to Martin G reer c/- PO Box 72, Launceston, Tasmania, 7250. The EP/Cassette costs $2.40 and 55c for postage and packing.

By STUART COUPE.

Canberra, seat of national government and bureaucrats. City of the clean street and well trimmed lawn. Australia's suburban hear tland. Emerging only after dark, as though by statute, in sweaty rock venues scattered, across the triple fronted brick veneer sprawl, we find devotees of the modem dance band. A new breed of young musicians are challenging the established Canberra bands. Our case in point: the Young Docteurs. Swathed in surgical dressings, white coats, black vinyl and wielding the implements of medical and musical surgery, they are an incisive musical force. Coming onto the Canberra scene when there were only three 'new wave' bands of note playing: Tactics, Berlin and Myxo (the first two have since fled either en masse or in part to Sydney), the Docs haved carved quite a niche for themselves. With an e.p. now in the shops around the country, there's no reason why they should look back. But what of the band's beginnings? Lead guitarist Paul Hayward takes up the tale. "W hen we started, and that was about November '78, we didn't consider ourselves so much punk as new wave. 'G u r early sets were full of Pistols, Dead Boys, Clash, Ramones, Radio Birdman covers. "Though it wasn't really punk fodder", chimes in singer Chris Shakalis. The band's repertoire has certainly moved along since then. Now it is fundamentally original, in a sense of the word that extends beyond the songs simply being written by band members. The songs that they are writing have an air of inimitability. The three tracks on the e.p . are a good indication of that their music is about. Chris's lyrics are fairly intense. On the A side, 'Bronze P ortrait': 'C rystalline v essel o f h o p e, fille d with w hite d esire.'' Yet the music is pared back, essential and driving. Crisp

guitar figures, underscored by tight and uncompromising drum work, filled out by bass and rhythm guitars. Flip the disc and you can hear 'E cliptic M irrors' and 'The M u ltitu de', both bearing the same musical stamps, though the latter features some tight vocal harmonies. Paul writes the music. "The approach to the music is not very formulated. The songs just com e". What about putting the music across to the audience, how important is image? "Oh, very impxjrtant. W e've got heaps of jamisma, or whatever its called", says drummer Paul Turnbull, idly picking up a kitten by its tail. Chris sets the record straight: "W e're not posturing, the Young Docs idea is a good thing to work around on stage, but we don't over-do it". "W e haven't exploited it fully, we don't want to get a big image going. On stage the band commands instant audience involvement. There is something about their music which sets even Canberra bodies in motion. "W e like Canberra, it's very small and friendly, and there is less vicious competition between bands, but on the other side of the coin there really aren't enough people for a band to survive. You have to think of rtioving to Sydney if you want to eat." The band has had a couple of line up changes this year. Keyboardist G loria Wee has left and rhythm guitarist Mark Bek has joined. The band are all working or studying this year as well as playing their music. But 1980 will see them going full time. The future looks pretty good. The band has talent and ideas a-plenty and are about the best little dancing combo playing in the capital, and believe it or not, Canberra boasts a hell of a lot of very good bands. Watch out for them.

MR. SHEEN.

mm M HWfuvrsi Ik

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ONE STEP BEYOND... 37142

ONE STEP BEYOND.. Featuring the hit single "ONE STEP BEYO N D " K 7693 on record and tap e 8

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The Numbers are amongst the most popular and talented new bands playing in Sydney. Their story is a fascinating case study of how three kids who want to play rock'n'roll start a band and cope with all the pressures applied by the music industry in its never ending quest for the almighty dollar. The Numbers are drummer Simon Vidale and brother and sister team, bass player and singer Ann Morrow and guitarist and singer Chris Morrow. Ann and Chris have been described as The Osmonds of Oz rock and they reckon they'll give up music if anyone compares them with Karen and Richard Carpenter. Ogops, looks like we've lost another potentially great band!! The band plays an exciting brand of rock'n'roll which emphasises short, catchy, powerful songs. On stage they're exciting as Chris constantly leaps into the air like a young Pete Townshend or Paul W eller, Ann sings strongly and plays bass like a female J.J. Burnel and Simon pounds the skins in a relentless fashion. Definitely a band to be seen live. Chirs and Ann have been playing music together for 5 years and they've been in a band together for the past 3. "At one stage we had a copgas player, a brass section and two other singers but gradually the others left and we becam e a three piece band by accident. Then over the next few months we learnt how to be a three piece" says Chris. . The band's first break came by chance. Chris walked into The Stagedoor Tavern and 'T said I was in a band and we wanted a job. They needed a band to support Rose Tattoo and I was told we could do it. That was in August '78. W e were called the Slip Kids then. "W e thought it was an alright name but everyone thought it was terrible so we changed to the Works and then learnt that The Works had the name registered so we changed it to The Numbers. Then we found out that there was a band in Brisbane called The Numbers but we got it registered and that's the way we've stayed". Association with Brisbane's Numbers was quite helpful in the early stages. That band had an excellent independant single released and many Sydney people went to see the Sydney Numbers thinking they were seeing tha band who made the record. Confusing isn't it? "People used to say 'you drive a long way just for one gig"* laughs Chris, recalling the early shows. The Numbers did some shows on the same

bill as The Angels who liked them and arranged for the band to go to Alberts studios and record some demo tracks. They found it invaluable experience talking to G eorge Young considering his experience with rock'n'roll. At this time The Numbers were under lots of pressure from agencies to become a 4 piece band. "They said we couldn't ask as much money for a show if you're a three than if you're four piece. They wanted us to add a saxophone player or a congas player or they just happened to know this good guitar player who could jo in ......... " explains Chris. "That was where George Young was really helpful. He told us to play it out at its own speed and not get sucked into the whole business of having to develop too fast. He said we'd be more satisfied if we developed at our own pace instead of chasing what the industry wants and thinks is best" he says. At present The Numbers play about 50% original material. Most are written by Chris. Their covers include excellent versions of Roxanne by The Police, Mr Clean by The Jam, Bowie's Rebel Rebel, some Cars songs and Cheap Trick material. "W e've got enough of our own songs to play about 50% originals. It depends how long we've got to play for. If we've got to play for a long time we play a lot of covers. If we play only an hour ^ e n two'thirds of it's original." "Everyone says 'I guess you're working towards doing 100% originals! I'm not working towards" doing 100% originals. It's just that there's so many good songs around that it's nice to play. It's OK as long as you're not doing mindless replicas. You couldn't say that any of our covers are replicas" he says. Earlier this year The Numbers supported XTC and The Flowers on a national tour. On that tour they played mainly large venues, something they don't particularly enjoy. "W e haven't really played a big place packed with people there to see us. At the moment we can only fill small places so naturally that's where we go best. They're great because you're close to the audience". The Numbers recorded an EP before leaving on the tour. "We did the EP two days before we left on The XTC tour. We thought it'd be a good idea to have something to leave behind because we'd be going through places at a great rate like Melbourne and Adelaide overnight so it'd be good,to leave something at radio stations. Two days before we left we found a free studio and recorded it the next day in six hours. That's they way I like to work in the studio â&#x20AC;&#x201D; really fast" explains Chris.

The EP contains three oriainals. Govt Boy, Private Eyes and Guerilla. Although the sound and production is a little thin it gives a reasonable idea of what The Numbers are about. It's available on The Local Label. According to Chris "technically it's not very good at all but we're happy with it." Ann is one of the few women playing in bands in what is a very male dominated business. How's she treated I wondered? "Pretty good. They don't treat me as anything different which is fine by me. TTiats how I want it. Chris has very defiaite plans for the future. "When you look at the industry you get slotted. It's all stratified and the star system's

alive and well. I don't know if that's good or a bad thing .but I know you get slotted in on one level and get sucked up when it's your turn and spewed back out when it's over. "What we want to try and do is step sideways out of that. In other words, one of the things we're thinking of doing is going out to nightschools and unlicenced places. Not necessarily getting them while they're young but because those people want to see gigs. And are The Numbers looking to being the most popular band in the country. "Oh yeah" they say. They want to be the best. You can check them out at a pub or nightschool near you soon, Stuart Coupe.

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TOUR DATES 6th 7th March Sydney CAPITAL THEATRE 11 th March Brisbane FESTIVAL HALL 13th March Canberra BRUICE STADIUM 14th March Melbourne FESTIVAL HALL 17th March Adelaide APOLLO STADIUM 19th March Perth ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE

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growing-out spiky punk haircut gives him the exaggerated appearance of a Richmal Crompton character, the three front-line Clashers now sport little sign of the band's mega-punk origins. In keeping with their fascination and love for their musical roots they all resem ble variants on late fifties' rockers: lead guitarist Mick Jones in black slim-lapelled, drainpipe trousered suit and pomaded-back black hair is strictly A1 Pacino ch ic; bassist Paul Simonon, in a brown chalkstriped variant of the same cut of suit as Jones is decked out in, now has his blonde locks plastered back too, accentuating the James Dean school of high-cheekboned fragile male beauty jh a t is no doubt a large part of the reason for his travelling to Hollywood this coming March to act in a feature film; lead singer and rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer's dark blue woollen shortie overcoat, trilby, scuffed faded tight jeans and battered shoes, Though the understanding was restricted make him seem like a hit man on hard times. Now Strummer's sitting at the organ that to just three bands — The Clash, The Pistols sits sideways and quite at home in the centre and The Jam — Punk showed that it w as of the rehearsal room, leaning over and possible for there to be new rock'n'roll bands with no less a com plete rock'n'roll sensibility playing it and pouring out his soul on 'The than the great rocker icons of the fifties and B a n k ro b b in g S o n g ', a slow blues that features sixties. In fact, so long as they are able to Jones on bottleneck guitar and which is an assimilate without any self-consciousness the even newer Clashsong than any of 'London totality of rock'n'roll history/tradition, it is C a lin g '. As he sprawls over the notes and squeezes into the mike his mournful words, possible that these new greats may ultimately be judged even weightier than their peers, so Joe invokes memories of countless anonymous much more extensive is their knowledge of bar-room bluesers, their voices husky from too many nights of booze and cigarette the possibilities of the music of The Youth. smoke. The organ also makes The Clash feel So soaked in the history of rock'n'roll, r'n'b, rockabilly and reggae is 'London C allin g ' that quite a lot like The Band. The Clash as a group would have a further it can seem like a couple of tablets of stone dimension added if Joe were to play organ deeply scoured out with rock'n'roll truths. onstage on maybe a couple of songs — he There are nineteen numbers on the LP — looks more than just visually impressive. It's only eighteen are listed on the sleeve: 'Train In Vain', the final track on side four, was a quite moving, in fact. For the moment, though, this is unlikely to last minute inclusion after a plan to give it away free with the NME hit insurmountable occur. Blockhead Mickey G allagher is doubling bands and playing with The Clash technical problems. on as many dates as he can get to while still 'London C allin g ' is littered with allusions, fulfilling his obligations to Ian Dury and the conceits, and further pastiches of rockabilly, rest of the chaps. r'n'b and reggae — especially reggae. These 'The B a n k ro b b in g S on g ' completed. The are sources, though, not Bowie-type steals: Clash replace the energies of several hours there's nothing self-conscious or sneaky concerted playing with assorted Chinese and about them. It's all out in the open. The Clash Indi foods that've been brought in during the wit, along with the fiery positivism it hangs last song by personal assistant Johnny G reen. out with, sees to that. With both Jones and Strummer checking first Actually, of all the sources, reggae is to ensure no non-ital animal flesh [ “Chrissie certainly the most dominant. It seeps in, Hynde (from the Pretenders) once told me unobtrusively and sometimes not so unob that if you eat meat you inherit the fear of the trusively, all over 'London C allin g'. animal as it was killed. That's just one reason I The Clash listen to a lot of reggae — on- don't eat it." — Mick Jones] com es their way the-road travelling music is invariably chosen the assorted dishes are shared around. from the Paul Simonon creative cassette-ing After meditation with post-dinner herbal collection. 'R udie C an't F ail', 'W rong 'Em matters it's decided that the first part of the B oy o' (originally cut by The Groovers in '64), interview may as well begin there and then 'Lover's R ock', and 'R evolution R ock' are whilst the whole group is together. obvious ones but it's all over the place really: Mick Jones is the first to speak quotable'H ateful, 'Jim m y Jazz', 'D eath o r G lory ' and type things. As Joe returns after having 'C lam pdow n ' plus many, many more. disappeared out the door for a couple of Like the hardest JA sounds that The Clash minutes, and Paul crawls around the floor on are into, the band themselves most certainly all fours barking loudly, and Topper con are hard. The hardest band there is. The tinues eating Jones considers 'London best. C a llin g '. With legendary, supposed loony, producer "W ith the B-side of the single it's twenty Guy Stevens At The Controls 'London tracks in a ll," he says in his high-ish, soft, C allin g ', cut in the three and a half weeks London-infected voice. "O ur twenty G reatest Hits currently. W e knew it was coming out at prior to the band's summer '79 US tour, transcends the introversion (not to mention Christmastime so we thought it would go up the Blue Oyster Cult sound) of the Sandy well against all the other Twenty Greatest. "Tell you som ething," the lead guitarist Pearlman-produced 'G ive 'Em E n ou gh R o p e'. Dealing with emotions and decrying self turns to Strummer as the latter sits down defeatism 'London C allin g ' has a direct again behind the keyboards he was playing, spiritual link to their first album, 'The C la sh '. "we're going to have to do soomething to And in the same way that 'The C lash ' is make- the album come out as cheap as probably the best debut album ever made by possible in Am erica. That's quite important. "How m uch," Jones turns and asks me, "is any group, so 'London C a llin g ', coming as it did three weeks from the end of '79, is Tusk?" Me: "About fifteen dollars, I think." possibly the definitive seventies rock'n'roll Joe: "But that's made of ivory, isn't it?" record, an ironic antidote to Seventies MePaul: "Must b e ." G eneration selfishness and self-defeatism. Mick: “W ell, I reckon we must definitely go The Clash question everything, which is why they're so positive. They don't think it's for about ten bucks. And we'll have to stand hopeless. The Clash, in fact, believe that we by it, 'cos you know once you've said i t . . . have nothing but hope: Just get out there Joe: "Stand by your p rice ." It's four days before Christmas. A dark, early evening, damp with snow that keeps turning into rain and back again. Immediately south of the Thames, in the inappropriately genteel Victorian suburbs of Putney, The Clash are stashed away in a dark rehearsal studio readying their set of reggaebilly rockers for a 40-date British tour set to start on the fifth day of the New Year. 'London C a llin g ', the brand new Clash double album, has b een in the shops now for about ten days and has already entered the British album charts at number nine. As a two-record set it belongs to those highest heights that so far have only had room for " B lon de On B lon d e" , " E lectric L ad y lan d" , "Exile On M ain S treet" , and The Beatles' "W hite A lb u m " , the handful of titles that don't abuse the form of the four-sided record with a superfluity of obvious filler songs.

and do it!

Doubters have suggested that The Clash's The Clash don't offer any solutions. In their open derision towards their record company subjectivity they act simply as messengers is little but an urban ch ic pose, though this is pointing out modern (and ancient) truths as hardly a worthy estimation of the intensity of they relate personally to the individuals in passion within the band. The Clash just despair at the general and around the band — though they are, of course, truths of which we all can be just as hamfisted lack of humanity displayed by the vast soul-less super-corporation and at the aware. for company's depressingly low level of un “Only the lazy ones look to derstanding of what rock music is all about. solution." Joe Strummer tells me. "W e just made our feelings clear, really, Consider Joe's appalled reaction to the news and other people happened to feel that way, that prior to the band's Spring Los Angeles show the Epic execs had all gone out with too, and so they got behind it. "But making your feelings clear is a long their Am erican Express cards and gorged down n in e-co u rse meals. "W hat sort of way from solving everything. "Thinking clearly is supposed to be the person goes out and eats a nine-course meal and then goes to see some rock n roll? he ultimate." demanded incredulously. As elevated tube trains rumble past a few Despite this constant public confrontation yards the other side of the upstairs rehearsal between the band and their Babylonian studio wall, The Clash, vibed in on several Paymaster G eneral it seems that there are hours of playing and spliffing, are into serious genuine Clashfans at boardroom level in the work, running repeatedly through the Am erican company, There seems to be little backing track for 'R udie C an't F ail'. If the question of The Clash's being dropped by. number's being given such a rigorous work Epic should 'London C allin g ' fail to shift the out becau se of any repeated musical errors, I required number of units. Topper hands me a don't spot them. A lth o u g h d rum m er T op p er H ead on 's highly laudatory, cable from the Epic 12

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P'x: Pennie Smith - - .ii

Managing Director. In it he compares The Q ash to such giants as John Lennon. He promises the company's undying loyalty. "There you go then." says Jones with a decisive nod of his head. "That's what they think of u s . . . Though they probably will turn against us if it doesn't happen. "But it's not as though they almost haven't anyway. Perhaps they haven't in America — but here it's different: they've always got so many problems with us; we're the problem cases. "You see, they're not very musical people at CBS. They're not really interested in music. The ones in charge don't know anything about music. "W hat," he turns to Simonon on my left, "do you think to CBS, Paul?" "J don't really know." Simonon shrugs his shoulders. "J don't really deal with them." "Yeah," says Jones reflectively, turning to me, "we don't really. We've stop p ed .. . Paul: " . . .but before it was always a pain. J can't bear to go up there." Topper: "W e never ever speak to them . . . " Mick: "See, they're the sort of com pany. . .Their latest Christmas card, right, is a classic. It's in full colour: a picture of the managing director, Maurice Obserstein, holding his dog's paw . . . " Paul: " . . .which is holding a p e n .. ." Mick: " . . .which is signing a contract. . ." Topper: " . . . i n front of all these gold albums. . . " Paul: " . . .that must be what they think of u s. . . " Mick: " . . .people on our label are the same as dogs. . . Anytime it looks like you're going to get out of it they find loads of different ways for you to owe them money." Paul: "They sort of say, 'Well, here's some money to help you ou t'. .. but it doesn't help at all. Jt just appears on a bit of paper later. You just think, 'Oh great. We've got out of the mess we're in'. And there it comes again." Mick: "W e did think that we could just do a load of records, right — like just guick: jazz albums — and hand them all in at once and it'd be over with. "But this is a contract that we signed when we were naive youngsters. And in that contract it says the records have to be over a certain period of tim e. . .So it's just a case of us doing our time, really. "The whole business's one aim really does seem to be to find ways to rip people off. . . Which doesn't really suit us at all, because we're trying to find ways of at least getting people value for their m oney. . . " Paul: "But the main thing is, other groups should be aware of this as well." As well as their guerilla warfare with their record company The Clash have until recent moonths been involved in a similar situation with their former manager, Bernie Rhodes, who signed the band to C B S in London on the same day as the group members thought they ' were signing with Polydor. The diminutive Rhodes, former second-in-command to one Malcolm McLaren, app>eared to thrive on the kind of tensions and disharmony that stood directly at odds with the growth of the group's collective strength. Having settled out of court with Rhodes The Clash are now managed by London's Blackhill, one of the world's m ore trustworthy m anagem ent operations. Blackhill, the original managers i Pink Floyd, also currently care for the career of Jan Dury, as well as Roy Harper and Philip Rambow, and the Blackhill team in cludes the legendary rock'n'roll visionary, Kosmo Vinyl. "W e're finished with B ernie," Joe tells me, in his speaking voice that always reminds me of a Scouser's without the LiverpKool lilt, "but he's not finished with others. He's got a whole stable — Dexy's Midnight Runners, Vic Godard, The Black Arabs." For the B-side of the 'London C allin g 45 The Clash cut their version of W illie Williams' classic reggae single of this summer, 'Arm ag id eon Tim e', as featured live on the encore of their summer US tour. Released by Coxsone IDodd's Studio One label, a company renowned for probably the best sounds that come out of Jamaica and also for the philosophical manner in which its artists seem to accept not being paid, 'A rm agideon Tim e' used one of the most popular rhythms of the year, Sound Dimension's 'R eal R ock'. Before they were forced to cut it in England The Clash had hoped to go to JA to use that same rhythm. Studio One expressed no interest whatsoever: "Peter and Andrew from Blackhill phoned them up and they said we couldn't use it," says Jones, disapointment in his speech. "W e couldn't come down there and use the backing-track. We were going to have gone there from America to do it. We thought, 'It's a great track. We'll do it'. G o to Jamaica at the end of the American tour. "But they wouldn't have it. They didn't want to know — though now it's a hit," he adds, with an ironic sneer, "they don't mind selling us the publishing! "J think Studio One's a real fucking dodgy situation — all those people getting ripped off. . . Really a lot worse than h e re . . . "Anyway," he adds, "J was bitterly

disappointed that J had to come back to England instead. "There were all these plans: we were going to have gone to Cuba. And to Mexico. And Japan. We were going everywhere. And instead we came back here as soon as it was all over." "What happened to the Cuba thing?" J ask. Mick (laughs): "A Wild Man organised it." Joe: "The island sank." Mick: "There was all kinds of shit going on about Russian soldiers in Cuba. "J mean, they'd been there for like fourteen years but the papers had just got it, y'know. (laughs) And they made a big deal out of it and the President had to have a word with the Russians about it. "So it also becam e very difficult to get to Cuba from America. Also the whole thing was beginning to look like a political number." The last Clash American tour seemed almost pre-destined to end in chaos. As cartoonist Ray Lowry, who'd travelled on the tour making sketches for some paintings of rock'n'roll he intends to work on, has told me, the organisation completely fell apart at the last date in Los Angeles. "Me 'n' Jo e," says Topper, "were stuck at the airport and we didn't even have the money to fly the luggage out. As soon as the last gig was over everyone did a runner. We woke up the morning ^ ter the last gig and in the hotel there was just the four of us left." "W e were in charge that night," continues Mick, "because Kosmo had lost his passport and had had to go up to Vancouver to fetch it. "And the geezers in the road crew wouldn't start the show unless they'd been paid. And there was this massive audience going bonkers. All bribes and things to get them to turn the power on. "And then after that even the tour manager skipped. "Jt was just us four left, plus more luggage than you can imagine." But you seem to be doing pretty well in the States. . . Mick: "W e're not playing bigger halls than we play here, really. Some. But relatively about the same size. Some a lot smaller as well. "America hasn't really woken up to it on any massive scale. The concerts are good. I think we have a bit of a rep as a live band. "J imagine" — Jones' lips curl con temptuously — "The Police, someone like that, must have sold guite a lot of records there. Like The Knack have. "Things like that sell quite a lot of records." Are you getting played on the radio at all? Mick: "Som e .. .It's lik e . . . (to the others) J mean, are we under-rating it or what?" Joe: "Underrating what?" Mick: "Do we get played on the radio a lot or not?" Joe: "Definitely not!" Topper5=-"On John Peel-type shows." Joe: "What's that one in Boston?" Mick: "Can't remember. We had a good time in Boston. Took over a radio station." Topper: "W e smashed all his records up." Mick: "Yeah, we were taking his Boston and Foreigner albums out of their sleeves and scratching them — his most popular records totally fucked. That was where the programme director was talkking to us as he stood on this pile of hundreds of records that had just been chucked down on the floor. "We'd go on these radio programmes, too, and we'd just play really great records by other people and talk a bit in between them. That really confused some of the Epic people who saw it as a means of doing nothing but ramming half an hour's worth of our music into the audience." J attempt to get another question before time finally beats me: Are you going to be using keyboards onstage from now on? Joe: "Only to stand our beer bottles on." Mick: "W ell, Micky's going to be there when he's not with The Blockheads. He'll be one of our Special Guests on occasions, but he's already got a band. W e're not going to be looking for anybody." Joe: "Ladies and Gennelmen. Let's hear it for (in harmony with Paul) The One And Only Mickey G allagher And His Organ, (end harmony) Rip it up, Mickey."

NEXT ISSUE: Paul Smenon eoqpkdns why he's so bored with the U.S.A.; The Q ash ploy for Kampuchea a

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Strummer discusses Homer's 'O d yssey'. Don't miss it! Roadrunner

SCENE TWO Time: 3 p.m. 18.1.80 Place: Port Obello Centre, North Adelaide. The members of Squeeze straggle into the bar. At least I THINK it's them. Squeeze must be one of the least distinctive looking groups around. The various members disperse to different corners of the bar to feed the hungry tape recorders with words of wisdom. One is left out of the shuffle and wanders over to the bar for a glass of wine. On introducing myself he informs me that he is G len Tilbrook (lead singer on most Squeeze songs, and composer of the band's music.) I comment on the seeming facelessness of the band and ask if it's a deliberate policy. "Yeah, it is in a way. Like the decision not to put a photo of the band on the front covers of our two albums was deliberate. We sorta like to be able to walk down the street without being recognised. Although in England people are starting to recognise us." And right on cue, as we sit down in the presence of an operating tape recorder, in walk a group of friends from Glen's local pub in London. I hit the pause button as greetings are exchanged. Glen is obviously delighted to see a familiar face in the blur of strangers and gets a further shock when Squeeze's ex publicity person from A&M Records in London walks in the room. Cries of 'What are you doin' 'ere?' fill the air and it almost seems like a space warp has transferred us 12,000 miles to England's green and pleasant etc. After all the excitement has settled down, Glen and I resume our conversation. He informs me that he, Chris Difford (lyricist and vocalist bn 'C ool F or C ats' single) and Jools Holland (keyboards) have been together for the last seven years and that Squeeze as a band have existed for five years. In England they have just graduated from the pub/club circiut to concert halls and in the U .S ., where they have done two tours at t h e , pub/club level, they will be playing concert halls on the east coast next time they go there. The rest of the country remains to be conquered.

UK SQUEEZE By Donald Robertson The dance floor upstairs at the Crystal Ballroom is M OVING. At least six inches I estimate, but it feels like a lot more. The reason it is moving is that there are 900 people jumping on it in unison. Onstage, between two swaying speaker stacks, UK Sgueeze are belting out 'G oodbye G irl'. Those of you familiar with the recorded version of this song (on the 'C ool F or Cats' album) would be surprised. I was. U.K. Sgueeze transform a gentle poignant ode to lost love into a raging footstomper. And the crowd love it. It is hot in the Ballroom tonight. In fact, the air is almost as thick as the crowd. People's clothes are drenched with sweat and there's not a dry forehead in the house. I had ex pected a clean sounding pop band and what I got was a full on raging rock outfit. As a live

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proposition U.K. Sgueeze are a lot closer to Dr. Feelgood than the Knack. It was hard to see the stage over the bobbing heads and I was getting just a little worried about that roller coaster floor, so I thought I'd leave the sauna and watch the rest of the set on the video downstairs. It's an interesting experience to watch a band on a T.V. screen when you realise that a mere thirty feet above your head they are actually playing their little hearts out. Kinda futuristic eh, what? But at least you can see. V/hat you do see is a fairly ordinary looking bunch of London geezers playing rocky British pop. Visually they are nothing special. Musically they are a cut above competent. It's in their lyrics that they excell. And on this night anyway they are a bit hard to pick. Maybe great pop bands are not meant to be seen live.

Reports from the eastern states on the first half of the Australian tour have been ex tremely favourable, both about the band themselves and the number of people that they have been attracting. Has this been a surprise? I ask. 'Yeah, it has. Like, we expected it to be fairly good 'cos the 'C ool F or C ats' single did pretty wfell and the album went gold an' all that, but the first couple of gigs were so good hat we thought they must have been flukes. But they weren't — everywhere has been exceptionally good.' Do you prefer to do this kind of tour, a pub/club tour, than a concert tour? 'Yeah, I think Squeeze are best ap preciated in clubs. It's important to get that intimacy that you get in a club. I mean it can be fun doing a concert 'cos you can work in things like lights a lot better but I'd prefer to dump all that and do a club (laughs)' Conversation turns to the 'C ool F or Cats' album. I comment that lyrically the album, seems very earth y , and that the two people I'm reminded of when I listen to it are Ray Davies and Ian Dury. "A lot of people have said Ray Davies actually. I think that's a great comparison," replies Tilbrook. "W hen we w ere, writing songs for that album we were spending a lot of time in these pubs that were owned by this set of South London gangsters. That's no exaggeration. We were just looking for gigs at the time and they gave us gigs and lent us some equipment but the deeper we got in with them the more we became -aware of their shady connections. So we drew a lot of in spiration from that."

The new Squeeze album, 'Argy B argy' (cockney slang for pushing and shoving) has less local colour than '0 ^ 7 F or C ats' says Tilbrook. This is due to the fact that, a p ^ from the time when they were actually recording the album, the band have been touring for the past year. "The London emphasis has been eroded somewhat, but we haven't resorted to 'on the road' songs yet. (laughs) "I think local colour is one important aspect of what we write, but it doesn't have to be there. TUthough on the other hand, it's ob viously the think that you know best. "'Argy B argy' has a bit of a harder edge than 'C ool F or C ats'. There are a few people, particularly in London, who refuse to take us seriously b ^ a u s e they think we are just a pop band. Well, we are a pop band but I don't think that mearis we can't be taken seriously.' One aspect of 'C ool F or C ats' that I per sonally found interesting was the variety of musical styles on display, everything from beefy rock {'It's S o D irty') to Cockney reggae ('Coo7 F or ^ t s ' ) to melancholy ballads {'Up the Ju n ction ' and 'G ood by e G irl'). Glen Tilbrook admits to liking a range of music and remarks that the music he was mainly listening to before coming on tour was 40's swing jazz. 'What I like about that period is the verve and enthusiasm in the music that I think today's studios take away. I also think that the thirties as a period has yet to be bettered as far as son g s go. Take Sinatra — his phrasing is just im m acu late. There's a real warmth in that music that just can't fail to communicate itself.' Talk of the thirties and forties leads onto the topic of the Second World War and simitlarities with the political events of today. Tilbrook comments that editorials in the British press are reading exactly like they read just before WWII and there's a feeling of tension in London that he's never sensed before as a result of the Russian invasion of T^fganistan. He tells me that Miles Copeland, who manages The Police, Joe Jackson and a few other bands as well as Squeeze, has set up a tour of India for the Police but will be looking closely at the political situation there before going ahead. The Police in India? Well, I found it rather surprising too. What about the music scene in London at the moment? I ask. If one is to believe the (much disliked among musicians) British music press the music of 64/65 (ska, bluebeat and mod) is making a really strong comeback. 'Yeah, that's one facet of what's happening. Tlnother facet is the more experimental bands like XTC and, e r. . . .Human League, bands like that. My theory is that every so often music goes thrdUgh a major upheaval, which happening in England late '76 and '77, the whole punk thing. What's happening now, and it'll probably continue for about the next three or four years, is an extension of that. But all the time there are people going off on tangents and exploring different sounds. Until in the end what'll happen is that the whole thing -will get so diversified that it'll just explode again and there'll be a completely new run of bands with something to teach bands like us. Then in ten years time there'll be a revival and we'll go out and do the cabaret circuit (laughs)." Do you think you'll be the Supertramp of 1988? 'No, I honestly can't see it. I mean it's so easy to attack bands like that who, through no fault of their own, have been successful for a long time. But I do think that the longer you've been around the m ore. .. watered down you get. You get mellow and more uninteresting. I think when you get to that stage it's time to knock it on the head. Still you never know what other considerations there will be at the tim e..................'

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"According to experts, it really washing. The main worry about all this is: What is possible for a white person to would happen if an unscrupulous character have souh^ That^s from Robert conned an artist into using his/her influence Christagau. What's it got to do for the wrong reasons?" I guess that all speaks for itself. I wouldn't with this month's new releases? like to burden Brett with guestions about who controls the mass media and who's trying to You may well ask. Around this time of the year the brainwash who there. One wonders if Australian rock'n'roll stars supporting Frasers major record companies take a next election campaign will be a case of few months off to count the profits brainwashing or in the interests of the of correct thinking people??????? from the past year and don't majority Back to No Nukes. Forget the album and release too many records. .This donate a few dollars to the Australian anti Sound and the Fury column nuclear campaign. You don't get a boring record and do something constructive at concentrates on stuff left over home. Let's moke a iew dollars second time from last year and the first dept. releases of this, oh so happy and round S h ad es O f Ian H u n ter, subtitled T he B allad optimistic new decade. o f Ian H u n ter a n d M ott T he H oop le (CBS — Blah blah blah, nice cause, shame about the music. N o N u kes (Asylum Records — triple album) is recordings of The Muse concerts for 'a non-nuclear future'. Mainly its tired old has-beens like The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Bonnie Rait, Nicolette Larson, John Hall, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Jesse Colin Young. The best thing that could happen to most of them would be a severe nuclear explosion somewhere in the vicinity of their souls. The whole thing's saved by Jackson Browne, Ry Cpoder's "Little S ister" , Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers doing "Cry To M e" and BRU U U U U U CE (S p rin g ste e n ) singing "Stay" with Jackson Browne and tearing through his "D etroit M ed ley " . But even Springsteen's performance seems cold and sterile compared to his numerous bootlegged performances of "The M edley^'. You do get a nice photo book for your $17.99. BUT no individual performance is worth the cost of the triple album and as a whole it's pretty dire. Any anyway, aren't rock'n'roll stars getting too much political power? The Sound and The Fury award for services to rock'n'roll journalism goes to Brett Stavordale (In Place of Humdrum — TV Week Jan 19, '80) where Brett pondered long and hard about the implications of concerts like these; "Whether nuclear power is a good thing or not, is it right for artists to use their special influence in the political arena? "Certainly, they are allowed to express their views like anyone else. But let's face it, they have access to more media exposure than the average person. And they draw the crowds with their music. "Most of their fans follow them for the music, not their personal opinions on current affairs. ......... Special concerts are held suppx^rting various presidential candidates which, in my opinion, is a not-too-subtle form of brain

double album) is a compilation of released and previously unreleased Ian Hunter material. It covers Hunter's career from '72 till '79, has a number of singles, a side of singoes B sides and culminates in a live version of "M arionette". Essential for Hunter and Mott fans and an excellent introduction for those curious about Hunter's contribution to rock'n'roll — not bad at all.

About time too dept: CBS have finally realised that they have

The Only Ones, one of the finest English

But it's not rock'n'roll that makes you sit up, shut up and listen, now is it? Pearl Harbour and The Explosions are The Crosby, Stills and Nash of The Eighties.

Gee wiz, wish I w as a Beatle dept. The Romantics are from Los Angeles. First album's titled T he R om antics (Nemperor thru CBS) and is just out as an import. Expect Australian release in a month or two. Produced by Pete Solley (see Sports and W reck less E ric ) it's p u nchy, poppy rock'n'roll. Some of it, like "W hen I L ook In Your E y es" and "T ell It To C arrie" is magnificent, powerful rock'n'roll but much of the rest is incredibly lame. The Romantics reek with rock'n'roll spirit but whether there's enough for a whole album is something I'm not so sure about.

Drug casualties dept: The Jefferson Starship have yet another post Woodstock album. F reed om A t P oint Z ero (Grunt) finds them with only Paul Kantner left from the original Airplane line up. Album has occasional moments that spark and recall just how great some of his band's music has been but it's far from being an important moment for them. One is recommended to search through the archives to when The Airplane and Starship made some of the most important American rock'n'roll EVER.

And just when depressing dept:

was

getting

THE SOUND AND y THE wFURY N ight (Chrysalis) is a wonderful album of raunchy, tough pop rock'n'roll that really RCCKS. It's yet another Chinn and Chapman production. Benatar has a voice that chills spines. She sings Johhny Cougar's "I N eed A L ov er" as if it means sqmething. Recom mended. The Pretenders will no doubt get a lengthy review when their album of the same name is released in Australia but suffice to say tl>at their it defines commercial pop orieni^ted rock'n'roll. Chrissie Hynde is the best women vocalist in the world and The Pretenders have no peers in contemporary radio styled rock'n'roll. Latest release on Radar is from The In mates, an English rhythm and blues outfit in the Dr Feelgood mould. Their version o f "Dirty W ater" is a killer and the rest combines originals and manic workouts of classic R&B songs. Sound and fury in every groove. Ch, by the way. I'd forgotten. The album's called F irst O ffen ce. Ska/Bluebeat finally hits Australia with the release of Madness' O ne S tep B ey on d (Stiff) and it turns out to be an utterly fantastic dance album. Would you believe 15 tracks? Yes sireeee my friends and each one a gem. Their rendition of "Swan L ake" deserves to be a hit single. Madness put the word 'dance' back into rock'n'roll.

No one else would so we did it our selves dept:

Some independent albums. Seeing as how I It's tenipting to say "I've seen the future of new rock'n'roll bands, on their books. S p ecia l did the cover notes to Young Modern's P7ay View (Epic) is The Only Ones album released rock'n'roll and it's Carolyne M as..........." in America late last year. It contains four but Landau did it a few years ago with this F aster album (Local) I'll leave it to someone tracks from the bands first album, six from Springsteen character. And in case you're less biased to say that this is one of the finest their second and "Peter a n d th e P ets" and ‘interested Landau's brother plays guitar in Australian albums in the past 10 years (10 Ms Mas's backing band (where do you get this months????) (weeks????). Young Moderns "Lovers O f Today" — the first single. The Only Ones combine lyrical influences trivia Stuart —ED) Along with Ellen Foley singer, Johnny 'John' Dowler also appears on from the likes of Dylan, Lou Reed and and Ellen Shipley, Carolyne Mas is bearing Spare Change's L on ely Suits (Musicland) Leonard Cohen with distinctive, catchy the burden of the 'female Bruce Springsteen's along with luminaries of the Australian rock'n'roll. Both their albums have been near title. Remember when Bruce had to live down rock'n'roll underground like Chris Langman and Henry Byhnal. I'm told that in their faultless expositions on love, heroin, love of the next Dylan tag???? Mas's debut album (Mercury) does have heyday Spare Change were highly respected heroin, mysticism and urban turmoil. Peter Perrett has an extraordinarily captivating some obvious S p rin g ste en sim ilarities. and famous. I never saw 'em h\A Lonely Suits moan that passes as singing and he fronts one There's heavy emphasis on intertwining sax hints at their ability. Recorded between and guitar pieces and the songs are con November '76 and March '77 it lacks a bit of of the tightest bands I've heard in ages. structed in a fashion comparable with production depth but the playing is fine, the Back in 1974 NME's Nick Kent heard tapes of The Only Ones and was firmly convinced Springsteen's. Lyrically Mas is concerned songs often great and it's well worth hearing. with love and life in an urban environment. Highlights are "Let's G et R ich T ogether" they were Velvet Underground out-takes. Since then they've developed their own 7U1 this street and street kid symbolism, but (yeah boys), "Francoise", "Down On The distinctive sound but their vision has much in who cares? She's a mighty singer, her songs B ou levard " and "The B ig B eat". X's X -A spirations was recorded in 5 hours are dynamite, touching and passionate. The common with Reed's. at Trafalgar Studios in Sydney. Produced by band, dare I say, is as tight a unit as the E And it's great rock'n'roll. Most highly Lobby Lloyde it captures X at their raw, basic recommended but I'd like to insist you try to Streeters. I'm almost convinced that this album in the finest. It's thundering repetitive rock'n'roll hear both the original albums. Double the fun equal of Springsteen's '72 debut :— Carolyne that works best in a crowded pub but the for double the price. album is something to keep and remember Great nam e, sham e about (most of) the Mas is THAT good. blah blah blah — tell your kids and all that Descriptions of individual songs and album dept. Pearl Harbour and The Explosions quoting of lyrics is pointless. Every track is a stuff. Ch god are YCU still reading. This Sound (Warners) contains one classic, catchy hit masterpiece — HEAR THIS RECCDRD SCCN single \"Drivin'"] and a few of similar — THIS IS THE FIRST BEST ALBUM C F and Fury column has been a public service. The general idea being to give you an idea of potential but overall it meanders along. 1980. It's very heartening to see the increasing what's about and whaat's worth buying — They're from San Fransisco, are melodic, unobtrusive, pop influenced and make nice num ber os women re co rd in g g reat isn't it fun? rock'n'roll. Pat Benatar's/n T he H eat O f The Stuart Coupe. background music.

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DUGITES Lynda Nutter has cut her hair since The E)ugites last visit to Melbourne and the Eastern states. She looks tougher, sings more confidently and the band is playing tighter. They were good the first time through. Now they're great. A note in the pad I took to Bombay Rock says, "refuse to review only one gig. They're too good to underestimate or be too trite about." Disregarding such a positive rule (It's my rule anyway. I made it, so I can break it.) I jot down the names of the first couple of songs. Something about South Pacific and a love song, 'You Make Me Feel Like I'm Thirteen Again'. The first song that I pay any real con centrated attention to is 'The Tesco' which has vocals by ex-W arner bassist, Paul Noonan, and keyboardsperson, Peter Crosbie. Crosbie straps on a portable instrument, whilst Lynda crosses to the Keyboard array. It's a strange song, very Orstaylianna, if you know what I mean. It's catchy, with lines that rhyme with 'tesco', like 'paint a fresco', 'go to UNESCO', but the pronunciation is god-awful ocker. The funny thing is, that you get so used to it after a while, that you start to like it. 3RRR-FM have been playing 'The Tesco' a fair bit and now I really love/hate it. 'Let's go, do the Tesco, it's gonna be bigger than the disco'. I don't know if that one song will do the trick, but hopefully the Dugites can push disco back into the dark years of seventies' memories. Lynda takes centre-stage again and an nounces, "W e want to be on Coundown." Bizarrely, the band rocks into their 'Count down' number, in deathly silence. At first I thought that there might be a fault in the P.A ., or in the power supply. There was no vocal, no keyboard, no guitar. Nothing happening at all. Then I noticed that Clarence Bailey was working up a real sweat on his drum kit, which was also dead silent. "I'm deaf. I've finally been to one too many gigs. My ears have had it." The rest of the stage was also fully in motion. Lynda was

fondling the microphone, Gunther Berghofer came forward to perform a screaming guitar solo, Crosbie was bopping away at his ivories and Noonan enthusiastically hammered his bass. All in total silence. It's a brilliant piece of mime, that initially confused everyone. Then a wave of un derstanding passed through the audience until the uncomprehending caught on and stopped hooting and b le a tin g . W ell choreographed and enacted with really superb, anguished, rock'n'roll facial ex pressions by all the band, it earned rousing applause at the 'climax' and 'finale' of the song. Ian Meldrum, this is something you have got to see. The applause dies away as Bailey speeds into New Yorkish desperate high-hat work. Crosbie come in with very fast keyboard and a sharp driving rhythm pounds out discoish like on the Stones 'Miss You'. Crosbie blazes like Hendrix' 'Machine Gun'. It's tight, simple, repetitive and very sexual. The number eases back down to bass-drum, highhat and bass guitar. Lynda takes her vocal mike. She's hot and sweaty, as is everyone on the dance floor. Her voice is deep and gutsy, but agile. Capable of getting up high as well as sounding full and rich down in the lower registers. Lynda is a great rock singer. The same driving rhythm slams out but suddenly and excitingly the drums change for the outro. One last crescendo and Bombay's audience go guite wild. Dugites finish with a knock-out version of 'Da Do Ron Ron' and 'Navy Blue'. I had to leave after W arner started, with three of the Dugites back on stage for another gruelling set. I don't know when the Dugites (pronounced dew-gites) will resurface on the east-coast — they are indigenous to the Western coastal plain — but certainly a band to keep an eye on. In fact they seem to be the most promisiing new band for the coming year. Watch them! DAVID L. LANGSAM in Melbourne.

THE SHARKS Brisbane's venues seem to be in a continual state of flux. That is, no sooner is a good venu e e stab lish e d th an the L ice n cin g Commission decide to close it down. So at the moment, since the banning of rock music from Cloudlands, Festival Hall is once again the venue for large gigs. But not without a few changes. Recently, UK Squeeze, The Aliens and The Sharks played to a merrily pogoing crowd. For the first time the seats in the main body of the hall were removed. And people were allowed pass-outs. I arrived about 15 minutes before the advertised start. I hurried past a leering

usher trying to stamp the pass out on my chest and into the practically deserted hall. About 20 people had arranged themselves in front of the stage. In the middle were three young girls, eaching wearing pink sneakers and yellow sun glasses. I figured that only the weirdos arrive early. But where were the Shark fans? Rumours had been rumbling around for a couple of weeks concerning the state of the band. After the departure of their drummer, the Sharks had gone off to Melbourne where they'd enlisted the talented brother of Mark Shark. This had apparently been very satisfactory, but he had refused to go with the band on

their return to Brisbane. So with the big gig And which can't be achieved by doubling the tempo for the last verse and chorus. The build approaching, and no drummer approaching, there was a lot of talk about imminent break up to the song itself, from the previous number, '/ Don't W ant To' was spoiled by an up. But they managed to borrow a drummer, Mick Lake, from Strand. And the show went ill-timed intro in the middle. Each song was carefully introduced, on. carefully executed, and just slightly, ever so Five minutes before they were due to start, the Sharks dribbled onto the stage. Little carefully, boring. But they were enjoyable. enthusiasm showed. They looked like they Tknd I would be sorry if their present just wanted to get it over with. An impression, problems lead to the disbanding of the that didn't leave me throughout their per Sharks. Their problem is that a certain lack of formance. So at 7.27, pm they began with confidence is pervading their music. Their original material is good, although W ine To F iv e'. My first impression was that they were certainly tighter than the last time perhaps a little trite, lyrically. And their I'd seen them, two months ago. Lots of choice of covers thoughtful. The line-up of sin ger/ gu itarist, b ass, keyboards, gigging had paid off. But where was the saxophonist/guitarist and drums gives them passion? loads of flexibility and possibilities. Now all O .K ., so maybe they needed to warm up. But they didn't. At no stage that night did they need is the spark. The crowd had grown to only a few hun they give themselves over to the music. They looked as though they were too embarrassed.. dred by the time they'd finished after only 11 songs. Tknd although the reaction had been There were moments of fire, in their intruiging version of '/ am the W alrus' and in warm, the band was soon forgotten once off stage. A desultory air prevailed. More people the two songs from their single, F reu d ' and 'Lobotom y', which were played last. Or were wandering in surprised to have missed them all together. I had the distinct feeling maybe I mistook their relief for fire. Their version of 'Psycho K iller' had none of that the Sharks hadn't appeared at all. ~ Anne Jones the neurotic subdued tension that it deserves.

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austraua â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s definitive rock history SUNDAY NOVEMBER 4th 1979 LIVE FROM THE STEPS OF THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

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A S P E C IA L L Y P R IC E D JO JO ZEP & THE FALCONS - Hit And Run SPLIT ENZ - I See Red MARCIA HINES - You SHERBET - Summer Love NORMAN GUNSTON - Miss You TMG - Jump In My Car DOUG PARKINSON - Dear Prudence MIKE RUDD - I ’ll Be Gone STARS - Mighty Rock JIM KEAYS - Turn Up Your Radio NEIL JOHNS - Seasons Of Change

D O U BLE A LBU M

JON ENGLISH - MEDLEY; Turn The Page Six Ribbons Hollywood Seven Superstar SKYHOOKS - Living In The 7 0 ’s MAX MERJUTT - Let It Slide STEVIE WRIGHT ~ Evie RICHARD CLAPTON - Girls On The Avenue RUSSELL MORRIS - The Real Thing ^ F .J. HOLDEN & FRIENDS - On The Prowl HUSH - Glad All Over COLLEEN HEWETT - Day By Day MIXTURES - Pushbike Song CHEETAH - Walking In The Rain

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Clash can sound this raw in the studio. From there on there's hardly a powerchord in sight as The Clash prove over 3 Id sides that they've become one of the most polished, e c le c tic bands anywhere. They cover so It's been three intense years for The Clash, many styles, lyrically and musically, that a three years in which they've survived instant track-by-track listing is impossible; it would Rock'n'Roll Saviour status, a reputation as the take pages. best live band on the planet, the inevitable Examples. . .there are two reggae tracks. backlash, the inevitable self-doubts and R evolu tion R ock and G uns o f B rixton. The personal d ev elo p m en ts. . .th e whole former is a cover version I know nothing rock'n'roll syndrome compacted into three about, the latter is Paul Simonon's ominous years and magnified a dozen times. tale of the London underworld, and both of The whole process. The Clash's history, them prove that nob od y beats The Clash expectations and obstacles is captured with when it comes to white reggae. Topper remarkable clarity on a track from this album Headon, the greatest rock drummer in the called F ou r H orsem en : world, takes a guided tour of his kit and "They were given all the foods of vanity. Simonon, once the weakest player in the And all the instant promises of im band, is now as good a bassist as he is a sex mortality. symbol. But they bit the dust screaming insanity! W rong Em B oy o starts like a Dylan outtake Four Horsemen. until Strummer sudenly yells "Start all over If you don't understand why The Clash again!" and they slip with disgusting ease into would have the gall to write an anthem about a breezy ska singalong that is totally themselves, then you don't understand The irresistable. R u die Can't F ail has a similar Clash. E verything about this band is out of bluebeat exuberance, with the Irish Horns proportion — their life is not a career but a pumping along on one of the many tracks crusade, their every single and every album they dominate. Strummer and Jones share virtually all has to prove they can still cut the opposition to shreds, their last American tour was writing credits, but their styles are miles nothing less than an attempt to singlehan- apart. Jones' wistful, youthful personality and dedly alter American rock tastes — and each melodic guitar lines are plastered all over success is just one small part of the self- Lost In T he S u p erm arket and I'm N ot D ow n, two tales of adolescent angst and deter proclaimed battle. The Clash are very naive and very mination very similar to his previous, and romantic; that's what makes them great. equally delightful. S tay F ree. He also does a Unfortunately, in the past it's also made them perfect recreation of uptempo 60s soul on prime targets for cynical put-downs, and the S tan d B y M e (which for some reason is not band haven't helped any by making silly listed on the cover) and succeeds in a daring mistakes like those embarrassing photos of attempt at Spectorish drama on the evocative themselves in Northern Ireland, where their The C ard C heat. Strummer sounds almost wizened by whole urban guerilla credibility went down comparison, and seems to have reached a the drain in a hail of guffaws. Somewhere along the line Mick Jones and stage of life where youthful impetuousness Joe Strummer — the heart and soul of The and the experience of 27 years have Clash — have realised that something gotta coalesced into a remarkable talent for change, that it had to be proved they could songwriting. He has the perception to make characters do more than simply release the greatest string of powerchord British youth anthems of and stories leap into life before your eyes, the sense of humour to avoid preaching, and a all time. L on don C allin g is their attempt to break out magnificent voice to carry the whole thing of that musical pigeon hole, it's their crack at off. America, their potshot at delivering a seminal D eath O r G lory draws cutting parallels musical statement as the 70s blacks out and between a washed-up, small-time crim and a the 80s roll through; it's an attempt to do all of washed-up, smalltime rock star, both of whom those things in one fell swoop and what's even have become a part of the system they set out more outrageous is that it w orks . . . only to fight; "Every gimmick-hungry yob digging America will tell whether the victory will be gold from rock'n'roll/Grabs the mike to tell us he'll die before he's sold/But I believe in tiiis complete. No amount of imagination could prepare — and it's been tested by research/That he you for the shock of just how much The Clash who fucks nuns will later join the church." have developed even in the leist year. The Strummer's fear of being conditioned, streamlining that was evident on the C ost O f being sucked into the system, weighs heavily L ivin g EP is taken to its logical extreme here on his mind. W orking F or T he C h izyxhw n — all four players have soaked up influences has much the same message matched to a and worked themselves into the ground to classic Q ash Bigbeat riff, Strummer warning become rock stylists par excellence, W orld Youth about con d ition in g from snatching elements from the 50s, 60s and^ e ld e rs .. .'‘It's the best years of your life they their own wired-up modem energy, matching want to steal." it to a lyrical scope that shows the results of On several songs Strummer and Jones constant touring. strike a balance of styles that works "Black music, black vinyl, black and white beautifully: On L ov ers B o ck they harmonise cover" is how Strummer described the album, plaintively about the joys of sex without and at least half of it is positively immersed in contraception — the closest they've come to black styles. Reggae, R&B, jazz, scat singing, an outright ballad; S pan ish B cm bs is an call/response singing, toasting, d u b .. .- historic tale of rioting set to one of Jones' where once there would have been a stream lined d esce n d in g g u itar hooks; chainsaw guitar, now the Irish Horns punch H atefu l, the other drag song, has inspired out their staccato brass riffs or Micky call/response vocals as the pair detail the desperation of waiting for the dealer's call Gallagher plays a swirling organ. Just occasionally, they overstep the mark There's four sides here and The Clash and their producer, former Mott The Hoople man Jim m y Ja z z is a sloppy jazz strumalong about Guy Stevens, cover one hell of a lot of a fictitious Rasta character, but it tends to ground. Following a long line of predecessors- drag on too much, and T he R ight P ro file, — Lee Perry, Sandy Pearlman, Micky Foote, which has a horn section straiught out of a Bill Price — Stevens has a more commercial, Mardi Gras, also overstays its welcome. But immediate approach to the studio, seems to even then the songs are both riotously funny love the overdub but captures a remarkably as catchy as hell. Maybe I think L on don C allin g is a classic relaxed groove. L on don C allin g is a far, far cry from the raw bite of the first album or the album simply because The Clash are my measured painstaking created dynamics of favorite rock band in the world and I can' G iv e 'Em E nough R o p e, but The Clash prove bring objectivity to bear.- Maybe, but I doubt once again their uncanny knack of making it. You can laugh at The Clash if you want to you can scorn their intense seriousness, but the best of anyone they work with. Not that the two first cuts give any in there's no way in the world you can doubt dication of what's to come. The title track their sincerity or the sublime aura of joy they opens with a distinctive jack-boot rhythm and create. Whether or not The Clash think their music a boom ing b ass, Strum m er shouting melodramatic warnings of some unspecified will change anything, I don't know, but disaster; "London is burning and I live by the they're trying, trying to fight apathy and get people off their arses, trying to share what river!" The band suddenly slam into Vince they see as the truth. They are the only band Taylor's 50s hit. B ran d N ew C a d illa c , and in who have stuck to their ideals through so the process justify just about every much doubt, the only band who would fight superlative ever thrown in their direction. the CBS corporation to get this LP released at They steam along on the P eter G unn riff, a sensible price, the only band who could Strummer wraps his patented snarl around make a double album as stunning and every syllable as he hurtles through the flawless as L on don C a llin g . What I'm trying to say i s . . . they're the lyrics, and Mick Jones sets fire to the second verse with an incendiary solo that brings on a — Richard Guilliat rush of memories of that first album. Only The

THE CLASH Lon don C allin g (C .B .S .)

Fleetw ood M ac Tusk (WEA)

M N ew Y ork/L on d on /P aris/M u n ich MCA (thru Astor)

So this is the album that the record biz is depending on to get those cash registers turning over, thus signalling a general revival in the currently depressed in ternational album market. I must admit I find it hard to understand why record company executives think one blockbuster album is good for anyone outside the lucky company flogging the product to the vinyl hungry hordes, but there you go. The two previous albums have set TUSK an almost impossible standard to follow, yet it's to flie band's credit that not only have they really faced up to the almost herculean task squarely and fairly, but unlike Led Zeppelin, they have made a positive albeit small attempt at extending the scope and texture of their music here beyond what might normally be expected. The album is less tough than I expected and I can understand why in this age of fullon energetic rock'n'roll why it might get the thumbs down from many who demand to be rock'n'roll^ rather than cajoled. However, there are plenty of people I can rely on to rock my socks off but few outside of Fleetwood Mac I can relax with like an old friend without feeling the need to bang my head against the wall. Strangely I find the album's first two sides while very strong, are still markedly weaker than the closing two. Certainly the clincher on the album for my money can be found on the final track of the third side "I Know I'm Not W rong". This Lindsay Buckingham song is unreasonably short weighing in at 2.59 but packed into its running time is Mac at the peak of their very considerable powers. It boasts a memorable melody, superb singing and playing and a stunning arrangement. Actually its Buckingham who emerges from the four sides as the undisputed power in the band. Its his lead guitar work which time and again makes the most powerful chemistry. His closing solo on Nicks “Sisters Of The Moon" is as fine as you could wish to hear from a C aliforn ian m illion aire hippy band. Throughout the album Fleetwood and John McVie pin the rhythm sound down skintight which allows Buckingham full reign with his playing. Throughout the album the digital recording guarantees an astonishingly crisp drum sound. Christine McVie's keyboard are kept elementary but both she and Nick's voices are in fine fettle, as is their songwriting. McVie brings both together perfectly with her sensitive "N ever M ake M e Cry". While overall Tusk is most certainly a consolidation of what's gone before, it's also an affirmation of a band that has not yet tired of success and played it totally safe with little concern for honing its strengths. TUSK provides a general level of a c ceptable excellence which is sometimes excelled but never really falls below, and on that basis deserves our patronage. But the salvation of the record biz it is not. Hop':

Most disco should not really be judged in terms of music, but in terms of entertainment value. It doesn't often successfully transfer from the dancefloor to radio or the home stereo. O f course this is because most of it is such d ire slu d ge, e ith e r vacuous, homogenised orchestrated Eurocrap with souring strings and a mechanical thudding bass (e.g. Silver Convention), murdered versions of '60s rock classics (the most recent and worst example is Amii Stewart's 'Light My Fire'), or s o u l^ out black groups singing about 'funky music', and telling everyone to 'boogie on down' and 'shake your groove thing' (whatever that is). Occasionally pop and disco is combined to produce something more memorable — such as Blondie's disco smash 'Heart of Glass', and 'Pop Musick' from M. Now here's the album, unmistakable with a giant neon M floating in space, surrounded by multi-coloured Saturn's rings. Flip it over and there's a Warhol type. Einstein poking his tongue out. What is this? Oh, E = MC2 — I get it (I think). There's very little in formation on the cover, but on the sheet inside there's a picture of the back of o i executive chair with intriguing smoke coming over the top. Of course, this is M. (a.k.a. Robin Scott.) Among the tiny notes, M thanks for Counter Intelligence Pussy Galore and gentle persuasion. So what's the record like? Well it's got his first single "M oderne M an" worked in with a song called "Satisfy Your Lust", and the other singles "Pop M uzik" and the insidious "M oonlight a n d M uzak". It also has the flipside of M&M, "W oman M ake M an", an al^urd little song which takes Professor Higgins' lament 'Why can't a woman be more like a man?' a bit further and also asks 'Why can't a man be more like a woman?' "M ade In M unich" is a militaristic disco ditty — it starts with a voice announcing through a megaphone 'You are now entering an unrestricted zone — not a disco — a fiasco' As the voice is saying 'Do not resist' the girls are singing 'C'mon dancing' and he seems to join them. Other songs include "Cow boys an d In dian s" ('Hello everybody — it's TV time') which is decidedly silly, and "Unite Your N ation ", a seditous political dance song — 'While you rumba and you samba to the party propoganda. . . .' It would make a great videodisc. Oh, and the music? Well, if you've heard the singles, you know what it sounds like completely artificial, synthesized with little bleeps and tinkles, strings and sax, 1 suppose it's disco but I really can't imagine people dancing to it, although I'd like to see them try. M is in the intelligence business, but I wonder if he's being too clever? Is this the sound of the '80s? I don't think so. It's a pity but that will be left to the 'mooq wave' - GaryNuman, Kraftwerk, the Human League etc., and they a re se rio u s. Hmmm, I think I'll have another listen. Suzie V/alton.

Roadrunner

SPLIT ENZ True C olou rs (Mushroom) The first thing that strike me about an album called 'True C olou rs' is the bravery of the title. For the logical deduction is that the band in guestion are somehow disowning their previous recorded work. A group must be pretty confident in their efforts to make such a declaration. I'm happy to say that 'True C olou rs', the sixth Split Enz album (counting the com pilation of early works, 'B eginning o f th e E nz') measures up to that confidence. 'True C olou rs' shouldn't be taken as a definitive stylistic statement from the Enz. Simply for the reason that the Enz have not sacrificed any of the invention and variety that has always characterised the band. The main change from their last album, 'Frenzy' is an improvement in the actual sound on the record and musically, an easing of pace. Most of the songs on 'True C olou rs' are no more than medium paced. The album opens with 'Shark A ttack' an ear biting aguatic love song. 'P lease don't m ess arou n d with m e/I'm a sh a rk fa ta lity /If you s e e m e/T'm th e o n e with a b le e d in g h e a r t.' It's a bizarre metaphor but a very, effective one, and is a strong opener. 'I G ot You' is the first single from the album. And it's an absolute gem of a pop song. It starts with just a steady drum and faint looping synthesiser. The chorus, 7 don't kn ow /W h y som etim es I g e t frig h ten ed /Y ou can s e e m y ey es/Y o u can te ll that I'm n ot lyin g' is backed by some beefy Farfisa organ. It's totally infectious and superbly crafted. 'What's th e M atter With You' features an early Beatles sound with an almost carnival organ piping away in the background and that is followed by the first of the two in strumentals on the album. Yes, instrumentals! 'D ou ble T ro u b le' g ives Eddie R aynor, ■keyboard wizard, to stretch out 'a n d that's always a treat. The playing almost verges on jazz, compressed. 7 W ouldn't D ream O f It' is a Tim Finn defensive love song. 'I'm n ot g oin g to le a v e m y self with a ll m y d oors ajar' he sings. Melodies rise and fade, Noel Crombie contributes an intruiging percussive in terlude and the organ swells over the more and more frantic vocals as the track wends to an end. The slowest song on the album, 7 ffo p e I N ev er', concludes side one. It's a melancholy ballad which showcases Tim Finn's im pressive vocal range. O nce again it's a love song, but it's about the most 'traditional' love song that the Enz have ever recorded. In fact it wouldn't be out of place on the Andy Williams Show. 'N obody T akes M e S eriou sly ' opens side two. It could almost be the Split Enz theme song. 'N obody listen s to a w ord that I sa y /N o b o d y ta k es m e seriou sly anyw ay'. The

beat is jaunty, the topic sad but the feeling of guiet determination is inescapable. The mood on the next three vocal tracks is definitely introverted. 'M issing P erson ' is alienation personified, 'Poor B oy' is nostalgia edged with helplessness, and 'How C an I R esist H er' is pleading with a touch of pathos, moods which are blown away by a fiery lead guitar at the end. The final track, 'The C h oral S ea ' is a disco beat instrumental which finds the Enz once again exploring uncharted territory. Eddie Raynor is to the fore with his fluid banks of keyboards. A strange, puzzling track this. But then that's not unusual for Split Enz. Overall 'True C olou rs' is a thoughtful, reflective album. The approach to -songs is more straight forward, more serious, than the Split Enz we are all used to. I think this is an album that's going to grow on me, and aren't those the best albums in your collection? — Donald Robertson

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Damn the Torpedoes MCA 1505 (Astor) structions to "Play this record LOUD". So take this a precautionary notice before listening. "Damn th e T orp ed oes" continues in basically the same vein as his previous two albums "Tom P etty a n d th e H earb reakers" and "You're G on n a G et It". However, time and experience have provided polish and sophistication. Those gualities do not detract from the hard edged rhythm and blues, based style that Petty excells at, however. They simply provide this album with considerably more force. Petty is an unpretentious and precise songwriter. Like Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson he seems to wear his burnt-out heart on his sleeve. But unlike Jackson and Costello he's no exhibitionist. He's been through the wringer but he is more ferocious because of it. Petty doesn't invite or crave sympathy. Even though he's bitter and in pain you know that, like the boy next door, he'll just go out, get pissed and dance his sorrow right through the floor. He's a defiant optimist. The Heartbreakers are as tight and proficient a rock and roll band as you could hope to hear and whats more they sound s in c e r e . There's some nice guitar work from both Petty and Mike Campbell, but for my money the keyboards of Benmont Tench and the solid rhythm provided by Sam Lynch and Ron Blair really give this album momentum. Yeah, Tom knows how it feels and he told the band too. They're not worried; like it says, damn the torpedoes (and full stream ahead). Collette Snowden.

THE KINKS Low B u d g et (Arista) C ellu loid H ero es (RCA) Presumably to co-incide with the Kinks' proposed Australian tour, RCA Victor have re-released their 1976 compilation album 'Kinks' G reatest C ellu loid H eroes'. In its favour this album is a well-selected sample of their best work from 1971 - 75. Unfortunately for RCA, who took over the band in 1971, most p>eople seem to prefer to think of the Kinks as having disappeared into thin air after 'Lola'. The period covered by this album saw the Kinks parting company with com mercial success intentionally or otherwise. However, as Ray Davies might well agree, commercial success does not necessarily eguate with interesting work. This com pilation contains some excellent songs, in cluding the regrettably forgotten single '20th C entury M an' and temporary relapse into

popularity 'C ellu loid H eroes'. THE MAIN FAULT WITH THE ALBUM IS THAT IN SCME CASES THE VERSICNS C F THE LISTED SCNGS ARE NCT THE SAME AS CN THE CRIGINAL ALBUM (e.g. 'Starm aker' from 'Soap O p era') or have been tampered with. The live version of 'A lcohol' previously available on the 'Everybody's in Show biz' album reappears here with the entire FIRST verse inexplicably deleted. Other live tracks from that album, 'H oliday' and 'Skin an d B o n e', remain intact, and to my knowledge, a previously unreleased live version of 'H ere C om es Yet A n oth er D ay , though it's not very wonderful. To represent the triple album set, 'P reservation A cts I & IT we are given 'Sitting in th e M idday Sun' and 'One o f th e Sur vivors', which are not really representative. Thankfully the sensitive classic 'Sitting in m y H otel' and runner-up 'A F a c e in th e C row d' have been included unmolested, but I still have some doubts over the version of the title track from the 'M uswell H illb illies' album (to my mind, still their best album). The Kinks are currently enjoying a new burst of popularity because they have made concessions to the times, and one of those concessions has been to drop most of the above material from their set. So at no ex pense to them, RCA have re-released an album to cash in on a tour which will feature hardly any of that material. Nice try — at least this album is available again. If you want to hear what the Kinks are (on Tbrista) up to these days, their recently released album 'Low B u dget' is currently available, and while it doesn't appear to be repeating its impressive American success here as yet, it does prove that the Kinks are anything but relics from a decade which was swallowed up by nostalgia before it even finished. If, as rumour had it, the Kinks pulled out of their last Australian tour to record this album, their judgement will have been well rewarded, for there should be more interest in them now in their o-wn right, rather than as a support act for almost anyone in the world. The single, a disco spoof (available on 12" disco version) entitled '[Wish I C ou ld F ly L ike] S u perm an ' has been ignored here, despite being Ray Davies' funniest lyric in years. My theory is that the Kinks don't make it with the fun people because they make a trauma out of almost every aspect of daily like. (At tl’ie height of the disco craze, Davies released 'Hay F ev er' in which he wants to go out dancing like everybody else, but can 'f because his sinuses are playing up.) In the case of 'Superm an', just getting up in the morning is a trauma — "I looked in the mirror at my pigeon chest/I had to put on my clothes because it made me depressed". Apart from this track, the Kinks present some of their punchiest material ever — 'Pressure', 'At titu de' and the title track. Again the humour is evident in 'A G allon o f G as', about the guy who after a lifetime of saving up to buy a Cadillac, can finally do so just when there is a world-wide oil crisis. The signs are there on this album (e.g. 'N ational H ealth') that the Kinks are willing to explore new territory (for them), although this album does not entirely escape Davies' mandatory rehash of some of his own well-worn themes. Overall, though, while Davies' work has often betrayed a fear of change, with this album he seems to welcome it. Othervdse, if you are after an album which contains most of their early hits (and 'You R eally G ot M e' and 'All .D ay a n d A ll o f th e N ight' are still highlights of their live set after some seventeen years!) then 'G olden H our o f the K in ks Vol. T , is exceptional value, although it does not include 'Lola'. 'The K inks F ile' is a double set whose only real ad vantage over 'G olden H our' is that it does include 'Lola'. — Adrian Miller

HE SPORTS NE he first froml the r P(ste ndon SessioiT^ ?5olle d/w

ever decide

R(Jcor(led Live

^cPcP <0%

Roadrunner

Over the Xmas break the number of 45's that have been piling up is quite alarming. As I begin this attempted assessment there are something in the region of 55 of the little buggers in the new releases box. I have got no chance of getting through all of them (spare a poor man's e ars!) but I'll attempt to review the best of 'em.

(RCA). The music is Chic's 'G ood Tim es' and the rapping is fast and snappy and totally meaningless.As an exercise in talking the hind legs off a cow it's passable, as a piece of entertainment it quickly loses its novelty. 'My C ity O f S ydn ey' from the XL Capris (Axel) takes a few plays to get into (my reaction, anyway.). It's a raw gutsy version of the Tommy Leonetti song that Channel 7 in Sydney use to end their transmission each night. If you don't live in Sydney, then it's still worth a listen. The flipside 'D eadB u dgies' is a bonzer little ditty too. XL Capris have a distinctive sound and while this may not be the best recorded record in the history of the universe it definitely has ch a ra cter.

Cameron Allen of Regular Records is a Space Invaders freak. He got me hooked on the damn game. Now he's masterminded a record about the coin gobbling monsters. It's called 'B obby an d th e S p a c e fn v ad ers' and it's by ex-Dirty Pool person, Dennis Wilson. Bobby is jh e 'king of the video screen' and this single uses Space Invader sound effects and a rhythm sequencer to good effect. It hasn't got the tension that the game inspires [ The current Numero Uno single in dear old like the Piranhas 'S pace fn v ad ers' (Virgin) Blighty in The Pretenders 'Brass in P ocket' has] but it rollicks along to good effect. A (WEA). It's a sorta pop-reggae Nina Simone '/ must for addicts. A in't G ot N o / . . .1 ^ t L ife'. Lead vocalist The Damned were, of course, the first Chrissie Hynde has one of those perfect pop voices and she pleads and demands to 'punk' band to release a single {'New R ose'), irresistable effect. 'I'm special/so special/I the first to release an album .{'Damned, gotta have soma your attention', she sings. D am ned, D am ned'), and the first to break up. Well, they got back together again and their She surely got mine. '/ G ot You' from Split Enz (Mushroom) first offering on their new label (Chiswick) is should 'be a number one single. Split Enz 'Love Song'. It's fast (can you imagine a slow haven't had a number one single anywhere song from The Damned?) powerful and {oh (as far as I know) but this one positively god, what?) melodic. Yes folkds, even if you DRIPS with appeal that only philistines could play at 250 m .p.h. you don't have to sacrifice fail to appreciate. 'I don't know/Why melody. There will always be a place in my sometimes I get frightened' goes the chorus heart for blitzkreig rock and the Damned do it and if you don't want Neil (who wrote the better than anyone else. This is an import song) and Tim and Eddie and Noel and the copy, but if E.M.I. have any sense they will other Enz to give it all away you should go out release it pronto. The Credits are from Brisbane. They have and buy this one. It DESERVES to be a hit. 'London G allin g ' from The Clash is a single called 'ft's You'. It has a riff that is repeated throughout the song, like the Pretty noteworthy for the flipside, 'A rm agideon Tim e' which is not included on the band's Things used to do. It also has a guitar solo. super double album. It's probably the most The Credits have put it out themselves. They extreme reggae cut that the band have at obviously believe in what they are doing. So tempted and shows that the Clash have do all of the other bands who put out their successfully assimilated and can use the JA own singles. I don't think that it is going to set influence. Buy the album and the single. the country on fire, but it's worth a listen. The Young Docteurs are from Canberra. (Oh, the A;side is pretty good, too.) Toy Love are from New Zealand. They They have nice keyboards on their maxi haven't come over to Australia yet. But on the single, the A-side of which is called 'Bronze evidence of their single 'R ebel' (Elektra) they Portrait' (Dull Records). Don't try to dance to could be gracing our shores very soon. it (unless you're very drunk) but if you like They're way ahead of most Aussie bands in flowery lyrics and don't mind straining you the pop consciousness stakes and we all know ear to pick them up, give it a whirl. It ain't that pop consciousness is where it's at this dull, but it aion't incendiary either (if you year, don't we folks? Don't we? 'He's a know what I mean). 'The Kevins have a single out on Missing Rasta/He's new wave/He don't do' nothing unless he's told exactly how to behave'. Power Link. The A-side is 'And S o W e M eet'. I think chording with a nice edge and a satirical it is the first indie disco single. You can get down and boogie your groove thing to this lyrical bent make this one not bad at all. The disco moguls have discovered reggae one. Disco on Missing Link? I was as shocked toasting (i.e. talking/raving over a basic as you! Neato sax, courtesy of ex-High Rise music track) and the first disco toast is Bomber, Sally Ford, and solid rhythm from 'Rapper's D elight' by The Sugarhill Gang Michael Davis and Steve Leeson are the

musical highpoints. The flip, 'Out A t N ight', is much more yer traditional rock song. My goodness, indie singles are getting v a r i^ ! Street Corner Jack from Adelaide have released 'W rong With You' on their own label. It's well recorded, well played, very distinctive and quite enjoyable. It's NOT poppy, punky or reggae flavoured. In fact, if anything, it sounds a bit like Mike Rudd's Spectrum. And that can't be bad, now can it? 'Freud' from The Sharks, is delightful. It's a song about the wicked ways of psychologists, 'Freud, Freud/Paranoid/Girls and boys are just your toys', screams the vocalist as the keyboards pump out the riff from Greig's 'In T he H all o f th e M ountain K ing' . Im agin e the Stranglers with a sense of humour and you've got the Sharks. Highly recommended. The second single from Cheap Trick's 'Dream P olice' album (Epic) is 'Voices'. It's a well crafted steal from one (maybe two) Beatles song(s) circa 'A bbey R oad '. Should pick up commercial airplay as it's definitely top class stuff. Cheap Trick are pop's equivalent to Kiss.

B-52's 'Planet C laire' (WEA) is racing up the Adelaide charts at the moment, and their album is (almost) top ten, after two weeks. Frankly it's hard for me to say anything about the single as I've heard it so many times over the summer. Good dancing material, wacky, fun etc. etc. W eren't the B-52's last year's thing? SINGLE OF THE YEAR SO FAR. The flipside of Sports' newie, a live version of 'Can't E ver D ecid e' recorded live at Bombay Rock in Melbourne (Mushroom). I reckon it's the best thing they've ever done, and it ain't gonna be on the new album. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen. — Donald Robertson

7 Nites per-week plus Sat a|noon 134 TOORAK RD'STH YARRA 264845

The Traitors are a one-off group of wellknown Melbourne musos fronted by writer David Langsam. 'N oiseless W orkers' (Af terwork) is a musically classy offering although the lead vocals don't quite measure up to the rest of the instruments. There is some stunning basswork from ex-Man & Machiner Rob Grossman and some excellent lead guitar from Randy Bullpin. In-ter-esting. . . Soul lives! Jane Aire & The Belvederes resurrect Johnny Johnson and The Band wagon's'71 classic'RreaAi'iigZ)owii The W alls O f H eartach e' (Virgin) and make it sound as fresh as yesterday. Jane has a strong resourceful voice, the band cook and toes will be tapping throughout the land when this one hits the playlists. O .K ., a few quickies. The Shoes 'Too L ate' (Elektra). Powerpop personified. Catchy as Tlsian flu and as nostalgic as a baby photo. Tlh, just let those harmonies flo w .. .(sigh). From the Cliff Richard Home of Happy Hits comes Christie Allen's- follow-up to the golden 'G oosebum ps'. It's called 'He's M y N uniber O ne' (Mushroom) and it's cute, commercial, catchy etc., and could be Christie's next No. 1. 'Hit & M iss Ju dy ' from Wreckless Eric (Stiff) sees young Eric in cockney carnival mood. He's no quitter is Eric, but I don't know if this will be the song to elevate him from cult status. Still, I like it a lot. Eric is a human, not a pop star, and humans are all too rare in R'n'R. And talking of humans the Human League have a single out called 'Empire S tate H um an' (Virgin). Unlike Gazza NewMan this is electronic pop with tongue slightly in cheek. 'Tall tall tall/I wanna be tall/As big as a wall, wall, wall'. Lotsa nicely arranged weird noises over a drum machine and a nice line in lyrics. A hit hit hit! (Probability 0,273) I dunno about the rest of Australia but the

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