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PERTH; Kim Williams AOEUfDE.Collette Snowden. LONDO N:

Keith Shactwick, Chris Willis, Chris S a l^ ic 2, Terry Darling. NEW ZEALAND; Jenny Rankine. CONTRIBUTORS; Larry Buttrose, Clark Casual, Toby Creswell, Goose, Richard Quilliat, Span Hanna, Michael Hope, David Lapgsam, Elly McDonald, Richard McGregor, Adrian Miller, Peter Nelson, Peter Page, Clinton Walker, Suzie Walton. DESIGN & LAYOUT; Modern Art (Geoff Gifford) (08) 223 4206 iBROMIDES; AND .Productions (Richard Turner) (08) 223 4206.

It’ s been all hustle & bustle in the Mushroom Records stables th is month. Strong and insistent stories th a t Skyhooks w ere finally calling it a day, after savage m auling of the new ‘Hot For The O rient’ LP, by the music media, w ere circulating in Melbourne e a rlie r th is month. B ut th e official w ord from Mushroom is th a t the band are only going th e ir separate ways temporarily. Freddie Strauks w ill be fillin g in on drum s fo r the Sports, G r ^ Macainsh w ill be doing a b it of producing, and the others w ill be pursuing th e ir own p articular hobby for a t least a couple of months. And strife in the Aliens camp as well. The band, who many people fe lt could capture the same kind of fan-audience that the ’Hooks had five years ago, have lost th e ir guitarist, Greg W ebster. According to sources close to the band, tension had been building up between Greg and the other mem bers of the band for some time. It all came to a head a fte r a gig in Canberra, when W ebster disappeared fo r four days, causing the band to miss out on the support slot for Gary Numan (m ore on th a t in a m inute). The Aliens will continue as a three-piece, Danny Johnson, Rob Grosser and Geoff Stapleton. The mood in the band was described as one of relief. Every sad story has a happy one to compensate: Altho’ the Aliens missed out on the Numan support, the band who landed it, James Freud’s Radio Stars, have struck lucky. Gary Numan was so impressed by Freud th a t he did some recording w ith him in Sydney, took him to Japan fo r a week, and is going to produce his firs t album fo r him in London in the next couple of weeks. Only one member of the Radio Stars, Roger Mason, w ill accompany Freud to the U.K. fo r the recording, but the whole band w ill be going over in about a m o n th to s u p p o rt N um an on his E K /E u ro p e a n /U S A tour. Talk about overnight sensation! Overnight sensation? Yup, the Dots have th e ir long awaited debut album released on Mushroom in the next couple of weeks. Joe C am illeri’s ended up producing it, w ith help from Pete Solley. Falcons heading o / s at the beginning of July

TYPESETTING: Neighborhood Typesetting (Clive Dorman) (08) 71 7763. DISTRIBUTION: Gordon & Golch (A / Asia) for Australia and New Zealand. PRINTER: . rBrlcfee Press, Seventh St« Murray Brittge, S.A. 5203. ph. (t)85) 32 1744. . .

T he? H u m in n L e a g u e

LETTERS

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Dear RR, ^ is r e ^ t e r e d fo r ^ ^ p c ^ ii|g

> as^a publica^lioif C^tegoryf B. ■ ~ M |A b 6 F p c |; T , 1 5 1 - o r t e a S t , ' - f-

R.I.P. Andy Durant.

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Well, Kim W illiam s was rig h t about one thing in th a ta rtic le o n The Aliens (Vol, 3, No.4) when lie / she / It mentioned about Aliens’ fans fuelling up fo r a nasty letter. Mind you, it was the only tru th to be found. How can anyone w rite or even th in k about w ritin g a review about a band that they’ve only ever seen once? You’re right only if you said they can’t The firs t tim e I ever saw The Aliens was when they supported The Sports on the Sportacus to u r last year, where I was grabbed by the ears afte r the firs t song and dragged (w illin g ly) onto the d a n c e flo o r by the best and most vib ra n t and innovative rock music that I’d heard since the ‘Women In U niform ’ stage of Skyhooks’ career. B ut I w o u ld n ’t have taken one gig and made it the basis of a very critical review a bout a band I’d never seen before. Even bands I dislike the firs t tim e round get a second chance before I really make up my mind. As a passing thought, what "em otional com m itm ent" is needed fo r rock and roll? D id n ’t the

The Human League set to to u r here in O ctober & November, about the same tim e as Magazine. Gary G litte r reportedly delighted w ith the League’s version of his old smasherooo, ‘Rock’n’Roll P art 1’. LRB played a t London’s Rainbow Theatre this month as pa rt of th e ir firs t European to u r for a number of year. Meanwhile David Briggs is getting his own independent label together. Rough Diamond Records. First release w ill be from

Ramones and Dead Boys tour (separately) in J u ly ... New Cold Chisel album w ent gold ( i.e. sold 20,000 copies) in just three days. It looks like being a block buster. Their 72 date ‘Youth In Asia’ to u r got off to an auspicious s ta rt w hen they broke the house record a t Sydney's Manly Vale Hotel.

Adelaide’s Aboriginal reggae band. No Fixed Address, turned q uite a few heads a t the LaTrobe Uni. Mi-Sex gig recently. They also drew praise from l^ e n d a ry blues singer Taj Mahal w ho they sup ported at the Arkaba in Adelaide. A fter th e ir set Mahal led the crowd in tum ultuous applause and praised them from the stage. W hile in Adelaide Mahal also played tw o g uitar num bers live to a ir at the 5MMM-FM studios, Candyman and Stag-O-Lee. Elvis Costello and the A ttractions (m inus Steve Naive and plus M artin Belm ont from the R um our) played an unannounced gig under the name Factory Act at one of the birthplaces of B ritish new wave, the Hope and Anchor in N orth London, last month. It was quite a gig from all reports. The 200 (capacity) crowd were treated to a m arathon w orkout from EC and the tw in guitars of Costello''and B elm ont got the pub cooking. No plans fo r a pub tour of the world have yet been announced. The Angels copped this review of Face to Face in the new UK music weekly. New Music News.

Melbourne electro-pop o u tfit Meo 245 w ith Briggs producing (and d id n ’t he do well for Aussie Crawl eh?). (Jould we see Devo (at last) and Talking Heads (hooray) later this year as part of the package. Paul Dainty is rum oured to have bought to get the B52’s? Boomtown Rats drum m er Simon Fell fell and sprained his w rist on a Newcastle beach the day before they w ere due to play in Adelaide, forcing the cancellation of both the Adelaide and Perth con certs. To disappointed Rats fans in S.A. & W .A singer Bob Geldof said the band would look at coming back (a la Police) to play those tw o states. And the Angels, fresh back from foreign fields, may have to cut th e ir A ustralian to u r short to do a ‘Day On The G reen’ concert in San Fracisco on July 26th. ‘Day’s On The G reen’ usually a ttra ct over 100,000 and it could be a m ajor break for the band in the U.SA. band sweat enough fo r you? O r maybe you w ere ju s t too narrow-m inded to feel the energy. Lines like "m ade The Aliens seem quite ordinary’’, really make me w onder w hat Kim W illiam s goes out expecting I mean, w hat does an ‘o rdinary’ band sound like? In my opinion there is no such th in g as every band has a different way of delivering their songs anefa d ifferent individual sound Preconceived ideas should be fo rg o tte n until the facts have been investigated. Thequip a b o u t the flo o r being crowded w ith "m ainly girls, mainly under-age’’ did not go un noticed either. On one hand im plying th a t the type of audience a ttracted by The Aliens (in P erth) proved that they w eren’t rock, and on the o th e r th a t if there is a m ajority of females in the audience then they’re not interested only in the music. W ell speaking as a female Aliens’ fan who happens to love rock and roll, I think that you’d b etter th in k again. It might a Iso help if you got the names of the songs right. It isn’t "T rip To The Zoo’, b u t ‘Feeding The Animals’ and I’d listen very carefully to the w ords next tim e if I were you, they were w ritte n fo r you. Now, going back to y o u r firs t question to the band; how do you justify your existerx:e as a jo u r nalist? — Jeannie Lawson

A thick chunk of rock’n ’roll heaven stuffed into a vinyl straightjacket’. Not bad for a little Aussie combo, eh? Cameron Allen (of Mental fam e) producing firs t LP for Sydney’s N u m b e rs ... Joy Divison’s lead singer Ian C urtis com m itted suicide last m onth a fte r his w ife left him. The band, hysterically feted by th e UK rock press, w ere on the eve of a U.S. tour. None of th e ir records are released in Australia. Yes members, Jon Anderson & Rick Wakeman have left the band and th e ir replacem ents are none other than Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn, better known as. . . The Buggies! W ill the new band be known as the Yuggles? Stay tuned. (Truth is stranger than fiction). John Lydon & Public Image took over Dick C lark’s American Bandstand TV show w hile in the U.S. last month. John invited the norm ally docile audience to get up and dance to the disco beat of PiL’s ‘Poptones’ & ‘C areening’ (disco beat? — ED.) and then took over C lark’s raised podium to survey the en suing chaos w ith Napoleonic satisfaction. ‘On ya Johnny! To Roadrunner, First of all, you d o n ’t seem to display letters. I’d like this printed ’cos I w ant ‘Flow ers’ to see it Lug Davies annoys me a little bit, because of his insulated egotism. His concept of the popular c ra fts m a n /c re a to r (I ju s t can’t use a rtis t in this case) is really dated, ig n o ra n t He w ill use the sounds and words that from his history- classes he thinks will work, these form s of expression are old anyway and in the process propogates idolatry, trendy selfconsciousness and s tunting dishonesty. Basically, he’s got nothing to offer except style and he’s way behind w ith th a t I p'ty Flowers and th e ir impressionables fo r their lack of FUN. Their cool aspirations are im m ature pretensions. You can see it all in Iva D. stupid pose on th e ir E.P. cover and ads. yer typical misun derstood, bursting w ith depth, neurotic, “ genius" (HA! HA! Mr. Davies im plication). Q uote — People who are purely arrogant don’t learn! People who are afraid of people can’t learn either ( if I am to believe the picture roadrunner painted them to be). Wow, Man, Iva D. could well be a tim e-warped, love-child, posing as last year’s model. And so nothing’s original — some of P il/L y o n ’s sound — expressions are. Sincerely, Stephen Ferris

ROADRUNNER 2

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THEM E FROM MASH ■ The Mash NO DO UBT ABOUT IT S H ot C hocolate I 3. 9 FUNKY TOW N ■ I Lipps Inc I 4.13 CRYING S • Don M cLean ■ . 5. 8 RAT R A C E /R U D E BUOYS OUTA | I ■ Specials m 6. 6 OVER YOU S Roxy M usic ■ 7. 5 WE ARE GLASS | I Gary H um an ■ 8. 4 SHE’S OUT OF MY LIFE S ■ ■ ■ f M ichael Jackson ■ 9. 21 LET'S GET SERIOUS ■ I Jerm aine Jackson I K h I I 10. 3 W HAT'S ANOTHER YEAR 2.

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T IR E D O F T O E IN T H E LIN E Rocky Burnette, 1 SPAC E IN V A D E R S Player One, 3 C O M IN G UP Paul McCartney. 4 T U R N IN G JA PA N ESE The Vapors. 11 T H E R O S E Bette Midler, 6 NO SECRETS The Angels, 5 A T O M IC Blondie, 8 B R A S S IN P O C K E T The Pretenders. 10 W O R K I N G M Y W A Y B A C K The Spinners, 9 PEOPLE Mi-Sex, 12 C A L L M E Blondie, 16 T H E R E A I N ' T N O A G E F O R R O C K N' ROLL The Veterans. I GOT YOU Split Enz, 13 R O C K A B I L L Y R E B E L M ajor Matchbox 17 C O M E B A C K J. Geils Band, ' 15 T H E B O Y S L I G H T U P Australian Crawl, 24 C H EA P W IN E Cold Chisel, 14 RO C K LOBSTER The B52's. 22 A N E N G L I S H M A N I N N E W Y O R K Godley & Creme, 33 TO G E T H E R W E ARE B E A U T IF U L Fern Kinney, 2

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FUNKYTOW N Lipps Inc. 3 BIGGEST PART OF ME Am brosia 2 CALL ME 3 B londie 8 COM ING UP (LIV E AT GLASGOW ) Paul M cC artney and W ings 5. 6 CARS Gary Num an 6. 4 DO N’T FALL IN LOVE W ITH A DREAMER Kenny Rogers 7t,Kim Carnes 7. 10 THE ROSE Bette M id le r 8 5 LOST IN LOVE A ir Supply 7 SEXY EYES 9. Dr. H ook 16 AGAINST THE W IN D B ob Seger 11. 14 STEAL AWAY Robbie D upree 12.

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^ ^ AGAINST THE W IN D IBob Seger & The S ilver B u llet Band n 2, 2 GLASS HOUSES I Billy Joel I 3. 3 THE W ALL I Pink Floyd 4. 6 JUST ONE NIGHT I Eric C lapton 5. 4 MAD LOVE j Linda R onstadt 6.5 W OMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST Van Halen 7. 7 GO ALL THE WAY I The Isley B ro th e rs 8. 9 OFF THE W ALL j M ichael Jackson I 9. 8 GIDEON Kenny Rogers 10. 10 M ID D LE MAN j Boz Scaggs I 11. 13 EMPTY GLASS Pete Tow nshend 12. 14 M OUTH TO MOUTH I Lipps Inc. j 13.11 CHRISTOPHER CROSS

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Face to Face w ith The Exit from the D ark Room The Angels are, under their assumed name, Angel City, walking through doors that only two Australian groups in the last 5 years (A C /D C and Little River Band) have been through before. To say that the band’s recent tour of the U.S.A was a success would be an un derstatement. The reaction, both to the band’s live perform ances and the compilation album, ‘Face to Face’ has exceeded the expectations of both Dirty Pool, the band’s management agency who have carefully overseen the whole operation, and (5.B.S. America who offered their unconditional support. When last spotted, Angel C ity’s ‘Face to Face’ had Just bulleted to number 116 on th e Cashbox Album Chart, and was gaining airplay on over 150 stations in the U.S. And the momentum is building, the song that most radio stations are featuring is, strangely enough, ‘Marseilles’, (which was never a single in A ustralia) and th a t will be the band’s second single, and th e irc ra c k a t th e American AM radio market. Doc Neeson seemed quite surprised to have his lunch ( ‘fish and chips. When in L o n d o n ,.,’ ) in terrupted by a call from hometown Adelaide. He’d just arrived back at his hotel a fte r doing an interview at London’s to p commercial station. Capital Radio. He asked if 1could call back in half an hour while he finished eating. I said certainly. A fter some confusion on the pa rt of the Westgate H o te l’s re c e p tio n is t, ( ‘ N e ils o n ? ’ . . , ‘ No, NEESON’ .. . ‘ N e ils o n ? ’ .. . ‘N -E -E-S-O -N ’ .. , — obviously the Doc a in 't an English celebrity y e t. . . ) I re-established contact. The Doc was in a thoughtful, reflective mood, possibly due to the fact th a t I talked to him in the m iddle o f a five day break, a breathing space after the 23 gigs in 28 days U.S. tour. The band only played tw o concerts in London, a warm up at the Lyceum w ith three oth e r bands and the big one at the famed Marquee Club, where bands like the Who and the Stones cut th e ir teeth. The Marquee gig was packed but ROADRUNNER’S man on the spot said he wasn’t sure how many o f them were ex patriate Aussies as against yer curious B ritish music fans. London was a little quiet th a t week w ith all the music journalists being on strike and therefore no N.M.E., Sounds o r Melody Maker being published. However a mag called New Music News which ap peared as a result of the strike (much as the Clarions have appeared here during the current journalists’ dispute) gave the album a glowing review and Des Moines o f Sounds awarded ‘Face to Face’ the ultim ate accolade o f a 5-star album review, when Sounds appeared again. B ut the most progress has been made on the porting us at the Park West in Chicago that night. other side of the A tlantic w here the band made Ttiere we were absolutely stranded and people were enough o f an impression fo r W est Coast prom oter. arriving from all over the place to help us. It was Bill Graham (of Fillmore West and East fame) has re a lly ... Heartening. I mean Neilsen really put offered the band th ird billing on th is year’s ‘Day On himself out. The show th a t night was particularly The Green’ The Green’ Festival, to be held in San vibed up.” Francisco in late July. Top of the bill are H eart and I asked Doc if the trip overseas had changed any o f second are Journey, both American m ^a -p la tin u m outfits. The festival usually draws in the region of his ideas about w hat he fe lt th e band could achieve. He said it hadn’t b u t... 100,000 people. “ It’s certainly clarified some o f o ur ideas about Doc started off talking about the tour. lo w to go about it. Like here in B ritain the music “ It began as a small exploratory affair. Most radio scene seems to be incredibly factionalised. People stations were just picking up the album as we were seem to be mad keen fanatics fo r one particular coming through and so m ost o f them came down to band o r music style to the exclusion o f everything see us. The feed back we got from th e radio stations . else. I’ve seen lots o f g ra ffiti.. . things like the Luxon was really strong and enthusiastic.’’ Bombers, where the name of an area is combined In a very sm art move, over 60 p.c. of the gigs th a t Angel City played were put on in conjunction w ith a w ith the name o f a band, and people from th a t area fo rm strong cult followings fo r one particular band. local radio station and w ere e ith e r broadcast live to It’s got nothing to do w ith music. It’s like bands air, or at a later date. having their own tribes who shout down anyone “ The thing is", continued Doc, “ it’s still very pocketed. Thereareareas th a t we d id n ’t go into, like else. And heavy metal is REALLY popular here. In the the South and South West, and there were places States I think we became really aware o f the d if where the album hadn’t been getting any airplay ferences between say the West Coast, the East and where the crowd was a b it quiet, like Cleveland. The the Mid-West (Chicago and D e tro it.) The sound you best reaction we got, and probably the high point of hear on the radio in the W est) is a s o rt of tectured the whole to u r was in S e ttle and Portland in the sound, often w ith a disco backbeat. Whereas as soon North West. The radio there had really gotten behind as you h it the Mid-West it’s like Rock’n’Roll — Teg our album — I th in k it ’s num ber nine on th e ir chart Nugent blasting out everywhere! The fact th a t the — and we sold out 3000 capacity theatres in both U.S.A is not a unified country, much less so than cities. It was good to play on a large stage, because a Australia anyway, meansyou have to take a different lot of the places we played only had small stages.’’ approach. The idea doesn’t change though. You have That w ouldn't really have suited your stage act. to to u r and get in fro n t of as many people as “ No — I like to rom p around a bit. (Laughs) possible.” One thing that being ‘over th e re ’ did bring home Another high point of the tour, surprisingly enough, happened just after we had all o u r gear stolen in to Doc was the number of good bands in Australia. “ Australia is a fantastic m elting pot. There are Chicago. Rick Neilson from Cheap TricK who we’d supported the night before, came down from his bands in Sydney and Melbourne who would blow bands who are doing pretty well over here, off the home in Rockford about 90 miles, drove down, with some guitars fo r the band. Styx offered us equip stage.” I !iear you’ve done a bit of that yourself ment. So did Survivor, the band who were sup

“ Well, we have had some good c o n ce rts ... (laughs). It seems people in Australia have the feeling that because they are 12,CXX) miles away they aren’t really in touch and therefore they are somehow inferior. That’s to ta lly wrong.” But you have to actually go over to find that o ut . .. “ Yeah. And it ’s a very exciting thing to become aware of.” Has being overseas given the band any kind of perspective on th e ir Australian success, I asked. “ Success in Australia means tw o fifth s o f bugger all over here.” came the blunt appraisal. “ All people want to know is how well you are going to do HERE. But we still feel th a t th e re ’s plenty to do in Australia, and whatever happens here o r in the States, we’ll still use Australia as a base.” The Angels are due back in this country a few days before the release o f their fo u rth Australian album, and first fo r C.B.S., ‘Dark Room’ on June 16th. Then follows a quick national to u r to prom ote that (and stock up the depleted coffers) before heading east over the Pacific again. It’s a hard grind, and I ask Doc if it ever becomes a struggle going out night after night and giving his all. “ Well, one of the things about being in a band is that you can’t take a sickie! (laughs). Sure, there are some nights when I’d like to stay in o r perhaps go see someone else play — there were some great concerts about when we w ere in the States. But th a t’s just an occupational hazard of being in a band, I guess. Touring and perform ing is so im portant in getting known th a t if you let yourself not do it once then you’re just asking for trouble. “ We’ve been doing material from ‘Face to Face’ and ‘ No E xit’ on this tour, and if there’s one thing th a t’s exciting about the Australian tour, it's ttiat we're going to be playing songs from the new album.” Ah, yes, ‘Dark Room'. I hadn't heard the record when I talked to Doc (I have now) so I solicited liis

comments. “ There’s a bit m ore production on it. There are things to make it a little m ore interesting to the ear — a few m ore changes in mood than perhaps we’ve attem pted before. B ut th e re ’s still a lo t o f drive to it. I don’t think we’ve lost the point of the songs being rock'n’roll songs, but they’re not as heavily struc tured as perhaps they’ve been in the past. There’s a bit more percussion, m ore keyboards and a few more vocal effects.” Any personal favourites, eh? “ There’s a song called ‘I Don’t Wanna Face The Day’ that I really like. And one called ‘A Mom ent’, which is unlike anything we’ve tried before. I think the album is really good. I like it.” Well, what can I say? I must adm it that ‘Dark Room’ took me a little by surprise. It’s less up tempo than previous albums, but has a certain power and intensity that is one of the Angels’ m ost impressive attributes. According to Doc, the band were feeling their way w ith the songs a lot m ore on ‘Dark Room’ and so we might hear fu rth e r developments when the band actually start playing them. Well, did you manage to see any of the sights on your 0 / s trip. Doc? “ I only had the odd chance to play the idiot tourist. I’m afraid. I did get to see the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam — that was pretty amazing. But we’ve been working and travelling most of the time. I liaven’t really had the time to do anything away from the band. Never mind Doc. Another five years and you’ll be able to look back on all this and laugh. Rock dreams. “ There’s a fascination doing something people you’ve admired have done before. I remember thinking, when I was younger, look at the Stones and the Animals, going to America. And now here we are — we’re doing it too. Playing places like the Marquee, where my boyhood heroes played! It’s all part of t!ie rock’n ’roll fantasy.”

Donald Robertson

ROADRUNNER 5

“THE BOYS LIGHT UP” IS ONE OF THE FINEST AUSTRALIAN DEBUT

ALBUMS I’VE HEARD. IN FACT IT RANKS ALONGSIDE SKYHOOKS CLASSIC LIVING IN THE SEVENTIES.

VINCE LOVEGROVE - RAM

UNDENIABLY ONE OF THE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR.........A DOMINANT FORCE IN AUSTRALIAN MUSIC FOR A LONG TIME TO COME.

ROSS GARDINER - MELB. HERALD

AUSTRALIAN CRAWL AND MENTAL AS ANYTHING ARE TWO OF THE BEST AUSTRALIAN ROCK & ROLL GROUPS TO HAVE EMERGED IN THE PAST YEAR

STUART COUPE - SUN HERALD SYDNEY

QUITE SIMPLY “THE BOYS LIGHT UP” IS SUPERB. . . . . . DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND GIVE IT A LISTEN.

DONALD ROBERTSON - ROADRUNNER

A DEPTH OF TALENT WHICH INDICATES GOOD THINGS TO COME.

PAT BOWRING - MELBOURNE SUN

URGENCY AND COMPULSIVENESS THAT MAKES FOR GREAT POWER POP . . . . . . A FRIGHTENINGLY GOOD DEBUT.

IAN MEIKLE - ADELAIDE ADVERTISER

WHY THIS ALBUM WORKS SO WELL IS THAT CRAWL’S PLAYING IS SUCH A JO Y .........AN IMAGINATIVE AND FORCEFUL ALBUM. CHRISTIE ELIEZER — JUKE GOLD ON THEIR DEBUT ALBUM ......... MARVELLOUS!

- EMI RECORDS AUSTRALIA

DOWNHEARTED b r o l^ n dream s that never really starred'

N €W SINGLE FROM TH E BOYS LIGHT UP' ROADRUNNER '6

Produced by David Briggs

don't g e t m e wrong Wreckless Eric has a problem. He’s not getting the recognition he really deserves. And that state of affairs can be directly traced to one thing: His image. Over the past three years he’s acquired the image of a loud, sometimes boorish, sometimes jolly chap who writes ac ceptable pop “chunes”. And when you meet him for the first time he certainly lives up to that. With his untidy lank hair, worn jeans in desperate need of a wash, scuffed dark suede shoes, and scruffy leather jacket, he looks every inch the good time Charlie pub habitue he's been presented as. The second th in g you notice a fte r talking to him fo r a while is th a t he doesn’t have, th e arrogant, m oronic bluster so characteristic of those beer clutching, bar leaners. If anything Wreckless is possibly a nervous chap. D uring conversation he avoids your gaze. He fidgets, continually moves around the room, and the dead give away, bites his nails. In short he doesn't really seem to fit the image he’s been assigned. There’s a second dim ension to his image: the musical side. To get th a t into per spective we have to go back a few years, and while on that trip we may as well go rig h t back to the beginning. Wreckless Eric actually began life 26 years as Eric Goulden, at Newhaven, not fa r fro m B righton on the south coast o f England. He was born into a musical family. "M y grandm other was a piano teacher. My grandfather played tenor saxophone in a dance band. My great-grandfather and an uncle played in an orchestra, and another uncle played drum s in a dance band” . So as Eric says it wasn’t surprising he became interested in music. It was in the mid sixties th a t he was firs t inspired to fo rm a rock band, after watching the Beatles on television. (N ote fo r younger readers: Beatles a 4-piece group popular 1964-69). “ In this country at th a t tim e every kid wanted to be the fifth Beatle” . Denied th a t op portunity he to o k to doodling around w ith his guitar at friends places on Saturday afternoons w here they w ould teach each other Chuck B erry songs. When he went to Hull A rt School in the early 70’s he joined his firs t rock band, as a bass player. When th a t broke up he form ed his own, and when th a t went the same way as the firs t one, he, D ick-W hittington like, headed fo r London. “ I thought it w ould be teem ing w ith musicians, although I never m et any. I just got lots of different jobs, and w ent home and w rote songs, which could explain my mundane song m atter” .Then in the mid seventies Eric was listening to his radio and heard “ Heart o f th e C ity” by Nick Lowe, and heard that the record label S tiff had just started, and was looking fo r a rtis te ’s. "I to o k in a tape, w rote my name on a piece o f paper, and retired i n confusion. The next thing 1 knew they offered me a contract and wanted to know if I’d do a record. So I did “ Whole W ide W orld” . In 1977 the newly signed Eric, with a single under his belt, then joined his Stiff label mates, which at th a t tim e included the relatively unknown Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Nick Lowe and a host of others fo r the now near legen dary live Stiffs tour. " It was incredible” , says Eric. “ You never knew what was going to happen on th a t tour. 20 lunatics on a coach d riving all over England. It was absolute lunacy” . He shakes his head at the memory, w hether in fond nostalgia o r amazement that he survived I d o n ’t know. B ut th e re ’s no tim e to ponder that because it was about th is tim e th a t Eric’s second dim ension of the image problem to o k root, and we m ust press on. A t the same tim e as 20 “ Lunatics” w ere screaming across the country in a bus, other amazing things were happening in the music world. W ith the histo ria n ’s gift of hindsight, we can now sum up the h a p p e n in g in one w o rd : PUNK. Stiff, who we remember h a d ju st signed Wreckless Eric, became linked w ith the Punk Movement, rightly o r wrongly, because it began operation at the same tim e. And the a rtis ts on its roster also became known as Punk purveyors. Later when the movement became assim ilated into the music

wreckless eric pleads w ith chris wHHs business, and when the descriptive te rm was ac cordingly diluted, those a rtists became kr» w n as New Wave. B ut th a t’s another story. The po in t here is th a t Wreckless Eric was involved w ith Stiff, Stiff was a New Wave label, and ergo Eric became a New W aver: a nonsense o f the firs t order. B ut un fortunately fo r Eric although he neither belongs to the firs t category o f beer swilling, Yahoo song w riter, nor the second. New Wave category, he’s being continually judged according to th e parameters established fo r those tw o, which in the im m ortal words o f Dr. Henry Kissinger puts him in a “ No win situ a tio n !” . For instance when he w rites a wry, w itty song like his latest single "Pop Song” he’s throw n into the pub yahoo type singer, and prom ptly damned fo r it, because according to the critics who decide these things, all pub yahoo singers are cynical hacks, and cynical hack-ism is not allowed. At the same time he’s measured against the New Wave standards, standards which are determ ined by w hether o r not they fit w ithin the current fashionable political fra m e w o rk (The fram ew ork is incidentally established by intellectual bankrupts who w ork fo r the rock press, and w ho’s idea o f political analysis is to state th e obvious in as obscure a language as possible.) This week, to be accepted by the standard bearers one m ust be forging ahead, trying to break all known musical barriers. As Wreckless Eric is not tryin g to do th is he gets caned on this account as well. It’s a ludicrous state of affairs, because Wreckless Eric is a songw riter and pjerformer w orking w ithin a

tradition th a t’s been established in B ritain over the which has been the nearest th in g approaching anger past 15 years. It involves singing and w riting about since the interview started, “ I’m aware this is the everyday things, in an intelligent manner, with af eighties, and th a t’s after the seventies, which in turn fection fo r the subject, usually w ith a smidgen of came after the sixties. I know the w orld isn’t the sardonic w it, and always w ith a tot of melody, the same as it used to be. We don’t have thrupenny bits, leaders o f the tra d itio n being Ray Davies and Pete and we don’t have Harold McMillan telling ps we’ve Townshend. As a part o f th a t tra d itio n Wreckless never had it so good. B ut why should I w rite about Eric should be simply judged on the excellence o r different things? I w rite atDout a lo t o f normal otherwise of his songs. everyday things because they do happen to you. As Eric himself recognisesthat he’s w orking w ithin an fo r the critics, I’ve made three albums in this country established tra d itio n and makes no apologies fo r it. and they’ve all been different. W hether or not I He Cfuotes as one o f his fa vourite songs, Davies’ choose to innovate is my business. The point is I “ W aterloo Sunset” which is appropriate because at have a record company who w ant me to make his peak Wreckless Eric approaches Davies’ m ixture records, there are a lo t o f people who buy them, and of perception, accuracy, cynicism and sardonic there are a lot of people who come to see us play. humour. The strongest example is “ Excuse Me” a Anyway I th in k there are a lot of ridiculous attem pts wry, well crafted song from his latest album which to innovate. Do you th in k Gary Numan o r someone describes a love affair on th e London underground, like that is innovating? Cos I d o n ’t. I th in k he’s up his a dirty, draughty place th a t makes the m ost unlikely own arse. He’s terrible!. setting one could imagine fo r am orous adventures. Wreckless Eric makes no apologies o r excuses for So wfien it’s all boiled down W reckless Eric is his music. “ We are, not innovative and we know nothing more and nothing less than an honest w e’re not. Me and my band celebrate what has gone craftsman and perform er. Trying to make a living before. We’re fans o f tra d itio n al rock’n'Roll. Chuck from what he likes best, and on his own account, Berry is an im portant influence, but my biggest in does best, his music. He’s not trying to extend the fluence is the sixties: The Beatles, The Stones, The known levels o f the universe o r music, nor raise our Kinks, The Wfio, The Small Faces. And I’ve never political consciousness, laudable as all th a t may be. really progressed beyond th a t” . Ah, 1chime in, eager He’s simply trying to entertain, sometimes w riting to play the devil’s advocate, surely th a t is precisely good songs, sometimes bad ones (and to be honest I the point your critics are making, th e re ’s no must declare there’s a preponderance of the latter progression. You’re just covering the same old on his last album ) and that is the only level on wlflbh ground. “ Look” , says Eric fixing me w ith a look. he should be judged. Judge fo r yourself.

ROADRUNNER 7

t^lTMEIM IIMD UHEIR LlmRK The Hitmen; one band who could always be relied on to deliver more than your expectations. They played chunky, combat-zone powerchords through a set that revved like the combined engines of all Motor City. They were the LOUDEST band out — Faster and Louder was so much more than an idle boast. This band looked mean. More often than not they dressed in sombre monotones, guitarist Chris Masuak hostile behind reflective dark glasses while fellow songwriter Warwick G ilbert broodily pushed through stomach-thudding basslines. Out frong Johnny Kannis would pour his sweat and considerable dramatics into songs that hit hard and sounded like Detroit. It was a musical demolition derby. There was always im plicit challenge in the Hitmen. They refused to tu rn it down o r tone it down but the tension in the music and the image o f defenciveness al most seemed to suggest they could fall apart at any moment. It was a band w ith a need to prove itself. Most young bands have a hard tim e establishing identity but in the H itm en’s case the difficulties had peculiar tw ist. Their very origins worked against them. So much of the tim e they w ere fighting th e ir own background — themselves. Both W arwick and Chris are veterans of inner-city Sydney cult band Radio Birdman, notorious in the vanguard of Australian punk. The band was v o la tile ; it w orked off an energy w ith potential fo r violence. Personal tensions w ithin the band were unleashed in music which gave them the dangerous edge on stage tfia t the audiences loved. Radio Birdman was a selfcontained w a r; even th e ir to u r manager w ould think twice before entering the dressingroom a fte r their §i

Predictably the whole situation exploded during a trouble-torn to u r of England and by the end of the tour it was understood (since the band’s members weren’t speaking to each o th e r) th a t Birdm an was no more. Masuak w rote to his friend Kannis, who had worked w ith Birdm an as ‘Master of Ceremonies’, suggesting th a t since he had a stock pile of unused material they should put together a band. A fter trying and rejecting several names such as Johnny and the Casinos, Johnny and the Hitmen were born, and fo r their firs t six weeks they a t tracted considerable interest. People came ostenbly to see the firs t of B irdm an’s offspring but in reality hoping to see the corpse come to life. A resurrection hadn’t happened and many of the

original D arlinghurst follow ing rejected the Hitmen, preferring to cling to the s p irit o f Birdman in the form of vocalist Rob Y ounger’s band The O ther Side. Apart from the effect the Birdman association had on the public, mem ories o f chaotic gigs where Birdman fanatics wreaked havoc w ith tfie venue made promoters wary of booking the Hitmen. The band went througfi their firs t career trough. Internal factors didn’t help. The line-up was un stable, the rhythm section particularly unsettled. At one stage Ivor Hayes from the Saints was drum m ing but he was later replaced by Mark Kingsmill, who fiad played at the Oxford Funhouse w ith the Hellcats and since graduated to the O ther Side. His doing so caught th e O ther Side unprepared and forced them off the road fo r three m onths; the rift w ith Younger widened. W arwick meanwhile was playing rhythm guitar as he had done before moving to bass in Birdman, but the Hitman fe lt his straightforw ard bassplaying was m ore suited to the band than the si i^ itly funk feel o f then bassist Phil Sommerville, so V\^rwick moved to bass and Tony Vidale was brought in on guitar. Chris had been forced into a secondary role in the previous band fo r so long by Birdman songw riter Deniz Tek (who is s till regarded as som ethingof a g u ita r hero) that his fla ir as a lead guitarist was still in development. The m aterial Chris and V\ferwick w ere w ritin g showed sim ilarities to Birdm an’s S to o g e s/M C 5 pastiches because ob viously personal taste doesn’t change over night, and they remained most com fortable wearing Birdman-style uniform s of tailored black. At the-»same time they were acutely conscious of the need to be, solely and strongly, the Hitmen. In September ’79 the Hitm en supported Cold Chisel on much o f tlie Set Fire To The Town to u r and released their firs t single w ith WEA. Didn’t Tell The Man d id n ’t do an awful lo t chartwise though it received some commercial airplay. The band were becoming despondent. It was too early to tell w h e tfie ro rn o tth e new line-up was going to gell and moreover they d id n ’t feel there was much com munication w ith th e ir manager. The individuals w ithin the band reacted to uncertainty in th e ir varying ways. “ Someone came up and to ld the band we were Ok tonigtit but w hat was wrong w ith the bassplayer, he looked really out o f it,’’ said W arwick in mild surprise after one night at the Stagedoor. Never greatly animated, he was giving ttie appearance of total disinterest. Decidedly w ithdraw n! Chris, on the other hand, became m ore aggressive. “ How's Chris?’’ I’d asked a mutual acquaintance, who had stirugged, scratched his head, then answered slowly “ Well, Chris is really into D etroit at the moment. Heavily into NOISE." Which was true. It was too much, like being h ita cro ss th e e a rsw ith a bag of wet cement. No-one seeing the band fo r the first time

would have been able to pick out the tunes through the volume. W hat's more, the sound was anarchical. It was as if the firs t crashing chord was the signal to Itead for home as fast and as fearlessly as possible, but with every man for himself. They were not a particularly tig h t band at th a t point. Just before Christmas the Hitmen took over their own management. They cut right back on their gigging from about five nights a week down to two. At tlie start of the new decade they took three weeks off altogether. W arwick describes it as “ more o r less a settling down period w ith Tony in the band, and Mark." D uringthese w eeksof rehearsal the new line up finally seemed to fall in place. They also took the opportunity to w rite new songs so th a t only three of the current eighteen were standards last year. Now that Johnny and Tony are w ritin g as well the set has a great deal m ore variety. Speaking of the band today, W arwick says “ We do n ’t really think of it as Detroit. Most of us have listened to overseas records of course; like, you get B ritish records, you get American records and you get Australian records, so we’re a product of all that — and also recently we’ve been through heavy American in fluences. But I think basically we’ve sort of lost that hard-edged D e tro it sound. It’s m ore OURSELVES these days. It’s m ore o r less just the settling down of the band. We feel m ore at ease w ith the songs now — more com fortable, m ore in control, so we can add dynamics to it. Most of the songs are varied. The overall treatm ent is basically the same tliough — there’s still a lot of punch in all o ur songs." The punch is apparent in W arwick’s I Want You, whicfi hits out at the end o f the night like a hard left on the jaw. Released as the new single in mid-April, it was described by WEA publicist Roger Langford as being “ like Kiss, only better". He was probably referring to the pulsing bass leading into the song, but the band hope the single will a ttra ct those radioprogrammed kids, to whom Kiss is w hat the Angels are to the publand punter. Their new manager Ricfiard Lee agrees. . “ I think it’s very im portant to a ttra ct those people to gigs, people who d o n 't usually go to see live bands, or at least not tite Hitmen. Richard, form erly w ith S dew inderand Dragon, had been handling the H itm en’s business management but was irresistibly drawn to the brash young band because he felt “ There was so much there! I really felt COMPELLED to ask them to take me on as manager. And, just watching them ovfer the last three months from rehearsals to now, I think it's im portant to stress IxDw much better the live show is. Coinciding with the single too, it’s ... just g re a t!" * I Want You was produced by Mark Opitz who also produces tfie Angels and Cold Chisel. Mark fias just been appointed tfie new A&R manager at WEA but intends to continue producing, altfiough fie will

probablyconfinehim selfto Chisel and the Hitmen in future. The band hold high hopes he’ll produce their forthcom ing album. Of the production W arwick says “ We sort of asked for Mark really and were just fortunate enough to get him. Mark offered a lot of new ideas in production and he m ore o r less thinks along the same lines as us on production so we were lucky that way. It was pretty much a team effort." The end result is highly commercial. It marks the band’s final emergence as an entertainm ent unit relevant to just about any Australian kid who wants a good night out at the pub, unmindful o f inner-city elitist punk politics. W arwick underlines the point in answering a criticism of the Hitmen as being to o si ick’ : “ I don’t th in k we’re to slick. If you compare us to Mi-Sex, say, I don’t th in k we’re slick at all. Us compared to Radio Birdman, w e’re a bit slicker I suppose. We’re tig h te r.” I mention tlia t the costuming has changed. It’s b ri^ ite r, more self-assured, and m ore relaxed. No black uniforms. W arwick nods. “ Yeah. That was a weird, a pretty w eird part of our lives." Point taken. Looking about at the audience, there are Still some faces you may have seen at an Other Side o r A V isitors’ gig, or maybe noticed loitering along Oxford Street or D arlinghurst Road. Someone requests Iggy Pop’sFuntime from the DJ, someone else is wearing an MC5 t-s h irt w ith 'IGGY’ in dripping lettering on the breast pocket. There’s a scattering of beaten up motorcycle jackets that look transplanted straight from the Oxford Funhouse to this seaside venue. But the band have broadened th e ir base o f support, and the way they’re playing right now they’d appeal to anyone with an ear for rock’n ’roll. They sound fantastic, dense textured and hard like metallic mesh. The guitars dredge through the melody like a steel fishnet. Tfie lightshow, too, is superb. Like the sound, it shows imagination and a great sense of colour. It plays on the bare arms of the guitarists and on Mark, sweating behind the drum kit in a mintgreen singlet. Tony throws across a savagely white grin at W ar wick, who seems to be pleasantly self-absorbed. At the front stands Chris. His face contorts as he plays w hile his body moves w ith guitar in strong, graceful inclinations. A silver talisman dangling from his left ear picks up the lights and echoes the larger talisman bouncing on Johnny’s chest. Kannis seems made fo r tfie stage; his strongly marked features and bold stage movement are scaled fo r the spctligfits. He's singing better than ever before, biting into their longtime number Shake Some Ac tio n :- ‘It’s taken me so lo n g /to get where I belong...’ On current form w fie re th e Hitmen belong is right at the forefront of upcoming bands. — Elly McDonald

ROADRUNNER 9

ROADRUNNER 10

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one m illion percent o f the skids Richard Jobson is convinced the Skids are the best band in Britain and he’ll brook no contradiction from anyone. “We’re the only band producing anything original and creative. All the other stuff, the 60’s revival and that, it’s just a load of shit. We’re trying to do something, trying to create, while they’re just ripping off, and they’re having the success. Fuck! Still that’s no surprise because this; place really is a shit hole". That analysis o f B ritish music and society was given seconds after I had met the Skids fo r the firs t time. And before I could settle in to my chair and set up my tape recorder, Jobson follow ed up w ith a v itu p e ra tiv e c ritiq u e o f jo u rn a lis ts . O b v io u s ly Jobson isn't a man to mince his words. W hatever I had expected fro m my firs t meeting w ith the Skids it certainly w asn't this verbal onslaught. Still if I had done as the wise old gypsy lady ad vised years ago, and learned to read th e portents aright, I would have seen it coming. Everything about the meeting spelled aggression. The rehearsal studio in N orth London w here we m et: a stark, high rise dotted neighbourhood, taking its general a t mosphere from Pentonville prison ju st down the road. The music hire firm below th e s tu d io ; a team o f surly, lank haired, macho roadies hauling gargantuan speakers bearing the legends Thin Lizzy and Nazareth. And o f course the .Skids music itself; aggressive, and jagged descended fro m heavy metal, filtered through punk now acquiring a relentless sound of its own. The Skids are a fo u r piece band, but essentially they are Jobson, the songw riter and rhythm guitarist, and S tuart Adamson who plays lead guitar, keyboards when needed, and most im portantly w rites the music. Drum m er Mike Baillie and exZbnes bassist Russell Webb have ju st joined the band and have yet to stamp th e ir personality on the group. Jobson is a natural to fro n t a rock band. He's physically im pressive: tall, well built and w ith a quiff of reddish hair he's ju s t the type to grab an audience's attention. And he has th e swaggering, self confidence necessary fo r a perform er. Initially his manner's a trifle threatening but a fte r a w hile it becomes clear he's much like one o f those bar room toughs, whose m etier it is to ta u n t people to see how far they’ll go, and when they’ve reached the lim it pull back rather than deliver the punch. (Although I w ouldn’t like to be the one to put th is theory to the test.) As so often happens in couplings of th is sort, Adamson appears to be his ideal foil. He’s smaller, more dapper, and somewhat quieter than Jobson, although he shares his conviction and com m itm ent to what they are doing. Adamson -also restrains Jobson a little when the la tte r threatens to go over the top w ith his viru le nt denunciations. The Skids w ere born th re e years ago in Dun fermline, just n o rth of Edinburgh in Scotland, when Jobson, who was leaving school joined forces With Adamson w ho'd been playing in local bands fo r 4 years previously. "J u s t school K-Tel bands, mind ye” . Both Jobson and Adamson, like th e ir recently acquired members B aillie-and Webb, come from w orking class backgrounds. They entered the music business rather against the wishes of th e ir parents who trie d to get them into "decent trades” rather than the sordid w orld o f rock music. Like most other bands coming up in the mid to late 70s they were strongly influenced by the punk movement. “ We had to be” , says Jobson. "I mean the firs t record I ever owned was Cockney Rebel in 1973, so naturally I'm not interested in the music before that, especially the 60s stuff. And th a t’sw h a t makes me sick of these ska bands and mods, who w ere playing the punk stuff only three years ago, but now pretend they were around in the sixties. They were too fucking

young to be influenced by all th a t soul and pop music they ta lk a bout” . There are nods o f agreement fro m the rest o f the band and Adamson chimes in “ They were too busy playing w ith th e ir toys and action men to listen to the m usic” . Having caught th e bug to be rock’n ’rollers the Skids played and thrashed around until they landed a contract w ith Virgin. Since joining the company they’ve recorded tw o albums. Scared to Dance, last year, and Days in Europa, which has ju st been released in Australia. They’ve also had a to p tw enty s ir^ le in B ritain w ith Yankee Dollar, from the la tte r album. Despite w hat Jobson says about creativity etc, the Skids’ music, a lth o ig h interesting, is not particularly original o r unique. T h a t’s n o t meant as a damning criticism . The fact that rock music works w ith in defined parameters, means the music, up to a point, has to be derivative, and th e Skids’ music summons up numerous reference points. The relentless rhythm section recalls the punk music o f the band’s gestation period, and w ith o u t looking too

section, and the gruff vocals of Jobson. Yet somehow it gels to perfectly give a tough, taut, and g ritty sound th a t strangely manages to sound almost melodic. And Scared to Dance, the firs t and best album, is a fine example. It’s an arresting piece o f music. The lyrics o f despair, alientation, and conflict combine w ith unpredictable, chopping rhythms to make jarring, disconcerting listening. Days in Europa is a diffe rent affair. Using a new producer and studios, a different bassist and drum m er than the firs t album, and introducing synthesisers, the album is slicker and w ithout the edge o f Scared to Dance. Yet in its own way it shows a distinct progression. Jobson’s singing is a lot better. By his own admission he’s now learning to vary the tone o f his voice to better advantage. The lyrics are still interesting, although sometimes a little too obscure, and overall it shows a better awareness of dynamics and a m ore sophisticated approach than Scared to Dance. B ut it seems to lack the edge and therefore the com pulsion. “ Yeah th a t’s rig h t” says

hard one can fin d traces o f heavy metal in th e tunes. The im portant p o in t though is th a t the music is not complacent. The Skids are a young band (none will a dm it to being over 21) and if Adam son’s music and playing sounds a little derivative and Jobson’s lyrics at times a little to o contrived, it can be put down to lack of experience. And if th a t sounds patronising, it’s a sentiment th a t also comes from the band. They are the firs t to adm it they are still learning and maturing. What is im portant though is th a t they are trying to do som ething original, trying to w ork out a distinctive personality fo r the band and are not content to settle fo r a form ularised music. If anything the Skids’ main fa u lt is th a t they try too hard and sometimes sound a little strained. The feature of the band’s music at this stage of th e ir development is the sometimes startlingly good playing o f Adamson. It's a very clean, fluid, almost sweet, American style o f playing that one would expect to be at odds w ith the frenetic rhythm

Jobson. ‘Days in Europa so rt of goes along on one plane. It doesn’t get boring but after a while it goes over you, a bit like an Eno album ” . Our little te te a te te has now been in progress for just over an hour and my initial impressions are changing. The obnoxious, bom bastic aggression of the firs t few minutes has given way to an articulate intelligent and sometimes very funny explanation of th e ir musical philosophy, dom inated as ever by the ever voluble Jobson. The determ ination, and commitment to th e ir music is still present, but now it ’s not asfanatical as it firs t appeared. The Skids can laugh at themselves, and often do, but they never lose their strong belief in what they’re about. Like th e ir music, the Skids’ philosophy is not new, but that doesn’t by any means invalidate it. They want to shock people o u t of th e ir complacency; they want to force them to react in a passionate way instead of sitting back and acquiescently letting events simply wash over them. They frequent ly make references to

how lazy and lethargic people, and B ritain in par ticular, have become. Jobson’s aggression and Adamson’s quiet determ ination can now be seen as a self righteous anger against the slothful, a call to be positive and feeling; not in a series of slogans and cliches but attitudes. Although they claim to be apolitical, disdaining all parties, they are indeed political, instinctively realising that attitudes must be changed before the social conditions can. “ You see” , says Adamson, “ we’re into w arm th, depth, and em otion” . Continues Jobson, “ And then creating a method around it. Creating some sort of passion. We’re against the doom laden Orwellian approach of so many bands” . B ut surely th a t’s as much an emotion asyours? “ No it ’s not.There’s no colour, no depth, which is what we put in our songs. But that bleak shit. It’s just blank. N othing there’. 18 months ago there was something really happening here in London. Us and oth e r bands were dealing with environm ental problems like the state of our country. We were getting on stage w ith so many emotions. There was violence, excitement, joy and we were doing it in really interesting ways. But then it died. The sixties revival and the press killed it. I don’t know w hat’s going to happen when we tour American later this year. Cos we hate fuckin’ Am ericans. The most complacent, lazy race I’ve ever met. Like th a t song on Europa, ‘leisure loving days for anim ation’. Anything to stop them getting a bit of g rit” . The Skids can believe in w hat they do, in the way they do because they are young and enthusiastic, they have a love o f and a com m itm ent to the music, and because they have a burning desire to succeed. The la tte r stems partly from the ego present in all perform ers and partly from a conservative, rather unfashionable, o u tlo o k on life. “ I really believe that hard w ork and discipline is good fo r you” , says Adamson. “ Of course we also w ant to make a lot of money. I joined a rock band firs t to be a guitar hero and then to make a lot of money” , he says in a self deprecatory tone. But then m ore seriously “ Money is im portant because it can buy you th e freedom you want. And anyone in this business who tells you they’re not interested in m o n ^ is bull shitting” . They’re now applying their belief in the good old fashioned virtue of self discipline, as they rehearse a new brace of songs fo r a to u r of B ritain and Europe, and later in the year, America. “ We love performing, and sometimes I really ache to perform ", says Jobson. “ W e ;ve g o t a lot of songs now that are good, but we’re gonna rehearse and rehearse until they’re perfect, and then we go o u t on the road” . Their seriousness becomes apparent a short tim e later when they play fo r me a new number completed only the day before. Jobson still hasn’t memorised the lyrics and is reading them from a sheet, but he misses his cue a couple of times. His anger is quite apparent as he slaps himself on the thigh, furious that he’s missed the tim ing. They go over and over it until he gets it right. They then go through the set they plan for the tour. It's made up of songs of both albums and a few new ones. And it seems they’ve finally hit on the sound they were looking fo r on Days in Europa. It’s now a m ore varied sound with more light and shade, but it still retains the edge of Scared to Dance. If they can get it down on tape the next album should be a stunner. There's also an exuberance and vigour in the love music that's missing from th e ir records. It recalls remarks Adamson made earlier “ We do regard what we do as art. But the press has made a rt a d irty word. Thanks to them people now th in k of art as some px) faced old man sitting in a garret. But it doesn’t have to be that way. A rt is simply creating so it can be happy, or sad, or angry” . But the key to their whole philosophy comes at the end of the session when I say: “ You really believe what you're doing, don’t you” . “ Ab solutely” , says Jobson in a quiet, reflective way w ithout any of his bluff, o r bluster, while from another corner of the room Adamson replies ‘One m illion per cent” .

Chris Willis

R O A D R U N N E :f{ H

T the sensational

punkerthan punk bluer than a baby in a plastic b ag ' ..You probably know the kind of pub Carpetup the wall, hollywood style lights, puke-vinyl tables and chairs, and lots of people dancing to a great band in the corner. It’s a great Australian institution and the Bodgies, Adelaide’s premier rhythm’n blues band, are doing their damnedest to prove it. A three piece outfit th a t’s been playing around Adelaide gigs for about a year now, the Bodgies possess a characteristic sound that shocks many rock’n’roll (and blues) purists just by its rawness and guts. The immediate impression walking in on the band is that these young fellows aren’t ju s t politely doing w hite boy covers off B.B. King records; it’s played w ith great enthusiasm and som ething th a t must be an Australian feeling of w hat blues is about. W hatever this nebulous quality is, people recognise it and respond to it. There is a blues tra d itio n in Australia, even if it is only a sh o rt lived one. W ho can forget Chain, M att Taylor, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs? There was a tim e not very long ago when Australian blues oriented music was to p of the pile. As Don M orrison w ith the Bodgies pointed out, the fact th a t Creedence C learw ater Revival w ent N o.l recently in Adelaide, proves th a t people still w ant to hear good tim e R'n’B. Don, the harp player, singer and slide guitarist w ith the band generally fro n ts the band, giving it a distinctive style (som ewhere bet ween Paul Madigan and John Fogerty). Playing an ancient and decayed Maton semi acoustic, Don borrows liberally from such blues greats as Elmore

James and Hound Dog Taylor. His harp playing is modelled in the Chicago blues styles of L ittle W alter and Sonny Boy W illiamson. N ot that it’s the technique conscious pedantics that so many other bands get into; th e re ’s a healthy lack of synthetic ^ d g e try and bullshit. Geoff M orrison is the rhythm guitarist, probably the highest paid Musician anywhere playing a K-M art guitar. He usually plays the bass lines and John Lee Hooker riffs, bulking o u t the sound w ith a geriatric Playmaster amp. Brian M orrison is the drum m er, playing a small battered k it th a t’s probably older than he is, and helping w ith backing vocals. When this small mass of equipm ent is going full blast it teeters on the edge of self destruction, the tiny PA d isto rtin g to ju s t on the pleasant side of pain but providing w hat people w ant to hear. It’s good to see that people enjoy a band that isn’t necessarily churning out the megawatts w ith 50 coloured lights shining on them. The band likes to put shit in the sort of bands th a t have 15 piece drum kits and as Don says “ guitarists w ith $1000 guitars w ith 6 funny pedals that sound like a DCIO coming into land’’. The fu tu re looks qu ite good fo r the band w ith a Melbourne to u r in the second week in July and a record in the w orks from Adelaide’s Radio Records. Financially three piece bands do very well compared to the usual 5 piece o r 6 piece bands and the Bodgies especially so w ith th e ir low overheads. It's a healthy method of survival in these tough times and things can only get better, given the bands reputation fo r being able to make any crow d dance. “ We w ant to entertain people, fo r them to have a good tim e and us to enjoy ourselves". W ith this basically sound philosophy, the Bodgies can’t go wrong. — M ark Thomson

in x s Michael Hutchence tosses lank, curly hair from his eyes and shakes his shoulders convulsively as he sings into the mike, clutching it as the focus for his intensity. His gangly legs twitch in time with the driving music of InXs. Pink lights catch on the small neat frames of Kirk Pengilly’s spectacles casting striking shadows which transform the guitar saxophonist’s face. The band wear sneakers , striped t-shirts, artsmock shirts— the uniform of rebellious youth circa ’65. They look like rock’n’roll Beatniks. In many ways InXs retain the spirit of the Angry Young Man. This is HEADSTRONG music. They’ve got all the virtues and all the faults of a strongminded adolescent: they’re intelligent, aggressive, occasionally self-indulgent, touching on arrogant... They’ve got that tough-centred adolescent sen sitivity. InXs are a strong band musically, and at firs t the impact can be a little overwhelming. We’re not conditioned to seeing six people up front, on stage, on full power drive; it contrasts w ith the austerity of the Angels’ stage presentation, fo r instance. “ We had to w ork on the sound balance,” admits Kirk. “ W ith six people you have to concentrate very much on effective arrangem ents and dynamics. And as fo r the stage looking crowded, w hat should we do? Kick someone out?” They look around at each other and laugh. No-one seems in the least insecure; InXs are a very close band. Besides Michael and K irk there are the three Farriss brothers — Andrew on keyboards, Jonny on drums and vocals, Tim on guitar — and bassplayer Garry Gary. The six have been playing together in various combinations fo r years. “ It’s all incest,” says K irk cheerily. "We w ouldn’t let Tim play at one tim e though because he was only about thirteen and we didn’t th in k we could get him into pubs.” For Michael, the years until he was thirteen were spent in Hong Kong w here his father w orked in the fashion business. Although he points out that Hong Kong is a m ulti-cultural society and he was hardly deprived of a rock’n roil background, Michael does suggest a different cultural perspective in his ap proach. “ I’m still trying to understand audiences, the psychology of audiences,” he confides in his quietspoken way. As frontm an he experim ents w ith mime gestures and great dram atic involvement. There is no musical training w ithin the band but none have ever seriously considered any other lifestyle, -fe-

GIRLS ON THE MARCH by Helen Gillman and F.X. Holden When the Marching Girls hit the shores of Australia in late 1978 as a trio of Kiwi rock’n’roll waifs with the simple ambition of making as much money and having as much “fun” as possible, the Melbourne scene could hardly be blamed for not anticipating the terrors and delights in store for it. “ It to o k six months fo r us to score our firs t gig,” says bassist Ron Perry. “ We hadn’t played in all that time, in fact we hadn’t even practised.” (A t the tim e none of them even had a place to live; they were spending the cold nights huddled together on the flo o r of a frie n d ’s bedroom ). . “ Premier A rtists scored us this gig supporting Jo Jo Zepand the Falcons. We were diabolical and the audience started booing and throw ing things at us. Des (Hefner, drum s) and John (Cooke, g uitar) started swearing a t the audience. We d id n ’t get another gig fo r six m onths a fte r that... and Premier dropped us.” Since then, the Marching G irls have resolutely maintained th e ir outsider status, an annoying spl inter in the com fortable flesh of the adopted city’s rock scene. The gigs may have been sporadic in the extreme, but musically they have made th e ir presence fe lt in the sharpest of terms. One of the few reliable rock’n’roll escapes throughout last year and the early m onths of 1980 was an expedition to the upstairs bar of the Champion in skid-row Fitzroy (a venue established by Marching G irls’ long-suffering manager Terry to showcase his proteges and sim ilar beyond-the-pale o u tfits) to see the band pound their way through a set that combined energy, blankness and invention in equal amounts.

JOHNNY O’KEEFE STIFF LITTLE FINGERS/NOBODYS HEROES ROADRUNNER 12.

They’re a three piece w ho’ve achieved a totally distinct sound, neither full lock punk pow erdrive o r h e s ita n t m in im a lism , b u t re s tin g in trig u in g ly somewhere between the extremes and relying on a great sense of pop melody. Songs like ‘F irst In Line’, ‘Last Girl In The W o rld ’ and ‘Mr. X’ d rill themselves into the memory on firs t hearing and rock’n’roll justice would seem to demand that the Marching Girls should have achieved more than becoming inner-city cu lt heroes. The Marching Girls, however, have hardly had an easy path in w idening th eir audience. A hedonistic attitude tow ard life th a t’s involved getting into fist fights w ith M elbourne rock’n’roll heroes, a blase attitude tow ard the bands they’ve supported and promoters, and continual rum ours of impending break-ups haven't helped.

For the band, the hassles of leading w hat they consider to be a normal lifestyle m ust bring back memories of the days when they alm ost single handed brought punk consciousness to New Zealand as the Scavengers, b u t they w ould prefer to let those times remain a memory: “ The Marching G irls have no past only a future,” defiantly asserts manager Terry. Given the opportunity, that fu tu re should be bright; th e ir music may have its abrasive un dercurrents, but its sim plicity and commercial ap peal should gain it a w ider audience, even if the Marching G irls are quick to denigrate other New Zealand bands who in their opinion have sold themselves down the river. Future audiences, however, may have to put up w ith certain quirks in a ttitu d e as well as onstage indifference. “ I play w hat I like and I don’t care w hat anyone thinks,” says g u ita rist Cooke. “ A fter all audiences have to take w hat they get, don’t they?” The Marching G irls make no attem pts to ingratiate themselves. They sim ply w alk on, plug in and deliver and their energy is such th a t audiences usually respond. In sim ilar fashion, they make no attem pt to align themselves w ith the musical fashion-of-the-m onth. “ We’ve all got influences,” says Ron. “ B ut influences can’t be pinpointed unless you actually copy them, and we don’t do that.” They resent any form of labelling. “ We were playing music sim ilar to whaL we play now before there \were any categories.” The band’s lyrics are inspired by personal experience, w ith their simple w itfittin g Ron’s description of them as “ hum anist” . Even in th e ir punk hey day they were w riting songs as poignant as ‘I D on’t W ant to be a B rick In a w all’. The A-side of the band’s long awaited single is ‘True Love’, a song which is the epitom e of pop mem orability w ith lyrics th a t probe the experience of falling in love, getting married and starting a nuclear fam ily w ith Ramones-like precision. The B-side, ‘First In Line’, is every bit as good and the combination is an earnest attem pt to grab a slice of the top forty market w ithout losing any of the band’s live impact. Eventually, the band hope to spend as much tim e in the studio as possible as an alternative to merely “ putting a few coins in th e ir pockets” by playing pubs. Out of all the Australian bands scrabbling fo r recognition in a w orld of alternative rock, the Mar ching Girls must be one of the surest bets fo r in ternational acclaim ; they may even make enough of an impression (and enough money) fo r John to have his teeth fixed and fo r Des to build a drum-shaped pool with his name on the b o tto m In the meantime, watch, look and listen and don’t pass the Marching Girls by.

inxs “ There comes a point where everybody in a band realises they have to have something to fall back on or else they have to make it. We decided to make it,” explains Kirk. After doing some M idnight Oil supports in 7 9 , the band were picked up by Oil's manager Gary Morris. M orris gave them th e ir name which appealed to their self-image, but the association was not totally rewarding. "He wanted to make us the Next Big Band,” recalls Kirk. “ We felt we were being pushed into being something commercial before we’d had a chance to develop as what we wanted to be. He wanted us all to be Christians and dress nicely.” Shortly thereafter M orris left ro ck’n roll and committed himself to God, while InXs forayed fu r ther into the musical jungle and com m itted them selves to Chris Murphy of MMA. Recently Chris and form er A C /D C manager Michael Brow ning Set up an independent record company. Deluxe Records, w ith InXs among its initial fo u r signings. “ We liked the philosophy behind Deluxe,” says Michael. “ It seemed m ore put together w ith the band’s artistic interests in mind, and of course Michael Browning is one o f the few Australians at the moment w ith the know-how and connections when it comes to overseas record companies. That was a very definite attraction, because you’ve really got to set your sights on the international scene somewhere along the line.” InXs see th e ir firs t single ‘S m on’ mainly as an exploratory feeler, providing experience o f the m arketandthe recording process in general. Due fo r early May release, it w ill be followed in June by a six track mini-album which should dem onstrate the standard of their originals. The songwriting is a group process. Usually Andrew o r Michael come up w ith a core idea which the whole band develops in rehearsal. Everyone contributes and no-one feels burdened by the responsibility. “ I suppose in the back of your mind you’ve got the basic pressure ‘I know I have to w rite some songs’ ” , says Andrew, “ But you don ’t sit down and agonise over it. I’ll go o ut and clean the car and maybe a thought will come to me or a few lines of verse — Japanese poetry — and I can put it together and get a song out of it. I w rite about everyday things, like the suburbs in ‘Wishy Washy, because those things are immediate, and always relevant. Like, a lot of rock’n’roll is a vacuum. Three years from now it w on’t mean a thing. We could get up and make meaningful lyrical statem ents but they do n ’t have the same kind o f lasting honesty. Musically, my personal influences are funk — funk, and I like disco a lot. I really am into that kind o f music. But it’s not the music I choose to w rite when I’m w orking w ith the band because we have our own id e n tity” .

“ If you have to label us,” puts in Michael, “ I th in k I quite like th a t Beat idea. We’re all into the Beatnik thing. Basically we do what appeals to us because if we like it chances are someone out there w ill too. In a large enough population th e re ’s sure to be com mon ground. You’ve got to have credibility if you’re going to last, and you’ve got credibility if you’re really into what you do. W e’re not interested in ju m p irg on any bandwagons but we are very aware of new musical influences and we incorporate them

into our own music. We do some ska now. One of our covers is the Specials’ ‘Gangsters’. “ The three... no, FOUR, covers are there mainly as reference points for the audience. They’re songs like ‘You Really Got Me’ which any audience can relate to instantly, ^ m e bands fill their e ntire sets w ith these ready-made response numbers because it’s a lot harder getting people to tune in to something th a t’s new to them, and in th a t case they’ve choseri to entertain by being a good covers band. We want to

be something more. For us, the covers we do are worked on so much and <re-arranged that while maybe we can’t make it our song, it’s very distinctly our VERSION. That takes about as much w ork as getting an original together so we thought we might as well make it an original band.” InXs are am bitious but, like that independent adolescent, they’re determ ined to make it on their own terms. — Elly McDonald

international exiles Exiled-muzak is a blend of hesitant off-beat rythmns from poppy keyboards and shuffling guitar in clever, spontaneous songs spiced w ith distorted, low-keyed vocals. At the Paradise Longue the In ternational Exiles show th e ir best, sharing hyptnotic sounds and ale w ith the masses. A possibly profound ‘Spies’ opens the bracket, setting the night alight, lyrics fuelled by the endless paradox of right and wrong. They move to and fro in skinny pants thin ties and pointed shoes — is it ‘We are the MODS?’ o r 8 0 ’s muzak w ith 60’s mad style. Coloured lights flash, flood the stage, into ‘Crimes of Passion’ — a harm ony-oriented melody, richly textured w ith synthesized effects — black and w hite notes in a rainbow symphony — a siren song. Laineisa Nice Girl fo r one song, ‘Telling Fortunes’ in another. Her thin little heels force her to dance along w ith the crowd. Energy m otion take over the audience at the Paradise and we stop at 'General Stations’. This song carries a d icky ska-bluebeat against an organ-ic melody, splashed w ith echoes and shifty tricks and sounds unheard impress an intruding song. The band’s shadow-member o ff stage is panel-whiz. Groper, who weaves the tapestry of good sound. ‘Brainstorms' intrudes personal politics, con

fronting confusion in an em otionally potent song. Laine dances all around, Rob and David’s (guitarist and keyboards player) harmonies shift and return. Physically deceiving. Another powerful number is Laine’s 3 a.m.— controlling insomnia when nightowls feel disrithm ia w ith the day. The chiding, pedantic beat mesmerises w ith Laine’s liquid pools of eyes reflect in the footlights. Her movements stilted to Rob’s powerchords and Adam’s subtle basslines, in bet ween p ercussive riffs . D a v id ’s b a c k-a tta ck in g drumbeat presses rolls from the barends, splashes si ices, beating o u t hooklines between keyboards and bass, leaving me reminded of Clem, Burke, from the lad from Leeds. ‘M iniskirts in Moscow', is a dynamically textured arrangement of an almost instrum ental-til three title lyrics are pouted and programmed, leaving a w onderstruck yours truly, enjoying the exile from the mainstream. 'Misguided Missies’ starts slowly, fortressing foundation fo r a blast-off into a powerful song, spiced with tim ely bass, peppered w ith powerchords and poppy keyboards, creating a recipe fo r a rocking pop song. Missing Link are to release a single soon, and the Exiles play most inner-city gigs in Melbourne. — Jeni Years

B U D D Y HOLLY STIFFUTTIE HNGERS/NOBODYS HEROES ROADRUNNER 13

It’s the RAMONES on tour

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donna m aegraith talks to the bushwackers

It’s Sydney, June, 1980. A benefit concert for striking journalists. The Bushwackers are playing to a capacity audience. The crowd has pushed the tables and chairs aside. They’re on their feet A few dance in folk st)^e. Most are just rocking along to the band. Everyone is sweaty, happy. There’s a sea of beery grins. People are singing along Australian songs, sung with Australian accents. Songs that encapsulate the spirit of Henry Lawson and C.J. Dennis, the spirit of Eureka.

harmonica,axes, saw, and bodhran, Dobe Newton on lagerphone, whistles, side drum and saw, Louis McManus on fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and acoustic guitar, Michael H arris on fiddle, and viola, Andy C olville on electric guitar, Roger C o rb e tt on electric Bass, and Eddie Van Roosendaet on drums, are used to playing to packed houses. They are the only bush band to have tw o records reach the national Top Twenty. Their latest album, ‘The Bushwackers Band Dance Album', is clim bing the V ictorian charts fast. Band members are delighted by th e ir success. They say it shows people are sick of being swamped by overseas influences. As Bill says, “ A lot of Australians want to hear A ustralian music. They are sick of Australian singers acting as if they come fro m America."

The two longest standing Bushwackers, Bill Smith (Jan Wositzky) w ho's been w ith the band since it formed in 1971, and Dobe Newton are each dancing w ith their instruments, spoons and lagerphone. They are backed by traditional fo lk in stru m e n ts— fiddles, mandolins etcetera, and also by a solid electrical section. The sound is gutsy. The songs are full of good humour. The band sings about strikes and shearers' suppression — songs which are related to the Australian national tra d itio n , and the labour movement in this country. Although rooted in tradition, the songs w ill always be relevant, w hether because of th e ir unsuppressible hum our o r th e ir affin ity fo r the o r dinary person. As gu ita rist Andy Colville says ‘Weavils in the Flour' w ritte n by poet D orothy Hewett w ill always be pertinent because it's about how distasteful it is being on the dole. The Bushwackers, who afte r a lot of lineup changes, now comprise Bill Sm ith on spoons, bones.

The group plays in rock and disco venues, and draws increasirgly younger audiences, especially in its home town, Melbourne. Dobe says, “ It's im p o rta nt fo r us to be out there playing in the market place. Once you've seen that the young people really can get something from the music, it makes you want to go o u t and play to them." Dobe thinks people respond to their music because they're singing songs which give Australians fundam ental images they can identify with. He says no matter how good a song, say, a bout New Y ork is, Australians can't actually feel th a t they're there when they hear it. He says the Bushwackers are one of the few Australiah bands w ho have managed to give people this A ustralian image. When Australians hear them, they can be wherever the song is. D rum m er Eddie Van Roosendael and guitarist Andy Colville, both from rock backgrounds, say the band's electric sound makes them m ore accessible

to people brought up on rock and roll. “ We v\/ant people who go to see Cold Chisel to be able to come along and see us to o ," says Andy. The band also sees p a rt of its popularity as stemming fro m its a b ility to give its audience a night full of fun. They commented on the lack of fun or enthusiasm in the mainstream rock scene. Bill laments “ The last gig I w ent to was Bombay Rock. It was like a bloody funeral. Nobody was having a good time, including the band. People w ere just standing there, looking. T h ^ w ere docile." The band tries to get people up and dancing. They've ju s t put o u t a dance record and a book of easy-to-follow dance instructions, teaching people how to do com m unity bush dances v\nth names like the Kangaroo Hop, and the Orongo (after Malcolm Fraser). The Bushwackers hold regular dances in Melbourne. A t one last year in the city's Centenary Hall, they drew a crowd of 2,000. The dances involve large num ber of people. In many, you have to move along to the next partner, so people find themselves in the arms of total strangers. “ When you come to one of o u r dances you dance w ith the peopleyou come with, you finish up dancing w ith untold numbers of strangers, and you have to hold them, and inevitably you finish up having a good laugh w ith them ," Bill says. Eddie describes the dances as “ the antithesis of disco". He says you dance w ith people rather than on your own, you have to touch them, and you sweat and get dirty. The band is to ta lly com m itted to its goal of making people more aware of th e ir own culture and traditions. They play Henry Lawson ballads, and they've included extracts fro m Lawson, Dennis, and other Australian w rite rs of the tim e in their song and

dance books. Dobe says the extracts are an attem pt to put the songs in an historical contact. ‘‘We're ju s t trying to get the 18 year old kids who come along to see us, and w ho've never done Australian history, to understand that our songs are part of a whole culture which existed at the time." He says the wisdom and hum our inherent in that tradition are priceless, and he w ouldn't be playing unless he thought he could recapture it. He com pares Lawson and Dennis to Shakespeare, whose audiences w ere drawn from the common people. “ Dennis wanted to produce great works w ritte n in the language of the streets, and he did it," Dobe says. Some of the band members wear Eureka flags. Bill believes it should be Australia's fla g “ The Southern Cross doesn't really stand o ut in the present fla g and you get th a t bloc^y disgraceful b it of patchwork on the top," he says. Talking of the English element in the Australian flag, and the overseas dom ination of Australia's life, he says we can't go on inheriting another peoples' culture. A fter a w hile we have to make our own. The band says the Eureka flag was a demand fo r rights, justice, and fa ir treatm ent when it was raised — the sorts of things that make a flag a valuable national symbol, the sorts of things inherent in the Bushwackers' music. W hat of the fu tu re fo r the Bushwackers? At present they're riding on a wave of unprecedented popularity which doesn't look like abating. Perhaps because the m ultinationals are hitting their hip pockets harder than ever before, more and more Australians are turning away from a bland in ternational culture, and are searching fo r something they can say is theirs. The Bushwackers have to be in the fro n t line of that movement. — Donna Maegraith

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R E C O R D S 8i TA P E S 3 7 1 0 5 ROADRUNNER 15

Cold Chisel are fittin g ebout in the backstage room of another hotel, filling in time before another night’s gig. It's miles from home, miles from anywhere, and the band are tired. Sprawled in a musty armchair, Jim Barnes stares at the TV in the middle of the room with glazed, uncomprehending eyes. His face is white, and covered with something resembling a three day growth— or possibly five. On the TV screen a row of houses are ex ploding from no apparent cause, to no apparent purpose, and every time another house shatters the black and white reception goes savagely static. Phil Small and Steve Prestwich watch numbly. Only Don Walker shows any animation. "See the way that house blew up? That’s a prime example of._" Here if I'd been more attentive I could have found out what, in physicists’ terms, happens when a house explodes. "It’s really quite in teresting." Jim raises an eyebrow politely and grunts. How USEFUL it is for a band to be blessed with an honours degree graduate in physics, a quantum mechanics major no less! And how, er, UNUSUAL. Four years at university in Armidale, a government job in weaponries research, no doubt a foreign car... And now this. What happened? “Music was attracting me enough anyway sb it was screwing up anything else I was trying to do, namely physics at University: it drastically affected my marks in the later years. So it was logical to go into the thing I was spending all my time on voluntarily rather than the thing I was forcing myself to spend time on." But com ity from a small Queensland country town, grov/ing up on a sugar cane plantation, surely The Parents set a lot of store by having a son in science, with such a promising academic record? Didn’t they object to it all being thrown away? A rather stubborn set to the jawline is evident as he answers levelly “Not really. They’ll even talk to me when there are other members of the band around now.” Ian Moss strolls in. A softly spoken, attractive man, Ian is the kind of guitarist young players idolise. I’ve even known of one boy who bought a guitar the same model as Ian’s and then carved awa;^ at its body until he’d duplicated the wear marks as nearly as possible so as to have an exact replica. Ian takes one look a t his fellow Chisels and shakes his head. Meeting his eyes across the room, Don Walker gives a quiet chuckle. "And what about you last night with that great big

grin on your face? I kept looking up and seeing this { dope-y SMILE from ear to ear..." Ian looks sheepish. “Aw, it's alright. They'll all just go ‘look at that SWEET little guitarist! Isn’t he CUTE?!” The sweet little guitarist grins again, then fades away to whence he came, just like the C h ^h ire cat. "Did you know I have never played the Bondi Lifesaver straight?” says Jim suddenly. “Not once. Must be something about the place." He frowns contemplatively. It’s a sobering thought. Since Chisel first moved up to Sydney from Adelaide three years ago they must have piayki the place scores of times. They started out playing to less than a hundred people and built into being one of Australia's best loved bands. Nowadays Chisel at the Lifesaver is a guaranteed great gig, and when the band aren’t playing it’s a favourite social haunt as well. Don Walker, less gregarious than the others, can also be spotted occasionally in the gloom of city venues checking out other bands around town. He remains conscious of the realities of the business for bands still moving up through the ranks. “I always make a point of paying when I see another band. I could probably get in free but I figure they’ll be on a door-take and since most bands are really struggling financially — there are only a very few v\^o actually make money out of it — it doesn’t hurt me to pay. I went to the Lifesaver recently, forked over my $5 or whatever and went in, and then five minutes later they must have worked out I was SOMEBODY because this guy comes running up to me waving a $5 note and trying to get me to take it back. He was really insistent. It’s ridiculous! Not all the band think like that though. A couple of the others will go to unbelievable lengths to get in fr e e , — I’ve seen Steve argue for hours at the door over a $3 charge. "It’s partly because we’ve been so broke our selves. There was a time when we were in Sydney and we were all just sitting about in my room at the Plaza because we couldn’t afford to do anything else. We had 25c between us. There’s a fruit stand over the road that you can see through the window and the only thing in the world we wanted was a banana. We were really getting fixated on that banana, which could only have been a bite each, and we couldn’t even scrape up enough money for that. We sat in that room for three days. “That’s when I decided I wasn’t going to let people fuck me about. You’ve got to get into a position where you’ve got some control over what happens with the band and you’re not being juggled about by agents and promoters and all the others, ‘cos t h ^ ’ll fuck you in the arse every time and you’H wind up with nothing. You’ve got to know how they worK and who they are, so you can get in there and take care of your interests, of the band.” Who was responsible for the black and white publicity poster that more than a few people com

mented was uncomfortably close to the overseas cover of Radio Birdman’s Radios Appear (which incidentally Don has been heard to call the best rock'n’roll album to come out of Australia)? “I haven’t seen it. Is that a joke?” Who pays for the radio ads for interstate gigs, the record company or the agency? “I don’t know.” There’s a rather endearing anecdote, told to me by Bill Tharle.from the Nucleus agency in Melbourne — Nucleus look after the Dirty Pool bands when they venture down south: There was Bill, quietly going about his job overseeing a Chisel foray, pleased with another gig safely wound up, when who should emerge from the shifting crowd and grab him by the arm but Don Walker. “Excuse me,” says Don, “But I like to k e ^ an eye on who’s in the audience, and you’ve been at every gig v ^ ’ve done this trip. I really appreciate feedback from the people who come and see us — why do you keep coming back?” A moment's shocked pause before Bill answers mildly. “Well actually," says he, “ I'm your agent.” Then, too, there's that image. Their appeal has broadened considerably over the last year, par ticularly with the success of Choirgiri ^ and the release of East is sure to mark a whole new phase— but even so Chisel remain the ultimate goodtime

band for the adolescent, working class male. The common man's band, everyday kids who appear to be doing what the real everyday kid only dreams about. C'mon, YOU know— sex’ndrug’n rock’n'roll ! And more sex, more drugs, more sex, more rock'n'roll... The band don't go out of their way to cultivate it but as images go it's no great handicap.' And put it this way. I'm sure they weren’t exactly devastated at missing out on the Osmonds support. “With us, ail we’ve ever been is been ourselveiS. We’ve always been the same, as far as the kind o f people we are and the kind of lifestyle we lead. It’s a little bit freer and a little bit more enjoyable, but in actual fact >we’re not living any different to, really, the people who buy our records — well, I suppose we are, but we have the same values.” It's a subject Don Walker seems to find mildly embarrassing. Basically a private person, he is almost apologetic discussing the band's public character. “The media get an idea about a band and they stick to it no matter \Miat. There was this line: ‘Cold Chisel drink more, fight harder and fuck crazier than any other band’ o r something.. That was just because I get to go out to dinner with WEA executives supposedly to write bios, and we have this great meal and get really ckunk and make up really outrageous stories, tfs

All pix: Greg Noakes.

tim e b a n d

pretty funiy actually. We came up with that line one night and it got plastered all over the press. But it isn’t true. We don’t live like that and it isn’t like that on the road. You take any member of the band, take J m — well, maybe not JIM but..." He shrugs helplessly. Ah yes, I think to myself — Jim Barnes. He’s the one who told me not to worry about budgeting for food ’cos you can live on booze’n’sex alone. Don flicks the ash from his cigarette. He’s got a nice, loose-limbed way about him in contrast to the pursed nx}uth and guardedly narrow eyes. “I can only say I’m not sexist myself because some of my best friends are full-on feminists and they just wouldn’t tolerate me if I was. There are other people t h ^ won’t tolerate." Mind you, there are the occasional lapses. Forewarned that a girl he was about to be in troduced to was strongly feminist and disapproves of Chisel, DW positively bounced into the fray. "Hello!” he beamed, 'Tm a male chauvinist pig! Far from looking like a harmless little porker he’d transformed into 6 ’2” of slavering wolf; before long he was telling the bemused and tittering victim she should go take a walk in the park. He’d just got up to suitable sexual offerings due in payment for the

privilege of meeting the band (hereafter known as the Sex Piglets) when I decided I couldn’t bear to hear more. As it happens the lacly thought he was charming, “and very funny”, but his full-on feminist friends were not amused and the joke backfired. Personally I think the whole issue of sexism and Cold Chisel is a red herring. It’s certainly irrelevant to the East phase of their career. Besides, a man is going to respond to a woman as a sex object, and vice versa; there’s no need not to acknowledge that. It’s called normal sexuality, and one or two of the older songs are wholly concerned with it. It becomes offensive when the sexual response obscures the response to that person as an individual. Basically it’s just a particularly one dimensional approach to human relationships. With Cold Chisel, the songs teem with individuals, and they’re not stock characters told in standard cliches. Until now, most of the material has been written by Walker, and Don has a gift for lines that stand out in sharp relief as cameo commentaries on human behavior; ‘Finished up in bed with an old acquaintance/She’ll never be my friend a g a in ...’ It’s a wryly observed, vividly peopled world. Even in the more mawkish ballads you get the feeling his

subjects are probably going about their own lives quite independent of the s o r ^ r it e r ’s ego. It’s not the narrowed viewpoint of a man who sees things purely in terms of his sexual assumptions. Walker is held in generally high r^ a rd as an Australian songwriter. He was nominated in the songwriting category for the Australian Music Awards (and he isn’t even in Mi-Sex) but more in terestingly he is very often cited as a favourite songwriter by young new wave-oriented bands, who relate to his urban honesty. Further into the realms of commercialism, one of the latest ‘rated’ songwriters. Flowers’ Iva Davies, goes on the record saying "I admire Don Walker enormously. I’d like to think he works the way I do — he seems to be private but his songs are highly personal. As a songwriter I think he’s underrated.” Countering such comments comes the young Darlinghurst guitarist who burst out ‘‘Under-rated? The guy’s making HEAP’S of money in royalties and there’s songwriters like Paul Kelly who never get a mention! There’s no com parison between the two and it’s so unfair." Or more bluntly, that other guitarist who pronounced Cold Chisel "almost as boring as an Angels’ encore." Putting the two sides in perspective, a longtime Chisel associate remarks " T h ^ ’ve got more soul than any band in Australia. You always know they believe in their material and t h ^ love v/hat they’re doing even when you don’t like the songs, or the style maybe. There’s none of the calculation or cynicism other top bands develop." DEFINITELY they stand by their material. In response to a casual remark I once made about certain suburban audiences looking like leftovers from 'Tb, Jim had laughed that the bands they’re paying to see are throwbacks too; Not that Chisel’s dated or anything, I ungraciously muttered. Silence. “Men have DIED for less!” growls Jim, and from the look in his ^ e s I don’t doubt it. “How are you at typing with crushed fingers?" he adds. Fair enough. It’s not that Chisel ARE dated or anything, anyway. They’re a rock’n’roll band, drawing on influences from throughout the development of rock — R&B, blues, jazz, now reggae — but what they deliver on th e ir third album East is the fruition of their own development. They were already established as distinctively ‘Chisel’ but until now I don’t think I, or the bored guitarist, or quite a few other people, had quite realised how much potential being ‘Chisel’ entailed. With E a^ t h ^ don’t merely consolidate their position in Australian rock. It’s an all out bid to prove themselves the most vital band in this country today. For the first time all members of the band have contributed songs and the total collection, which could so easily have been a rather dreary reworking of the Breakfast at Sweethearts street themes the band was in danger of becoming identified with, is a multi-facetted (do I have to say this?) triumph. And don’t think that last statement is just an investment

in my fingers’ future. Previously you could have said that when it comes down to i t Cold Chisel owed their success to three pretty convincing assets: a great guitarist, a great singer, and a great songwriter. When the great guitarist starts coming out with great songs like Never Before, the great vocalist provides fresh encore fodder with numbers likefUsing Sun, and Phil Small and Steve Prestwich assert themselves with tracks as strong as Baby and Best Kept Ues, it gets to be redundant for critics to point out Cold Chisel’s plusses — they do it so well themselves every time they set foot on a stage. According to Walker this is a bout of natural, native talent. "Phil and Steve had no musical training, formally, and neither’s Jim. Jim can bang out some chords on a guitar, just to accompany himself on a song. He’s got it all in his head. I mean he sat down one night with me, had a song in his head that involved chords I didn’t even know the names of. We built up each chord note for note as he heard it in his head and came out with this terrific blues song— it’s one of the best things he’s likely to come out with for Some time." Another gig, another backstage dressingroom — but it’s a hometown pub and a much happier night. The band are talking and drinking, sitting around a table which, rather incongruously, has an unhinged door propped up against it. Steve Prestwich wan ders in, pulls up a chair and calmly observes “I see we have a door prize here tonight." He sips his drink, frowns slightly, and starts to mutter under his breath ‘one two three four one one tw o . . . ’ Wotcha doing, Steve? Still trying to work out how many guys in the band? For a fraction of a second there’s a hint of mischief before his face settles into being as in nocent, as STRAIGHT, as a Chisel’s ever could. “Nah,” he says, "I know how many, it’s just their NAMES that get me. It took me a year to find out who the fuck Phil was. I used to have to lean over to Ian and ask him to please tell that bassplayer there t o . E t cetera. End of the night. Eight people cram into the homev^rd bound car — “They hated the bus,” confides Chisel’s tour manager, referring to the vehide written off in the accident Steve was injured in late last year. “It was so BIG! Still, I suppose we’ll get round to replacing it som etim e.. . ’’ They since have, but on this night it is still possible to observe eight people in a skintight car hurtle off into the n i^ t, all the while passing commentary on the tunes blaring out via 2SM. A van full of kids pulls up next to th en at a traffic light. “Are you raging?" they shout as they fumble to wind down their nearest window. “ Are you?" hollers Steve in response “Sure are!"; ‘Then drive carefully!" And with this stern advice the Cold Chisel car all but flings itself down the Among lane, heading straight for the Harbour. Just like ANY carload of delinquents on a Saturday n i ^ t . ..

WRECKLESS ERIC ON TOUR JUNE 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 18th 19th 20th 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th

C IV IC H O T E L , S Y D N E Y S Y L V A N IA H O T E L , S Y L V A N IA S E L IN A ’S, COOGEE F A M IL Y IN N , R Y D A L E M E R E S O U TH S Y D N E Y j U N IO R S S U N D O W N E R H O T E L , PUNC HBO W L A M B A S S A D O R H O T E L , N EW CASTLE PARK BEAC H M O T E L , CO FFS H A R B O U R C L O U D L A N D S , B R IS B A N E W O LLO N G O N G LE A G U ES CLU B D O Y A L S O N RSL COMB & C U T T E R H O T E L , B LA C K TO W N C R O N U L L A LE A G U ES CLUB M A N LY VALE HOTEL F A IR F IE L D H O T E L , F A IR F IE L D L IF E S A V E R , B O N D I

JULY 1st C A N B E R R A A N U 2nd A R M ID A L E H O T E L 3rd D O N C A S TE R H O T E L , M E L B O U R N E 4th B O M B A Y ROCK 5th C R Y S T A L B A LLR O O M 6th M E L B O U R N E U N I 8th PROSPECT H O T E L , M E L B O U R N E 9th A D E L A ID E 11th R A F F L E S H O T E L , P ERTH 12th U N I O F W .A. 13th R A F F L E S H O T E L . P ERTH

ROADRUNNER 18

ERIC’S COME UP WITH A

LONDON

Well, the Pretenders have pulled it off with Talk ofTheTown’ over here, and it’s doing ok over in the US of A as well, as is our favourite electrone, Gary Numan. It’s funny what’s happened to the concept of the New Wavd in the States. All the record industry is buzzing about the socalled “third wave” of British acts now establishing themselves over there (first was pre-historic, i.e. BeatlesysStones, second neolithic, i.e. Led Zep, Bad Co. — I guess you’d call the latest bunch, which if the truth were known started with the dear ol Pistols, would be called prehensile or something similar). The manager of th a t well-known neolithic wave band, Wishbone Ash, had an amusing anecdote to tell on the mass acceptance of the term “ new wave” in the US these days. He was sittin g somewhere in the dead heart of middle America, in a ham burger joint, chewing on his quarter-pounder, when he overheard a couple of youths enthusing about the latest selection of chart fodder on the juke box in the corner. The name W ishbone Ash came up — evidently one of th e ir singles was listed. “ Wishbone, man?” , the other replied. “ Yeah: they’re really new w ave!!!” Said manager nearly choked in astonish ment on said hamburger. For a band th a t couldn’t get arrested w ith title like th a t in the UK, it’s nice to see the states including them in getting the tag so utterly round th e ir neck. M att Monroe, anyone? Well, if this confusion can be exploited by us limeys in the comingyear, it can only help the furtherance of music in America, who now seem quite happy to regard B illy Joelasa rock & roller from way back. As a byline which is totally unrelated to the above. I’d like to personally thank John Peel for playing a perfect single by a new band. Com S tat Angels. It’s CALLED ‘Total W ar’, and it’s on Polydor. I don’t really know how much it was down to Peelie’s good taste, or the fact th a t he tends to play anything by new bands who sound uncommercial (th e ir firs t single, also played by Peel, was IQ 0A mediocre). Anyway, w ho cares about the method if the results are ok? Well, I do, but then I’m not a DJ, as they say in Scotianid. W hile we’re on the subject of Peel, in a round about way — he is a self-confessed fan of Siouxsie & The Banshees. To date, they’ve left me more or less unmoved — well, he played th e ir latest single the other night, called Catherine, and it’s really very good. Very good. It’s d ifferent to most of the stuff they’ve don before: no endless dim inished chords and arch vocals. There’s a very simple bassYssnare drum beat sparse guitar, and a lyrical melody. As chance would have it, I was down a t Surrey Sound the next day, talking to Nigel Gray, the lad respon sible fo r the sounds on the Police records (and recently named as Producer of the Year), and he confessed to being the producer & was happy to know it came over so well on the radio. Another of life’s little connections.

The most w orrying aspect of the cu rre n t scene is the feeling that, now the mod fake hysteria is dying down, and we’ve had the m andatory couple of punchups at a couple of seaside resorts, there is a definite feeling in the a ir th a t the next move of the pop market w ill be into hippy music again. It makes a sort of sim plistic sense, I guess, if it w ere to happen, but it’s scary. A re we about to plunge back into twentyminute far-out guitar solos etc? I shudder to th in k of the consequences. A t least no-one’s yet appeared on Top Of The Pops in beads and a tie-dyed shirt. Thin lapelled suits are s till hot property. I just hope th a t all the good w eather in the last few weeks w on’t tu rn everyone’s head in that direction. Perhaps the biggest single reason fo r it not happening h e re ye t is the premiere this week of (a t last) The G reat Rock & Roll Swindle, which has rem inded people to w hat lengths rock had to go to destroy a II th a t crap the last tim e round. It gives one a heady w h iff of reality, to see those four lads ripping the place to pieces and perform ing those songs live. A comment of Johnny Rotten’s a t the time, to the film ’s director, seems to be most relevant a t this stage — th a t the Pistols should’ve stayed together another three to six months, long enough to get to num ber one in the States and so make it impossible fo r all the BOF’s to continue their careers w ith credibility in the US, ju st as they did here If th a t had actually happened, then rock would be a very diffe re n t animal rig h t new, w orld-w ide Things w ould have to have changed. Rotten realised th a t they ju s t didn’t go fa r enough: the chance had b ^ n missed, perhaps for good. A b it of self-trum peting now. For the last nine months, w hilst languishing under the guise of moldmannered space-filler fo r Roadrunner, I’ve been in a band over in London here called The Zoots. Being someone w ith some vestige of ethics still intact. I’ve refrained from mentioning it till now. B ut it would seem th a t in the next few m onths the band will be getting some product out & touring, so I don’t see why I should be scooped by some eagle-eyes reporter on my own band. Hence: recently The Zoots did a headlining gig a t The Venue, pulled in 600 people on a Wednesday night, and w ent down a treat. Jour nalists from MM & NME w ere there, but the current NGA dispute meant th a t the week our reviews w ould’ve gone in, the mag’s were drastically cut. Hence, no review. So, rather than totally waste a newsworthy event, I’m including pictures here of us in action. The line-up is tw o saxes, vocals, guitar, bass & drums, & the music is original, concentrating on songs & arrangements rather than solo heroics. The music is modern, energetic. We’ve recently been in the studio p utting down some tracks fo r singles. You might hear the results soon, w ith a b it of luck. Well — I haven’t handled th is too well, have I? If I was going to do some special pleading, I should’ve gone in w ith superlatives a t the ready and so on. It’s come out sounding a b it lame. That’s my conscience, trying to tell me I’ve done the wrong thing. The only thing wrong about it is th a t I d id n ’t go over the top. I just sort of crawled over. No news, indeed... — Keith Shadwick

The Zoots at the Venue, London. Scribe Shadwick on the right blowing his horn.

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R O A D R U N N E R 19

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The phenomenon of record collecting and full time fandom has, over the second half of the decade, exploded out of all proportion. Instead of growing out of teen idolatry at pubescence, young men and women are plunging headlong into a fanatic desire to re-capture the essence of what made rock’n’roll great.

V in v l F e v e r

Some of these people are, of course, too young to remember many of the tunes from the radio (let alone own them ) so it has become fo r many a search for a cultural past tha t usually takes plae in op shops and second hand stores. Considering the legion of collectors even these sources are running dry, and fans resort to auction lists and a number of stores and distributors who have sprung up. The auction list system is an unwieldy and unfair method of buying records which operates by bidders sending in offers and the record going to the highest bidder which effectively means you are bidding against the unknown and for a completely fictitious price. In the USA the movement has become large enough to foster that great American tradition of conventions and a major convention is held each year at the Stadler Hilton in New York City. ‘ i, '

Naturally enough the serious collector is always on the lookout for the most original form at and original labels and original picture sleeves are highly prized. The market in this area has become large enough to support its own bootlegging industry.

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But record collecting, even sixties record collec ting, has always been around and most of these collectors were (and still are) known because of the fanzines they published. The fanzine phenomenon grew from the science fiction fanzine.

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“ I got Nuggets when it firs t came out and I thought great, what a greatJdea I’d always liked pop music so I went to Festival Records and said, ‘Look, I’m a record collector and I think I could make you a few bucks out of recycling your old s tu ff’, and God knows why but they said yes. I did that album, So You Want To Be A Rock’n'Roll Star Vol. 1. I look back on that album now and I cringe and though it has a nice charm in the notes, I was pretty ignorant about Australian sixties music. I just thought it must be here so let’s go out and find it. I w ent down to the Mitchell Library and I read through old Everybody’s magazine and Go-Sets and went out and talked to the artists and talked to the people and before I realised it, Td got right off on Australian rock’n ’roll. All of a sudden I just realised ‘Hey this is great’. It’s raw and it’s exciting and it ’s better than American stuff cause American stuff had a commercial edge to it a n d o u rstu ff didn’t. That album came out and it got immense reviews because people had never seen anything like it. Because noone has ever really taken Australian music seriously ever, not until like LRB. Certainly not the sixties.

Gradually, those collectors passionately devoted to rock’n’roll (w riters like Greg Shaw, Lenny Kaye and even Gene Simmons of Kiss), moved into the field. The rock’n’roll fanzines allowed w riters to express their opinions outside of the traditional rock industry mags. Perhaps the tw o most famous, Greg Shaw’s Bomp magazine and Alan Betrock’s The Rock Marketplace, now called New York Rocker, have now grown to the status of major papers and given the renaissance of pop music in the later Seventies (which they in no small way helped to create) now deal mostly w ith contemporary subjects.

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“ I did a Vol. 2 of th a t and once I got the taste for it was realy sort of natural. I started doing things for EMI, the Hying Circus and the Twilights. I got to know Vanda and Young very well. They trusted me, they let me go into the vaults and dig out unreleased material to go through and find what was there and they trusted me to package it properly and release it properly and that did 1000 copies in a month at Jem imports in New Jersey. So a lot of this stuff started going out of the country and Greg Shaw was giving them good reviews and NME in England was giving them good reviews and a whole movement started about It and what became apparent was that everybody overseas who got them was knocked out by Australian music. They heard this stuff and went ‘Shit, we had no idea — this is better than anything outside of like Liverpool’. It

The New Wave has to a very large extent been fostered by the collecting movement, particularly in America where much of the excitement from th a t music was drawn directly from the forgotten gems of the sixties. The New Wave in tu rn has fostered the collecting movement by making modern kids aware of this heritage and eager to search for it. Glen A Baker is Australia’s best known rock collector. He has compiled a sizeable number of major anthologies of Australian musical history as well as some of overseas acts and has plans for a Masters Apprentices anthology and one on Dusty Springfield early in the New Year. He now has his own label. Raven, and they have released a selection of E.P.s of Australian bands like the Missing Links and the Wild Cherries. Glen also hosts a show on Sunday nights on 2JJ. Earlier this year he staged a film day free to his listeners at which he presented bVz hours of old clips including Jan & Dean, rare Beatles footage, the Easybeats’ Coca Cola Show, Ray Columbus and The Invaders and plenty more terrific stuff. Below is an interview w ith Glen Baker giving his views on the phenomenon of collecting.

"I got off on it because it was fun. There’s nothing beter than compiling an album, it’s the ultim ate ego trip. It’s just a childhood fantasy come true. “ A lot of albums are dubbed from disc, yeah, the Twilights, the Flying Circus, almost all of them. Most record companies here, showing an appalling lack of foresight, destroyed most of th e ir master tapes. EMI have no fifties and no sixties, Festival has no fifties but they do have sixties. I don’t think Astor has anything; RCA has no masters. I’ve done a 25 track album and it’s all dubbed from disc, every single track. This is an all Australian.,album including the Midnights, Ray Roff and the Offbeats, the Cicadas and the Feelgoods.

“ The first record I bought? I suppose I was about eleven, twelve years old, it was a single by the Kingston Trio called The Reverend Mr. Black. When I was a kid, when other kids were out playing football or cricket I’d be going around collecting pop bottles to buy 2’6 juke box singles and I’d go to my room with a tiny, old record player fu rtive ly w ritin g down lyrics or whatever you do when you’re a kid and you listen to records.

“ For the Monkees album, Monkeemania, I had to originate all the masters. There were tracks on that that were dubbed from the television series, B sides of Portugese singles. There’s a myriad of people all over the world that I’m in touch w ith who send out clippings and so forth that enable you to do it and it’s the one way to get something like th a t happening.

“ So I’ve been collecting records since I was about eleven years old. I started w ork a t fifteen and as soon as I started work, I started buying records, I couldn’t afford to buy new albums. I was tw enty before I bought my firs t new album so about five years went by before I got rhy firs t new album. I raided the second hand stores constantly. I didn’t really start taking it seriously as a collecting thing until about four or five years ago. “ Late 75 early 76 I qu it my job to create OI’55 and that was it, once I was into rock’n’roll full tilt from the beginning of 76, every city I’d go w ith OI’55 it was just a matter of raiding record stores and buying. I never took royalties or wages from the band. I’d take the band’s checkbook and go into Hound Dogs in Melbourne and just buy hundreds of dollars w orth of records and it just became a sort of fever, vinyl fever. I really started taking it seriously. I was w ith OI’55 until Christmas ’77. A fter that I’ve just been a journalist, w riter and researcher and collecting has become an integral part of vyhat I do because it’s basically a reference to my work. I need to buy records to do a radio show to w rite stories to do everything else. “ It’s got to a point where I have a collection in excess of about eight thousand albums and god knows how many thousand singles. It becomes a real fierce habit. “ Lenny Kaye is the one to blame. Nuggets started it all, before he had the Nuggets thing there was no such thing as 60’s collecting. Fifties collectors had been a legion unto themselves for years. There’s always been a 50’s thing happening but collecting still basically is the 50’s, the real hard core collectors. I had a guy on my show a couple of weeks ago who had a $800 single and that just doesn’t happen in Sixties collecting, and he knows of a $1000 single. Before Lenny Kaye did Nuggets noone had thought of collecting that myriad of 60’s R&B garage punk,

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and everyone, the readers and editors were saying ‘piss off Shaw, what are you talking about?’ and he was pointing to the Raspberries and Badfinger and saying ‘See, it’s happening’. So he was waving a flag and everyone was saying that he was crazy and he’s been doing that since the early seventies. When Greg basically couldn’t w rite anymore for magazines because they got tired of his bleeting about this pop renaissance, he formed his own magazine about ’75 called Bomp, which is the line ‘Who put the Bomp’ from the old Barry Mann song. He had enough nouse to tap onto something th a t was happening that nobody else could see. A lot of people hate the guy, he owes the odd bill or tw o around the w orld but nevertheless he had an incredible perception and he started off this magazine w ith stories on Jan and Dean, discographies on Southern Californian Surf music and stories on the Shadows of Knight which noone had even thought about as being more than some dumb American m idwestern band and Greg found that people were subscribing and w riting to him and people were saying “ Hey I grew up in Chicago and I remember the Grim Reaper I remember the New Colony Six, hey I didn’t know anybody else was into th a t.’

“ The whole late 70s singles boom came from realising how great the singles-EP system was. Not so much in England, where if you’re going to examine the roots of the Sex Pistols th e re ’s a whole different deal of itself. But in the U.S. certainly the whole new movement came out of the singles boom, came out of Lenny Kaye and Nuggets.

the glenn a. baker story when that came out it just went bang from there. “ That the ridiculous part of it all, this has hap pened in the last couple of year. Literally there are records I bought a couple of years ago for a dollar which now cost a hundred dollars to buy and it’s just happened overnight. It’s a ridiculous situation done essentially out of greed and avarice. There’s a guy in Sydney, whose name I won’t mention, who sold copies of the firs t three Easybeats albums to some dumb shmuck for forty bucks a piece and got $120 for the set and now you can’t buy them for less than that because the word got around and every guy who owns them says, “ Nup, they cost forty bucks apiece’’. It’ s essentially greed th a t has caused it to become like that. There’s a lot of guys in America who pay a lot of money to buy records. You know how much money there is in America soldiers that work on army bases that have nothing to do with their pay except buy records w ill spend $30 on a single, $100 on an album and not even think about it. So when you’ve got those people it really forces up the price for everyone else.

“ Greg Shaw said something to me once and I can only agree w ith it. ‘I don’t give a shit how it comes, in what package or form or label, I want the nfiusic’. That’s how I feel and I’m apparently in a minority. I don’t care if I’ve got a Best OF ALBUM. If it’s got all the singles on it, great, I’ve got the tracks. B ut it’s the guys who want the'card board who want the paper, the color of the label and they want the original pressing. Fuck it, who cares who gives a shit. The music is what you collect. You don’t collect the cardboard it’s printed on. “ I mean most of them are into that number and I can’t understand this. I spend less than most people. If I bet the Best of Helen Shapiro I’m not gonna rush (XJt and buy every single cause it’s on the black (Columbia or Parlophone label or whatever. I dig some covers, some really kitchy covers are great, but I'm notw illing to spend a lot of money to get that and fiass up something I don’t have. Greg Shaw as early as 1972 was w riting for "agazines like Creem and Circus, etc. and he was w-'ging stories saving the oop renaissance is coming

“ I think that the 3 minute form at is ideal. The succinct formula of a hit single, of exhiliration by being precise, of saying everything in 3 mins. Friday On My Mind is the best example. It conveys the whole feeling of being 16 and 17 going out and enjoying rock’n’roll. It’s all there in 3 minutes. You don’t need to be saying anything else — you don’t need the maharishi studying the inner mystique of it all. Just bashing away merrily for three minutes is what most good pop music is about. “ In the sixties it was just — The Radio. You didn’t have to be into anyone, that wasn’t the thing. You weren’t a Yardbirds nut or an anything nut. You just turned on the radio and it was all just magic — exhiliratm gpop. It was Eric Burdon, Lulu, the Walker Bros. It was The Beatles, it was The Rolling Stones. There was no shit, you were into the radio, you just liked what they were playing. You ask kids what they're into today and they say they like this and they don't like that and it d id n ’t happen like that in the old days. You just dug pop music — you walked around with a tranny against your ear because you didn’t want to miss a record, didn’t want to miss a spin of anything because everything they played was great. "Maybe the kids today are just as excited but I don't think so. I don't think radio's that im portant anymore When was the last time you saw a kid walking round with a tranny against his ear^“ Toby Creswell

FILMS

Neil and his road-eyes.

R U S T N E V E R SLE E P S Last night I saw Neil Young’s new movie ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ and I haven’t stopped raving about it. For all the nouns, adjectives and adverbial clauses of time, place and manner at my disposal, the only description I can think of is, "Incredible!” The movie opens w ith Jim i H endrix’ ‘S tar Spangled Banner* as the m utant ‘roadeyes’ erect the stage equipm ent They re-enact the U.S. Marines landing a t Iwo-jima, b ut instead of the ‘Stars and Stripes' the flag at the top of the pole is a giant microphone. The Beatles' ‘Day In The Life' blasts out of the Palace Theatre’s P.A. and the m utants raise a mock treasure chestVsroad case to reveal a monster-sized Fender amp. Asleep on top is Neil Young guitar by his side, nx)uth harp w ired around his neck. He

slowly rises, an a ir of magic permeates the cinema, as he starts the show w ith the fantasy song ‘Sugar Mountain’. "O h to live on. Sugar MountainVsWith the barkers and the coloured balloonsVsYou can be twentyVaOn Sugar MountainVaBut you’re scared you’re leaving there too soon." Neil’s 12-string rings out clear and intense I’m sitting on the edge of my seat, pounding tim e w ith my feet, feeling fantastic. ‘I Am A C hild’ is followed by ‘Comes A Time’ and I realize th a t there are no leads or microphones to be seen. Credits to ‘Nasty Cor dless’ explain the guitar, but where are the vocal and harmonica microphones? The absence of these add to the fantasy of all this amazing music coming from one a rtis t doing an acoustic set. Folk music was never like this. The music is all power, dom inating beyond belief. There is no way th a t you could leave the cinema, w hilst he’s playing. Fire, nature calls, earthquakes don’t even begin to measure up to the vice-like grip

of Neil Young’s concert. You’ve never heard ‘A fter theG oldrush’ or ‘Thrashers’ until you see this movie. Audio-orgasms fill the theatre, when Young starts ‘My My, Hey HeyVaOut Of The B lue)’. “ It’s better to burn out than tofadeawayYsM y my, hey hey ...This is the storyVsOf Johnny RottenVsHe may be gone butVsHe’s not forgotten.” Neil climbs into a sleeping bag, still singing and a roadeye drags him off-stage as the intermission sign goes up. Intervalover, the curtain opens to reveal the other trunks being raised, displaying ten m etre high Fender amps and speaker boxes. In the background C hipM onck is giving a w arning about the brown acid goirg around at Woodstock “ not being specifically too good.” A track from ‘A fte r the G oldrush’ is followed by a heavy metal version of ‘The Loner’ from Neil Young’s firs t album. The rest of the second set is pure electricity. ‘Welfare M others’, ‘A Lot O f Love’, ‘Needle And The

Damage Done’, ‘Sedan Delivery’ are sudden dynamite. Young’s guitar playing is more frenetic than ever before and the production is so loud, heavy and clear, like the album, that the theatre is rivetted. ‘Powderfinger’, a track from the ‘Zuma’ album, and then ‘Cinnamon G irl’ to close the night. A longish break whilst the band w aits for the rig h t moment to return for their encore, and then Neil Young and Crazy Horse slam into ‘Hey Hey, My My (In to The Black)’ to leave the audience stunned. The movie is simply a rock concert. No story-line is apparent, although a number of themes are presented in the songs. The oversized equipment is a backdrop for more than ju s tth e fantasy of rock’n’roll. Young’s w ell-chronicled inhibitions are restated th ro u g h his c o m p a ritiv e d im in u tiv e n e s s , b u t “There’s more to the picture than meets the eye.” For Neil Young fans ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ is com pulsory viewing. Anyone w orking in a band could learn a few lessons in presentation, as well. Finally, the film convincingly destroys any notion of categorical divisions in music. Young is a fusion of acid-punk-country-folk-rock-blues. He’s also the last American rock genius.

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H iH a M rffl!ili w g i[ w u » I FEEL JUST LIKE MONEY INSIDE AND THE WOMEN TURN BLUE AT AROUND 45"-BLACKS IN D IA ,I’M AM ERICAN,HA HA H A -IN D IA PEOPLE GO TO PARTIES WHEN THEY GET AW HITE SHIRT THEY LISTEN TO RECORDS IN A S H IR TA N D T IE -R A D IO PLAY ANOTHER WEDDING SONG THE WEDDING SONG GOES ON AND O N -W E D D IN G SONG ;BU Y A CAR AND WATCH IT RUST SISTER SEE THEM FALL TO DUST - SISTER EUROPE S a k e a g o d o f p o l it ic s M A K E A GOD OF POLICE"- FLOWERS

*, J i i 1 \

"WE ARE ALL JESUS WE ALL DREAM THE WAR IS OVER IF YOU W ANT"-PULSE

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FALL IN LOVE LIK E SAILORS DO TELL YOUR LOVER YOU’LL BE TRUE SAIL UPON THE STUPID SEA" - FALL

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I WOULD WALK A M ILLION SMILES FOR ONE OF YOUR MILES BOB" - WE LOVE YOU, 'MONEY TALKS AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS W ILL LAUGH AT HER PATHETIC TITS "-IM ITA TIO N OF CHRIST'

® 1 9 8 0 CBS Records Australia Limited.

ROADRUNNER 22

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B O O M T O W N RATS Palais T h e a tre M elb o u rn e The theatre is packed. The aisles are packed. A group of ‘under 12 punks’ scream and whistle. The Palais is hot for a good time, and the show hasn’t even started yet.

No, John Dowler doesn’t look exactly as he did in Young Modern. This is an old picture.

G LO R Y B O YS (aka TA LK S H O W ) S E R IO U S Y O U N G IN S E C T S JE T S O N N E S _____________

C rystal B allroom M e lb o u rn e

Downstairs at the Crystal Ballroom, promoter Laurie Richards turns off the TV set on which he reruns video promo clips and orders the crowd upstairs. There’s a few justifiable rumbles of complaint to be heard; this is no Big Saturday Night, with the Flowers of Midnight Oil to arouse ecstasy in the motley hordes, and the screen goes blank right in the middle of a demonic piece of ’56 hip swivelling from Elvis himself. Ah well, dichotom y tim e again... and we tro o p up to see some Real Rock in the flesh, in the shape of tonight's headliners the G lory Boys, a band stacked full of cult characters who've always aspired to the sublime heights th a t can be supposedly reached by feeding the w orld catchy pop and a modicum o f style. The only catch being th a t despite the fact they have enough credibility between them to sustain a dozen Daryl Cottons, none of them have come w ithin sniffing distance o f a chart h it o r a solitary teenage scream. Still, the crowd is large and anticipatory, and packed w ith notables — various Sports, Romantics, Clinton Walker, and ex-Man And Machinemen. Lights go dov\m, we w ait some m ore and on file the band, members of the Big Beat mafia alm ost to a man. From the left, num ber off — boyish Chris Langman recently of the Dots, John Dowler o f Young Modern fame, ex-X-Ray-Z drum m er John (Ray) Wilkinson, Rob Kretschmer and once-Romantic bassist Mick Seymour. Three-fifths, in fact, o f that dimly-rem embered but h ighly " in n o v a tiv e " p o p -fa n ta s y o u tfit Spare Change, Australia’s own Big Star whose unrewarded labours are now available on the posthumous “ Lonely Suits” album, though this review er guesses that rnost of the audience are gazing curiously because of the various players’ rrwre recent pasts. John Dowler (still looking like Keith Relf, who by eery coincidence could have been seen delivering a nervous "F o r Y our Love” on the id io t box a short tinie before) announces a name change fro m Glory Boys to Talk Show before they stro ll into a dull guitar riff dressed up w ith mannered Dowler vocals. The title of th is quasi-song seems to be “ H urry Sundown” and the one that follows, “ Accidentally” is not much better. The sound is muddy, the playing under-rehearsed, and despite Kretschm er’s singing guitar, the whole enterprise at firs t seems depressingly sim ilar to the sound of Young Modern, a kind of garage-band-withpretensions approach th a t could be addictive in small doses but was obviously heading nowhere. Thankfully, things do im prove along the way, though the guitarists never quite manage to get a punchy sound together (n o r do they achieve that Byrds-Petty ringing orchestration which is the other angle from which you can approach this kind o f thing) and the rhythm section fails badly by Dots or Man And Machine standards. The Stones obscuro

‘Wind Chill Factor (Minus Z e ro )’ opens the night. The sound is mushy, where I’m sitting, but never-theless the song is strong pop-chaos. ‘Like Clockwork’, o ff the Rats secorld album, has dominant drum m ing and fast bass, topped by honest s irrin g by Mr. Geldof. He is dancing, straining, and looks like he means it. Geldof points at the fro n t row introverts and tells them ,” if you fucker.s aren’t standing in about three songs from now, th e re ’ll be serious tro u b le !” His hat is off, the mike stand has been kicked over and Bob Geldof is putting on an exciting show — falling to his knees, reaching o u t to the crowd — jumping about as if his life depended on it. By the time the Boom town Rats reach ‘I Never Loved Eva Braun’, there is a staggering am ount of people up and dancing. The band and audience are hot and sweaty to the fast C ostello-like track. Or was that ‘Niceand Neat’ ? I’m dancing, too — so notes are a little disjointed. For ‘Having My Picture Taken’, Geldof invites ten to twenty photographers on-stage — but gets half the audience instead. ‘Dr. Dave’ — so named because of his penchant for vitam in pills — is introduced fo r ‘Joey is On The Street Again’. Dave plays saxophone somewhat like Springsteen’s Clarence Clemons. The song moves into a little bass interlude followed by a straining sax solo to the chorus. G uitarists, Roberts and Cott, and bassman, Pete B riquette, kangaroo hop (Australian version of Chuck Berry’s duck w alk) across the stage, gently easing back to soft blue light, fast drumming Simon Crowe. Bob Geldof is in a violent deep red spotlight fo r a soulfull break, building in tension and then roaring and pounding, w ith the sax floating over the top, to a 50’s rock ending and crash. ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ begins quietly w ith two keyboards, Johnny Fingers and bassist. Briquette, and drums. The two guitarists have moved to backing vocals and Geldof paranoically intones the lead vocal, instilling a strange air of magic to the evening. The h it single goes down well and is followed by the fam iliar ‘Someone’s Looking At You’. “ Here’s a song fo r Melbourne,” says Geldof," only been here a day and don’t really know what it ’s like — but we’ll take a chance. ‘Rat Trap’.” Despite parochial egos being on the line. The Palais dances its arse off to the Rats’ 1978 number one hit. At the end o f the song the band leans up against the drum riser w aiting fo r the encore. No bullshit for these guys. Why leave the stage and stand in the wings waiting fo r a certain encore? They w ait fo r the clapping to reach a respectable level and then jump back to w orK w ith the heavy metal, cabaret, late night ‘Kicks’. I ju s t love saxophone — and w ith the Boomtown Rats it w orks superbly. I’m going to have to buy some records. This Geldof chap and his Irish mates are an exciting, fun rock’n’roll band. The drums and guitars blast in fo r th e ir goodbye song, jacking The Palais into a frenetic party-time. Everyone (and I mean everyone) is up and dancing. The band crash o u t and leave the stage. This time, it ’s a long w ait until Geldof and company return for th e ir second encore. They start with ‘She’s So Modern’ — a song fo r Lizzy W indsor. Geldof had a few subtle jabs at Peter Couchman, and Phil-theGreek and his wife, Betty, earlier in the night. Ap parently the couple have been follow ing the Rats’ tour. Boomtown Rats finish w ith ‘Looking A fter Number One’ and ‘Diamond Smiles’ satisfying the full house at the beach-side Palais Theatre. As I leave, the singular thought in my mind is that I’ve been to a real good party. Geldof plays to and with the audience. The show is personal and emotional, even if some of the songs could be claimed to be rip-offs of other earlier bands. Who cares? It was a lot of fun and it was great to dance and sweat to. That’s en tertainm ent. — David Langsam

"M y Obsession” , the kind of swinging London-cumDylan song these guys and bands like the Flaming Groovies have based whole faltering careers on, d id sound quite OK, however and the sh o rt set finishes w ith an intriguing number about travelling in Europe, and finally, Langman and Paul Kelly’s “ Leaps and Bounds” , which has w hat not too many of Talk Show’s oth e r songs have; verve, melody and unforced atmosphere. To their credit, Dowler and co. don’t seem bent on relying on such chestnuts from th e ir past as “ The Big Beat” and “ Let’s Get Rich Together” , but the absence o f the w rite r o f those songs, Tony Murray, is a gap that good intentions can’t paper over. One day Murray may have the chance to make the solo album he surely deserves; meanwhile his ex-cohorts can only get tighter and may even be offered one last grab at the brass ring of success. And in the meantime th e re ’s the fate o f support bands to consider; in th is case, trying harder because they’re not famous in any shape or form , it was the Serious Young Insects. A very fresh-faced young trio bolstered by syn-drum sand considerable imagination, they applied themselves w ith tightness and occasional ferocity to a set o f originals that covered, various Anglophile te rrito rie s th a t ranged from the Jam to the Cure touching various quirky points on the way. All three members sang and played impressively and occasionally allowed some passion to creep through their self-consciousness. Anywhere else but Melbourne, where the standards demanded o f desperate young bands are so high, the Insects (shorten th a t name, please, boys) w ould be already making waves, but when th is w rite r thinks o f all his favourite inventive, energetic o u tfits like Marching Girls, Kevins, Cuban Heels, Japanese Comix, Ron Rude, Hardcases, ad infinitum who seem to make such little progress in a hard world, the chances of these particular boys making it look a little bleak. File under Two Way Garden, only better, and hope that they can survive. And dow nstairs to finish o ff th e evening; the real th ir^ , a pop group in the shape of the fab Jetsonnes, playing to a stomping, packed crow d and having the tim e o fth e ir lives. This band is the underground rave of the m onth in Melbourne, and may just go on to make some sizeable waves. Maligned by some as the unacceptable face o f new-wave trivia lity, they couldn’t care less about sixties guitar textures o r academic m iddle-eights; they simply set their carefully rehearsed Blondie-cum-Racey sound in motion and all you who have been bored with volume, jagged seriousness and the Boys Next Door can get up and dance. If they replaced Mi-Sex in teen affections Australia w ould be a m ore pleasant place; give them six months and it just might happen. But fo r all th e ir determ ined smiles, one can still detect the a rt lurking just below the thin skin o f the Jetsonnes’ new bop, and in that they remain a genuine Melbourne band, sharers of the same ideology of ro ck’n'roll as a serious cultural exercise that unites Sports, Australian Crawl and the most lamely obscure synthesiser duo. It’s an a ttitu d e th a t leads to sometimes ridiculous inhibition (and helps to explain why the players in Talk Show aren’t as famous as th e ir Adelaide contem poraries in the Angels) and at the same tim e makes life in a grey city so much more interesting. These three bands divide up into accepted southern categories (the romantic, the experimental, the frivolous) alm ost too easily and none of them are going to change the w orld, but don’t avoid them ; hearing them is cheaper than playing pinball, less damaging than watching Tv. N.B. Song titles courtesy Kerry in lounge seat A-7 • — Adrian Ryan. thanks.

THE NUMBERS Civic Hotel, Sydney The Numbers took the stage with an initial two strokes against them. The first was quite rational; the last three times I’d seen the band the set had been marred by technical problems, and they hadn’t been too professional about it really peeved-off, y’know? On the otherhand (speaking of childish), the second strike had concerned my own not-so-latent prejudices against beautiful blondes, particularly BBs who have the gall to rub it in by being as publicly and irrepressibly HAPPY as the two Morrows on stage. Chris in his western shirt, a kerchief around his neck and Annie in sunflower yellow suggest nothing so much as a TV man’s dream of the perfect rock’n’roll teenager. You could give them their own network show, a sort of Partridge Family meets Apples Way’, all wholesome and vibrant. Failing that, they’d do great in a cereal ad. Actually, t h ^ ’d probably do great any place they were given a chance to play because, putting prejudice aside, these little rays of sunshine snap, crackle and pop their way through nearly ninety minutes of edgy, modern songs. Their music doesn’t cloy at all. Since last I saw them they’ve replaced almost all the covers w ith their own material. The songs are tense and efficient, showing quite a progression from the days when the whole set sounded as frantic as the encores, ‘G overnm ent Boy and ‘Summertime Blues’. The sound remains very busy but methodically so. Simon Vidale’s drum m ing is solid and strong mat ched by Annalise’s bassand complemented by Chris’ guitar chords. There are no ‘lead breaks’ o r melodic runs. As a three piece they seem to be conscious of fillir ^ inand te x tu rin g — Chris plays active but oddly accented guitar, like a nervous tic. Vocally, it sounds as if he’s had his Graham Parker o ut recently. The end result of Parker inflections w ith whitebread vocal quality is serviceable, even interesting, but as a singer Chris has nothing like the impact of his sister. Annie’s voice is m ature and resilient. She knows how to use it to effect and her singing is confident. In creasingly individual, it adds character to the in strum ent’s structure and stands in a fair way to being the Numbers’ greatest asset. There were three new songs that night, but even so, the stage mid-set is hardly the place nor the time fo r conferences on how a song is supposed to end, and false starts because the mike is not on are, equally, just not on. The audience seem to find it amusing and the band are relaxed — once they power their way through the next number under lol lipop-coloured lights there is no doubt they are in fact a highly professional unit w ith perhaps a little loveable gawkiness throw n in fo r human appeal. Basically, the show is together and neat. It’s an act w ith an element of tease. Of course, you don’t have to believe a w ord I say. According to Chris, you shouldn't. “ We’re not like th isa ll the time,” said he. “ Sometimes we’re worse.” Don’t take HIS w ord for it either. Find out for yourself — Elly McDonald

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COLD CH ISEL “East" (W EA) THE ANGELS “Dark Room” (C BS) When A ustralia’s top two hard rock bands release new albums within the space of a couple of weeks one has to m arvel at th eir con fidence. And when one has finished marvelling at that, it’s tim e to marvel at the records them selves. L e t's ta k e ‘E a s t’ fir s t. T h is is th e re c o rd C old C h is e l have a lw a y s been th re a te n in g to m ake. T h e ir s e lf title d d e b u t w as a good b e g in n in g , b u t th e fo llo w -u p ‘B re a k fa s t a t S w e e th e a rts ', w a s s lig h tly lack lu s tre and d is a p p o in tin g . B u t th e re a re no d is a p p o in tm e n ts on ‘E a s t’. E ve ry s o n g is a k ille r a n d to m y e a rs it is one of th e m o s t e x

MI-SEX Space Race (CBS) Mi-sex work very hard on presentation — impeccable film clips, showy arrangements, a stage sound that often nears their records in clarity and usually surpasses them in spirit. In fact, ad miration for the way Mi-sex go about things often tends to cover over the fact that their material can be a little suspect. D on’tg e t me w rong — I’m not about to become a Mi-sex basher — I’ve enjoyed th e ir live performances several tim es and see no reason to stop now — they’re arguably the best we have etc. B ut despite my obvious bias tow ards the band, th e ir firs t album was n ot am ong the m ost often played in my collection. I labour this po in t because I have long w ondered w hether Mi-sex w ere ju s t an ordinary band cleverly ‘ta rte d up’, o r w hether they genuinely m erited the a tte n tion they are receiving Only tim e and a second album w ould tell, I thought. So w hat have they done w ith th e ir second elpec? They have called it Space Race. It has been dressed in an unbelievably bad cover sleeve. B ut these are m inor details — it’s w h a t’s on the plastic th a t counts. The opening tracK ‘Space Race’, sounds like an attem pt to recapture the g lo ry o f ‘C om puter Games’, complete w ith sequence o p e n in g and soaring guitar and synth riff. The dru m effect is overdone. Generally it has a nice melody and a pleasant, relaxed feel, which is a b it odd, because its about alien landings creating panic and havoc, and has all sorts of nasty w ords in it like napalm, m ilitars, atoms, v itro and crazy humanoids. Next tra c k ‘Pages and Matches’ is quite reasonable padding ‘Living in September’ I rem em ber favourably fro m last time I saw them live, b u t somehow on record it falls a bit flat. The remaining three tracks on side one, ‘I D on’t Know’ , ‘Slippin O u t’ and ‘It Only H u rts When I’m Laughing’ are all w orthy additions to the Mi-sex repertoire — ‘It Only Hurts...’ in particular showing the band striving a fte r som ething a b it different, and is probably the album standout track. Side Two opens w ith the single ‘People’ which I was not im mediately impressed by and even though it has grown considerably w ith listenings, it still pales in

R T Y

T H R E

c itin g and e n jo y a b le a lb u m s I ’ve e v e r h e a rd fro m an A u s tra lia n b a n d . L e t’s ta k e D on W a lk e r ’s songs fir s t. O n S ide 2 he u n le a s h e s a tr iu m v e r a te of songs, ‘It a ’, ‘S ta r H o te l’ a n d ‘F o u r W a lls ’ th a t m a rk him as A u s tra lia ’s m o s t a c c o m p lis h e d c o n te m p o ra ry s o n g w rite r. ‘ It a ’, is a c a tc h y to n g u e -in -c h e e k hom age to Ita B u ttro s e , p u b lis h e r o f th e W o m e n ’ s W e e kly, a n d a rg u a b ly th e m o s t p o w e rfu l w o m a n in th e c o u n try . It w as a p p a re n tly w r itte n a fte r W a lk e r to o k a s tra w p o ll a m o n g fe llo w m u s ic ia n s as to w h o th e ir u ltim a te se xu a l fa n ta s y w as. ‘A lth o u g h th e d e s k to p h id e s y o u r h ip s / M y im a g in a tio n ’s s tro n g ! G re a t h ook, g re a t c h o ru s , a n d s u b tle d igs all o v e r th e place — ‘H ow can i n o t b e lie v e /W h e n Ita te lls m e to ! ‘S ta r H o te l’ is th e n io s t ly ric a lly p o w e rfu l song on ‘E a s t’. I t ’s a b o u t th e rio ts a t N e w c a s tle ’s S ta r H o te l la s t y e a r. ‘A ll la s t n ig h t w e w e re le a rn in g / D rin k in g o u r c h e q u e s by th e b a r ’ a re th e o p e n in g lin e s , a n d W a lk e r goes on to e x p re s s th e fr u s tr a tio n s a n d te n sions th a t led to th e b a ttle b e tw e e n p a tro n s and police, e x p lo d in g th e c o m p la c e n c y th a t says, ‘It c a n ’t h a p p e n h e re ! It can a n d it d id . ‘An u n c o n tro lle d Y o u th in A s ia / G o n n a m ake th o s e fo o ls u n d e r s ta n d ’. A to u r d e fo rc e , n ic e ly b a la n c e d b e tw e e n re g g a e a n d h a rd ro ck, and w ith J im m y B a rn e s ’ v o ice in s u p e rb to u c h . The th ir d in th e trio , ‘F o u r W a lls ’, has been a ire d liv e b e fo re b u t th e u n d e rs ta te d p ro d u c tio n ( fu ll c re d it h e re to M a rk O p itz ) b rin g a fre s h n e s s a n d d e p th to w h a t is a c la ssic b lu e sy b a lla d . A ll of W a lk e r’s o th e r songs, ‘C h o ir G ir l’, ‘ C h e a p W in e ’ ( b o th e x c e lle n t s in g le s ) ‘S ta n d in g O n T h e O u ts id e ’ a n d ‘T o m o rro w ’ ha ve an in d is p u ta b le s ta m p of class too. The la tte r tw o a re b o th fo o ts to m p in g ra g e rs w ith th e s o rt o f m e lo d ie s th a t p ro ve irre s is ta b le a fte r ju s t one lis te n . B u t if ‘E a s t’ d e m o n s tra te s a n y th in g it sh o w s how C old C h is e l h ave b e co m e a to ta l b and. T h is is n ’t ju s t e x p re s se d in th e p la y in g , w h ic h is im p e c c a b le w h a te v e r s ty le is ta c k le d , b u t in

th e songs fro m th e o th e r m e m b e rs of th e b a n d . B o th J im m y B a rn e s ’ songs, ‘R is in g S u n ’ and ‘My T u rn To C ry ’ a re fu n on scre a m e rs. They m ay lack a b it of class, b u t th e y p o s itiv e ly d rip w ith fe e lin g . Ian M oss c h ip s in w ith a re g g a e ish , ‘ N e v e r B e fo re ’ a n d P hil S m a ll’s ‘M y B a b y ’ a n d S te ve P re s tw ic h ’s ‘B e s t K e p t L ie s ’ a re b o th c re d ita b le e ffo rts . ‘E a s t’ is m a g n ific e n t fro m go to w hoa. I ’ve played it m any tim e s a n d I’m s u re I ’ll p la y it m any m ore. L o o k o u t w o rld , C old C h is e l a re a b o u t to d o it to you. I d o n ’t th in k th e w o rld w ill re g re t it. ‘D a rk R o o m ,’ th e A n g e ls ’ fo u r th a lb u m is a little less im m e d ia te in its im p a c t. L y ric a lly Doc N e e so n ’s c o n c e rn s a re m uch th e sam e, i.e. p a ra n o ia in th e m o d e rn w o rld , b u t m u s ic a lly th e re a re a fe w a tte m p ts to w rig g le o u t of th e tw o g u ita r s tra ig h tja c k e t th a t i t ’s th e b a n d ’s m a jo r s tre n g th a n d a lso th e ir m a jo r w e a kn e ss. P a rtic u la rly n o te w o rth y is ‘W a s te d S leepn e s s N i g h t s / D a r k R o o m ’ , w h e re R ic k B re w s te r c o n trib u te s som e s o u rfu l k e y b o a rd s w h ic h ju s t fo r a m o m e n t b rin g b ack m e m o rie s of The B and. T v e g o t my h a n d s in th e w a te r / D ip p in g In th e d ir t y / T h e r e m ig h t be a w it n e s s / I ’d b e tte r ke e p o u t of s ig h t! ‘No S e c re ts ’, th e s in g le is h e re a n d is a s tro n g o p e n e r. ‘P oor B a b y ’, th e a lb u m ’s se co nd tra c k d o e s n ’t re a lly g ra b me, b u t ‘W a s te d S le e p le ss N ig h ts ’ g e ts th e a tte n tio n back ju s t in tim e fo r ‘Face The D a y ’, cla ssic A n g e ls a n d a w e ig h ty song of d e s p a ir. ‘D a g g e rs o f d a w n / C o ld -h e a rte d d a y / W h y does it ha ve to be m o rn in g ! T e c h n o lo g ic a lly, ‘D a rk R o o m ’ is im m a c u la te w ith a s ta rtlin g ly c ris p clean sounc. The w o n d e rs of d ig ita l m ix in g and c u ttin g m ay be o v e r m o s t p e o p le ’s h e a d s b u t if th e p ro ce s s can com e up w ith th is s o rt of re p ro d u c tio n th e n i t ’s c e rta in ly n o t to be sco ffe d at. ‘N ig h t C om es E a rly ’ k ic k s o ff s id e tw o , w ith m o re th a n a p a s sin g re s e m b la n c e to ‘ No S e c re ts ’ u n til you h it th e c h o ru s (a lw a y s th e c ru c ia l p a r t o f any A n g e ls s o n g ) and th e n all

comparison w ith earlier singles. ‘Good Guys Always Win (S a tire )’ is m ore vintage Mi-sex,-and paves the way fo r more even, if fam iliar, side two. ‘G hosts’ is s li^ t ly unusual, in th a t like the title track it has a very relaxed melody, w hile the them e is normally associated w ith fear and panic. ‘B urning Up’ is a faultless pop piece. The album closes w ith ‘Ice Cold Dead’, which postures dangerously close to pretension, b u t then Misex have always somehow managed to get away w ith it. I don’t th in k this album w ill generate the interest the firs t album did, but then it doesn’t have to. Misex are now achieving deserved success, and nothing generates interest (o r antagonism ) like success. Already I realise that p a rt of my reser vedness about this album stems fro m listening to it quietly to find out w hat it’s on about. This album works much m ore successfully when you play it LOUD. That way you have the approxim ate ex perience of hearing them play live. T hat way you can forget fo r a w hile th a t you ever doubted. — A drian M iller.

MAGAZINE “The Correct Use Of Soap” (Virgin) In a year when we in Oz seem set for a record number of overseas acts touring here, perhaps the most exciting prospect. Clash, B52’sandall, is that of a tour by Magazine. I wouldn’t have said that a few months ago, but then I hadn’t heard their new album, The Correct Use of Soap’.

releasing the mostly excellent firs t album ‘Real Life’ in the middle of th a t year. It w asn’t a huge success in terms of sales, being som ething of an acquired taste in those days, but it did establish the band critically and am ongst those w ith an ear fo r the new. The follow-up ‘Secondhand D aylight’ however, was slagged off alm ost unanimously, despite w hat the band might say about it to this day, and many thought th a t D evoto and crew had had it. How w rong you can be. In the year of quiet since then the band have achieved a strength and assurance one w ouldn’t have dreamed possible such a s h o rt tim e ago. The Magazine sound hasn’t so much changed as its presentation has been perfected. This is a five pie ce . o u tfit with, apart from the tw o already mentioned, Dave Formula on keyboards, B arry Adamson on bass, and the only non-original mem ber John Doyle on drums. The new production gives to each member a deserved prominence, everyone perfectly audible and crisp. Form ula’s typical techniques are a really chunky, alm ost honky piano sound, and brillia n tly textural stringlike organ o r synth chords, like shim m ering curtains of sound. Adam son’s bass loops, fluid and sinuous, achieving an astounding funk on ‘Thank Y ou’, always dancing big and beaty, exquisitely syncopated. D oyle’s eccentric rythm s are equal to th'e challenge. McKeough amazes, playing beautifully clipped rythm guitar, amazingly tasteful leads, even an acoustic opening on steel strings to ‘I Want To B urn Again’. M ostly his playing is s h o rt and sharp, teasingly understated, w ith brief glorious leads. I guess it’s him on sax too, adding a distinctive character to the music, never blow ing long but always to great effect. D evoto’s voice is D evoto’s voice. Every tra ck is q uite d iffe re n t from every other track, and I repeat, all q u ite excellent. There is no point trying to pick favourites. Lyrically D evoto still turns to love fo r his subject m atter in a fairly m ystifiedway w hich I personally find a little irksome, but taken in the context of the album it’s small complaint. B etter sardonic songs of doubt and fru stra te d romance than schmalz o r brig h t eyes — at least you can’t w allow w ith Devoto — it’s not a t tra c tiv e enough. P ro d u c e r H a n n e tt’s o th e r achievements ap a rt fro m the quality of the sound is his clever deploym ent in the arrangem ent of myriad little em bellishm ents — a handclap, a b it of per cussion, a sh o rt blast of sax, a brief female backing vocal, a neat little hook a t the end of a g uitar phrase. I’m sold. I d o n ’t have much cash fo r records but I bought the three im p o rt singles ju s t fo r the B sides, unw illing victim of the dastardly Virgin m arketting ploy that I am. Hear the album. Look forw ard to the concert D on’t say that you w eren’t warned. — Peter Page

It’s p a rt of a grand plan fo r 1980 which involves not only this disc but three singles (containing in all four tracks not available on the album ) and a w orld tour. The band's confidence in th e ir own sta rtling talents and their new producer M artin H annett shines through in every track, all of them excellent. I suppose the main figures in the band are singer Howard D evoto and g u ita rist John McKeough. Devoto founded Buzzcocks w ith Pete Shelley after seeing one of the firs t Sex Pistols gigs, and to gether they put out w hat is widely regarded as the firs t independent new waveVspunk single, the ‘Spiral Scratch e,p.' of January 1977. D evoto left Buzzcocks to Shelley and form ed Magazine in early 1978,

GODLEY & CREME “Freeze Frame” (Polygram) Well, you’ve seen the film clip, heard the official Countdown statement, read the glowing reviews and maybe even seen the chillblained cover in your local record shop; WHY HAVE YOU NOT YET BOUGHT THIS ALBUM?

:2:M A G A Z Ii\'!

re s e m b la n ce s cease to m a tte r. ‘A le x a n d e r’ is c u rio u s — it a lm o s t s o u n d s like a th ro w b a c k to th e A ng e ls e a rly days. I t ’s lig h te r a n d less in te n s e th a n a n y th in g else on th e a lb u m . T he A ng e ls e x p lo rin g new p a s tu re s ? Yes, b u t it d o e s n ’t q u ite com e off. From th a t p o in t to th e end of th e a lb u m i t ’s back to th e m e a t and p o ta to e s o f th e d is tin c tiv e A ngels s ound. ‘The M o m e n t’ is an in te re s tin g love s o n g — ‘Y ou w e re th e h e a rt th a t c a rrie d me on th e w in d to to u c h th e tid e at d a w n...’ a slow epic q u a lity p e rv a d in g . T m S c a re d ’ and ‘D e v il’s G a te ’ b o th ro ck o u t h a rd and loud and w ill be w o rth y a d d itio n s to th e b a n d ’s live re p e rto ire . O v e ra ll? N o t an u n q u a lifie d success, b u t th e n th e A n g e ls have s e t th e m s e lv e s such high s ta n d a rd s th a t som e k in d of le t dow n (a lb e it s m a ll) is o n ly to be e x p e c te d . T h e re a re som e dam n fin e songs on ‘D a rk R o o m ’ and som e w o rth y a tte m p ts to d e v e lo p th e sound. ‘D a rk R oom ’ w ill p ro v id e w o rth y a m m u n itio n fo r th e A ng e ls on th e ir long m a rc h to c o n q u e r th e w o rld , b u t i t ’s c le a r th a t th e ir c o n s ta n t g ig g in g ( c u r r e n tly on to u r fo r th e re s t of th e ir life ? ) is g o in g to be c ru c ia l in k e e p in g th e fla g fly in g . S eeing is b e lie v in g . — D o n a ld R o b e rts o n Oh I see, you’re deathly p o o r,yo u r record player’s in having a needle retread and you don’t like adding fuel to your pangs of desire by sitting under the record shop headphones all day and then coming home to a ‘Freeze Frame-less' household. I don’t really think this 60c-magazine review is going to quite fill th a t gap, but in case you’re an ill-inform ed person from o u t of town. I’ ll do my humble best to entice your interest in this product. “ G odley & C r e m e - a s - t h e - n e g l e c t e d experim entalists” has been done to death so ‘Freeze Frame’ should be let stand on its own m erits. As songs, these tracks are enticing delicacies w ith th a t classic rumble of subdued power. As a piece of technical craftsmanship, it makes many supposed “ electronic pop’’ albums look immature. Like Gary Numan, John Fox and O rchestral Manoevres who s till let harm onizersand such run the sound instead of vice versa ( not as much a derogatory rem ark as it seems). For an album of such a title there isn’t really one cold spot, and not only do you get a b it of Phil Manzanera (o f Roxy Music fam e) throw n in but also some backing warbles by dear o l’ Paul (o f Linda McCartney fam e). What m ore could one ask for? Anyway, by this tim e you’ve probably ju s t g ot back from the record shop w ith the precious little piece tucked under your a rm p it and while here in the stationers you m ight even lash o u t and buy this magazine so it can tell you w hat you heard as gossip tw o weeks ago. — Tyrone Flex

PETE TOWNSHEND “Empty Glass” (ATCO) This year’s game is to count the number of the old rock heroes from the sixties and beyond who have survived into this decade and who are still doing anything at all worthwhile. Count among this select few one Peter Townshend. Reviewing a new Townshend album is a daunting task because he has been around so long and covered so much ground that a) almost everyone has had some contact w ith this man’s music and is likely to havefairly set opinions about it, and b ) it is difficult to assess quickly where this new album stands in relation to his previous work. Comparisons w ith his other solo albums is no real test because, well ‘Who Came F irst’ is a pretty dud album, and ‘Rough Mix’ w ith Ronnie Lane, though totally delightful, comes across m ore as a social booze-up for aging Mods than a serious attem pt to define Townshend’s musical motives. Comparisons w ith Who albums are in order because Pete’s solo albums d o n 't set o u t to attem pt anything radically different fro m a W h o album anyway — as the man himself has said: w hether it be a Who o ra s o lo a 'b u m h e selects the best of the m aterial available at the tim e ... no song is necessarily earmarked either way when it is w ritten. In this way I see ‘Empty Glass’ as a natural successor of ‘W ho By Num bers’ — alm ost a Townshend solo album anyway and my favourite

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serious (i.e. post — ‘I Can See For M iles') Who record. Whichever way you look a t it, ‘Em pty Glass' is a fine albura The firs t thing th a t strikes you about it is th at there is quite a lo t happening, & repeated listenings are required fo r everything to slip into place. Side One is m ore im m ^ ia te ly accessible, opening as it does w ith the single ‘Routh Boys', followed by the fam ilia r Townshend ballad style of ‘I am an Animal', a slightly unusual ‘I Moved Toward Him', originally intended fo r B ette Midler, a th ro w away pop song ‘Let My Love Open The Door', closing w ith Townshend's hostile attack on the rock press, ‘Jools & Jim '. W hile side one is five instantly distinguishable sohgs, side tw o takes a lo t m ore getting into and apart from the appealing sim plicity of side opener ‘Keep on W orking', the rest o f the side seems like one long stretch o f music, the boundaries between songs becoming blurred. I d o n 't th in k it was intended th a t way, it's ju s t th a t a fte r thrashing this album to bits I s till have some d ifficu lty telling the songs apart on side two. That sounds like a putdown but actually there's not a real bad track on the album As I said before, I d o n 't th in k it's anything startlingly new fo r Townshend e ith e r — this is ju st the latest batch of songs fro m someone w ho makes w riting batches of songs his life, ra th e r than his act or his punt on the big-time. As he appears to be going through a healthy creative period, the songs on this album are intelligent, interesting and ap pealing. And this is one album th a t I w o n 't stop playing now the review is completed. — Adrian M iller

PAUL M cCa r t n e y "McCartney 11” (EMI) Nice to have a sixteen track tape deck in your lounge room so you can plug in your fourteen instruments (one at a time seeing as you’re going to play them all yourself) and your two voices any old time you feel the urge and, bypassing the wonders of the recording console, muck around to your heart’s content. And then when your heart is content, get your local record company to wizz it out on black vinyl to a clamouring public. Nice too, to put it inside a snazzy cover made up of photos your wife took of you on your last trip to Bournemouth. But then it helps a lot if your name’s McCartney and it also helps a lot to have a reasonable product. Actually the old man seems to be doing a facial C liff Richard. Com paring the covers of McCartney and McCartney 11 he doesn't seem to have changed much (com paring the contents and allow ing fo r a ten year gap there's n o t much change there either). A t least this tim e we’re not treated to a photo of him w ith his finger stuck up his nose. Back to the product which, basically I’m very taken by. Although I do feel he should have had Ringo round fo r tea and drum m ing lessons. S till in years to come; like ‘A b b ^ Road’ before it, McCartney 11 might become the object of a cult game. Only this time instead of playing “ spot the hidden meaning” we’ll be playing “ C ount the blunders” w ith the $64,000 question being “ W ere they intentional?" A question which I think I'll leave to the historians. The album is quite a logical fo llo w up to Mc Cartney. Essentially an expansion of the idea th a t if you're big enough you can strin g together a cross section of cu rre n t trends in popular music, call them a personal statem ent (o r have your P.R. boys do th a t b it fo r you) and then s it back and collect. An idea thatw orked quite well on McCartney. Only this tim e he’s gone one step furth e r. By cu ttin g out the middle men, muso’s, techs, producers, songw riters and recording console he’s cut o u t a lo t of the syphoned off wealth. C ut out a bit of the spark th a t comes fro m collective creativity too. D on't be misled into thin kin g th a t the track ‘Frozen Jap' is in any way an expose of Japanese Jails. Just because the boy spent a short time w ith the Oh So P olite people doesn’t mean he's going to give us anything more than a sweet instrum ental w ith faintly oriental overtones. All pa rt of th a t elusive McCartney hum our I suppose. The kind of humour that helped put together the clip fo r the lyrically catchy ‘Coming Up’. ‘W aterfalls’ and ‘Summers Day Song’ fill the rom antic category w ith ‘Front Parlour' and the aforem entioned ‘Frozen Jap’ holding up the instrum ental stakes. (Albeit w ith some rather questionable drum m ing on both tracks) ‘Bogey Music' holds up the rock and roll end but I don't think, as the cover notes coyly suggest, th a t its going to corner the expanding Bogey market. Listening to ‘D arkroom ’ I had visions of Rock

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Lobsters in B 5 2 's fo r some reason. F or the rest, pick a category and McCartney 11 has a go a t it. Some more successfully than others. A t least Linda's vocals sound a hell of a lo t b e tte r than they did last time. Yes, r m quite taken by it all, and I have no doubts whatsoever that q uite a few oth e r people w ill be

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS "Nobody’s Heroes” (Chrysalis) Stiff Little Fingers are better than the Sex Pistols but no better than The Clash. They’re better than The Undertones but no better than The Buzzcocks. And they’re better than The Skids and The Members put together. So where does that leave them? I remember when th e ir album on Rough Trade was released and the im p o rt shop I was w orking in was frequented by punks anxious to get th e ir hands on a copy. Orders flooded in and when the album s arrived from England every copy of “ Inflam m able M aterial" was reserved. Funny, I m ust have missed the English press th a t month. I d id n ’t know w hat all the en thusiasm was about. I suppose I s till do n ’t. B ut then I'm at the point w here I th in k th is s o rt of music is unbearably triv ia l and lightweight, and I crave something m ore challenging. I’m only telling you this because my state of mind affects my a ttitu d e to this particular slice of vinyl. It’s nota bad record. I n fact I w ould ra th e r see this record go platinum o r uranium o r w hatever comes next, thana s h o p fu ll of others I could th in k of. B ut S tiff L ittle Finger?, like so many other bands, seem so insignificant. They are ju s t bands. Who make records. I’ m a t the po in t w here I expect, nay, demand more. Isn’t it tim e we moved on? And I w onder if the malady spreads. I w onder how many of those who craved th e band’s firs t album w ill go clam ouring a fte r th is one. Has fashion dictated that the band have outstayed th e ir welcome? If so it’s a pity because the Fingers seem so sincere and serious about w hat they (try to ) do. Go on. Tell me I should sim ply enjoy listening to it. Well, I’m sorry but I can’t reconcile the serious w ith the in substantial. Hey! That's the problem. — Kim W illiam s

DEVO "Freedom of Choice” (WEA) Damn these half-baked potatoes! Can’t the Spud Boys sense their own nitty-gritty? Bent beef and masked noise should be the entire menu — they CAN do it well. Some m ight feel m ore com fortable w ith Devo in th e ir current w atered-dow n form , fresh-faced and poppy, but I can’t see th is strategy w inning ‘Freedom of Choice’ th a t much c h a rt space. Why do these ambitious Americans (B londie included) seem bent on being adored by all, a t the expense of inspiring the few? The firs t album ‘A re We n o t Men? We are D evo!’ had a quirky fire th a t w ould not le t go, and th a t power proved itself in th e ir subsequent, but not necessarily d ire ct influence on English and American bands o f the (th e n ) bubbling under ‘nuvo pop’ so prom inent now. A t the tim e o f th a t firs t release (and possibly before, in America), a b o o tl^ o f Devo demos ( ‘Devonia’ ) began circulation. D irty b u t "dynam ite” , the band sounded even m ore extreme than on the official Eno-produced product. The next release was the reticently received ‘D uty Now fo r the F uture’, lamely produced by Gus Dudgeon of ‘Space O ddity’ (single) fame. Now the ‘De-Evolution’ had begun on the inside Niceness, in a b itte rfe lt sense, is my im pression of this album as a whole, even tho a few tracks make it over the top. Albums by such linear bands should have no holes if they are to pull off the concept w ith any integrity. And now we move on to the latest e ffo rt w ith a dubious track record and th a t nagging spectre of “ potential” . To b e q u ite fra n k (and Ernest?), I like about half of this album, w hich is b e tte r than ambivalence about the whole thing. T h e 'flo w e r-p o t hats and crushed vinyl coats on the cover are a change fro m the in famous plastic boiler suits, b u t,fe a r not crass-lovers, they make an appearance on the 'Devo Catalogue’ (inner sleeve) — badges, T-shirts and such (like the ads section in Melody Maker — YUK). The firs t side is the problem child, being overpopulated w ith ‘Babys’ and limp Boy-meets-girl songs. Even tho the rest of the album is a trifle limited, a t least it has that special savoury guts of

lyric and sound. Take these lines fro m ‘Freedom of Choice’ fo r instance. “ I’ ll say it again Vsin the land of thefreeVa You’ll lose your freedom of choiceVs Freedom of choice is w hat you’ve gotVi Freedom from choice is w hat you want. ‘Gates of Steel’ chuggs along well, and firm ly in sinuates the social vision bias of side tw o (alm ost nuvo Sex Pustules — alm ost). ‘Cold W ar’ reminds me of KraftwerkVsGary Numan w ith clipped vocal and maleVsfemale power references. In the singles stakes I’d go fo r ‘Gates of Steel’, ‘That’s Pep’ o r ‘R anet E arth’ — they’re good but I s till w ouldn’t bet on a No. 1 One thing th a t becomes apparent a fte r absorbing the b e tte r songs here is that, altho there’s s till the De-Evolution crap flying around and a b it of com mercial silliness, th e re ’s a perceptive punch, alm ost to the point o f positivism — the s h ift is refreshing. I s till don’t know w hy th is w hole album wasn’t stuffed fu ll o f ‘“ grippo tu n o ’s” b ut maybe now the flow er pot men w ill make the to u r connection and a ir their devious daisies am ongst the bloom in’ eucalypts. — Tyrone Flex

THE BEACH BOYS “Keepin’ The Summer Alive” (CBS) Are you kidding? Alive, what a joke! I remember the good old days of fun, I ively pop. The real atmosphere of 6 0 ’s vocal surf music. That rawness. That musical naievety. But in 1980 we get the latest edition of the Beach Boys. The same name but boy how they’ve changed.

about. He’s been w ritin g and singing songs fo r the last 25 years and it’s only in the last 4 or 5 that he’s been getting anywhere near the recc^nition he deserves. Side tw o in contrast to side one, is full of tricked up, over arranged disco. ‘Electro-Phantasma’ sounds like a a o ss between The M agnificent Seven and Rocky and w ill appeal to teachers of Jazz ballet and calisthenics. It’s not totally distasteful and useful background music. And this is w here it gets hard divorce film review from record review. Side tw o is all background music w jth disco pretentions. I saw the film before I heard the soundtrack, w hich helps, and impossible as it may seem the disco thing w orked in context The sight of R obert Redford riding a horse down the main drag of Las Vegas, both lit up like a Christmas tree, to the sound of ‘Disco Magid’ was memorable. It w orked and the soundtrack works. See the movie and buy th e album, and you’ll enjoy both. The album by itself? Well, half an album of W illie is better than none at all. — Sue Wylie

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and THE MAGIC BAND "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)...” (Virgin) Few will read this. Fewer will listen to the record. Even fewer will buy it. Which is a desperate, desperate loss. I can only try to do this record justice, you understand? The first thing you should know is that you are wasting precious time reading. You must find a copy of ‘Shiny Beast’ and listen to it. Listen.

This is LA. dinner party music a t its w o rs t The Captain B eefheart’s latest record is fo r you: production is so slick it ju s t kills everything And its — when you’ve come to realise that nothing about not the kind of slick they showed on ‘H olland’ or enterprise is free ‘Surf’s Up’, this tim e it sounds ju s t too much like a — when you w onder ju s t w hat is w rong w ith Frank Doobie B rothers o r Chicago album. A classic .Zappa these days example is th e ir version of the old Chuck Berry — when you can imagine w hat the place you live standard ‘School Days’. I mean le t’s face i t The w ould be like w ith o u t the influence of man Beach Boys’ school days a re a little bit o ut of touch — because you thought you knew w hat “ cohesion” w ith us today. B ut aside fro m all th a t it is simply the meant. most abysmal cover of a B erry song th a t I’ve ever It is esoteric w ith o u t being e litis t contrived, o r heard, (and th e re ’s been plenty of bad ones). One pretentious. It is simply that fa r ahead. N ot as song entitled ‘Endless Harm ony’ succinctly points to fu tu ris t as ‘Trout Mask Replica’. W hich was a false the only quality The Beach Boys have had but not dishonest record. An unlistenable master throughout th e ir long career. And th a t’s the only piece. A mask. And a replica. This is prim e cuts of facet evident on this album th a t has some relevance beef he a rt to w hat Brian W ilson stood fo r in the 6 0 ’s. This Don Van V lie t’s vision is unique but not always album raises one question in my mind... Is there a solitary. On rare occasions, surrounding elements pension fo r geriatric surfers? gel I, as if at one w ith N a tu re The fragility and sen — Goose sitivity of the spark of genius require uncommon sympathy from the near at hand. J u st once, perhaps twice in Beefheart’s past has the courtship been fulfilled. I refer to ‘Clear Spot’ w ith fondness. Please look for, and listen. B ut waste no time. ‘D eleted’ is an ugly word. And back to the present point. Herein, contrasts Wend and seemingly unreachable zeniths are easily , )■ attained by the Magic Band. They are a luxurious V. f paradox once more. They play pieces of such conv plexity w ith the precision of a com puter w hile retaining the empathy and fire of humanity. Look. ‘Shiny Beast’ is perfect. No b e tte r record has been o r w ill be made. If any deficiencies surface via the interaction of C aptain Beefheart’s a rt and thou, they w ill be w ithin the listener. Nowhere else. — Kim W illiam s

THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN (Film Soundtrack) (CBS) The soundtrack of the film The Electric Horseman could work in one of two ways. It could introduce disco to country freaks or country to disco freaks, should either group for whatever reason end up with a copy of the album. But unless they’ve seen the movie, chances are that only country freaks will buy the album. Which is a pity because it could serve to introduce a lot of people to Willie Nelson and that in my book would be a service to mankind. I have a friend who thinks th a t W illie Nelson is God. And indeed there are sim ilarities. You either love, hate or are am bivalent tow ards him. B ut even in that ambivalence there is an awareness of his existence. W ith Nelson’s album ‘S tardust’ entering the Oz album charts a t 10 and knocking S plit Enz off N o .l on a t least one Sydney radio station, there’s a fcyce to be reckoned w ith th e re And the day of reckoning is at hand. Side one of the Electric Horseman, produced and sung by Nelson features sparse arrangem ents of some of the fin e st cowboy songs around, all perfect fo r the mood of the movie. My only regret is th a t only one of W illie’s own compositions was used. ‘So You Think You’re A Cowboy’, co-w ritten by Hank Cochran, ju st about sums up the film from the point of view of the character played by Nelson as he makes an ail too brief appearance as Robert Redfo rd ’s manager. The rest of side one ranges from the driving Allman com position ‘M idnite R ider’, through to the intensely personal ‘Hands on the Wheel’. It includes ‘Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys’ th a t Waylon Jennings and W illie recorded a few years back, and my favourite ‘My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys’. Nelson's style is a m ixture of classic country del ivery and talking blues w ith a bit of jazz phrasing throw n in for good measure. The man’s sense of tim ing and delivery are qualities most singers dream

W H IR LY W IR LD /Second EP (Missing Link) FAST P R O D U C T /Compilation album (Fast) Since hearing Whirlywirld’s first EP — which came out around late 1978 — I’ve looked forward to seeing whether that was a one-shot recording or if they would continue. It seems they have. A lthough you could easily argue that they sound derivative, th e ir ow n idiosyncratic way of arranging sounds to make musical effects is convincingly original to me. They’re ju s t another band w ho has gone in fo r electronic instrum entation and in spiration — the cold, q uirky songs w ith the ro b o t rhythms of pure pop support this view. Of the band w ho recorded the firs t EP, only tw o members remain fo r this one: Ian Olsen, on vocals, synthesizer, piano, and tapes, and John M urphy on drums, electronics, and kitchenware? They are supported by Greg Sun on bass and percussion, and A rnie Hanna on electric guitar. W ith this assembly of human beings they have modified th e ir w ork to a denser rock style, rather than the lighter pop of the firs t EP, generally sim ilar to th e track ‘Signals’ which graced side tw o of th a t one, but less “ experim ental” and somewhat m ore thematic. Unused to 12” 4 5 ’s, I firs t heard this EP a t album speed, which made it sound remarkably like the Residents. S w itching it hastily to the faster speed, I was almost disappointed. Songs like ‘Big Gun A ction’ and ‘ Boys of the Badlands’ gave me a little aural indigestion — has creeping Americanism claimed another Aus band just as it reaches m aturity? Are W hirlyw irld dow nunder’s firs t space cowboys? Still, racialism aside, the second EP’s a fine piece of work, if a little too cold and rem ote fo r easy listening. I find myself wondering w hat s o rt of audience W hirlyw irld attract. A frie n d ’s suggestion that they’d be great at low volum e in a coffee den seems the m ost credible, academically, though in reality it must be different. I think W hirlyw irld have got some way to go before reaching th e ir full maturity, and until then it’s not appropriate to make predictions about them.

1 Although this isn’t going to be one o f my m ost played albums, I’ m glad that a band w ho once looked like they might do the ship-in-the-night tric k very rapidly are s till w ith us and still p ro d u cin g They have the technique firm ly under th e ir belts. They know how to drive. Once they know exactly w here they w ant to go w e’ll all be in fo r q u ite a trip. Fast P roduct is a com pilation album , featuring the Mekons, the Scars, the Human League, 2.3, and the Gang of Four. M ost of these seem to be bands whose names appeared in the small clubs listings back in the days of the Punk Revolution. Now them seem (m ost o f them ) to be getting records out, maybe a couple o f years to o late fo r th e ir sound. The Mekons have fo r some reason the largest slab of the record, five tracks in all, three to s ta rt it off and two to end it all. They have th a t deliberately sobad-it’s-so-good sound w hich was so popular Back Then but now doesn’t really w o rk any more. G uitar not quite am plified and drum m ing th a t comes fro m the arse end of an amphetamine bender, and lyrics which are usually inaudible b u t occasionally, when they are, can be quite funny ( “ I’ m in the toilet, pissing o u t the noise..." And they’re not k id d in g ) The Scars have tw o tracks o f increasingly m ore com petent rock and roll, p a rticu la rly “ H o rro rsh o w ", w hich I like m ore every tim e I hear it. Then to close o ff side one, we have the Human League’s tw o songs ‘Being Boiled’ and ‘Circus of Death’, w hich alm ost damn the re st o f the record because they’re so bloody good. Like m ost of the m aterial here, these songs are fro m 1978, looking ahead to th e ir ‘R eproduction’ album and passing over (u nfortunately) th e s o rt of th in g they w ere up to in their excellent (and all b u t unobtainable) EP ‘T he Dignity o f Labour", w hich stands o u t the best of the League’s m aterial fo r me. Still, they have a definite g ift fo r m elody whose infection s till makes it hard fo r me to tu rn the side. When I finally do, I hear 2 3 , a band I always wondered about. They sound nothing like I imagined. The mix is clean, the tw o songs are clear, the lyrics are audible if not alto g e th e r w orthw hile. The Gang o f Four take the highlights of th e second side, beginning w ith a fu rio u s g u ita r in tro to ‘Love Like A nthrax’. The g u ita ris t knows how to use a distortion u n it to good e ffe c t and the offsetting juxtaposition of the vocalists makes this piece w ork. ‘Arm alite R ifle’ is com paratively conservative, but still very bent. The th ird track is to o much like the Mekons, w ho as I said fin ish off side tw o w ith another couple o f th e ir songs, very forgettable o r ignorable. The EMI sticker plastered over the rear of the record (so I am hard p u t to read any inform ation of the original recordings) declares this record to be a collector’s item overseas. Same here, I suppose. All the material is late 78-early 79, a sonic photo of the past, you m ight say. A ll of it is in some way interesting, if not breathtaking — ap a rt fro m the Human League. The only trouble is the m ix is always down, so you’ve got to tu rn the volum e rig h t up b ^ o re a n y o f it’s audible enough to be interesting. It ’s good party music, and th a t’s n o t dam ning w ith fa in t praise. -Span

THE JAM “Setting Sons" (Polydor) With their monumental if inconsistent ‘All Mod Cons’ set of 1978, Paul Weller and The Jam finally laid to rest the ac cusations that they were a surrogate young Who lost in sixties nostalgia. ‘S ettingS ons’ (w hich P olydor A ustralia have seen fit to release locally several m onths late, a fte r ignoring the Jam fo r a couple of years) makes even few er concessions to the past; these days the edge that started creeping into the band’s sound about the tim e of the ‘Strange T ow n’ single — available on the US im port version o f the new a lb u m — owes a lo t to the influence of the jagged likes of Buzzcocks and the Gang Of Four. Mod revival notw ithstanding, the Jam are still going th e ir own w ay.' The title and the packaging of ‘S etting Sons’ imply that it m ight be some kind o f epic concept a bout the fall of B rita in ’s empire, and the songs do in fact cover sim ilar te rrito ry to th a t which preoccupied Costello on ‘Arm ed Forces’ and the Clash on ‘Give ’ Em Enough Rope’ — reflections on public and private violence, a grandiose past and a depressed present. B ut unlike the Clash, W eller draws his lyrical w orld more by insinuation than through brash calls to arms. His characters live in a w o rld w here they “ smile but only fo r secondsVs fo r to be caught smiling is to acknowledge life ” and w here in some a m biguous c iv il w a r th e y becom e fu tile

revolutionaries (Eton R ifles) o r fig h t fo r the establishm ent w ho “ ruled the w orld — we killed and robbed, the fucking lot, but we don’t feel b a d .. .it was done beneath the flag of dem ocracy” . (Little Boy S oldiers). It’s a heavy scenario, and one th a t W eller pulls back from exploring fully. ‘S etting Sons’ is also studded w ith “ O rdinary” Jam pop songs like ‘G irl On The Phone’, a m od-crafted cover of the Motown standard ‘Heatwave’, and the jaunty Kinks im itation ‘Saturday’s Kids’. B ut musically, this is the m ost intense, consistent album the Jam have attem pted. The rhythm section is ferociously tig h t, gu ita rs w ail in m ulti-tracked fury, and the w hole effect is alm ost claustrophobic in its intensity. There are no classic W eller ballads like ‘Away From The N um bers’ or ‘In The C row d’ here. The only brief respite comes w ith the cellos th a t back Bruce Foxton’s sardonic ‘S m ithers Jones’, and w itli th is record one gets the feeling th a t the Jam have pushed to its lim its the sound they’ve been developing since ’77. If Paul W eller is lyrically restrained by his a b ility to dispense w ith naivety and sham romanticism, he’s musically pulling no pun ches. All of w hich means ‘S etting Sons’ is by no means an easy-listening experience: it’s fa r m ore aurally unsettling than the Clash’s ‘London Calling’, th e only recent English album of equal power. The Jam are swimming hard against the tid e o f eighties escapism, and even if th is album is no coherent masterpiece, there are not going to be many pieces o f vinyl released this year th a t w ill to p its sledgehammer im pact — A drian Ryan

O R C H E S TR A L M A N O E U V R E S

ORCHESTRAL MANOEVRES “In The Dark" I got hold of this album by default really — it was a bribe so that I would review some other albums. (Funny what lengths D.R., the Editor, will go to so that he can palm off duff records). Until I heard it I had never been a fan of elec tronic music. Mind you, it’s never struck as particularly inspiring. Although, in all fairness I probably didn’t ever really listen to it. That’s what makes this album so striking. Right from the first spin Orchestral Manoeuvres’ ‘In the Dark’ impressed me and somehow made me attentive enough to listen to it properly. Yes indeed, suddenly I have become a convert to the world of synthesizers, vocoders, electronic percussion etc. The one aspect of the music on this album apart fro m any technical details is th a t w ith the new technological apparata available to them O rchestral Manoevres have produced music th a t remains tru e to the basic tenets o f Rock’n ’Roll, although 'i t couldn’t be labelled as such. B ut then, le t’s face it, contem porary music has always been about technology as much as it has been about sex o r drugs o r cars o r any o f th e o th e r ichons of o u r generation. This album may not make you w ant to jive around the bedroom (although it has g o t a beat you can dance to ) b u t it does express and heighten feelings. It is intense and dynamic w ith o u t being to o serious or depressing. To me th a t is one of the m ost im portant aspects of Rock’n’Roll — it allow s you to have fun, even to be happy w h ile still expecting some exercise from the old brain cells. Orchestral Manoevres may sound light years removed fro m Chuck B erry and L ittle Richard b u t if you scratch the surface and see w hat they represent the distance doesn’t seem so great. Musically this album is a clean and crisp collection of melodic, electronic songs. It is really q u ite basic — simple sounds fro m complex machines, no sweeping, soaring synthesizer sounds he re The songs themselves reflect the learnings of Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey, the principals of Orchestral Manoevres. W ith title s like ‘A lm ost’, ‘M ystereality’, ‘Messages’, ‘E lectricity’ and ‘Pretending to See the Future’ the central them e they pursue appears to be com m unication and alienation. This is one of the most interesting features of O rchestral Manoevres. Their songs and th e ir music a re not cold, sterile and distant. They have retained the human com ponent and emphasize it. They make a p o in t of expressing the'idea th a t it is possible to co n tro l the technology at th e ir disposal, it need n o t control them. To me, in a tim e when machines are becoming a dom inating feature of our lives th a t is an im p o rta nt po in t to make. It’s certainly a refreshing change from the pessimism expressed by the likes of Gary Numan in ‘Are Friends Electric?’ etc. The tw o people who com prise Orchestral Manoevres have found a means to com bine the

sim plicity of Rock’n’Roll w ith the complex technology o f o u r electronic age and have come up w ith a sensual melange of sound. Perhaps to afficianados of electronic music it w ould seem somewhat naive, maybe even prim itive b ut to someone like me who has never found “ electronic” music captivating the subtle nuances th a t permeate the sound are an in triguing discovery. In fact, this album is the only one I’ve heard fo r ages that had made me put my old M otown record in dry dock fo r a few weeks. An In sp ira tion!!! — C ollette Snowden

SPARKS “Terminal Jive” (Virgin) Sparks, now as much as ever the objects of a consistently disdainful wise cracking press, must be having a deserved laugh, if not the last one. Their teaming last year with disco maestro Giorgio Moroder and Harold Faltermeyer for the ‘No.l In Heaven’ album was variously regarded as an act of either great cunning, or great desperation, or both. W hatever the m otive the resultant l.p. and par ticularly the ‘Beat The C lock’ and ‘N o .l Song In Heaven’ singles achieved a higher profile fo r the band than they have managed since the histrionic ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For B oth Of Us’ fro m the ‘Kimono My House’ album of 1 9 7 4 .1 can vividly recall seeing them do th a t song on TV those years ago, and wondering, as I w atched the id io t ponce Russell bounce pathetically in fro n t of his H itleresque dodo b ro th e r Ron, ju s t how tw o such monstrous d ills ever came to be w here they were. Persistence is the simple answer. Their form ula, from hammy sleeve photos to song s tructure has remained basically the same fo r m ore than a decade. Gone now though is R ussell’s falsetto diahhroea, o r at least the flo w has slowed. A fter years of singing songs a t 500 w ords per m inute you’d w ant to slow down too. Now he’s content w ith repeating title s like ‘When I’ m W ith Y ou’, o r ‘Rock’n’Roll People In A Disco W orld’, o r ‘J u st Because You Love Me’, w ith a few phrases, th ro w n in here and there for extra in te re s t I’ve never known any band so dumb, ironic, clever and self conscious. W ho else w ould dare release a song w ith a verse which goes: It’ s that break in the song w here I should say something special. B ut the pressure is on and I can’t think of nothing special. N ot when I’m w ith you (etc. etc.). These revelations are set against music th a t is decidedly disco yet fo r the m ost p a rt devoid of disco cliches. Only on the last three tracks, by fa r the weakest on the album (w hich like all Sparks l.p.s is quite uneven) do things become ju s t about in tolerable, and those three tracks (notably ‘Noisy Boys’ ) were substantially w ritte n by Falterm eyer and M oroder. Kept stric tly to th e ir production duties, as they are on the o th e r tracks, and obviously should always be, the result is very listenable and moderately amusing. You w ould certainly get most of the good stu ff if you bought the singles that are bound to be lifted fro m this album, but then you w ouldn’t get the photos on the sleeve w ould you? And u n lik e ‘N O .l In Heaven’, all the best tracksare in sequence so you d o n ’t have to stand by jum ping tracks. In the balance I’d recom mend it. § u t no hate letters now, hear? — Peter Page

THE HEADBOYS “Shape Of Things To Come’’ (RSO) So King Robert Stigwood looks out one day above his millions and sees that his disco empire is diminishing. “ Hark! What to do next? I must find myself a “new" sound — I must have a power pop band.’’ Enter The Headboys. Four Scottish lads with some degree of talent, as shown in the above average title track, a bouncey singalong piece of pure pop. B ut the re st of the album is a p o tp o u rri of varied “ m odern" influences and borrow ed styles mixed w ith some awfully dum b lyrics. I kept trying to find another song th a t I liked b u t ... real Blandsville. You may be surprised to know they sound nothing like The Bee Gees, owe very little to Sergeant Pepper’s, and d o n ’t even grease th e ir hair. W hat’s Stigwood coming to? You couldn’t sell pin-ups of these boys... and they don’t even have a gimm ick! — Goose

JAPAN “Quiet Life" (RCA) Last year I totally panned Japan’s ‘Obscure Alternatives’ for being an aimless conglomeration of dated styles and just plain boring tunes. To say that ‘Quiet Life’ is an improvement is pretty much an understatement. This album is much more cohesive than either of their

previous efforts, but th e re ’s still something about it which prevents me from saying I actually like it. Perhaps it’s the fact that Japan on ‘Quiet Life’ have become even m ore derivative of m id-period Roxy Music. The continuously Ferryish vocals of David Sylvian has now been supplemented by both direct kwrrowing from Manzananera’s guitar (eg. the disco ‘Angel Eyes’ phrases in the title track), and the doomy broken hearted tone of most of Brian Ferry’s songs. B ut you have to give it to them... at least they do it well. I mean if you’d never heard this kind of stuff before, if by some q u irk of fate o r tim e you never heard one of those golden Roxy albums, then thisalbum probably has a great deal to offer. In fact on the strength of this album Japan are to Roxy Music w hat Gary Numan is to Bowie. This is the second generation. The sons of the experimenters, who have possibly let th e ir idolatory overcome them. B ut fo r me the originals are by far the best. Nonetheless ‘Q uiet Life’ is a moody and definitely atm ospheric album. The title track shows a touch of sim ilarity in style to last year’s single ‘Life In Tokyo’ produced by G iorgio M oroder. ‘Fall In Love W ith Me’ is quite interesting b ut th e ir rendition of Velvet U nderground’s ‘All Tom orrow ’s P arties’ is very limp. It seems such a shame th a t a band as musically proficient as Japan feel the need to follow rather than to lead. Sure, ‘Q uiet Life’ is a real im provem ent but they’ve still got a long way to go. — Goose

PUNISHMENT OF LUXURY “Laughing Academy” (EMI) ‘Punilux’ came out of the British shadows into magazine light late ’78, with a visual show that brought fast mumbles of “too much Bowie” (a journalistic euphenism for “theatrical”) and “ interesting but overdone” , generally getting the soft-core can. T hisalbum is the firs t sign of life since the band’s brief bout of live shows and it w ould have been useful to have some up-to-date info, either coverwise or via magazine, b u t I guess th a t is the price one pays when record companies realize the value of releasing relatively low status bands on the in ternational market. ‘Laughing Academy’ is a strange one as recent releases go. The box-desiring mind w ill find many pins to stick; a good squeeze of the Tubes, Mi Sex w ithout the keyboards (even tho they’re there), a dubious H.M. guitar base and a dash of good ol “ new " pop — could work, b u t not fo r this crystal eared connoisseur. M ost tracks have at least one hook b u t the bulk of song potential is either well-masked o r left half done. One trick is to listen to the album w hile doing the dishes o r reading an inform ative magazine (if gullible), allow ing the high spots some memory space w hile the rest passes as wallpaper. For those program ming radio shows o r w anting an abridged overview, try ‘Funk Me’ (on SEX, I guess), ‘Radar bug’ (Futurism of Mi-Sex pretense), ‘Excess Bleeding H eart’ (luxury desire) and ‘All W hite Jack’, on the B ritish Race Problem — n ot enough m obility? As you might have guessed. I’d give this “ product” a so-so rating b u t its w o rth a quickie next tim e you’ve got Vi an hour to kill near a record shop. Punilux could be w o rth follow ing if they can marry this album’s middle-class success into an upperclass family. — Tyrone Flex

MR PARTRIDGE “Take A w ay/The Lure of Salvage” (Virgin) As if Mr. Partridge doesn’t have enough to do tending to the career of his group XTC without inflicting on us a solo album packed with all the self-indulgence of a “What I did on my holidays” slide evening. According to the cover notes Mr. Partridge has taken some old XTC tracks and “ electronically p ro ce s se d /s ha tte re d " them and layered them w ith other sounds o r lyrical pieces. The result has a kind of ‘Partridge meets the Residents’ type of weirdness that many w ill find uniistenable. N ot th a t there is no inherent w o rth in this record, but if you are ex pecting to add an XTC hybrid to your collection I suggest you give it a listen first. Side One — ‘TAKEAWAY’ — opens w ith ‘Comm erciality’ in w hich normal XTC lunacy goes over the edge 'The Day They Pulled the N o rth Pole D own’ is an ultim ately pointless piece of jum bled noise. If anyone’s s till listening after that, then ‘The Forgotten Language of Light’ should finish them off. This ram bling chant sounds like a convention of Hari Krishna’s speaking in tongues. Damn shame, because the next track, ‘Steam Fist F u tu rist’, w ith drum effect calculated to approxim ate the puffing of an old steam train, is surprisingly quite interesting. Shock of shocks, the next track, ‘Shore Leave’ (abbr.) is a real gem. Side one closer ‘C airo’ is just silly (She’s become a real live w iro /s in c e she learnt how to do the C airo). Side Two — 'The Lure of Salvage’ — w ith the exception of last track ‘New B room ’ and the firs t m inute of ‘W ork Away Tokyo Day’ is a load of old rubbish. I hope that now his little holiday is over, Mr. Partridge is concentrating his full attention to en suring that the next XTC album is a real winner. — A drian M iller.

ROADRUNNER 29

R T

ELVIS COSTELLO “Hi-Fidelity” (F-Beat)

twelve string guitars, twanging, blurred rhythm section, they do creditably. All neo-Sixties freaks investigate immediately, (th a t includes all you Blondie fans to o !)

Second single frb m 'Get H appy!!’ is a pulsating slice of modern beat from the sharp tongued new wave g-oaner. It ’s a little hard to make out ju s t what he’s singing about, b u t I’ m sure it’s very clever, and anyway its depressingly easy to dance to — The flip, ’Getting Mighty Crowded, is a bout as close to Motown as the self confessed soul fan w ith glasses has ever got. And it’s great.

THE UNDERTONES “My Perfect Cousin” (Sire) Now this is craft! A charming, home spun, Nor thern Ireland punk single. You don’t believe? These guys make Wreckless Eric look sophisticated! I like it (a lot)

THE BODYSNATCHERS "Let’s Do Rocksteady’ (Chf7 salis)

THE RAMONES “Chinese Rocks” (Sire)

The fourth plank in the 2 — Tone avalance is the Bodysnatchers, a ska band natch, whose debut single is ente rta in irg lightw eight dance music. And that’s about it I’m afraid.

Ahhhhh! H it me h it me, h it me! Da Brudders are back. Organized chaosVssheer delight!

THE BEAT “Mirror In The Bathroom” (Go-Feet)

DESMOND DEKKER “Israelites” (Stiff) Dusted off and re-recorded, the old ska classic comes up crisp and fresh, w ith a dash of eighties urgency. Impossible to sit and listen to, this is the sort of song to make you search o u t a correspon dence course in skanking (N B :— The only way to dance to ska).

MADNESS “Night Boat To Cairo” — EP (Stiff)

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And before we leave ska country a quick nod to the North London neo-skinheads. “ D on’t Watch That, Watch This" they to ld us and w hatever th a t may mean this is certainly w orth a spin a t next week’s meeting of the porkpie hat and black & w hite checks brigade. I magine if Ian Dury had been born fifteen years later.

The Beat are thankfully exploring rather than exploiting the bluebeat jungle and have come up w ith an INTERESTING dance single. Soulful sax, chug-along rhythm, dynamic arrangement, and a lyric about narcissism make th is a real development in the ska boom. A ustralia’s firs t ska hit? I hope so.

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LENE LOVICH “What Will I Do Without You” (Stiff)

SIOUXSIE and the BANSHEES "Happy House” (Interfusion) The second best thing they’ve ever done (after ‘Hong K ongG arden’). H aunting alm ost eerie guitars dominate, the drum s tum ble along and the bass fleshes everything o u t quite solidly. A most w orthy offering.

More Gothic power rock from the Transylvanian via D etroit gypsy. Lene is unique — w hat w ould we do w ithout her? Both tracks are fro m the slightly disappointing ’Flex’ album, but the real meat and potatoes of the B ritish release is an excellent live E.P. which features a stunning perform ance of ’Too Tender To Touch! Pity Festival couldn’t have p u t the whole thing o u t here. Still th a t’s showbiz.

THE SEARCHERS “It’s Too Late” (Sire) Remember The Searchers? 1964 — ’Sweets For My Sweet’, ’Needless & Pins’, ’When You Walk In The Room’ (no junior, it’s not a Sports song). Well th e o l’ codgers are back to show the up-and-coming powerpop brats how to really do it. Produced at the Rockfied School of Musical Time — Travel (Head master Dave Edmunds) this has th a t same freshness that all of Edmunds’ plunders o f the past exhibit. Compared to the Searchers, m ost of the W est Coast power-pop-the-pimple brigade are ju s t pissing in the wind.

MARTHA & THE MUFFINS “Echo Beach” (Dindisc) Hey! This is great! A Canadian band based in London (th a t’s about all I know) Martha & the Muffins have come up w ith a s tro n g melodic, nostalgic (in the lyrical departm ent) semi-opus which features com pelling organ and absolutely stunning saxophone. An absolute gem — yes, I th in k it’s even better than Holly & The Italians!

THE RECORDS “Hearts In Her Eyes” (Virgin) And talking o f the Searchers... The Records could very easily a tta in the status of Nick Lowe o r Dave Edmunds. Nick & Dai have ju s t been around a b it longer. The Records don’t have as extensive a range as the dynamic duo, but w hat.they do, harmonies,

SIX PISTOLS “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone” (Virgin) From the Swindle soundtrack comes one of the only really serious offerings from the whole affair. It’s a studio version of the old Monkees B-side, recorded in 1976 w ith one Johnny Rotten centre stage. The Sex Pistols in their raw glory, before greed, avarice and co rru p tion set in. Buy the single and see the movie. — Donald Robertson

GANG OF FOUR “Outside The Trains Don’t Run On TimeVsHe’d Send In The Army (EMI import) Two new tracks from the best new B ritish band of 1979. The A side is in much the same vein as m ost of ’E n te rta in m e n t’, th o u g h here perhaps m o re discordant and ugly, w ith insanely irregular drum ming in places, one note guitar solos and regrettably indistinct lyrics about dictatorship. Abrasive and disconcerting The flip is a real delight — a richly textured experim ent in rythym and space It’s a tune w ithout a tune. The slap of wooden percussion is met by the scratching of guitar, later joined by bass, drums and vocals, which then come and go irresistably leaving bloody great gaps begging to be filled w ith sound. A must fo r fans. W onderful.

MAGAZINE “Upside DownysThe Light Pours Out Of Me” (Virgin import)

GRAHAM PARKER & THE RUMOUR “Stupefaction” (Stiff) A t long last GP is on his managers record label. And, connected o r not, he sounds a hell of a lot fresher and enthusiastic than he has for ages. ’Stupefaction’ is a superb, stinging single. The Rumour — well, I th in k I’ve probably used all the superlatives on them. Just excellent w ill do this time. Graham Parker w ith Bruce Springsteen’s producer? Well, it’s ju s t gotta be great, don’t it?

N either of these tracks are on the new album. One song is new, the other is a new version of my favorite song from the firs t album. The A side is a reasonably silly number about frustrated romance (like m ost of th e ir stuff) w ith an annoyingly vacuous pop chorus, and though it’s not up to the A sides of the tw o other recent singles, it has a great guitar interlude in the middle and a good deal of charm. The shorter, slightly stealthier new version of ’The Light Pours Out Of Me’ is every b it as glorious as its predecessor, rather sim ilar though w ith the clean new production of M artin Hannett. The m ost obvious difference is the added sax, presumably by John McKeough. It’s tight and gutsy, and as a single absolutely addictive. It costs the usual fortune on im port, but if you can afford it I’m sure it’s w o rth it. — Peter Page

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JOANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEW ALBUM ME MYSELF I AM

featuring the single ^Me Myself I

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