alfke@csvax.caltech.edu (J. Peter Alfke) (09/15/86)
Okay, campers, new vinyl time: ** This Mortal Coil: Come Here My Love / Drugs Gosh! 10 inches of a new single by 4ADs house cover band. "Come Here My Love" is a Van Morrison song; I've never heard the original but I'm quite unfamiliar with Van Morrison's work. It's exceedingly pretty in this arrangement, with some woman I've never heard of singing very expressively, and Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde providing a sort of minimalist-industrial backdrop. I've listened to this side a number of times; I like it a lot. Then the B-side is indeed the Talking Heads song "Drugs" which (when I first saw that it was credited to D. Byrne) I figured would be ideal for This Mortal Coil to do; in the Heads' arrangement, it's already sorta down TMC's line. Well, big surprise. This is massively different, also rather minimal, with a booming drum track and a singer who reminds me of what's-her-name of Colourbox, some isolated guitar power-chords here and there, and occasional synth. In fact, the whole thing sounds a bit like Colourbox (but not good Colourbox). Not all that fond of it. Still, the A-side is gorgeous and so, I should mention, is the cover and sleeve. The cover looks like it came from the same roll of film as that of "It'll End In Tears", but it's been even more heavily processed into a shroud-of-Turin look. Overall, the packaging looks like it came from 1900 or so. And 10-inch records are just intrinsically neat. ** Severed Heads: "Come Visit the Big Bigot" Got this on Greg Earle's recommendation of the group (and their upcoming live shows with labelmates Skinny Puppy); he makes them out to be the saviors of industrial music, so I was expecting something along the lines of "Entertainment Through Pain" or "Red Mecca"; thus, the record came out a lot more, um, accessible than I thought it would. What's it like? Well, the more "bouncy" TG in places, some of it seems halfway between the old and the new Ministry, and some quite like recent Cabaret Voltaire. On the whole, however, it's their own sound and I like it, particularly side 2. Recommended for industrial types. (So what are Skinny Puppy like, Greg?) --Peter Alfke alfke@csvax.caltech.edu "We live as we dream, alone"