rpk@mit-vax.UUCP (12/16/83)
Apres moi, le deluge... Peter Gabriel: Plays Live [Geffen, album] This live 2-record set is not radically different from most of the studio versions. This live set includes ``I Go Swimming,'' which has never been on any of his albums. Too bad it wasn't a video. West End Mob: ``Break Dance/Electric Boogie'' [Sugar Hill, 12" single] Herbie Hancock: ``Rockit'' [Columbia, 12" single] Here we have yet another batch of U.S. 12" singles with turntable scratching and insignificant B-sides. The West End Mob single is basically a rhythm workout for the B-Boys with very dextrous scratching to amaze all you would-be djs -- check out when he uses Taana Gardner's ``Work That Body.'' Material and Herbie Hancock cook up a very aggressive techno-dance record -- this is a good indication what happens when synths hit the streets. I've heard the video is pretty good, too. Culture Club: Colour By Numbers [Epic/Virgin, album] Boy George & Co. have come out with an album that is much more assured than ``Kissing To Be Clever.'' Their secret weapon is vocalist Helen Terry, a soul/gospel shouter who must be heard to be beleived. There is less concern in the lyrics about the ``black boy''/``white boy''-ness and more attention paid to realising the heavily Motown sound. Some of the cuts should be more ``up front'' instrumentally: the music is very smooth, but almost to the point of being in the background. Yaz: ``Nobody's Diary'' b/w ``State Farm'' [Sire/Mute, single, 7" and 12"] This promsing synth/vocalist duo (he the keyboard boy, she the blues shouter) broke up a few months ago. The A-side (from the album You and Me Both) is a midtempo ballad about breaking up that is very understated. The flip is a very danceable song in the mode of ``Situation'' only available on this 7" and the 12" version. U2: Under A Blood Red Sky [Island, album] This is a very convicing document of U2 live -- it consists of their greatest hits, one new song, and ``11 O'Clock Tick Tick,'' of which the studio version is only available on a British single. Anyway, it's very rousing. Very recommended. Style Council: Introducing the Style Council [Polydor, EP] The ever-earnest Paul Weller (of the Jam) has turned his sights to a softer pop sound, with black American influences of the 60s and early 70s, and arrangements that emphasis bass and keyboards, usually acoustic piano and organ. ``Long Hot Summer'' is basically Anglicised Drifters piece (with a clumsy club mix on Side 2), while the effervescent ``Speak Like a Child'' sports a Motown spirit. While the ``Money Go Round'' is yet another predictable diatribe against the green stuff, other songs combine folk and soul in interesting measures. A good sampler, and the Style Council could actually attract some followers over here if Mr. Weller relaxes a bit. X: More Fun in the New World [Elektra, album] It's hard to believe that this group has already come out with its fourth album. The sound is still aggressive, but there is a great deal of control molding to maximum effect. The band's wry sense of humour comes out in the exasperated ``I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts.'' ``Breathless'' provides the band with a rave-up and points to their status as a truly American band. If this doesn't get played on the radio, American rock and roll deserves its sorry reaction from radio. Brian Eno: Apollo [Editions EG, album] The latest from rock's greatest egghead. Side 1 is very spacey and ambient, keeping in line both with Mr. Eno's previous output and the purpose of the music, which accompanies a film about the Apollo missions. However, the real meat of the album is the imaginative use of steel guitars on Side 2. It's just as etheral, but depends less on heavily synthetic drones and more on varying textures and actual melodies. The Remains: Diddy Wah Diddy [Eva, album, France] A reissue of all the studio stuff that this seminal (1965-6) Boston band recorded. They were fairly successful, having opened for the Beatles and the Stones on their American tours. Includes the single ``Don't Look Back'' which was a great song on the Nuggets compilation. Dolby's Cube: ``Get Out of My Mix'' (dance/dub versions) [Capitol, 12" single] Basically a holding action until the new album comes out, it's a remix combining tracks from ``Science'' and ``Europa and the Pirate Twins'' over a funk bass line, and some effects. Interesting at first, but not very substantial. Lyres: ``I Really Need You Right Now'' b/w ``Help You Ann'' [Ace of Hearts, single] A very punk/psyche pair of songs from this Boston band that would sound great in '66 OR '83. The A-side is a rousing rocker with incredily tremoloed gtr, while the flip is more subdued, but still energetic. Cabaret Voltaire: The Crackdown [Some Bizarre/Virgin, album, England] The Cabs are known (at least in England) for their iconoclastic, sometimes even forbidding, facade, built on a sound that uses ``found'' radio and TV segments, odd synth noises, very processed ``normal'' instruments, and heavy dub bass. (A great example of this is available on the US Rough Trade 12" ``Sluggin' Fer Jesus,'' in which you hear a TV preacher demand for money in an unsettlingly honest and crude way.) Now that they have conquered the Art Crowd, the next region of conquest is the dance floor. In the chaos the hooks are easier to find, and drum machines and handclaps take nods from the recent NYC dancefloor idioms. Except for the occasional monotony of the half-spoken vocals, this is an adjustment to a larger audience that has not sold them out. -- ``Bob'' Robert P. Krajewski ARPA: RpK@MC MIT Local: RpK@OZ UUCP: ...!genradbo!mit-eddie!mitvax!rpk