Tuesday, December 17, 2024
ABC - Be Near Me (Phonogram)
Friday, December 6, 2024
Orchestral Manoeuvers In The Dark - Shame (Virgin)
Most of OMD's songs, unfortunately, sound like Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys have fallen asleep behind their synthesisers during the recording. This bounds along quite chirpily at the beginning but then it trails off into the usual oblivion half way through. Maybe it's something to do with Andy's dreadful dancing. (Ro Newton, Smash Hits, March 25, 1987)
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Thompson Twins - Lay Your Hands On Me (Arista)
WOW! A new single from THE TWINS! HEY! CRITICAL! FABEROONI! etc. The Thompson Twins find themselves in the almost enviable position of having invented their own clichés - and very marketable ones they are too. This perfectly constructed, sort of spiritual, swingalong cliché of a future hit is as pleasant (i.e. rather boring) and unassuming (i.e. rather bland) as its precursors. Pass the lentil bake, I feel a song coming on . . . (Lesley White, Smash Hits, December 6, 1984)
Rod Stewart - Trouble (WEA)
Lovable old hack or LA creep? He annoys me a lot less since he's started wearing a suit instead of those cellulite-sausage lycra leggings, actually. "Some Guys", whilst unable to hold a candle to Robert Palmer's version, showed that of big nose still knew how to pick 'em. But this self-written slowie is undistinguished, to put it kindly. (Sunie, No1, November 24, 1984)
Five Star - Crazy (Tent)
Say hi to the New Edition! Five Star are a family of five black Brits, including three Crolla-clad girls with lightened hair and a pretty good Michael Jackson clone. Someone in the Five Star camp knows a hook when he hears one. They should give him a raise and sack their stylist. (Sunie, No1, November 24, 1984)
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Paul Young - Everything Must Change (CBS)
A slow and stately self-penned ballad that's more like "Wherever I Lay My Hat" than anything else Paul has done. Takes its time to sink in, as good ballads often do. Should do the business. (Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, November 22, 1984)
Monday, November 25, 2024
Virgin Dance - Are You Ready (For That Feeling) (Spartan)
Songs don't come easy to Virgin Dance. Like its predecessor "The Dream Is Over", "Are You Ready" is sketched painstakingly over a shimmering backdrop of guitars and heavenly choirs. Sheer single-minded excellence. One day they'll be as big as The Bunnymen. (Martin Townsend, No1, November 3, 1984)
A-ha - Take On Me (WEA)
Gold star too for A-ha, a Norwegian trio. "Take On Me" and "And You Tell Me" are fresher that a freezing gust up the fjord and highlight the singer's incredible vocal range. Essential purchases both. (Martin Townsend, No1, November 3, 1984)
Alphaville - Forever Young (WEA)
"Big In Japan" was a real horror. Sickeningly twee but a big enough hit to be played into infinity at tacky Continental discos or dragged out annually as a Radio 1 golden oldie: "Back in time with Alphaville . . . All of which makes "Forever Young" a real surprise. A stately and well-sung melody floating along on echoey church organ, it does everything but scream `follow up'. Big in the credibility stakes if not in the charts. (Martin Townsend, No1, November 3, 1984)
ABC - How To Be A Millionaire (Phonogram)
ABC's Beauty Stab was, for me, one of the albums of '83. Precise, socially-aware lyrics beefed up into a heady rock mixture, - Here Martin Fry and Mark White - with two new members aboard - take the fashionable and logical next step. They throw their weight behind pounding electro rhythms in an ironic, scathing attack on money politics. Radical dance music of the first order. File next to "Fascist Groove Thang". (Martin Townsend, No1, November 3, 1984)
Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours/Somebody (Mute)
Depeche Mode are becoming a Very Important band indeed. Pretentious though it may sound, Depeche's powerhouse Martin Gore is one of the few songwriters genuinely concerned with the politics of life in the '80s - unhampered by side-issues of style and blatant commerciality. "Somebody" gently unfurls the map of a modern relationship and explores every fold. The double A-side, "Blasphemous Rumours" weighs religion and reality with precision and feeling. Thought provoking stuff. (Martin Townsend, No1, November 3, 1984)
Lloyd Cole - Rattlesnakes (Polydor)
Although Lloyd has his most obvious influences written proudly across his chest - Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed - he's still creating a rock mythology all of his own. On "Rattlesnakes" the influences of his Derbyshire birthplace and Glasgow - where he was educated - are stirred up in equal measures of hometown grit and academic wit. He juggles European and American references in the lyric - novelist Simon De Beauvoir, On The Waterfront - and still ends up with a peculiarly English blend. A rich and fascinating single of the week. (Martin Townsend, No1, November 3, 1984)
Black - Sweetest Smile (A&M)
Isn't that Prince's favourite colour? Or was that last week? Either way, this is delicious. Really moody and dramatic, from the latest band to emerge from Liverpool. File under classics. (David Martin, No1, July 4, 1987)
Mel & Kim - FLM (Supreme)
A Shalamar beat that bears straight down on the floorboards, a crisply cynical lyric and Mel & Kim give a cheery British retort to Madonna's "Material Girl". Mel & Kim maybe aren't serious money, but they are most certainly smart money. And despite the fun and love and sensuous crooning, the accent is firmly on dosh! This is the sound of a thousand Access and American Express cards showin' out in a thousand Thatcherite suburbs. It hurts to have to tell you that this and the haircut (Swing Out Sister) below really are the best of the week. (Pete Paisley, Record Mirror, July 4, 1987)
Phil Wilson - 10 Miles (Creation)
A real Spanish Lolita of a song that beats its eyelashes cruelly and then gallops over you. Boils over a bit, but when the ingredients settle down there's a decent Morrissey song waiting for its flavour to be drawn out. It's the usual Creation syndrome: a young man blabbing into his leather strides. But the tears certainly bring the sheen up something lovely. (Pete Paisley, Record Mirror, July 4, 1987)
Sunday, November 24, 2024
Level 42 - It's Over (Polydor)
Once we've got past the positively asthmatic opening keyboard line, the Levellers deliver a powerfully sensitive song that makes up for some fairly corny lyrics with its atmosphere and, for once, restraint. Who cares if it's not the hippest single this week? It's an accomplished record that I'd play in my Cortina (if I had one) on the way to a cosy Epping Forest nook, late on Saturday night. (Andy Strickland, Record Mirror, September 5, 1987)
Kinda mellow and middle-America ie. benign ol' grandad out on the front porch serenading coyotes with trusty old harmonica and geetar. Don't quite know how Mark King and his varmints fit into this pleasing scenario but no doubt some black-and-white film and a well placed cactus will do the trick, (Paul Simper, No 1, September 5, 1987)
Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies (Warner)
I can never hear the words 'Fleetwood Mac' without thinking of Stevie Nicks flinging her skirts around her ankles in their horrible little videos, as well as a particularly gruesome tale someone once told me about Nicks which is far too disgusting to repeat here. This is more of their. cunningly addictive, sugar-sweet MOR that, in comparison to today's pretty, sophisticated, sterile, CD pop bands, sounds positively rebellious. Lindsey Buckingham to join Danny Wilson, anyone? (Eleanor Levy, Record Mirror, September 12, 1987)
Balaam and The Angel - The Things You Do To Me (Virgin)
It looks like this lot are on the slippery slope to becoming a one man band; the Lance Percival lookalike is completely obscured on the cover by an overpowering logo leaving the 'sexy' one to take the stardom. No such star quality on vinyl however with this sub-Mission style dirge. (Ian Dickson, Record Mirror, October 10, 1987)
Five Star - Strong As Steel (RCA)
Having fought off the gum diseases induced by the Crunchie frenzy on the last tour, those bad ass muthers Five Star are back with a Wacko Jacko style ballad. And just like Wacko singing (and lying) about how 'Bad' he is, squeaky clean Five Star's smouldering lurve song is just as laughable; a bit like the Pope rapping along to 'She's On It'. (Ian Dickson, Record Mirror, October 10, 1987)
The Write Stuff: While the A side was written by famous songwriter for hire Diane Warren, the B side "The Man" featured the vocals of one Buster Pearson, Five Star's manager (and father, of course).
Samantha Fox - I Promise You (Get Ready) (Jive)
Saucy little number from bubbly blonde Sammy (aged 12), who by now must be pin up for both father and daughter alike. All those pleas of 'I want to be recognised as a serious musician' are beginning to fall on some very deaf ears, and quite right too; how many changes has the effervescent Sam wasted on trying to prove a point? Fact is, better artistes than Sammy go down the bog every day because they don't get a second chance. Life's not fair. (Ian Dickson, Record Mirror, October 10, 1987)
1000 Mexicans - The Last Pop Song (Abstract)
With a title like this, I was expecting something apocalyptic but if this is the last pop song then God help us. A dreadfully monotonous bass line as well. (Marc Almond, Record Mirror, February 25, 1984)
Kimberly Leston - Obituary
The sudden and shocking death of the writer Kimberley Leston
at the age of 35 has deeply saddened those of us who knew and loved her, while
also depriving many others of her resonant and contemporary voice.
A talented editor before she gave full rein to her innate
ability as a writer, Leston found her way into journalism after working for
several years as a magazine designer and art director, both in Britain and in
New York, on titles as diverse as Men Only and Smash Hits.
Her editorial break came when Nick Logan, founder and then editor of the Face, gave her a key role on his magazine in the mid-Eighties. Like many of us who worked there, Leston was actively encouraged to learn on the job and find her journalistic feet. By the time she left to join the launch of Marie Claire her skill and dedication had been rewarded and she had been promoted to assistant editor.
The transition from the close-knit family environment of the
Face to the structure of a big corporate title didn't appeal, however, and she
quit within months to concentrate on freelance work. It was a decision she did
not regret - she found her niche very fast, exploiting a gift for witty and
provocative writing in the pages of numerous publications including Arena,
Elle, Cosmopolitan, Options, the Guardian and the Independent.
Kimberley Leston's trademark was a wry and knowing take on
sex and gender issues. Her work resonated - and her style was widely imitated -
because of her ability to allow her readers to believe she was confessing
directly, and intimately, to them alone. She never pretended to the rest of us
that the writing process came easily, but the end-result always read that way:
enviably deft, clever and fearlessly frank. Writing memorably a typical insight
about her time as a designer on porn magazines, she had this to say:
"Pornography is as desperate and unchanging as poverty. It sustains itself
in its bleak, self-sufficient prison too accustomed to its own limited
expectations to adjust to real life outside. I do not believe that soft porn,
despite its being a useful prop, incites men to rape who would not have been
rapists otherwise. But these words and pictures have a life of their own . . .
a life you can imagine but wouldn't want to be around."
After marriage to the writer and musician David Toop, and
the birth of her daughter Juliette, Leston devoted more of her time to
motherhood while also diversifying her writing. Lately she had studied
astrology and within weeks was writing on the subject; she became "Dear
Kimberley", agony aunt for the teen magazine Sugar; and occasionally
penned erotic fiction for women's titles and regular columns for the
broadsheets. Unlike many of her peers, she loathed the idea of being typecast.
Kimberley Leston's qualities as a writer were synonymous with those that made her a wonderful friend. We treasured her vivacity, candour, humour, generosity and optimism. She was someone who gave - and kept on giving - all of herself, both professionally and personally. Her parting leaves a great void in the lives of those she touched. (Kathryn Flett, writing in The Independent, 1995)
Sparks - Change (London)
Giant studio panarama from one of the precursors of electro-pop. Simply trashes the other rockish releases this week with a rare impudence and a desire to go for those massive, massive instrumental statements. Thundered synths, thunder clapped drums, jagged guitars, moments of quiet menace and yes, those thoroughly distinctive vocals. (Jim Reid, Record Mirror, July 20, 1985)
Madonna - Into The Groove (Sire)
Of course in pop, in showbiz, the star personality becomes far more important than the artifact ... the pop personality is the pop machine's ultimate product. Its very raison d'etre. Nobody knows this better than Madonna. Initially touted as NYC's disco queen, she's since unstintingly contrived at a direct hit on Kids From Fame All American Celebrity. As such her songs are now only fit to showcase her presumptious assumption of stardom - success with all the lipstick and midriff and none of the right moves. Her current single "Into The Groove" is formulaic in the extreme and, like her public persona, is hollow. (Jim Reid, Record Mirror, July 20, 1985)
Depeche Mode - It's Called A Heart (Mute)
Depeche Mode have reached an interesting stage in their life. In the long term, the (relative) lack of success of "Shake The Disease" will probably be a good thing - helping the band to get away from the teeny/girly/ chart image they've been saddled with. Anyone who's heard their album will know them as a band with more depth than that, but there are some still need convincing. If anything, "It's Called A Heart" is a step back - bringing them once more into the realms of the three minute pop song they'd broken out of with the last three singles. It features godawful electronic sounds, mixed into a beautifully simple tuneful concoction. That takes skill and commitment and Depeche Mode are increasingly well furnished with both. (Eleanor Levy, Record Mirror, September 21, 1985)
Virginia Astley - Tender (Elektra)
As the phenomenon that is the solo female singer-songwriter makes something of a comeback, Virginia makes her bid for stardom. After a spell supporting the Fun Boy Three and a solo deal on Rough Trade, Virginia now delivers her sweet lilting tunes accompanied by an equally sweet lilting vocal. A little sugary at first, but - like Cadbury's Cream Eggs - genuinely addictive. (Eleanor Levy, Record Mirror, September 21, 1985)
Jimmy The Hoover - Bandana Street (Use It) (MCA)
If you blinked two years ago you'll have missed the rise of Jimmy The Hoover - the strange collection of individuals who meteorically shot to fame with the instantly forgettable "Tantalise" and immediately returned to the obscurity from whence they came. Their new offering can best be described as an active assault on the aural cavities, with production overriding content to deliver a wall of sound comprising some 50 voices and a hundred trumpets blowing rather violently into your ear drums. (Eleanor Levy, Record Mirror, September 21, 1985)
Saturday, November 23, 2024
New Order - True Faith Remix (Factory)
I wouldn't normally bother with reviewing a remix but this one, by my favourite miscreants, deserves a mention as it's radically different from the version currently on offer. Remixed by Shep 'Pet Shop Boys' Pettibone, it rivals his "Love Comes Quickly" remix as one of the all time greats. An interesting variation on the theme and a sure fire dance classic. Buy and be damned. (Nancy Culp, Record Mirror, August 8, 1987)
The Blow Monkeys - Out With Her (RCA)
What an old cynic Dr Robert is. Everyone else is falling over themselves with the joys of being in love, and here he is analysing the consequences. Should his heart rule his head or vice versa? Judging by all the sighing and gasping he's up to on this slowie, it sounds like love doesn't really come into it at all. Not when you can survive on lust. Classy all the same. (Jane Wilkes, Record Mirror, March 21, 1987)