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20
December, 1979
XTC
Dm ms ami Wires {)
This Hf.at
H.is Ileal (Piano Records)
XTC is/arc a gang •<»*<* happy
English |M-opl«- who manage In con
fuse all the laliel* (tasted on them past
the point of any real relevance, hut
who would protiaMv fall salelv some
place in-between categories like Amyl
htpandhtwei Reggae I'heir appeal
is basically catchy inelcNiy lines dres
sed up with witty synthesizers and a
whole circus of techno-toys. The
catc/iy mcAx/y
Zincs (Zressir) t/fi t<nf)i
unite/ .u/ntAcsizers and
a utAio/e circus a/
teenno-tous.
closest comparison is Hill Nelson's
Red Noise, hut the connection could
all In* through producer John Irckie.
c o-produc er of Red Noise and In-lore
them He Hop Deluxe, who also did
the first two XTC. albums.
I he third XTC I.P. Drum\ ami
Wires, marks a c hange in direction.
They’ve lost i.eckie and their key
boards, and they're getting more
serious about the music. (Serious may
not mean better; remember the cos-
tume numbers in Marx Hros.
movies?) Hut whenever the rexk pos
ing dm*sn't get in the way — “Real by
Reel," "Ten Feet Tall," and the single
"Making Plans for Nigel" — every
thing is pleasant. Whenever it does,
like in the overblown "Complicated
(iame," the music is scarcely bearable.
On another hand, we have the
album This Heat, by. appropriately, the
band This Heat. While XTC giggles
at outright rock. This Heat lakes rock
music to a logical and well-deset ved
conc lusion. If you were one of those
who thought an album like Pvolution
by a grcNip like Jour nev could qualify
as "World’s largest In-Joke"; if you
thought I.ou Reed's Metal Machine
Music had a good beat but you
couldn't really dance to it; if you re
sented the Rubinoos' single "Rock
and Roll Is Dead" on/? after they tried
for a follow-up hit, then hot damn, is
this an album for you. With all your
fave musical components — hooks,
drum fills, power chords.. .They’re
all right here, laid out on the table like
surgical instruments.
Mainstay is producer David Cun
ningham. also responsible for Flying
l.uards and the solo "Crcy Scale."
What bands like Throbbing Cnstle
and Chrome, and probably even
Cousin F.no, are dcMng to extend the
range of music. This Heat does to
exaggerate its limits. Flxanune the
snappy "24-Track Loop," or the
haunting, yet lyrical, “Fall of Saigon'
The musu drones and breaks — it
twists, it shouts. This is music which
pumps embalming lluid in place of
passion, which offers all the charisma
of a genet at mg machine: iron lung
rock-and-roll, music for a grateful
and clying generation.
Paul Cuium
l ilt Who (and Others)
Quaclrophcma iPofydor)
Basically a soundtrack-plus, this
album loses a little impact without the
him, but there is still enough vital
Rlondir’s Deborah
Harrs
music to make it interesting in its own
right. The Who were the archetypal
Mod band during the early Sixties
Mods vs. Rcn kers concussions, so they
bear expert witness. Some of Quad
rophmui evidences the group m their
heyday, prior to Townshend's latter-
day operatic tendencies. Side Four
contains some of the influential
(non-Who) records of the period,
notably Janies Brown's classic "Night
Train,” itsell almost worth the price of
this evocative and not-so-nostalgic
album.
James Anger
The Buzzcocks
Singles Going Steady (/ R.S.)
A chronologically arranged collec
tion of the group's first eight singles
(hence the title), Singles doing Steady
offers a rare IcnA at the development
of a band from its first rough efforts
to a more accomplished attack.
One of the first F.nglish punk
bands, the Buzzcocks' strength is in
two- to three-minute pop gems deli
vered with energy and melcMlic Hair
“What Do I Ciet?," “I Don't Mind” and
“Fiver Fallen in Love?" are excellent
songs; though some of the group's
excursions beyond the three-minute
harrier tail Hat, this is an album well
worth picking up.
Don Snowden
The Police
krgg.itta Dc Blanc (A&M)
An Anglo-Amencan trio likely to be
the lust new wave band to hit it big.
the Puller oiler a fresh, technically
accomplished rock 'n' reggae blend
that's already produced a radio hit,
"Roxanne," from their first album.
Vocalist/bassist Sling's Aryan good
looks and striking, high-pitched
singing makes him perfect for the
glossy celeb magazines. All the BJice
lack is the ability to come up with an
album's worth of good material.
Reggatta contains three stand-out
tracks — the single "Message in a
Bottle," the rrggae-inHuenced
"Walking on the Moon” and "This
Bed's Too Big Without Ybu." The rest
ranges from pretty good to pretty
lame.
Production is fuller and busier
than on the first release, closer to the
band's live sound, and the influence
of 'dub' reggae is more evident. Hut
it's that basic rhythmic thrust —
centered around the surging, active
Sting-Stewart Copeland rhythm sec
tion and topped by Summer's spare,
effec tive guitar playing — that makes
the hilice enjoyable even when their
playing isn't up to snuff.
Don Snowden
Styx
Cornerstone
While some may consider synthesiz
ers, looping melodies, keening
three-part harmonies and gee-whiz
mysticism the bane of rock and roll,
Styx, along with Supertramp. Kansas
and a host of other earnest practi
tioners, continues to mine the genre
with sometimes satisfying results.
Cornerstone has its share of insuffera
ble pretenses, but careful craftsman
ship and emphasis on ringing rills
fuels Cornerstone lor an impmsiw
run at Top 40 dominance. Despite
Styx’ thirst for "significance," the
group adroitly exploits its crass pop
formulas. _ . _
Devin Seay
Blondie
Eat to the Beal (Ckry.salts)
I give up. After four albums, a hoffo
single. People magazine and Saturday
V«A’ht Im*, I’ve gone soft on Blondie.
Resistance began to melt when
"Heart of Class” swept the airwaves.
Something so transparent couldn't he
all bad. Pat tv the Heat proves conclu
sively that Blondie really isn't bad at
all. Vapid? YFs. Silly? Of course. Cal-
“SZ//oc up. ZA’oeaonc
st>/t on i&/onwe "
culated? What else? Deborah Harry
as Blondie is probably here to stay,
like Cher, Dolly Parton and Flthel
Merman.
This album careens around like a
big rig in a sleet storm, yet is so over
blown and bark-worse-than-bite
bombastic that the inevitable collision
only sends it spinning off in a new di
rection. Surprise! No one's hurt, it's
all for laughs, what a thrill. Producer
Mike Chapman deserves much of the
credit for creating this aural equiva
lent of a hot air balloon. Chapman,
who also priMluced the Knack, is fre
quently credited for bringing punk
and disco together. Actually, Chap
man's art is to sneak in snippets of
Phil Spec tor's Girl Croup vocabulary
(witness "Dreamin ") plus a few licks
from his real idol, Ric hard Wagner
("Victor"). Thiscute-as-buttons band
can lie endorsed only with a note of
caution: eating to this lieal will give
you a tummvac he like no one's busi
ness.
Davin Seay
Cheap T rick
Dream hilite (Epic)
(heap Trick built its audience
through incessant touring. On the
evidence of Dream Police (ac tually
recorded prior to the breakthrough
Hudokan I.P). the constant roadwork
has taken its creative toll. Only the
title track, a passable though inferior
rew rite of "Surrender." and "Need
Your Love." Robin Zander's vocal
showcase, measure up to past Trick
standards. The remaining material is
energetic but undistinguished and
banal. “Voices" is intriguing liecause it
sounds like F.I.Oand ( Jieap file k has
always been reminiscent of the Move,
the gieat F.nglish fund that spawned
FLO out id a combination of hard
rewk |>owrr and pop melcMlies. But if
the Dream Police show up at your
liedside don't In* alarmed. They're
tiring blanks this tune out.
Don Snowden
Eli on John
Vic tim of \awv (MCA)
Neither John nor his longtime part
ner Bernie Taupin wrote anv of this
album's tunes. Also, John doesn't play
piano. T hat can hardly he called
dealing from strength. An eight-
minute disco version of Chuck
Berry's "Johnny B. Goode” gets
things off to a hazardous start. T he
remainder, six disco trac ks written
by producer Peter Belotte and
others, offers little more than John's
familiar voice over a repetitive beat.
John and Taupin are reportedly in
the process of making a new album.
Maybe it'll In* the return to form that
Victim of Im* didn't ac hieve
John Trausch
OkM.C)N
Rchiix in the Sky
(Elrktra/Asylum)
GLEN Mimaki
Introducing ((EUktra/Asylum)
Pali. McCandless
All the Mornings Bring
(Elektra/Asylum)
Reed man Paul McCandless, sitarist-
tablaist Colin Walcott, guitarist-
piamst-trumpeter Ralph liiwner and
bassist-pianist-vioJaist (den Moore,
the talented gentlemen who make
up the musical group Oregon, are
responsible for three new offerings,
one group and two solo, all notable
Roots is Oregon's second for FJektra
and it shows again the group's ability
to intertwine classical and jazz forms
at will. | he tracks on Roots have more
rhythmic punch than antecedent
discs. "June Bug" is propelled by
guitar and tahlas, over which
McCandless's oboe cries its airy line,
which scH»n rises to a wild shout over
inflamed support. "Wssel" is space.
Towner’s piano and the tahlas ar
range a canvas to work on. and
Moore's bass and Me < landless's gothic
bass clarinet arrive with the colors.
"Ogden Road" features Towner's
piano again, here embracing the nar
row. spindly romantic sound of Keith