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-IS ■ And the music... well, the lyrics range from the
somewhat shocking (waking up at dawn to find... he's
gone — from teenage Southern Belles in the '60??
Whoa...) to the wretchedly trite and dreadful. So not
every adolescent is a Janis Ian or a-Ben Lee (see:
Silverchair), but the marvel of this music is the enthusi-
afe iAsL asm of its players. Most of Mindy Dalton's lead vocals
I ||« have a startling maturity in emotion and phrasing. A tod-
Ijj n / m dling k.d.lang must have somehow heard “Six O’ Clock
p> in The Morning" and cached away the nuances for the
. : s t 5 j> r* future. And some of the backing vocals on the overtly
; i r psychedelic "Hide & Seek" could have been sampled
J --pj; ~,nby L7 for use on their '90s albums. Jean Williams' "For-
IK Hi getting" is on the surface a Herman's Hermits throw
away, but dig beneath the Pan's flute and a (most likely
unintentional) cheery picture of the innocent days of drug-taking appear.
The Feminine Complex did not produce the most original or yes, com
plex music. But what they did is ovular (yes, there is a feminine counter
part to “seminal") when viewed in the context of vyho, what, when and
where. They deserve any belated recognition they get.
Mark from Teenbeat says that the five women gathered from around
the country this past Christmas, seeing each other as a group for the first
time in over 20 years. They are discussing a short summer tour. I hope it
happens. I'd like to applaud them with more than words. Knowing about
and hearing the Feminine Complex is like uncovering fossils in your own
garden — they were always there, just waiting to be found. And it's a thrill
to know they actually existed.
(Teenbeat: 703-358-9382: P.O. Box 3265, Arlington, VA 22203)
. . Betsy Weitzman
THE FEMININE COMPLEX
Livin' Love /Teenbeat #196 ['
Livin’ Love is a fascinating relic that comes back
to us from a time, place and people from whom we've
heard little, if anything: a teenage all-girl band rock-
ing out Nashville in the mid-'60s. J] K» jaj
According to the extensive liner notes, the Com- j - JkJjjHBk'i
plex took shape over the 1966-67 school year. Two pg m
members were high school sophomores, the other z H
three juniors. Starting out as "The Pivots," the group m
played James Brown covers to school assemblies.
During the Summer of Love, greater Nashville loved gQ ^
the Feminine Complex: skating rinks, teen clubs and ple xM~ l
even the local Air Force base were packed with fans •*- ■—
eager to see and hear the novelty of an all-girls rock
band singing their own songs and playing their own instruments.
The basketball team lost four of its starters that fall as the band
signed with locally-based Athena Records and went into the studio to
record what would be its only album. The summer of '68 saw the band
hitting the road, the tour culminating with a stop in the Big Apple to
perform on an NBC broadcast. But high school and college demands
pulled at the members later that fall, and the group eventually disbanded.
But the recordings they left behind have been dug up and lovingly
dusted off by Teenbeat. Included on the CD are the 11 tracks that were
released in 1969 as the Livin’ Love album. The producers had hired
Nashville session players to groovy-ize the sound, adding trippy guitar
leads and Memphis-style horns. But another 11 tracks of the unabetted
Complex were unearthed and they attest to the abilities and ideas of
the girls in the garage.
RAGE AGAINST THE
MACHINE
Evil Empire / Epic Records
It's been three long years
since the release of Rage
Against the Machine's debut al
bum. A lot has changed on the
musical landscape since then,
and 1995 finds RATM's hardcore
metal/rap manifesto surprisingly
relevant. Who'dathunkit? While
vocalist Zack De La Rocha is
generally up to the same old
tricks, the rhythm section of Tim
Bob and Brad Wilk has become
decidedly more Helmet-esque.
Guitarist Tom Morello has a new
grab-bag of tricks to squeeze
bleeps, squawks and screeches
out of his instrument, but there
are no brave leaps forward mu
sically or lyrically here (you can
still pretty much plug in the for
mula: Chuck D’s lyrics + Tommy
lommi-meets-Dave Navarro's
guitar playing + Helmet's rhythm
section). That’s not meant to dis
count the accomplishment of
releasing a sophomore effort that
essentially remakes the first al
bum and does it better. Let's face
it: The formula worked the first
time around, and it works even
better now. If the mainstream
media saw RATM as a sort of
flash-in-the-pan politically, Evil
Empire will certainly reaffirm the
band's intentions to be a lot more
than the Buzz Band of the week.
The artwork for the album fea
tures a reading list including The
Anarchist Cookbook and The
Black Panthers Speak, and De
La Rocha's lyrics are as biting
as they’ve ever been. In "Down
Rodeo," he says, "Now I'm rollin'
down Rodeo with a shotgun/
These people ain’t seen a brown
skin man since their grandparents
bought one." Rage Against the
Machine is about shaking things
up and causing the biggest, loud
est disturbance physically pos
sible. And Evil Empire, thankfully,
is a step in the right direction.
Marc Pilvinsky
LIFTER
Melinda (everything was
beautiful and nothing hurt) /
Interscope
Twisted power-pop/rock with
one jaundiced outlook on life. The
guitar at times sounds very similar
to Matt Mahaffey from Self, as do
the occasional harmonies.
Strangely, in one or two places the
songs reminded me of low-fi
“Loser" boy Beck. While Lifter's
music is often unspectacular, it
does have sort of a somber tinge
that is appropriate to the subject
matter of the songs. To give Lifter
some credit, the clean production
may have taken a bit of the kick
out of the songs.
What stands out the most are
the lyrics. A heavy sense of mel
ancholy pervades many of the
songs on this album, in lyrics like
“I want to go back home and
mow the lawn for my dad/1 want
to walk to school and get high
with my friends." And when the
past holds no fascination for
Mike Coulter, who writes and
sings the songs, he displays a
disgust coupled with a violent
imagination. Try this: “Dream of
borrowed cars/Smashing pretty
poles/With all you lousy people/
Lying drunk inside." Hope he
wasn't thinking of us!
Mike Cuccaro
BAD BRAINS
Bad Brains / ROIR USA
The Bad Brains’ first cas
sette-only release is finally being
re-released on CD. I cannot say
anything about this album that
hasn't already been said, but the
release of this album could be
one of the single greatest mo
ments in musical history (al
though technically it was re-re
leased a few years back on NY's
In-Effect label).
A frenzied welding of the
reggae aesthetic and hardcore
power, this album smashed all
barriers, racial and otherwise
The Bad Brains took the punk/
hardcore world by storm and al
though their history has been
rocky, to say the least, this album
has been a benchmark since its
release in 1982.
Any superlative would do,
but words alone cannot do jus
tice to this awe-inspiring release.
More people were influenced by
the Bad Brains after their initial
blitzkrieg than any other punk
band outside of the Sex Pistols.
One thing that does rub me the
wrong way is the packaging has
a quote by Adam Yauch of the
Beastie Boys that reeks of pure
selling potential. But then again,
we cannot control those things.
I will say this: if I were
stranded on a desert island and
could only choose three albums,
this would certainly be one of
them. It is essential listening, for
everybody. It doesn't matter what
music you prefer. The Bad
Brains’ message was one of
unity, their medium was of sonic
proportions and their influence
will never wane. Liberate your
self. (ROIR USA, 611 Broadway,
Suite 411, NYC, NY 10012)
John Mincemoyer
BRIAN SETZER
ORCHESTRA
Guitar Slinger / Interscope
records
Brian Setzer does not get
enough credit. (“Now some
people got it/ And some people
don’t" — “Man with the Magic
Touch"). Even way back in the
'80s, The Stray Cats were fun,
smart and clever but got panned
due to their duck-tailed, greasy
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