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STEVE WYNN • Melting in the Dark/Zero Hour
Syndicate. SteveWynn s iSSQfc b*3nd. drew inspiration frorn tbe ‘3st decade’s
b ie*/eiveis, but the music they made was Cfuochier. more Marshall than Fender.
The* debut. The Days of Wine and Roses, was a real stunner, recorded,
according to legend, during a single: alcohol-fueled graveyard shift in a Los Angeles studio.
Afler Oayb. though, the band began a long, slow demise, petering out ever the course of its
subsequent releases, "each less interesting than the last.
Wynn was the Dream Syndicate mastermind. writing and singing the songs while wisely
leaving the harder guitar parts to Others His earliest musical foil, Karl Precoda. slashed and
burned a path through the thick .haze of impressionistic lyrics .Wynn favored, giving listeners
something else to pay attention to when the poetry started to reek. When Precoda departed,
V/ynn Joundered. eventually dissolving the Syndicate and embarking on an uneven solo ca
reer that in many ways resembled his bandleader days: even as a solo artist. Wynn's best
moments typically featured key contributions from other musicians. Artists like Pete Buck,
Johnette NapoMano and Howe Gelb all show up on the strongest songs from Wynn's early solo
discs.
On Melting in the Dark. Wynn takes this -approach about as far as it will go. recruiting an
entire guest bang to play his new material That band. Come, is the most aggressive Wynn has
had since the Dream Syndicate, and so Melting sometimes sounds like a real return to form.
On the lead-off track, Why." the band explodes under Wynn as he spits out words about
words Speak my language he seethes "Do a little damage ” On "The Angels." Wynn chan
nels Lou Reed again, borrowing the former Velvet s rushed, smg-speak phrasino and voyeur s
eye for detail When Wynn's story of domestic collapse starts to go soft, guitarist Thalia-Zedek
props it up, saving the song with a searing riff worthy of Precoda himself
Occasionally. Wynn squanders his band, offering them pallid pep retreads and. even worse,
singer-songwritermeditations "For-AM i Care." one of the latter. featur^PWynn gazing into his
nave! and reporting on what hies.found The sun might die tonight/Leaving nothing bu! the
sky, For aM I care/li can die for all I care No! much Ccme. <4r any banduor that matter, can do
to save a songwriter from solipsism, but. fortunately. Wynn keeps his tonured-artist prcpehsi-
t.es m check His real knack has always been for bandleading, and on Melting. Wynn mostly
demonstrates a keen ability to play tc his musicians' strengths
Shannon Zimmerman
VOODOO GLOW
SKULLS
Firms itaph
With a c i name, the Voo
doo Glow Skulls seemed half
way there, but Firme is a dis
appointment. Mixing punk and
horns is nothing new. Remem
ber the Untouchables and the
mighty Fishbone? Those bands
would mop the floor with bands
like Voodoo Glow Skulls. I was
looking forward to hearing the
song "Land of Misfit Toys," but the
band wasn't clever enough to
make something of Rudolph's at
tention-deprived friends. "Drunk
Tank" celebrates driving drunk
and going to A.A, meetings. Boy,
that sure is funny! Voodoo Blow
Skulls is a more appropriate name
for these guys. Doesn’t Epitaph
have any taste?
Bruce Folkerth
JON SPENCER BLUES
EXPLOSION
Now I Got Worry/Matador
Like Pussy Galore before
them, the Jon Spencer Blues Ex
plosion is a novelty act witnout
the novelty. On Now I Got Worry-
- surely a nominee for album title
of the year — the band churns
out more of its fractured,
deconstructed Stones rock
while the frontman attempts to
outstrip Mick Jagger as a per
formance artist. Spencer’s ren
dition of JaggeTs bluesman pose
comes off like a drag show, at
once lurid and cartoonish, as the
singer revels in the identity he's
trying on Through it all, Spencer
winks at his listeners, letting than
know that he knows that they
knowtha! ..Likethesiummingfvy
Leaguer he is. Jon Spencer per
forms performance.
Peel away the layers of irony,
though, and you're left with a
pretty good rock band working a
foolproof formula: the drummer
lays down a tight rhythmic foun
dation while the guitarists quote
Keith Richards out of context. The
disc's best track, “Dynamite
Lova," makes a fetish out of five
notes from a seven note riff
Richards copped from Chuck
Berry years ago. “Skunk" adopts
a similar strategy, opening *he al
bum with a hip-hop drumbeat
while Spencer mimes just part of
Jagger's “Monkey Man” shriek.
Pretentious? You bet. But, surpris
ingly. the disc never bogs down
into a game of spot-the-influence.
Despite Spencer's contrived
postmodernism (is there any other
kind?), Worry's pastiche adds up
to more than the sum of its parts.
Shannon Zimmerman
DEVO
Adventures of the Smart Patrol/
Discovery Records
Does anybody remember
Devo? Maybe they shouldn't Ad
ventures of the Smart Patrol is of
all things the soundtrack to a video
game of the same name. The al
bum really shows the band's
devolution since the early '80s
(when they appeared on “Solid
Gold"). Devo included a handful
of their better known songs, which
still sound great, but their new
songs fall flat, very flat.
“Beautiful World" and “Whip
It" sound smart and as off-the-wall
as always. Even "Jocko Homo,"
which must have been extremely
high-tech in 1976, although you
car, almost hear the tape squeak
on the recording, sounds fresh
and alive. The band had a spark
then. They were vital, or as vital
as a bunch of guys in flowerpots
or toilet seats could De expected
to be: the cutting edge of New
Wave music.
Unfortunately, they buried
these gems under a half-dozen,
newer songs. It’s probably unfair
to expect the crisp, fresh material
from a band after 20 years, but
they don't even seem to take a
good approach to i caking music
fot a video game. If you've ever
spent four hours of your life hyp
notized by a Sonic a Mario, you
realize the music is grating, a
never-ending, continual loop of
the same damn chiming, whirring
no'es over and ova.
Aside from the mammary-fix-
eted “34C" and the conspiracy-
laden "The Spirit of JFK,' Devo
offer nothing new that is of any
particular interest. Even the
older songs have been com
piled better than this by now. If
you're interested in the game,
you might visit their web page
(www.inscape.com/
srnartp3trol). Maybe this context
is just wrong
Neil Swanson
VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Germs (Tribute): A Small
Circle of Friends /Grass
Records
The Gams were one of the
first American punk bands. They
immediately wae a major face
in what became the So-Cal
hardcore scene, but what the
band will always be remembered
fa is lead singer Darby Crash. To
see the Germs and Crash in all
their glory rent the Decline of
Westan Civilization (Pari I). Crash
Killed himself with a lethal injec
tion of heroin on the same day that
John Lennon was shot to death
in 1980. Obviously Crash's death
was overshadowed, but Crash
and the Germs left an undeniable
impression on the American mu
sic scene — which this tribute
effectively demonstrates.
When I first heard there was
going to be a Germs tribute I
was cynical about the proposi
tion, but A Small Circle of
Friends comes on as a major
revelation. Beginning with the
cover of the CD. which apes the
Germs only “real" album Gl and
the Germs anthology MIA. to the
wonderful liner notes and the
assorted die igue contained
from Germ guitarist Pat Smear
and brief Germ Belinda Carlisle
among others, A Small Circle...
makes for a good read in itself,
but it's the music that makes this
tribute. Be it the surprisingly ani
mated Melvins take on “Lexicon
Devil.” which might be the
greatest punk song ever written
on American soil, or Flea's beat
nik-like take on "Media Blitz," the
covers on the album don't stray
too far from the originals. They
also aren't hung up on being
exact duplicates of the orginals,
either. D Generation do a good
reading of "No God," but their
version is missing the “Round
about” intro Smear stuck on the
intro which still makes me laugh
every time I hear it. Virtually a
who's who of American punk
and post-punk: Keith Morris
(Circle Jerks), Mark Arm
(Mudhoney), Meat Puppets. J
Mascis, Mike Watt, Matthew
Sweet. L7 and Hole (with Pat
Smear) all effectively evoke the
spirit of the wonderful Germs.
(Grass Records, 72 Madison
Ave. 8th Floor, NY. NY 10016).
Bruce Folkerth
THE TOASTERS
Hard Band For Dead/Moon
Ska Records
from the first song to the
last, Hard Band For Dead really
doesn't stop. It's an album
chock full of the smooth, up
beat, straight-up ska you've
come to expect from one of
NYC's finest ska acts.
The Toasters know ska. and
with their latest album, they
don’t disappoint. The Toasters
don't offer up anything surpris
ing here — they still sound
p r etty much the way they al
ways have, but that’s a good
thing If it ain't broken, don't fix
it. right? Usually, The Toasters
tend to be more fun live than
their albums make them out to
be. Hard Band For Dead is one
of the only albums I've heard
that seems to really capture that
energy and spirit. It's definitely
one of the best things they've
ever put out.
There are only two weak
sor.gs out of 14 assembled here.
"Mouse" is an instrumental which
is almost tounge-y and sounds
a little bit like a cheesy 70s TV
snow theme song. "Properly" is
also kind of slow and not at all
appealing. Other than those
two, the album is incredibly
good, so they can be forgiven
for their slight slip on those two
tracks.
Just try and listen to this al
bum without dancing, er,
skanking You'll see. (Moon Ska,
PO. Box 1412, New York, NY
10276)
Valeria Lambert
sentiments
(JXants & y^mlque*
For People Who Don't Have As Much
Free Time As Martha Stewart.
Reasonable Rates & Relaxed Atmosphere.
1591 3. Lumpkin (next to Subway)
354-1888 ■ Mon.-Sat. 10 to 6 ■ Sun. 1 to 5
VISA I MasterCard accepted.
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