Australia/NZ
LP Reviews M-S
Australian lps A - G
Australian lps H - L
Australian lps T - Z
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MAD TURKS FROM ISTANBUL
Cafe Istanbul (Greasy Pop)
Wow; one minute I'm listening to Lubed Goat and now this; what a turn about! The Mad Turks
are silky smooth power pop with lots of shimmering guitar and vocals that remind me of
Elvis Costello when he was really as good as critics seem to think he is now: lines like
"I'll be as vicious as you are vain" from "Chances Lane" or
"Leave me hanging by the dial tone all dressed up and still all alone" from
"Suicidal Style", and of course, the great single "Holding My Breath"
which has half a dozen neatly turned phrases. The music works equally well on about half
the stuff; unfortunately in this style of ultra accessible pop, you either have to work
total magic with a song or it falls into the dustbin with five million other failed
attempts. But this ranks with Paul Collin's Beat or the Plimsouls for consistency; it
doesn't always hit the spot, but it satisfies on enough to make me real happy I bought the
record. Now if they can just cut a few more slam bangers like "Seeing Was
Believing" (not on this lp, sadly) I'll be really happy.
THE MAD TURKS
Toast (Festival)
Adelaide's power pop fiends have moved up from Greasy Pop to Australia's biggest
independent label, but it hasn't hurt them a bit. Toast manages to top their debut Cafe
Istanbul for power pop nirvana. Can there be a pop song as good as "Tempers
Fire"? Well, the answer is yes, and it's the Plimsoul's "Million Miles
Away", but "Tempers Fire" is definitely in that class...a song I can listen
to over and over again, and I'm sure I'll be as blown away by it in ten years as I am now.
It's their best ever. But what about "Not So Long Ago", which talks about the
changes in the USSR in a way that probably doesn't reflect the views of everybody IN
Russia but certainly mirrors an honest view of the relief and joy of many outside.
("No more five year plan / No more Afghanistan / There's nothing greater than a
powerful man / With the power to understand"). Chuck Skat has the perfect power pop
voice...just a little bit of a quiver in his delivery to give you that feeling that he
really feels every word he says. The production is high quality but not slick...there's
plenty of crack! to the drums and there's a good bite to the guitars. Mad Turks won't be
fast enough or hard enough for many NFH readers, but if you like power pop as practiced by
bands like the Plimsouls, Mad Turks are for you. Get this through Augogo mailorder as I
suspect it won't be around too many US shops on import.
THE MARK OF CAIN
Battlesick (Dominator)
Adelaide's Mark Of Cain behave most unfashionably for an Aussie band; no Detroit
influences. Their singer can at times sound like Joy Division's Ian Curtis, and the dark
sound that the band has helps that picture; especially the bass lines. But on Battlesick
Mark Of Cain doesn't do any of the really slow, dirgy sort of songs that Joy Division used
to stick in on their records; in fact, where Joy Division might have slowed down, Mark Of
Cain throw in a faster track. But it's all tense, and it's all gloomy...titles like
"The Hammer", "Dead Man's Mail", "You Are Alone", or
"Attrition" give you an idea. Over the course of the lp the gloom can get fairly
oppressive, but it's still a very good effort and a pretty original approach for these
days.
MASSAPPEAL
Nobody Likes A Thinker (Waterfront)
Another of Waterfront's growing stable of hardcore mashers, Massappeal are probably the
least appealing. On this 7 track ep/lp, they manage to produce an excellent guitar/bass
sound, but the drummer is too thrashy and disorganized and the singer displays the worst
tendencies of LA style hardcore with a through-the-nose scream that's impossible to make
out and is incapable of conveying anything other than faked pissed-offedness. The songs
are written with a curious formula that gives each an opening part that has some good
guitar lines and some good basic Ramones-style rhythms that get your hopes up, but then
when the vocals come in the pace switches to generic thrash. "Deadheads" does
the best job of breaking this pattern, and takes a real funny poke at people who spend
large amounts of time around their bong at home. The rest of the lp is OK, but hard to get
worked up over given the number of really excellent records out there...
MASSAPPEAL
Jazz (Waterfront)
I'm not generally much of a fan of standard thrash or hardcore, and there are a lot of
elements of Sydney's Massappeal that remind me of the things I don't like about it. Singer
Randy Reimann sings in pretty much the standard rant approach and the drummer is often
guilty of trying to play too fast and where this is the case has a hard time doing
anything interesting as a result. On the other hand, Jazz has some really unusual
song structures for a hardcore record and for those who are really into the style, this
thing is likely to come across as one of the most refreshing releases in quite a while.
The guitar is consistently miles above the normal competition with a real strong, crunchy
sound and lots of different chord progressions from what you normally get fed. My favorite
track is "Damage Zone", which coincidentally is an instrumental that allows me
to sit back and dig the guitars, and which sounds equally great at 45 or 33 (instrumentals
should always be tried at different speeds to ensure optimal listening pleasure). There's
two discs, one with four tracks of apparently older and thrashier stuff, and the other
with 9 tracks of newer stuff, which generally sports much more listenable singing. If
you've heard 1986's Nobody Likes A Thinker, you'll find this to be a little more
metally, a little slower, and quite a lot more diverse.
THE MEANIES
Gangrenous (Augogo)
Pleasant enough cartoon punk from Melbourne. These guys get a good guitar buzz but the
drums sound like used coffee cans way in the background. The Meanies play high speed
thrash punk that doesn't really stick to the ribs...cotton candy sort of stuff.
Spiritually I'd rate 'em close to the Hard-ons, but their songs aren't as catchy or quite
as fast. On the other hand they're more consistent and don't veer off into metal solos.
They've got a good two minute song writing ethic and on this CD they've wisely kept the
number of songs down...this might get boring over a full lps worth but it's pretty good at
this length.
MR. FLOPPY
Firm And Fruity (Waterfront)
Give an American kid a bunch of high tech music gear and he won't be able to figure out
the instructions so he'll go back to trying to figure out how to play "Stairway To
Heaven" on the guitar. Try it with an English and the first thing he'll do is run out
and get a new haircut to go with the style. Give it to an Aussie, and what you get is
rocking high tech songs about having sex with barnyard animals. Mr. Floppy use a drum
machine for rhythm (and each song lists not the time duration, but the number of beats per
minute that it's programmed for). They also use samplers, and beyond that there's some
harmonica, recorder and banjo. Yet it comes out pretty rocking, although the drum machine
makes it a little sterile for my tastes. Best part is reading the lp sleeve, which credits
all music to Philip Glass, except tracks 1-8, which are all there is. It's a bit of a
throwaway to spend import bucks on, but I've had some good laughs listening to it.
THE MOLES
Untune The Sky (Seaside)
The Moles might be from Sydney but they sound like they're from New Zealand; they've
definitely got that early Flying Nun sound wired. This record sounds like the work of a
band that's heard about five rock and roll records and decided they wanted to sound like
that but had little idea how to go about it. The recording has a "live in the living
room" sort of quality to it, and various friends help out by wandering in and adding
whatever sort of noise they happen to feel proficient at, like horns, bagpipes, or backing
vocals. The result is that the feeling changes from song to song with regularity. I can't
say that I'll be spending tons of time listening to this, but if you've had a yearning for
more early Chills music, maybe you should be.
MORNING GLORY
First Light (Greasy Pop)
A hard one for a guy weaned on punk rock to latch onto...there's a lot of hot power pop
moments on this 5 track, and the singing is real nice on a lot of it. But the down side
for these ears is that there's a heavy influence of things jazzy on two of the cuts, with
the result that I keep remembering that guy down the hall in my college dorm who played
Steely Dan's "Royal Scam" lp every day for a year. This effect is most
noticeable on the opening "Bookshelf"; some of the other tracks work quite a bit
better, particularly "Writing Monday", which has a wistful tune that manages
nevertheless to be fairly energetic. "Broken Hearts" sounds musically like a
Died Pretty ballad and comes through nicely, although hyperactive types (like me) will
have problems sitting through its eight minute running time. Best played for breakfast,
when the head is still splitting and you want some quiet stuff.
THE MOTHERS
12 Incher (Waterfront)
Sydney's one half all girl band gets out their first mini-lp, and I probably should have
expected something like this, but for some reason I was hoping for more. Some of their
tracks work really well, like "You Don't Love Me", which has a great pop hook
and the sort of speed metal/hardcore music that makes bands like the Hard-ons or Space
Juniors so cool. But unfortunately they're capable of coming up with some really horrible
stuff like "Dirge" or "Furry Fetish", both of which have some really
vile thud-metal tendencies. Fiona's voice works great when she sings fast (a little
Rezillos reminder?) but when she slows it down and tries to belt it out I start feeling
like I'm watching Memorex commercials and my windows are gonna break. There's 4 tracks I
like a lot here and three I can't stand. And they only list six song tracks. A good
argument for home taping.
THE MUTATED NODDYS
The Mutated Noddys (Rattlesnake)
Dunno what a noddy is (I can make some guesses). But they've waxed up this here 4 track ep
with the help of Rowdy Yates on production and it's come out pretty well. It's real good
basic rock and roll, lots of fun and high on punch. The best comparison I can think of is
to some of the earlier Trilobites records, like their Citadel singles. This especially is
true on the last track, "Nobody". There's some cool B-movie siren backing vocals
on "The Ride To Desperation", which oddly evokes the atmosphere of the Lime
Spider's "Slave Girl"...odd because it sounds nothing like it; it's much faster
and more complex. Although a bit goofy at times, all four songs are pretty strong stuff,
in the vein of punk-pop-rock bands like the Kryptonics. I'm not a believer yet, but I'm on
the way.
NAKED LUNCH
Things Grow (Green Fez)
This is the band that Tony Robertson, former Hitman and New Christ, put together a year or
so ago. They debuted with a great single, but something got lost on the way to this 5
track ep, and I think it was the guitar player and singer. Anthony Gibson, whose crunching
lead made "Too Little Too Late" so good, is replaced by a tag team of Richard
Burgman and an on-loan Mick Medew (Screaming Tribesmen vocalist and #2 guitar player), and
singer Mike Corcoran is replaced by a guy named Steven Beves, a deal on a par with the Red
Sox dealing Babe Ruth to the Yankees (except the Red Sox got nothing in return,
which would be a definite improvement over Mr. Beves). The result is a smarmy brand of
country tinged rock that sounds totally emasculated (your dictionary will translate this
perfectly: it hasn't got any balls!). Only "Real Gone" has any promise...the old
version of the band could've made hay with it...but you can get it on the "Swinging
From The Trees" compilation, so there's no point getting the other 4 tracks here with
it. This record is probably the biggest disappointment of the issue. The green vinyl is
nice, but I'm not going to be pulling it out of the sleeve enough for it to do me any
good.
THE NEPTUNES
Hydrophobia (Citadel)
I listened to this once and I figured that it had to have some ex-Stems in it, because it
has so much of the cool sixties power pop sound that the Stems use. Looked at the credits,
and there is an ex-Stem, but it's drummer David Shaw, which is a little puzzling as
drummers usually aren't considered the source of some particular sound. So I guess these
guys must be credited with doing it on their own, though as fellow Perth residents it's no
doubt the Stems were the influence. The band seem a little confused about who's doing
vocals, as two of the six tracks are instrumentals and on the other four six different
voices contribute. You'd think it'd be a real hodgepodge from the credits, but it works
real well. My favorite is the opening "Hydrophobia" (one of the instrumentals),
and "Summer's Almost Gone". as innocent a pop song as you could ask for. Like
the Stems, these guys are able to keep the snap in their pop and avoid ever sounding
wimpy...it's a sound that's good at low volumes and great loud.
THE NEPTUNES
Godfish (Citadel)
This one's a nice package with the Neptunes first mini-lp, Hydrophobia, paired with
their new one, Godfish. It's a little odd in that they've put the earlier material
first, which makes sense but isn't the way most bands pair up records when they double up
on CDs. I was expecting a little inconsistency in sound between the first record and the
new material since the Neptunes really are sort of a part time hobby for a bunch of Perth
musicians with roots in bands like the Bamboos, Kryptonics and Stems, but surprisingly
despite only one lineup change (super-drummer Martin Moon jumping in), the songwriting
chores have almost entirely changed hands (Ricky Mason writes four of the six new ones,
where he wrote only one the first time), and so has the sound, from a light surf feel to a
much more psychedelic guitar rock thing. It's not really Mason's fault, since his
"Wait For The Sun" sounds more like the first record than anything else, but
where they had carved out a niche that not too many people were working in before, the
stuff they are doing now doesn't have quite the appeal, though it's well played.
THE NEW CHRISTS
Distemper (Blue Mosque)
When Radio Birdman's Radios Appear first came out on Sire in the US amidst the
first rush of punk lps in 1978, it was either universally ignored or reviled because it
drew from influences other than The Who Sings My Generation. Yet here we are in
1989 and few people who pay attention to independent music can deny that that record has
had more impact than all but about 5 or 6 lps released since the 60s. And what's more to
the point, of all the leading lights of the influential bands of those days; Johnny
Rotten, Joe Strummer, Paul Weller, Mick Jones, Pete Shelley, Billy Idol, Chris Bailey,
Johnny Thunders and whoever else you want to name; not one of them retains more than a
couple tenths of a percent of the fury that they had ten years ago. Except one. Rob
Younger still sounds like a man on a mission; totally driven, totally pissed off at the
world, and totally ready to take on everything and everybody. New Christ singles dribbling
out over the years have led to expectations for an lp that would stand right up there with
that Radio Birdman record as a classic for all time. But clearly the only way the New
Christs would make an lp that would have that kind of impact would be to do something
totally different...there's too much precedent for this sort of music for Distemper
to ever reach the point where it is considered an all time classic, whereas the thing that
set Radios Appear on such a high hill was that it flew in the face of everyone's
concept of what was the proper direction of rock and roll...this is exactly why the
Birdmen were critically hated then and are loved now; only hindsight can tell you that an
unexpected direction taken would lead to something worthwhile.
That said, for those
of us who aren't out there looking for nothing but new directions, this record is one hell
of a great trip down existing paths. On rockers or slow songs, Younger's ferocious vocals
are the main focus as he manages to come across with an air of snotty superiority at the
same time as he sings about how he's fucked everything up. His production is as sharp
edged on his own record as it is for the hundreds of smaller bands he also helps out...it
gives a razor's edge to everything...cymbals, guitars and bass all are raw and throbbing.
It's not a slick or glossy feel; it's a sound that's live yet impossibly tight at the same
time. The songs are a mix of slow and fast...there's about six killer rockers headed by
the towering "Circus Of Sour" with a simple yet overwhelming riff, the punishing
"No Way On Earth", and "Coming Apart". But Younger proved on the
"Face A New God" single that he could make a slow song into an experience as
intense as any rocker, and he does plenty of that here as well. Best of these is "Bed
Of Nails", a tearjerker with this incredibly expressive break where Younger sings
"She looked me in the eye and said: Fuck it, that's it." Makes the false
emotionalism of the cabaret garbage that passes for music on the radio seem like so much
novelty store rubber puke.
This lp is aces from
stem to stern. If record prices were in any relationship to the quality of the music on
them, you'd have to rob a bank to pay for this one. But it'd be worth risking ten to life.
THE NEW CHRISTS
Woe Betide (Citadel)
The idea that prior to this release Rob Younger only had the opportunity to record one
full length album since the demise of Radio Birdman in 1978 is one of those unfair twists
of fate that can never be set right. In the mid 80s he had two different and fabulous
bands backing him (and actually many sub-versions of those), but the band that made Distemper
was an incredible power house of a group. Since that release many years have passed until
now, and Rob finally has gotten a band together to record once more. Yeah, there was that
ten inch record a little bit ago, but that sounded like a band just starting to find its
way. On Woe Betide the group has clearly come together and they’re playing the
kind of snarling, gut wrenching rock and roll that Younger has made his name on. Granted,
there’s only seven songs here, but each one is the sort of stuff we’ve all been
hoping for since Distemper...songs of desperation, anger, and defiance. It’s
hard to pick a favorite here; "These Rags" has an incredibly expressive chorus
which I can only understand part of but which still makes a big impression. Even when the
backing music is relatively bright and cheery like on "The Half That’s
Left", Younger sounds like he’s about to explode. The only track of the 7 here
that doesn’t connect directly with me is "Corporate Son"...every other one
bites like a piranha. The closing title track will knock the breath out of you with its
signature guitar riff played over punishing drums, and I suspect you may leave the disc in
the CD player and just press the replay button when it’s done. A long time away for
the New Christs, we didn’t know how badly we missed them.
THE NEW CHRISTS
Lower Yourself (Citadel)
Rob Younger is getting absolutely prolific these days, and if you ask me it
couldn’t have happened soon enough. It wouldn’t be a New Christs’ record
without a personnel change, so guitar player Tony Harper is gone and in comes Mark
Wilkinson to replace him. There’s also plenty of keyboard contributions from former
Thought Criminal and Died Pretty member John Hoey. The sound is bigger and louder than on Woe
Betide and there are 12 tracks this time with a bonus disc having four more. Unheard
of quantity from Younger, but the quality is everything you could hope for. It’s
getting difficult to analyze these things without sounding repetitive, but Younger is
about as good as anyone at painting a picture in song of someone who is tortured by
life’s events to the point of breaking. The title track is a prime example...a
buzzing, psychotic guitar lead and a slow, punishing drum beat with a single piano note
played percussively in just the right spot, the image comes through without even trying to
understand the lyrics. "From On High" is a more traditional rocker, but Younger
crosses it up by pretty much talking the vocals. "Asphalt" buries you in guitar
with Younger chanting the reverb smothered vocals like a priest saying mass in some
enormous empty cathedral. "Party Time" has a brilliant sense of dynamics and
powers with more monster riffs. And it goes on...every track different but with its own
superb story to tell. In a world full of transparently faked emotions, Rob Younger is one
of the very few who can create a song that drags the listener into his own personal
maelstrom of desire, anger, fear, hatred and pain and leave a feeling that every word was
real. This is a great, great record and exceeds what were already very high expectations
by leaps.
NEW
RACE
The First and The Last (Big Time)
This is another posthumous release of a Birdman spin-off, and probably the last version of
that band that carried the same sound. The band includes Deniz Tek, Warwick Gilbert and
Rob Younger from the Birdmen, Ron Asheton (Destroy All Monsters, Stooges) and drummer
Dennis Thompson (MC5), the only new face. The set here is live stuff from various concerts
around Sydney, with material that is a mix of Birdman stuff, Visitors songs, and a couple
Destroy All Monsters cuts. The band is really hot, and they breath fire into the Visitors
tracks in particular, giving them a more hard edged guitar sound as opposed to the
keyboard orientation on the Visitors lp. My favorites here are "Crying Sun",
"Haunted Road" and "Sad TV" which form the lead off punch for the lp.
The quality of the songs on side two is not quite as good, but the performance maintains
such a high level of energy that it doesn't hurt that much. It's interesting to see also
that although Ron Asheton is given a reverential billing in this band, he really doesn't
help much, and the MC5 cover "Looking At You" along with Monsters'
"November 22, 1963" are two of the duller songs here. It is clear that the
Birdman core of New Race had by now taken the Detroit sound a long step ahead of the point
where they picked up on it. This lp is worth having as a slab of Australian rock history,
but it also stands on its merits as a damn good record in its own right.
NEW RACE
The First And The Last (reissue) (Total Energy)
In February of 1981, a couple years after Radio Birdman broke up, Deniz Tek played in
Australia again as part of the Angie Pepper band. Angie, who was to become Tek’s
wife, had let Rob Younger know about their plans, and Rob started trying to figure out a
way to get a tour together that could be used to promote the release of the second Radio
Birdman lp, Living Eyes, which finally was to be released almost four years after
its recording. After some discussions with Tek, the two of them pulled together a band
with ex-Birdman bassist Warwick Gilbert, Stooges guitar player Ron Asheton, and MC5
drummer Dennis Thompson. They toured Australia under the name New Race, playing songs by
Radio Birdman, the Stooges, the MC5, and Tek’s post-Birdman band, the Visitors. The
resulting live lp the First And The Last was originally released in 1982 and
reissued again by Citadel a couple years later, but never came out in the US. This release
changes that, and adds two new cuts, a pretty fair version of the Stooges
"Loose" and, very strangely, the studio Radio Birdman take of "Descent Into
The Maelstrom" from Radios Appear. New Race played in a somewhat heavier, more
hard rock style than Radio Birdman did, and Rob Younger’s vocals are much closer to
his full throated New Christs style of singing than the way he sang for the Birdmen. I
never cared that much for Asheton’s metally solos, but other than that this is a
powerhouse set of Detroit metal at its best and the album is a classic for sure. My one
complaint is that the artwork is just awful; Radio Birdman always were very careful about
controlling the imagery of the band, and this carried into New Race as well. The cover art
here is totally at odds with this style and looks ridiculous.
NEW RACE
The First To Pay (Revenge)
Got this at a local shop, and though it seems like a boot, it actually lists an address,
which seems like either a real foolish idea or a sign of legitimacy. Anyway, from the
excellent liner notes, it appears that this is Ron Asheton's concept of what the New Race
lp should've been like. It consists of a batch of tracks recorded on the one New Race
tour, which included most of the key ingredients of Radio Birdman (Warwick Gilbert, Dennis
Tek and Rob Younger) and Detroit legends Asheton and Dennis Thompson. He felt the mix on The
First And The Last could've been better, and it's clear here that attention has been
paid to the guitar at the expense of drums and vocals. For my money, this is the weaker
lp, but it has 5 tracks that aren't on The First And Last, and has a somewhat
brighter and more energetic feel, too. Best of the batch are covers of "I'm
Loose" and "TV Eye", both of which are pretty intense. If you're into the
Birdman thing (and who isn't?) this is worth putting an ear on.
NUNBAIT
The Hub (Waterfront)
This band consists of former members of bands from Brisbane and Townsville (getting way up
towards the tropics), and they now are hanging out in Sydney playing a pretty hard edged
brand of post hardcore rock and roll. The production on this record gives them a razor
sharp, crystal clear sort of sound, which emphasizes their strong points...frantic
drumming, strong repetitive guitar lines and intense vocals that remind me of Human Hands;
a fairly unusual vocal tone that gives a strong sense of urgency to the proceedings.
Nunbait's songs have an underlying current of melody and tune, but these are secondary to
the feeling of tension and power that they project. It's not a bad mixture.
NURSERY CRIMES
No Time For That Crime (Augogo)
This band is damn near fantastic. They've got a base of established players who've been in
other bands, so they seem to know what they want. Guitar player Caine and drummer Russell
also played in the hardcore band Vicious Circle together (Russell also played in the
Bamboos and Kryptonics, neither of which fit into this puzzle at all!), and you can see
the hardcore influence in it. But the strongest feature of this band is the way they take
their hardcore roots and mix a pop element into the tunes so that while blasting your head
with energy they're managing to dish you a totally catchy tune. The one negative is a big
one, though, and that's the singer Phil...he's just got the worst bullshitty strutting
metal singer’s voice you can imagine, and the words he's singing fit the tone.
Somehow they seemed to work around this on their great "All Torn Up Inside"
single, but it's unavoidable on the lp. The feeling is like hearing Def Leppard's singer
fronting the Hard-ons. I need one of those machines that removes the vocals from records,
‘cos the band is incredible.
ORDER OF DECAY
Order Of Decay (Dominator)
A little slab of traditional thrash/hardcore from Adelaide's "other"
label...although I'm generally not a big fan of this sort of thing when there isn't a pop
element to it, Order Of Decay have gotten a pretty damn good sound on this album. While
many bands that play this style sound like they're playing way too fast, Order Of Decay
are in total control, and the result has a lot more punch as a result. Most of the songs
are real short and snappy...there's 11 tracks but they could've fit on one side. John
Scott (Mark Of Cain) told me it would have been a full lp except for the sad death of
singer Phil Partridge, who apparently fell off the top of a hotel the band was playing at
during some horseplay. It's the same old start - stop, speed up - slow down thrash thing
you've heard for years, but it's done well, so if you like that stuff you'll go for this.
PAINTERS AND DOCKERS
Love Planet (Big Time)
This is a wildly inconsistent band, and while I can guarantee that there
will be several tracks on this lp that you detest, there are likely to be some that you
really like a lot, too. There are some genteel pop songs, like the opener "Fun Is
Pain", some pseudo-hardcore slammers like "Basia" and some horn filled soul
influenced songs like "In My Mind" (which leads with the line: "Last night
I talked to God and last night I ran over a mod"). There's also some low down smut
that rivals the Hard-ons for gutter groveling ("Hole Of My Love"), and some
tasty guitar leads on the raucous "Gun For Fun". However, there are some
absolute bricks here, too, like the horrible title track and the boringly arty "Boy
Who Lost His Socks On Flinders Street Station". Bottom line assessment is buy it out
of the used bins and tape the good tracks for repeated listens while relegating the others
to oblivion.
PAINTERS AND
DOCKERS
Kiss My Art (Mushroom)
Third album by this group of Melbourne loons; I missed their live Kill, Kill, Kill,
but this is a big improvement in consistency over Love Planet; although there's
nothing to match the coolness of the track "Basia" from the first lp, this one
has a batch of songs that are at least quite good. The Dockers, who remind me of an
updated version of the Members, write mostly energetic songs with lyrics that typically
show them looking at some aspect of society from a different angle than the one used by
most people. They've always got a pretty good guitar feel in their stuff, but on top of
that are some really strong horn charts that are likely to piss off a lot of people who
prefer a more stripped down sound. But there's no denying that it results in a unique
sound...they take the Stax/Volt soul approach of throwing in a huge horn chart at the
chorus of each track and apply it to songs that are basically a hybrid of punk and hard
rock. Sometimes it klunks, sometimes it works real well, and on this record, it works more
than not.
THE PALISADES
A Month Too Soon (Easter)
Another Perth power pop outfit from a few years back...Kim Williams gave me this when I
visited his shop. It's a typically relaxed Easter record; the sort of honest pop/rock that
Kim seems to fall for all the time. The Palisades are notable for the presence of Velo
Zupanovich, who's now playing bass for the Someloves/Orange. I don't rate this ep as
highly as the Stolen Picassos record that came out about the same time; it's similar music
but it doesn't enjoy the benefit of such compelling vocal harmony work. The songs aren't
that memorable on their own and have to rely on memorable lyrics, which unfortunately are
not in as good supply as might be hoped.
THE PASSENGERS
The Passengers with Angie Pepper (Revenge)
People really into the scene that spun up around Radio Birdman in Sydney will be
familiar with the name of this band. They had a single way back when with
"Girlfriend’s Boyfriend" and "Face With No Name", and those two
songs appear here with six others that were recorded in the same sessions. Allegedly Deniz
Tek (Angie Pepper’s husband) has remixed the tapes now and is looking for a deal to
put out a more polished version of this, but for now, this is certainly enjoyable enough.
Combined with the style of pop/rock that they play, Pepper’s voice will remind people
of Blondie to some extent, but her voice has a lot more character to it than Debbie Harry,
who tended to sound a little too manufactured at time. Pepper’s singing has a
vulnerable sort of edge to it that reminds me of a lot of 60s girl groups. The presence of
ex-Visitors keyboard player Steve Harris recalls that band a lot, too, since not many
groups have this sort of electric piano sound. On listening to this several times, I
wonder a little at the choice of tracks for the single, since I think "Sad Day"
and "Love Execution" would’ve done better. But it’s all pretty
consistent and a really nice record to have after all the years when these tapes were only
heard by the members of the band and their friends.
PENTHOUSE PAUPERS
Penthouse Paupers (Grown Up Wrong)
What the hell is going on here? All of a sudden there's Grown Up Wrong records all over my
room...here's another one! And I can't stop playing the damn things. Oh, Mr. Maudling, DO
SOMETHING! This fivesome offers no relief; they play a hot brand of moddish r&b. All
four cuts on this mini-lp bristle with hot licks and good time partying music, and the
proof of the pudding is that the three originals are every bit as good as their excellent
cover of "Route 66".
THE PHILISTEINS
Bloody Convicts (Greasy Pop)
Mega cool and totally driven music from an Adelaide quartet. This stuff is really too
intense to get the moniker pop but it doesn't thrash like punk. There's great variation in
style and sound from song to song, which tends to make the lp a real grower. There's a
claustrophobic guitar sound on the excellent "Early Morning Memory", a roaring
version of the 60's classic "You Must Be A Witch" and a totally unique guitar
intro on "Cerebral Pause", a song that features all band members racing in
different directions but somehow ending at the same place at all the key points. And
you'll never resist the start-stop guitar riff in "Bite The Bullet". And that's
just side one. Side two starts with the more subtle "Cul de Sac" and then rages
on through three more, including the brain splitting guitar instrumental "Apeshit
Metal Locusts". This is a great record. You need it, and now it's available as a
domestic in the US on Sympathy For The Recording Industry.
THE PHILISTEINS
Some Kind Of Philisteins (Greasy Pop)
I don't know if anybody else has been waiting for this, but since hearing the Bloody
Convicts mini lp of a couple years ago I've been hot to hear more from this bunch. I
confess to being a little disappointed (but not much)...that first record set a pretty
stiff standard with a unique style and some killer tunes. This stuff comes close, but just
misses the mark. They still do a lot of the same things, coming up with punked up
garage-psych riffs in which the guitars, bass, and occasional keyboards can all run in
different directions yet still work together. The pace is still frantic, too, but I think
the problem is that sometimes the pieces of the songs don't go together right. The best
example of this is "Dissatisfied", which has about four different parts, none of
which seem to transition very smoothly into the next piece. The exceptions are
"Amsterdam" which smokes, and "Thoughts Of A Madman", a cover of a
song that recalls the Lime Spiders doing "That's How It'll Be" on their first
single. These two stand with anything from the first record. I recommend it, but get
Bloody Convicts first.
THE PHILISTEINS
Lifestyles of the Wretched And Forgettable (DogMeat)
Having left Adelaide for greener pastures in Melbourne, the Philisteins have waited a long
time to see the release of their third 12 incher, and their first away from Greasy Pop.
Doug Thomas played me a cassette of this in February of 1991, and it didn't come out until
winter 1992..quite a wait. This lp has everything going for it on the surface...great
title, brilliant cover art. In the grooves there's a lot to cheer, too...it's considerably
better than their second record but not quite as good as that fantastic first mini-lp. In
the interview a few issues back they said they were going for a grungier sound, and
they've struck a pretty good balance here between the catchy guitar-licks they started
with and that heavier sound. The trademark in the Philisteins sound is a tendency to use
guitar lines that race down alongside a lyric, do a sudden pause, and then blast on again;
sort of a herky-jerky pace. I tend to like the slower tracks, like "Point Of No
Return"; there's a tendency to get a little too frantic on some of the faster ones.
There's not a lot of other bands to compare to these guys; they blend psych, punk and
grunge in a pretty unique way.
THE PLAGUE
Ten Men In White (Shock)
The Adelaide equivalent of Melbourne's Seminal Rats is how I'd classify these guys...that
means there's lots of loud guitars that go punk, Detroit metal, and some times full one
metal, but usually come down clearly enough on the punk side. There's piles of energy and
some pretty great guitar rock songs. The down side is that the singer isn't holding up his
end of the bargain...he growls too much, where a guy with a tough style that really sang
would make this stuff sound like a million bucks. Then again, the material doesn't exactly
require a great singer since the lyric topics aren't exactly post doc stuff. Possibly the
strongest song on the record is "Hit By A Truck", which is loaded with brain
splitting riffs but features the instantly forgettable chorus "It ain't no fun
getting hit by a truck". No kidding! I suspect that a six pack of beer would cure all
the lyric problems for most listeners and then this would become a marvelous record.
PLUNDERERS
Trust Us (Green Fez)
Their rousing rendition of "No Fun" on Augogo's Stooges covers lp wasn't quite
the fair introduction to this band; despite the stage names of drummer Pete Pillage and
guitar player Stevie Plunder (jolly joke...), this three piece really plays a fairly
controlled brand of hard pop on their five track 12" debut for Citadel spin-off Green
Fez. It may be that the recording has flattened out some of their impact, because it does
seem like there are some interesting things happening that aren't immediately obvious
unless you pay some real close attention. "Believe Me" is possibly the best song
on this...it has a sixties mod sound to my ears (like early Manfred Mann, maybe, although
I don't listen to enough of that stuff to name names with great authority). Other stuff
brings to mind Birdman riffs, and there's the occasional country twang that reminds me of
the Bamboos, especially in vocal style ("End Of Your World" in particular). Not
bad, not as good as I was hoping.
PLUNDERERS
Sarah's Not Falling In Love (Citadel)
Where does the boundary fall between the side of pop that's interesting and valuable and
the side that's goofy, disposable, and non-memorable? For the Plunderers, unfortunately,
it's on the uphill side from where they are with this record. Juvenile pop can be made
memorable (Sydney counterparts Ratcat had some success at it), but the first side of this
record often sounds too Partridge Family for me, especially the first two cuts.
"Lonely" gives reason to hold reservations...it would have been a superb single,
with a lot more depth and heart that the other tracks on this 10" 5 track. The second
side tries to get adventurous but really is a lot of filler. Too bad...Geoff Milne,
ex-Eastern Dark drummer is being wasted in this band.
PORCELAIN BUS
Steel Bros. (Citadel)
This is a 6 track mini-lp of typically good pop tracks. Produced by Died Pretty guitar
player Brett Myers, the key attraction here is Ian James’ unusually deep and strong
vocal performance. The band gives a crisp and solid backing with a guitar/bass/drums
lineup, and all the songs rock fairly hard, but on a lot of the tracks the guitar has no
distortion at all (heresy!), and this tends to make things sound more laid back than might
be intended. In addition, the mix is more pop oriented, with the vocals a lot louder than
the guitar. Forced to pick a favorite, I'd chose "On Sunday", but this is
overall a very consistent record with no one song that really stands above the others. A
solid record, but not a great one.
PORCELAIN BUS
Talking To God (Citadel)
I've been a little late picking this record up...it came out in 1989, but although
Porcelain Bus singles usually have entertained me, in bigger doses I haven't been so wild
about them, so I let getting this lp slide until I found it in a used bin in Sydney. This
might change my attitude a bit, because it's a consistently good record. As always, the
dominant feature is Ian James’ rich, deep voice, which is unique enough that it makes
it hard to pay much attention to the underlying music. But here goes anyway; the Bus play
more of that power folk style of thing...lots of acoustic strumming but at tempos that are
distinctly rocking. The record was produced by Died Pretty's Brett Myers, and you can see
why he'd be interested; Porcelain Bus music is definitely akin to what Died Pretty have
done, although it's generally played at a more upbeat pace. There's some good musicianship
including some obvious jazz influences which might put you off or might grab you as really
cool. As for me, my favorites are songs like "Rats" or "Own Little
World" which has some great changes from quiet to loud parts. Not what I want to hear
everyday, but good for a light break.
PRAY
TV
Sure (Mr. Spaceman)
Augogo’s catalog compared this band to Dinosaur Jr, and while I can see that, there's
other sounds in there, too...there's less of the wild guitar psychedelia and more straight
chording, and the singer has this sort of depressive tone like the Cure's Robert Smith,
for example. But the music charges around pretty nicely in Dinosaur style, so I guess
we'll go with that. The songs have a good ebb-and-flow approach with quiet parts and loud
parts. Production has the right touch of primitiveness for my tastes; it sounds hi-fi, but
there's plenty of roughness and a live feel. An interesting pressing gimmick keeps you
from playing the last song unless you cue up your turntable for it, which is no loss as
it's the lone stiff. As for the rest, it's very listenable and enjoyable, but not
stop-press stuff.
PRAY TV
Flux (Shock)
This one just missed last issue and since I've been so slow publishing lately it probably
seems like ages to the band since it came out. But anyway, it's still worth it for you to
go looking since it's a damn fine record...not as good as the new one but still a winner.
The main difference I think is in the drum sound, which is a little ragged in spots here
(the playing's fine, it's the recording that makes the kit sound cheap). But the tunes are
great...stuff like the killer "Cold Dog Stew", the strong "Come Tell
Me" or "Never Be Mine", which blends two different but equally catchy
guitar lines over themselves.
PRAY TV
Paydirt (Shock)
Good enough title for this as it's the best thing these guys have done by yards. They said
they liked Died Pretty, and they've learnt the idea of making their songs ebb and flow in
much the same way. This one has a pack of tracks that tend to start slow, build to
maniacal crescendos, and then smolder back down to embers once again. If they don't do
that, they start in a burst of flame and then collapse into a slow burn. The moody vocals
riding over the top give it a Joy Division-ish sort of feel, and unlike a lot of other
bands that use JD as a reference point, Pray TV remember that the predominant backing for
Joy Division was guitars and they blaze away in good style with simple but tasty chord
changes. Really fine.
PRAY TV
Aftermath (Shock)
This is a mini-lp with a batch of songs that appeared on Paydirt and some new stuff
to boot. It's a strong package and has some of the best material this band has ever done.
The title track is a great one for building a mood and making it ebb and flow...it's not
terribly fast, but it still sounds powerful. The song is basically the same chord
progression from start to finish, but during the verses the band lays back while in
between the guitar comes in strong, and there's also some good thin leads played over the
top of the crunchy chords to make it sound even better. "Waiting" is almost a
Stooges type song...easily the nastiest thing these guys have done with a real "TV
Eye" kind of sound to it. "Run" is another one that basically is the same
chord pattern from start to finish but it has a soaring harmony part in the chorus that
carries the whole song...really nice. "Dictatorship of One" is a little too slow
and subtle for my tastes, but "Loser" comes back and finishes strong with
another good rocker.
PRAY TV
Westona (The Hypnotized Label)
Another of Australia’s hidden secrets, Pray TV have been around since the late
80s and have only a handful of lps and singles to show for it. But they’ve made the
most of their opportunities; their recordings have been wonderful without exception,
weaving dense and powerful trance-like guitar and occasional keyboards around Aidan
Halloran’s tired and dusky vocals. Most of their songs sound huge and forceful
without going beyond mid-tempo; the key to their strength is careful songwriting and solid
execution . Westona is no exception; there’s not a song on here that
doesn’t find a solid foothold after a few spins. The tunes are almost all classic
loser songs; losers at love, at bands, at work, at gambling…this band is on a
perpetual downer lyrically, but they do a fine job of it. "Let It Go" is a great
example…the singer talking to a past woman friend who years back chose to marry a
banker ("I gave a glance, you gave a frozen shoulder") and now her looks are
gone, and the baby is screaming, and "was there any other way"? But even if you
aren’t bottom feeding for a sad story put to music, Pray TV’s skill at putting
together songs with great dynamics will land you quick as a trout straight out of the
hatchery. Almost without exception, these tunes build from restrained verses to huge
anthemic choruses with walls of Husker Du styled guitar or keyboard flourishes and then
ebb back down again for the next verse.
PRIMEVILS
Chicken Factory (Greasy Pop)
Way back in NFH #13 I reviewed their single "I Saw My Name (Written On A
Tombstone)", which was a great, brooding piece of stuff. Somehow I never found the lp
until just a few weeks ago when I discovered it buried in the bins at a local shop. So 3
years late I'm here to make amends. This is a killer record. It's got stuff that a noise
mongering feedtime fan could love ("Whipping Tree" could almost be a feedtime
song), and it's got other things that remind me of bands like Died Pretty or Lizard Train.
The opener "I Wait" uses a simple yet stunning riff to bludgeon you while
"Tombstone" slays with a soaring yet melancholy tune. "Songbirds Don't
Sing" sounds like Joy Division at their darkest, while "Hammer Yourself
Senseless" puts heroin use into proper perspective. Despite the wide variation in
styles, this stuff holds together incredibly well, bonded by the pervasive theme of
destruction of self. It's really sad that music as good as this can have passed almost
without notice...the band is long since gone, but you can still probably track this down
via Augogo if you don't dawdle. You'll be happy you did.
PROTON ENERGY PILLS
same (Waterfront)
I was a little slow getting behind these guys off their singles while people in Australia
were raving about them, but now I'm willing to say that they seem to know how to do the
metalized punk thing about as well as any of their down under brothers. The material on
this mini-lp is for the most part pretty tuneful and the guitar sound is big and
crunching, which you would hope given the presence of Celibate Rifle Kent Steedman at the
production controls. The singing is in much the same vein as Asylum or Nursery
Crimes...that is, it's a lot more commercial sounding than the standard punk vocal style.
The record is organized kinda weird; four songs on one side that are all snappy rockers
(well, "Nothin'" is kind of like a melancholy Hellmenn track), but then on the
other side there's just one song, the magnum opus "Red Water", which is also
rocking but isn't snappy. Instead it twists and winds down one path after another changing
tempos and intensity several times. I dunno; it's nice to see people trying to stretch out
and try a different approach, but early 70s rock also tried the idea of huge songs that
went everywhere, and in the end they failed miserably. It really doesn't work much better
when the basis for the song is rooted in a punkish style as opposed to arena metal. Oh,
yeah, in the future look for these guys under the name Tumbleweed...they've changed.
PSYCHOTIC TURNBUCKLES
Destroy Dull City (Rattlesnake)
One listen to this band tells you that they obviously have no long term value to anyone,
but as a quickie laugh send-up of heavy metal, one record of them is great to have.
"Wild Scenes From Albuquerque" is the best, with Van Halen-like vocals and some
true head-banger guitar lines...but God knows where they ever got the idea that there was
anything wild about Albuquerque. The pace, the volume knobs, and the distortion switches
are consistently UP on this record, and Rob Younger's production gives it just a touch of
that Birdman influence to blend in with the rest. However, I gotta restate one more
time...you have to tolerate a good bit of heavy metal parody to enjoy this thing at all,
and I myself find a lot of times that I'm in no mood to hear it.
THE PURITANS
The Puritans (Mr. Spaceman)
Six tracks on a ten inch record and one of the few weak records you'll hear on Mr.
Spaceman. The Puritans play a real 60s sounding brand of garage rock with cheesy organ
pushed way up front. It sounds like they could be better if they mixed things
differently...push guitars and drums up equal with the organ and then turn the vocals down
a touch. "Project You" is the best of the lot with a real creepy voice moaning
in the background, but the rest of this is a little flat unless you like your derivative
60s bands to sound exactly like the original thing. And even then, they need to
come up with some stronger material.
THE PURITANS
(My Baby's Mind Is Like A) Beachhouse (Shock)
It's a rather amusing title, and the answer to the implied question why? is that
her mind is up for rent. But Melbourne's Puritans themselves show the solidity of
homeowners on this record...a satisfying concoction of rock and roll with heavy nods to
60s r'n'b and psych rock, much like bands like the Original Sins or the Hoods. It's well
produced and well played; the only fault is that the song writing, while never bad or
annoying, also never stretches out to the totally ear grabbing, either. Good enough to
listen to while on, but not memorable enough to keep bringing you back.
RABBITS WEDDING
Showtime (Waterfront)
Would you be surprised if Sub Pop went out and signed up Gordon Lightfoot? I would. But
Waterfront seems to see no contradiction in having bands like Rabbits Wedding amidst a
roster of bands like the Hard-ons, Hellmen, Mothers and MassAppeal. I suppose a little
variety is healthy, but it's gotta be hell marketing this stuff...I mean there can't be
more than 5 Hard-ons fans that would also like this...it's folky acoustic stuff with every
letter of every word pronounced so that the consonants slice right through you. Not for
me.
RADIO BIRDMAN
Radios Appear (Sire)
Living Eyes (BigTime)
Eureka! (bootleg)
The Aussies will no doubt think that an American reviewing Radio Birdman records is on
a par with a woman being a priest, but I won't let that stop me.
First off, the Radios
Appear lp is available in two versions; the original Australian version has a couple
songs not on the US ("TV Eye", "Monday Morning Gunk" and "Love
Kills") but it leaves out "Aloha Steve and Danno" (tragedy!), "Non
Stop Girls" (criminal!), "What Gives?" and "Hit Them Again". This
is a grotesquely unfair turn of events for the home fans, since "Aloha" is only
the best Birdman song of all, featuring one of the greatest one note guitar solos in the
history of recorded music and a superb cop of the theme from "Hawaii 5-0". And
"Non-Stop Girls" might be their second best. The music is a bastard brew of
Detroit rock, surf music, punk and jazz that works as well as could ever be asked for.
This lp is a classic and you need it now.
The Living Eyes
lp that I have is a reissue that makes up half of a gatefold two lp set with the US
version of Radios Appear, making an excellent value. This one was recorded in
Wales during the band's only (and disastrous) UK tour. The songs aren't as tough as on the
first lp, and there's also less consistency, but there are some real good ones, like the
original "Crying Sun", "Do The Moving Change" and "Smith and
Wesson Blues", a remake of a track from the original "Burn My Eye" ep
("you're never alone with a Smith and Wesson, baby" ... if they advertised hand
guns on TV, that would be the slogan for sure, with the sultry blonde blowing smoke off
the barrel.) "Crying Sun" is really different from the New Race version, with a
cool, slinky guitar style and keyboard fills that work just right. There's also a
rerecorded version of the legendary "Burn My Eye" that sounds as good as the
original. Strangely, "Alone In The End Zone", which I would rate as the
lp’s only significant klunker, was released as the single! Oh well, there's no
accounting for taste.
Eureka! is a
1977 live show bootleg of a show at the Eureka Hotel (in fact, the copy I have is probably
a bootleg of a bootleg). Allegedly the former band members are ultra pissed over its
existence, but I can't see why; being considered worth bootlegging is in my book a more
significant recognition of musical value than winning a Grammy award could ever be. And
despite typical muddy bootleg sound, this one is especially nice to have because it has so
many tracks not available elsewhere, including "You're Gonna Miss Me",
"Death By The Gun", "Let The Kids Dance", "LA Woman",
"California Sun", "King Of The Surf", "1970" and "Kick
Out The Jams". The two surf songs feature guest vocals by Hitmen singer Johnny
Kannis, who used to fill the role of Birdman MC before the Hitmen got rolling. Ultimately
the sound quality of this will keep you from listening to it as much as an official
release, but it's still a great record to have.
RADIO BIRDMAN
More Fun! (WEA)
I didn't see springing for the Birdman boxed set since I had all the records except this
one and the "Aloha" 45, so I figured I'd wait until this came available by
itself. There's three live tracks from a gig outside of Sydney in 1977 and one outtake
from the recording of the Living Eyes lp. The live stuff sounds nearly like it was
done in the studio, it's so clean. The opening "Dark Surprise" is so much better
than the one on the "Death By The Gun" bootleg that it's not even funny...it's a
great song. "Breaks My Heart" and "More Fun" are both tracks that
appeared on Living Eyes, and both are extremely faithful to the originals.
"Heart" is another great song, but "More Fun" is a bit of a throw away
track in my book, although it has a lot more kick here than the studio take. "Didn't
Tell The Man" is probably fun for Hitmen fans as it's one that they did a lot, but
it's pretty gutless by comparison to real Birdman stuff. Still, it's cool to get a new
Birdman record to listen to...it's easy to lose track of how much better they played and
with how much more energy than a lot of today’s imitators if you don't pull out their
stuff and play it now and then. This record isn't the place to start finding out about
Birdman greatness, but if you've got the rest of their stuff, it's worth plugging that gap
in your collection.
RADIO BIRDMAN
Murder City Nights (Archive)
For those who can't get enough Birdman, here's a pretty nice bootleg lp to help you pass
the time. It's got a real nice four color cover and pretty decent sound, too...a bit weak
on the bottom end, but it thrashes Eureka!, the one other Radio Birdman bootleg
I've heard. The first side is mostly their own material, and it's better on the studio
lps, but on side two they do a number of covers that you won't hear elsewhere, including a
hysterical Beach Boys parody on "Surf City" featuring some truly horrible
falsetto harmonies that had me rolling on the floor. But embarrassments aside, there's a
great and powerful version of "TV Eye" and a couple other oddities like a song
called "Career Beatle" and another called "Rock and Roll" that isn't
the Gary Glitter oldie. As usual with most bootlegs, it's interesting to have in your
collection, but not something to keep drawing you back for repeated plays.
THE RAINYARD
Let It Speed (House Of Wax)
Perth is a city that spawns good power pop bands like fish, and here’s one of
their best. The only complaint I have is that there’s only 6 songs available by these
guys, since this CD is over far too soon. Propelled by a fluid, rolling rhythm section,
the Rainyard play songs that have a feel like the best Who material from before Tommy
(the ones with Pete Townshend singing) but with very modern production. Loud and ringing
power chords are their forte, along with some really great vocal harmonies. "Downward
Rise" and "What’s It Worth" are classics, worthy of consideration as
among the best songs of the year in which they came out. I hear that this band has now
split up...too bad, since the potential was enormous.
RATCAT
Ratcat (Waterfront)
Somewhat screechy production here on this 6 track ep, but there are at least 3 good tunes
underneath. The overall sound reminds a lot of the Buzzcocks as far as guitar and bass
goes, but the drumming style doesn't fit the mold. The vocals get annoying at times as
they sound like they are played through a 1920 vintage Victorola. But there's no denying
the hotshit quality of all three songs on side one: "Time Bomb Of Hate",
"Daughter Darling" and "Car Crash" are all first rate. The lyrics for
"Timebomb" are particularly Shelley-esque: "Did you check the wires to the
time bomb in my heart/It's all set to go into a brand new start". "Car
Crash" is also a riot, except, of course, for the victim, who is left with a bashed
up car and faced with the unrepentant Ratcat, who blandly state that they are uninsured
and can't afford to pay for anything. Funnier than hell, and a damned good tune. Put this
on a tape along with Buzzcock's "Fast Cars" (from which it cops a guitar lick)
and you'll have it nailed great. Unfortunately, side two doesn't do quite so well: the
cover of "I Think We're Alone" is nowhere near as good as Ratcat's own stuff,
and when they slow the pace for "She's Gone", things don't click too well,
either. And if the reviewer had any doubts that the band was drawing on the Buzzcocks, the
closing "Radio One" will finish them all off; its a Ratcat version of the
Buzzcocks snippet "Radio Nine" that closed off the "Different Kind Of
Tension" lp. Overall, I'm surprised I like this as well as I do based on my appraisal
of the band at their live show, which I saw before hearing this. They would do well to
develop their own style more, but there are certainly worse bands to imitate than the one
they've chosen.
RATCAT
This Nightmare (Waterfront)
This record is such a livid purple that when I first pulled it out of the jacket I wasn't
sure whether to play it or eat it. So I played it, and while that was pleasant enough, it
wasn't as good as I'd hoped given their previous track record for Buzzcocks flavored pop.
Part of this is the opening "Go Go", which sounds an awful lot like their last
single, "Baby's Got A Gun". There's a couple others that have a similar
problem...it appears that Ratcat are in a bit of a songwriting rut. There's a couple songs
as good as in the past, like "Everything's Happening Again", or "The
Killing Joke", which changes the vocal approach to more of a 60s pop sound. Ratcat
are meant to be a goofy fluffy band, but there's a point where you get too fluffy, and
there isn't enough substance here...they've gone from being sort of a parody of a teen
bubblegum band to actually being one. Grape flavor, from the looks of it. I'll eat it now.
RATCAT
Tingles (rooArt)
Chris Dunn (Waterfront Records co-mogul) tells me that Ratcat are now big pop stars in
Australia, charting in the major label charts with this record and packing out houses.
Based on this, I was expecting a big let down with this mini lp, their first record for
rooArt. Their charmingly simple pop songs built around basic, fuzzy guitar parts had
started well but had been getting progressively weaker since they first began to record
for Waterfront, and I figured if they were charting they must have taken the big plunge
into the sewer. What a surprise then when I find that I probably like this better than any
of their other records with the exception of the first Waterfront mini-lp. I'm really
surprised they could chart with a guitar sound this gnarly; the songs are obvious radio
pop stuff, but songs made for radio don't have guitars mixed as loud as the vocals and
they certainly don't have the distortion set to 10. All of the first side is excellent,
and "Skin" from the second side is equally good. "Away From This
World" sounds cool on first listen as the music is married with the soundtrack from
the Challenger space shuttle explosion, but it doesn't hold up to repeated play, and
"My Bloody Valentine" is a throwaway experiment that fizzled out. Still, a
pleasant surprise and show of potential for good things still to come.
RED PLANET ROCKETS
Hard Corn (DogMeat)
This three piece Sydney band is a blend of former members of the Space Juniors, the
Splatterheads and the Mothers, which ought to tell you about half the story if you follow
Australian bands closely; all were known for their crazed style of playing and they don't
so anything to damage the reputation here. But the half of the story you're missing is
that the style they've picked up on is more of a trashy Cramps-like demented rockabilly
blended with punk...much faster than the Cramps but the same general idea otherwise.
Vocals get swapped around from song to song which results in a variety of sounds; in
places you can hear the Splatterheads sound, in others it sounds like Lux Interior for
sure. Oddly, like the Cramps at times, there's no bass guitar, and more oddly, it doesn't
seem to matter; this record kicks like a mule.
ROCKS
Final Assault (Waterfront)
Rocks are a hardcore Sydney punk band that's been around since the late 70s, yet during
that time they've only managed one 7" ep and a couple tracks on compilation lps. I
saw them live in Sydney (see last issue), and based on that, would've thought they had
enough top drawer material to do more than just release four tracks on this ep. Must be
money problems... Anyway, the four songs here are pretty typical Rocks stuff; they're
better than a lot of hardcore bands, and they're more melodic and less thrashy than most,
but I'm a bit disappointed in that the production is a touch too clean, so that the
sound is a little tame. They sure didn't have this problem live! Best track here is
probably "Days Gone By", which immediately brings early Ramones to mind and
includes features some cool guitar parts. The other four tracks are pretty average...pity
as I was really charged up to get this record at first.
THE SAINTS
(I’m) Stranded (reissue)
Eternally Yours (reissue)
I tell you, it’s enough to make you believe in conspiracy theories, the fact that
these first two Saints albums have not been reissued in the US until now. I mean,
let’s get real, here. We’re not talking chopped liver, we’re talking about
two of the greatest punk rock records of all time. Pick ten records you have to have to
survive. Two of them have got to be these. (I’m) Stranded came
first…the primal roar from Brisbane by a band that mutated out of seemingly nothing
to become a southern hemispheric force of equal fury and value to the American Ramones and
British Sex Pistols. What in that murky city could have been the cause of this? We’ll
never know. But this lp, which was one of the very first punk rock records released
anywhere in the world, contains a pile of songs whose intensity doesn’t dim with age.
People called them crude and raw then, but the magic of this record is the mixture of
subtlety with bludgeoning. It seemed so easy to dismiss this stuff as basic three chord
rock, but those who did weren’t listening, didn’t get it, and deserve the
oblivion they got instead. The way Ed Kuepper makes those chords work for him, with
brilliant changes that form these unforgettable hooks…well, there just aren’t
many bands that have been able to do this, ever. And let me tell you, these guys could
write a lyric about being frustrated and shoved aside. Count the classics up…the
title track - one of the great songs of alienation ever. "One Way Street" with a
drum break of barbaric force and Chris Bailey’s dust-dry vocals ("there’s
too many creeps that are hungry for your blood, yes they are!"). The fabulous
slowdown to "Story Of Love" followed by more ferocity in "Demolition
Girl", and finally the epic "Nights In Venice" featuring a monstrous
building outro bit that keeps rising until you feel like your head is going to explode.
There’s not a slouch song in between these, either, but these five are something
special; the kind of songs that you’d be incredulous to hear just one of from
any other band. But the Saints give you five on one debut record. And for this
reissue, you get two songs that were single B-sides, "Lipstick On Your Collar"
(a bit of a throwaway, actually) and a strong, punked up version of Ike and Tina
Turner’s "River Deep Mountain High".
The first album was recorded
in Brisbane, but the Aussies weren’t ready for the Saints and their record company
figured they’d fit in better in the UK. That didn’t really prove to be the case,
as the Brits were feeling like they were the only people who could play punk and
weren’t open minded enough to listen to the Saints take on the form. And for their
part, the Saints didn’t really feel like they had anything to do with the spitting,
spikey haired punters in the London pubs, either. Eternally Yours was thus recorded
in London, and while it isn’t praised as highly or as regularly as the first album,
it’s actually almost every bit as good. The classics here start with "Know Your
Product", without a doubt the best punk rock song ever to use horns (nothing else
comes close) and a track that is absolutely driven by a killer walking bass line.
"Lost and Found" is another alienation special. "This Perfect Day" is
yet another example of Kuepper’s brilliant guitar playing…simple riffs played
with a feeling that you can only get from really having that feeling and not from any
lifetime of formal training. And Bailey’s line "I don’t need no one to tell
me what I don’t already know" is sung with such negative conviction that it
seems to have the word "no" appearing in every other syllable.
"Untitled" is this album’s equivalent to "Story Of Love" and
doesn’t concede an inch. Finally, "(I’m) Misunderstood" is a brilliant
reprise to "(I’m) Stranded"…another slab of guitar mania driven by one
of the most propulsive base lines you’ll ever hear. The bonus here is a second take
of "International Robots" called "Do The Robot", a song which was on
the 12" single of "This Perfect Day". This bonus take is done in a more
serius style than the original lp version.
I always hate it when other
people my age start talking about the old bands they used to listen to and romanticize how
much better it was "back then". But goddammit, when the Saints were on the
stereo it WAS better then, and it’s better now, too. I’m gonna play these
things until they burn up and the cops come take me away.
THE SAINTS
Prodigal Son (TVT)
Sort of a down-priced rerun of 1987's All Fool's Day, this lp marks one of the few
times that Chris Bailey has put out two consecutive lps that sport pretty much the same
sound. To see what a shock this is, you have to look back over quite a few years; in 1976,
I'm Stranded was sheer, raging punk. Know Your Product was also mostly punk,
but it brought in horns and a lot more different tempos. After this it was all over the
lot, with stuff like Prehistoric Sounds which was heavily soul influenced, A
Little Madness To Be Free, which was mostly acoustic, or Out In The Jungle,
which was mostly fairly routine rock. One can't blame Bailey for sticking with the same
style; All Fools Day got him his first semblance of success in the US and was well
received most everywhere it was released. It even earned them a one hour concert special
on MTV. But unfortunately, this record lacks the well written songs that were on All
Fool's Day, like "Just Like Fire Would" or "Temple Of The Lord".
It's got a mix of faster songs and slower songs, but none really have much to get excited
about...no great hooks or memorable lyrics to speak of. Bailey's voice as usual is great
and expressive, but that's really all there is to look forward to on this record. If
you've got other Saints records lying around your house, there's a lot more reason to play
them. Guess that's why I found this as a cutout.
THE SAINTS
The New Rose Years (Fan Club)
Those who were really depressed when Chris Bailey dropped the ripsnorting punk of I'm
Stranded might think that an apt subtitle for this might be or, the Days When Chris
Bailey Went Out In The Weeds And Sucked Bigtime, but that's a little harsh, because he
certainly deserves credit for taking on the music world (and his fans) and doing what he
wanted to do. He also made some pretty good pop songs in a mode that wouldn't be that far
out of whack on Flying Nun, and the one plus of these songs is that they showcase his not
insignificant singing abilities in a way that could never happen in a punk format. I've
always had a soft spot for "In The Mirror", "Simple Love",
"Ghosts Ships" and "Gypsy Woman", and having these pulled onto one
record so that I don't have to sift through everything else on the individual lps is nice.
But don't take this as a greatest hits record; either of the first two Saints lps blows
this one down, and I'd even prefer All Fools Day.
THE SAINTS
Scarce Saints (Raven)
If you read this magazine regularly and you don't have the first three Saints lps, you
don't deserve to live. They were that good then, and different each record, too. This
record is more for people looking to fill out all the missing links in their
collection...it's got a studio side with a batch of odd singles and B sides that didn't
make lps and then a live side recorded in England in 1981, which was probably not the
strongest period for the band if you liked them for their punk material as I do. There's a
few great songs from their early days here...a cover of Ike and Tina Turner's "River
Deep Mountain High" and a fifties song called "Lipstick On Your Collar"
which came out as a single in 1977. "L-I-E-S" and "Do The Robot", both
strong tracks from the Know Your Product era, originally appeared on a 12" single
with "This Perfect Day" as the A side. Beyond that, the songs start to weaken on
the rest of this, with only the 1981 cover of "Gypsy Woman" having a strong
spark. On the live stuff, things are fairly uninspiring until the end, where the record
jumps to a 1977 concert, the last played in Australia with their original I'm Stranded
lineup and for which they shared the bill with Radio Birdman. The sound is pretty
bad...all guitar and vocals with virtually no bass or drums, but it gives you an idea of
what a real Saints show in their days of real power would have been like. An interesting
and useful record, but not an easy one to listen to.
THE SAINTS
Howling (Amsterdamned)
It’s been quite a long time since the last album Chris Bailey released with the
Saints name on it. Not that he hasn’t been doing anything under his own name, and
given that there has been little difference between a Saints album and a Chris Bailey solo
album since Ed Kuepper went off on his own after Prehistoric Sounds, this one is
more of a continuation of the style Bailey has been using for over 10 years now. At first
listen you may be deceived into thinking differently, since the CD opens with two out of
character tracks. The title cut has a creeping pace but a harsh instrumental backing to go
with distorted vocals, and then on "Shadows" Bailey delivers one of the worst
vocal performances I’ve ever heard from him, seemingly missing notes all over the
place. It’s a total surprise coming from him, since if there’s one thing you can
say about Bailey it’s that he possesses one of the most expressive voices of all the
former punk singers still going. There are a handful of other songs on this one that are a
little more raw and have a little more edge than things he’s done in a while, like
the rocking "You Know I Know", which with a more punk styled guitar
could’ve fit in on Eternally Yours. But after many listens, these few
different tracks become less prominent and the lasting impression is a lot more of
similarity to the best post-Kuepper Saints album, All Fools Day. Over half the
tracks on Howling are slow to moderate tempo songs with good pop-rock tunes and
strong singing. This is a record that has to be enjoyed independently of any longing for
the Saints of the first two albums, and taken that way it’s a really strong effort.
KIM SALMON
Sin Factory
On this 1996 release the former Scientist frontman Kim Salmon hits with a rare US
release. And it’s a good one, too…while I’m not the biggest fans of these
twisted noise bands, Salmon has a way of doing this that goes a long way beyond just
thrashing around and yelling, which is what a lot of other superficially similar bands do.
Salmon can also go quiet in a way that conveys almost more danger and a greater sense of
deranged tension than his louder songs. "Desensitized" from this CD is a great
example of this…a very low key, almost jazz flavored backing with drums played with
brushes and little instrumentation other than a slinky bass line and some sparse guitar
chords. But it gives a powerful feeling. The opening "I Fell" is another great
one, with a grooving beat that propels the song along. In a few more years, I think
I’ll be regarding this one in much the same light that I look back on old Scientists
classics.
THE SCIENTISTS
The Sweet Corn Sessions (Timberyard)
A welcome relief for those of us who've been dying to hear the legendary early stuff by
Perth's Scientists, here's six tracks from 1979, including "Frantic Romantic",
the track that tempted us on Where Birdmen Flew. But there's also the massive
"Shake (Together Tonight)", which has some flaming guitar bits that are only
improved by the rawness of the production. Or how about "Pissed On Another
Planet"? These Scientists are totally different from the more recent versions of the
band...the songs are fucking brilliant raw pop-punk that's more in line with something
like the Plimsouls than the Cramps-inspired stuff they mutated into. Crucial for Aussie
watchers.
THE SCIENTISTS
Absolute (Sub Pop)
Rumors of the appearance of this CD have been floating around for a while, but I sure had
a hard time tracking one down. 'Twas worth it, though. Although lately I've been seeing
the Big Time compilation Weird Love all over the place at cheap prices, and it's a
damn good selection, I still prefer this. The Scientists are one band for which the CD
format and a good stereo are worth having; there's lots of little subtleties in the music
that are brought out when you play it loud on good gear. Though the liner notes insinuate
that this is a retrospective of the Scientists career, it isn't complete because it omits
their earliest phase when they were as good a punk/pop band as there has ever been, and
instead picks up with 1982's "Swampland" where they began their days as one of
the best and most original noise damage bands ever. These guys play disturbing, noisy
music that doesn't just annoy; it connects. They've inspired many other bands, most of
which are a bunch of rubbish, but this record shows that the original had what it takes
and then some.
SCREAMING BELIEVERS
Communist Mutants From Space (BigTime)
Seems like every once in a while I see an article about the Australian scene in some place
like the LA Times Calendar section or NME, which I eagerly scarf up, only to find that the
writer doesn't know shit about anything other than records that have been handed him by
labels in the US, so they rave about Hunters and Collectors, Hoodoo Gurus, Triffids, or
stuff like this one. Although there's some energetic pop being played here, it really
doesn't have the fire or passion of most of 90% of the stuff out on Aussie independents.
The primary problem is that it has major label type production, which takes the edge off
things to such an extent that even on a potentially good song like "Slack Social
Worker" where the singer sounds like he's genuinely worked up with lines like
"People like you they make me sick!", the edge is all taken off. And it's not
because the band had big label bucks behind them, since the record was originally recorded
for Greasy Pop. There are a number of places where you hear some promise: "Don't Talk
Of Love" sounds like it could've been a decent single, "M-16" moves pretty
well, and there's a good guitar bit on the otherwise lackluster "Parting Among
Parties", but songs like the wedding band quality "Age Of Uncertainty" or
"Faith" are a total loss. There's also some diversity with a ska track
"Unprofessional", and the band seems to throw in some horn charts on every other
song to keep it mixed up. Basically one for people who like pretty straight shooting pop.
SCREAMING TRIBESMEN
Date With A Vampyre (What Goes On)
Top Of The Town (Rattlesnake)
Bones And Flowers (Survival)
There's no doubt that Vampyre is the one record of these three that's
indispensable. The title track should have been a 7" single release; it's one of
those rare pieces of total guitar-pop brilliance on a par with Lime Spiders "Out Of
Control" for fabulousness beyond the call of duty. The band sound on this record is
rougher than the slick sound of Top Of The Town and much more toward power pop
than the metal sound of Bones and Flowers. If the other three songs on Vampyre
were totally awful, it'd still be worth buying for the one track, but they aren't.
"Ice" is also real good, and although Mark Medew's vocals change to a more whiny
sound (a la the Only Ones) on side two, the guitar sound still carries everything well.
Top Of The Town
lost a lot of fans with its airbrushed front cover photo and overly slick production.
Pity, too, since you can hear some really good songs down in those grooves that aren't
quite making it out. It opens with "You'd Better Run" (not the Pat Benetar song,
thank god!), which is one of the tunes that leaves you wishing for the Vampyre-style
production. The other two are on the second side: "Infidel" has the potential to
be really hot, and "No Chance" actually makes it with a brain-eating guitar line
that really holds on. But overall the record is a disappointment, and if this is the first
Tribesmen record you buy, you probably won't feel encouraged to get any others.
Bones And Flowers
is the new lp, and I must confess to being fairly well lost by this one. In addition to
having ultra smooth production, the sound has really drifted into the sort of FM radio
soft metal that is the last thing I'd expect from a band with roots like these; after all
they have former Birdman and Hitman Chris Masuak (who seems to be largely to blame as he's
credited with producing), and lots of other really hotshit people (Died Pretty's Chris
Welsh and Ron Peno, Hitmen/New Christ/Naked Luncher Tony Robertson, Mark Kingsmill, Murray
Shepherd, etc., etc.) have been in previous incarnations of the band, and you'd think
they'd have developed some sense of taste by now! The only songs I care for are the single
"I've Got A Feeling" and the last song "Living Vampyre", both of which
are at about the level of the average "Top Of The Town" track. Oh, well...it
ain't the first time this has happened...anybody hear Steve Jones' lp?
SCREAMING
TRIBESMEN
Casualty Of Love/Don't Turn Away (Survival)
Actually just a 12" single, this is a bit of a weird release; why put out a 12"
only single without a corresponding 7"? At any rate, I have branded myself as a
diehard to buy this given that I thought their Bones And Flowers lp, whence cometh
the A-side of this disc, was pretty much a stiff. To some extent I'm rewarded for my
persistence, since the flip of this, "Don't Turn Away" is probably better than
anything on the lp. Except for the smoothed out production, it would fit in nicely with
the "Vampyre" ep tracks, and it has pretty much the same feel as the "Top
Of The Town" ep; basic Hitmen style rock with some fun guitar riffs. I can't say it's
the best use of your hard earned dollars given the other records floating around these
days, but if you're a committed fan already and you're on the verge of springing for it,
than I'd say do it.
SEMINAL RATS
Omnipotent (Mr. Spaceman)
Another mini-lp, this one 7 tracks, and this time by a group of Detroit style Birdman
damaged Melbourners. The production of this record is really great; it fairly crackles
with energy (although the drum kit sounds like it's made of plastic). My favorite is
"F.U.S.T."... I have no idea what it stands for, but it has a great chorus where
the lyrics go "I go back to my sad, sad room and my mind is filled with pain"
while the guitars and drums do a real cool alternating stutter/stop bit. Unfortunately,
they also stuff in some real boring slow guitar soloing in the middle of it. "Red
Planet", which is the closer, is another real good one; as good an example of Birdman
watching as you could ask for and in fact actually better than a lot of the real thing.
"Rat Race" kicking off the lp has a truly awful heavy metal intro with cowbells
and all sorts of scary stuff, but after about ten seconds of this it turns into a real
kick-butt Detroit slab with more great staggering drum parts. "Change", which
closes side one, also hits well. In between the good songs are some listenable but
unremarkable tracks of similar stuff. I rate this one worth having, but don't expect God.
Out in the US on What's Happening now.
SEMINAL RATS
Hot Snapper Pie (Mr. Spaceman)
You actually get your choice of at least four titles with this record, depending on
whether you read the front, back or spine of the jacket, or the insert inside the thing.
The label has no title. It's also on white vinyl. So there's enough gimmicks to keep you
pleasantly diverted for quite a few plays. That's when you begin to notice that the
imitation Birdman sound of this Melbourne group isn't as satisfying this time around as on
their Omnipotent ep...there are some rollicking songs, but by and large it's the
sort of thing that probably makes for a fun time at a concert but on record it just isn't
cutting it very well this time around. Whether the songs were better last time (I think
they were) or whether I'm just hitting saturation on this kind of sound (I think I am),
I'm not sure. But I don't find a lot of need to listen to this.
SEMINAL RATS
Life In The Necropolis (Mr. Spaceman)
Melbourne's Seminal Rats have been one of Australia's darker and nastier Detroit metal
type bands for a number of years, though their recorded output has been limited to a
couple of pretty good mini-lps. This record is that seemingly extinct phenomenon, the two
disc live set. The liner notes make a point of the faithful presentation with no overdubs
or crowd effects, but in fact it would have improved things a lot if they'd cut out the
between song fumbling and thrown out a few songs, reducing the thing to a single lp. The
playing is really energetic and the Rats have some excellent songs like "Red
Planet", "Rat Race" or "Change", all of which neatly combine good
hooks and exciting playing. The singing style is a bit yobbish, and on some of the other
songs the supply of hooks is limited so you're left with some non-descript tracks played
hard and fast. It's a little discouraging that the best songs are all ones that have been
previously released (there aren't that many new ones anyway). I'd go for the first mini-lp
and get this only if you find yourself a fan, which is certainly a possible outcome.
SEPTEMBER GURLS
Precious (Pink Flamingo)
A new Sydney label devoted to rock and roll bands, and a moderately good starter effort.
The September Gurls play a slightly countrified brand of rock and roll that's pretty
straight ahead. The four songs here strike me as being in the vein of some of the Bamboos
more rocking songs with a dose of Hoodoo Gurus tossed in. The production is big and clean,
similar to the sound of the Kryptonics or the Girlies. Best part of it in my book is the
solo on "Shut It Down", which is really a fairly generic song, and actually the
solo is a fairly generic Johnny Thunders cum Steve Jones type thing, but it's still the
type of cool, fat guitar that kills me every time. This is a band that's clearly not in it
to make any big progression on the existing rock and roll state of the art, but
they’re OK at what they do.
THE SICK THINGS
The Sounds Of Silence (Shock)
This one's sort of an archive item from Melbourne's rock and roll past. The Sick Things'
name comes up now and then as an influence for many Melbourne bands, and it's clear
listening to this why that should be so. It seems like there's quality in many of these
songs, but frankly they haven't been able to make much of it on this record. At some
moments I’m reminded of some of the punk bands on the early Aberrant comps, but the
sound on this record is just so crappy (it's mostly stuff recorded on cassette at
practices and gigs) that it's just impossible to overcome. The equipment used to record
seems to be continually overdriven, so that the vocals and guitar are all broken up, and
since this was rather ranty stuff to begin with the end result is none too pretty. If
you're extremely tolerant of bad sound, you may find this a goldmine, 'cos these guys had
a kick like a mule, but otherwise I'd say look elsewhere.
THE SMELLY TONGUES
The Sound Of Slapping Skin (Waterfront)
For those of you who hoped against hope that maybe 5% of the brilliance of the Eastern
Dark could be attributed to their bass player Bill Gibson and not to James Darroch, whose
death in a car wreck is a lot more serious a rock and roll disaster than that of Elvis in
my book, this record is here to allow this run-on sentence to tell you that your hopes
have no foundation. Gibson didn't have much to do with writing any of this (and he should
be happy to be able to say it). Most of these songs are sloppy and disorganized, and they
don't even have the character to be obnoxious or rude like King Snake Roost or Lubricated
Goat. The players can obviously play; they just choose to play sequences that are almost
deliberately bad. When a band such as Mission of Burma makes a chord change different from
what you expect, they tend to chose a chord that still makes some sense musically. This
music also makes strange chord changes, but the chord progressions seem to be chosen at
random. It's the old monkey typing MacBeth routine. Only it's in reverse, the human making
monkey scrawl. Which is a lot easier but produces much worse results.
Editorial note:
the above review was written in the late 1980s - in the fall of 2003 Bill
Gibson and I happened to both be members of the Divine Rites e-mail group
on the Internet, and Gibson let on how he'd been fuming for the last 15
years over the way this review disparaged his contributions to the Eastern
Dark. I'd completely forgotten about what I'd said - reading it now
I see that it's not one of my prouder moments as a writer. What I
intended to express was my significant disappointment that the Smelly
Tongues were not even trying to follow in the footsteps of Gibson's prior
band, but that's obviously not how this reads at all. Gibson himself
had this to say about the record: "I was never entirely convinced by what
we were doing, either, and I'd agree with most of what was written in the
review. And frankly, we got a lot worse reviews than that. (How about one
in Juke that began "God, but this is awful!"?) But there was no common
thread (other than myself) between the Tongues and the Dark, and the two
bands should not have been compared to each other in that way." So
it wasn't my disliking the record he objected to - it was the line about
"5% of the brilliance" that angered him, and fairly so. I'm leaving
the review as it is because the intent is to reproduce what I wrote in the
print Noise For Heroes, but I need to be explicit that if I could retract
that line, I would do so. All I can say is that it's not easy
to review hundreds of records and never pen a careless phrase, and the bad
thing is there's probably many more like it in these pages.
THE SMELLY TONGUES
Pickle (Waterfront)
Smelly Tongues are a very annoying band to review. The reviewer, of course, would like
them to sound like the speed pop of Eastern Dark, since their bass player came from the
wreckage (literally) of that band. But they don't (sound like that). They sound like they
ought to be called a noise band, but they aren't really very noisy...they're almost an
improvisational jazz band. They can play some stuff that's totally unharmonious, but
within the dischord there are vocal harmonies that have the sort of precision that a real
noise band would never worry about. The guitars are also recorded real clean with no
distortion. They write songs like "Bloodsport" that can't be deciphered and
leave cryptic liner notes telling journalists to ready their poisoned pens (or their
carcinogenic keyboards, in my case). The bottom line is that they haven't really got me
worked up enough to be poisonous, just bored enough to go onto a better record.
THE SOMELOVES
Something Or Other (White Label)
It's been pretty thin going for fans of the Stems' headman Dom Mariani lately. But now
there's a full length Somelove's lp that'll content those who liked the poppier side of
the Stems. Gone are the garage/psych roots and the raw edges the Stems used so well, but
in their place is first class innocent boy/girl power pop. For those who've written
letters asking me not to ignore this sort of thing in favor of all the noise/grunge stuff,
here's your cue...if you like stuff like Let's Active, well, this is a lot better than
Let's Active, I'd say. Main reason is the guitar sound. Mariani and his buddy Darryl
Mather know how to make pop songs with guitar punch, and though it's a softer punch here
than the Stems used, they still do a great job of filling all the cracks between vocal
bits with tasty leads. I like side two better as it's more rocking with tracks like
"I Didn't Mean That" and "Little Town Crier". If you're in the mood
for a record to break the pace of the hard edged stuff, this is a great way to do it. Get
it through Augogo. Oh, yeah, good chance of a Dom Mariani feature in NFH#20.
THE SOMELOVES
Sunshine's Glove (White)
I guess this is supposed to be a CD single, but it's got 6 tracks on it and only two are
from the Something Or Other lp, so it counts as a mini-lp to me. It's more of that
great power pop that Dom Mariani and Darryl Mather have been doing so well since the Stems
split. This is real sweet sounding stuff for the most part, and the Someloves manage to
walk the tightrope as close to the point of being too lush without going over it as any
power pop band I've ever heard. The drums have a good crackle to them and the music
maintains a good feeling of energy while the singing is super smooth. Of the new songs,
"Jack Robinson" is a particularly worthy one, but "Don't Have To Try"
is no slouch, either. Only "For The Very Last Time" mellows out too much for
me...the rest is spot on.
THE SPACE JUNIORS
Juniorville
Goddamn! I wasn't too impressed by "Skatin' Down The Boulevard" on the Swinging
From The Trees compilation; it turns out that is the only weak track on this 7 track
Aussie release. It leads with a drum bit that goes straight to the hall of fame on
"Scratchin'", and it would be worth having for that even if the rest of it was
pure shit. Which it isn't...this stuff fairly leaps out of the grooves and pulverizes you
with frantic tempos, roaring guitars, bludgeoning drums and a hook a minute on songs that
don't last a hell of a lot more than that. The power this thing packs reminds me of the
Angry Samoans' Inside My Brain ep from the early 80s. Makes the Hard-ons sound like
the Eagles. There's not much to the lyrics, but that won't bother you one bit.
Guaran-damn-tee it.
THE SPACE JUNIORS
Zoogan! (Juniorville)
This record contains some of the most childish, foolish, amateur hour level rock and roll
I've heard since...well, since the last record by Sydney's Space Juniors. It's also
brilliant. Anybody who sees the beauty and simplicity in early Ramones stuff like
"Pinhead" has got to fall for this record. The Space Juniors play a little
faster than early Ramones; after all hardcore has been around since then and the Juniors
have taken some good lessons from it, but like the Ramones they seem to remember that
hooks are crucial along with the speed, and they come up with some great, but at the same
time impressively simple, pop structures. Which they proceed to turbocharge the living
be-jesus out of. The lyrics are so silly that it's hard to figure out how anybody could
possibly have come up with them. Take "Munchin'" for example. The lyrics consist
wholly of combinations of the lines:
I'm just munchin'
on my exhaust pipe
I'm just chewin' on carbon monoxide
I know this guy called Horatio
No relation to Antonio
This is about average
level of depth for the rest of the material. But like the early Ramones stuff, the music
is such a blast that not only are the silly words not at all embarrassing; they actually
seem to be the right words to be singing. The songs feature pummeling drums and ripping
guitar chords, and a great vocal job that reminds me of Joey Ramone on steroids. The 14
songs average well under two minutes each, and as a result the record is cut at 45 rpm,
which gives it a huge, bright sound, as if you needed anything more to drill this stuff
into all the dark corners of your cranium. If you aren't dead, this record can't miss.
THE SPIKES
Colour In A Black Forest (Greasy Pop)
Seems like every time Doug Thomas sends me news about Greasy Pop he bugs me about whether
I've gotten my act together and picked up a copy of Colour In A Black Forest. Well,
I've done it, and here, 4 years late, is the verdict. Doug is right, it's great, I
should've listened and I'm sorry. But it's SO much better than the "Bloody Mess"
single or the Six Sharp Cuts mlp that I think I must be forgiven. There's a great
deal of variety in the stuff here and a crackling sharp production that feels live but
doesn't show any sloppiness at all. Little of it goes beyond mid tempo, but like the
Lizard Train or Died Pretty, the Spikes have managed to build a powerful impact without
playing fast. Check out the dynamics of "Leningrad", which starts with a real
calm intro and builds, ebbs, builds again, and then hammers you with a wild chorus...best
singing I've heard from Ian List, a fellow with a pretty good resume as a vocalist. Or
"She's Melting", which has these vocal bits sung over tapping on the high hat
interleaved with some crunching guitar parts. Heavy duty! The only songs I DON'T think are
exceptional are "Katrina", a rather maudlin acoustic bit, and "Give Me
Everything", where the chord progressions just don't seem to work. But between these
I count all nine other tracks as being great and as this is likely to be the last time a
review bothers you about this record, I suggest you don't miss the chance!
THE SPIKES
Colour In A Black Forest/6 Sharp Cuts and More CD (Greasy Pop)
I'm convinced that Doug Thomas put this out on a CD just so he could prove me wrong when I
reviewed the lp of Colour In A Black Forest a while back and said it would probably
be the last time anybody reviewed it. He made a point out of this when he sent me this
cool CD, which includes the whole of Black Forest, the 6 Sharp Cuts mini lp,
and 3 other tracks. The Black Forest stuff is the primo material...a set of 11
highly varied songs that all pack a good punch without being straight on rockers. It's
music that uses space and dynamics...check out "She's Melting" for an example of
that; it goes from a vocals and high hat only bit to a crunching guitar/drums part and
then blasts into a chorus part with vocals and full band together. It's worth it to hear
on CD, too; these kinds of songs benefit well from the absence of background noise. The Sharp
Cuts material isn't produced quite so well and doesn't have quite the impact of the Black
Forest material, but this CD is still a good value with 75 minutes of music on it, and
a lot of it great music at that.
SPLATTERHEADS
Ink Of A Mad Man's Pen (Waterfront)
Although they also trade in Aussified Detroit metal, Sydney's Splatterhead's (they’ve
shortened the name from the Lompoc County Splatterheads they used for their first release)
have a fairly unique sound, due largely to the way they put their rough harmonies
together. Reminds me almost of Exene Cervenka and John Doe from X (LA's), even though here
it's two guys. The harmonies go together in a haphazard sort of way that makes it sound
almost like they're making up the vocal parts as they go along. This adds to the sense of
chaos that the record provides...the music is manic guitar stuff that doesn't short change
us on the hooks. The songs might not be as well put together as, say, the Horny Toads new
record (which makes a great companion on a cassette for the car!), but they have a higher
level of energy to make up for it. One of my favorite Aussie records this issue.
SPLATTERHEADS
Joined At The Head
The Splatterheads have been going for about 8 years now and are still hardly known
even within their home country of Australia. They had to go to Germany to get this CD
released. It’s a damned shame, since they have come closer to perfecting what fellow
Oz bands Bored, Hoss, God, Asteroid B-612 or the Powdermonkeys have tried to do than any
of them. Passionate, smokey vocals ride over a heavy power rock backing that somehow
avoids that grunge metal feel (occasionally running the speed up to hardcore tempos). On
slower songs they could be said to sound like Nirvana, but when they crank it up (as they
often do) for a track like "Shaken (Trouser Soup)", their own feel comes through
strong. The opening "Tired" has a great driving bass part that bursts into loud
chords at the end of each line of vocals. "Crunchy Bananas" will take you into
the mosh pit and thrash you severely. "Mine Field" and "Apes In A
Cage" make you wonder why Sub Pop hasn’t signed up this band. A mixed batch, but
really well done.
SPUNKBUBBLES
Speak Lebanese Or Die (Waterfront)
The title refers to the "speak English or die" slogans painted on walls around
Sydney by various white-supremacist types in resentment of people of non-anglo background.
The album is quite a surprise to me at any rate; I thought their "Metal Wench"
45 was immature and metal-sounding. This lp is immature and punk-sounding, and that makes
all the difference. The opening "Spunkbubbles" theme is a hellacious blast with
everybody singing together ala Angelic Upstarts, a mode of operation they carry on with
great success on all the rest of the choruses. "Tonight" is another super hit; a
furious pace but a great hook chorus with the background "oh-ohs" that make the
difference between songs like the Buzzcocks used to do and some generic punk band.
Of course it isn't
all perfect; a lot of the lyrics are in the same vein as some of the dumber Hard-ons songs
(which makes some degree of sense since these guys are great friends of the Hard-ons and
apparently look to them for a lot of their inspiration, if that's the right term). But the
teachers could learn a few lessons from the pupils in this case, because one of the things
that makes Spunkbubbles hardcore fun to listen too is that it doesn't have a lot of the
excessive guitar bits, but instead works with a more basic, stripped down approach. Good
debut; let's see what they come up with next.
THE STEMS
Love Will Grow (Citadel)
This one came out after the first two singles, and you can hear the band transitioning
from the real hard garagey pop of those records to their subsequent smoother pop sound.
The production on this record is really bright, with ringing guitar chords and tight
harmonized vocals...imagine the Byrds doing "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" in a
1980s recording studio and you have an idea of "Love Will Grow" (which I swear
has a line that goes "Howard says our love will grow"). "Under Your
Mushroom" brings out the keyboards and gets back more of that "Tears Me In
Two" feeling. "Just Ain't Enough" is more of the same; really trashy 60s
garage band stuff. I feel like going and watching reruns of Man From U.N.C.L.E. right now!
THE STEMS
