MUSIC
v SINGLES '
I Julia Fordham: Girlfriend (Circa) Someone. somewhere. must actually like Julia Fordham. and if lever find out who it is] will quite cheerfully dismember them with my bare hands in front oftheir children for providing the excuse for inflicting her marginal talent on us. PoorJulia. she always looks so pained. yet so dignified. forever extending that long. exquisitely white neck in publicin photographs and rather desperately claiming to be a woman of the 80s. llerlatest offering is just as oppressively boring and polite as ever: ‘Don't tell your girlfriend about me' she whimpers. Woman ofthe 50s. more like. I bet she eats Lean Cuisine. (AB)
I Sugar Bullet: World Peace (Virgin) lt's unfair to expect to be blown away by a new strand of Caledonian hip hop. especially since anyone set up as ‘the pioneers ofa new sound' invariably disappoints. Sugar Bullet. though. like The Chimes. are gearing up to compete on an international level. and although ‘World Peace‘ doesn’t really pack the clout one hopes for in so keenly-awaited a debut. the cure is to play the record enough. and let the reggae/hip hop beat worm its way in. Among other things. it also opens the can of worms that the universally-ignored Lip Machine might have been astutely ahead oftheir time. (AM)
I My Jealous Cod: Everything AboutYou (Rough Trade) l‘m reluctant to label this lot ‘indie crossover‘ on the basis ofthis one song (dubioust vaunted as ‘the most important Rough Trade release since “This Charming Man'”). but it‘s a convenient way to encapsulate the infectious combination ofclassie pop hookline and upfront wah-wah guitar. Heard it all before. but then originality isn‘t everything. Just look at The Charlatans. (FS) IWhere's The Beach: Suakin (Mantra) Where's The Beach are part ofthe so-called ‘Liverpool Renaissance’ and on the strength ofthis. theirfirst single. look set to be the Scouse answer to 808 State. Islamic chantingis laced irresistibly around a female vocalist intoning over an electro-pop beat. in a fashion not a thousand times removed from The Beloved‘s ‘Sun Rising‘. But the transience ofthe whole thing is arrested by an insistent piano and bass-line. nailing this track firmly to the dancefloor. (PS)
I
l
ROCK 33 JAZZ 36 FOLK 37 CLASSICAL 39
MUSlcm LISTINGS
V ROCK
Impossible dream
Right now, you should be hearing the j summery sounds ol The lmpossibles‘ i debut, ‘liow Do You Do lt’ (Fontana). , Chirpy as only classic pop can be, and 2 using two lines pinched from Gerry and The Pacemakers as an opening gambit, it’s the work ol Mags and Lucy, Halilax '
- dwellers who moved to Scotland to
l l I study and make music. i The fact that they attend separate l universities (Mags has just completed her first year at Glasgow, Lucy her second at Edinburgh) doesn't worry I them, but when you consider that the j bassist and drummer that make up I their occasional live band stay in Belfast, when one at them isn’t in Middlesborough, it sounds like a
V JAZZ
Just as in hard bop, however, a new
generation of young players emerged against the odds to augment the pool at older masters. Mainstream jazz is a loose description, but the music is located somewhere between the traditional virtues of the New Orleans style and the new harmonic and rhythmic concept ushered in with bebop. it takes its cue lrom the classic Swing band music oi the 1930s, translated into small group format, and makes a virtue of swinging rhythms, clean phrasing, harmonic invention and melodic beauty.
The Concord record label has been a
locus for much ot this activity, and the Edinburgh lntemational Jazz Festival
potentially chaotic situation.
At the moment, their studies take precedence —the release of ‘liow Do You Do lt’ was delayed to avoid clashing with their exams - and they’ve laced little pressure to be marketed as ‘two cute girlies'.
‘We're two rough louts!’ says Mags. _
‘We’ve just had a discussion about videos. They wanted us to have this dog that would appear and disappear and do magic tricks, and we told them how we actually wanted to be portrayed. I think we've got a lot of control over how we’re presented, and I hope we can keep that throughout.’ (Alastair Mabbott)
Fording the mainstream
The remarkable revival in mainstream jazz in America in the 1970s and 19803 lollowed a period when the music seemed to be dying on its leet, swept aside by the fashionable liking lor lusion and jazz-rock, the wild maelstrom ol tree jazz, orthe tenacious but equally threatened hard bop.
has supported many at its artists over the years, young and old. That trend continues this year when saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Peplowski makes his EIJF debut, but we can catch an early llavour ol this very highly-rated player at the Edinburgh Jan Club, .when he takes the stage with the Brian Kellock Trio.
A native at Cleveland, Ohio, but based in New York since 1980, Peplowski has three albums to his credit on Concord, and has played with a long string at the major names in the field, as well as testing the water in more modern idioms, from lusion to avant-garde. A virtuoso instrumentalist with a sharp musical intelligence, Peplowski’s presence is eagerly awaited. Anyone who enjoys the work of the likes oi Warren Vache or Scott Hamilton should on no account miss the saxophonist. (Kenny Mathieson)
Ken Peplowski, Edinburgh Jan Club, Tartan Club, 26 July, 8.30pm.
Field of dreams
Alastair Mabbott previews A Day for Scofland
On 14July 1990, it won't be the bodies of Edward II's soldiers that litter the countryside around Stirling, but travellers come from north and south to enjoy A Day for Scotland. a festival which, while following close on the heels of'I‘he Big Day. embodies quite a different philosophy.
Set up by Stirling District Council. the STUC and Regular Music. and billed as a celebration of ‘all that is good about living in Scotland‘. the event is an attempt to accommodate as many aspects ofScottish culture. and the ethnic communities within it, as is possible in one day. Marquees around the main arena will throb with music. theatre, comedy, exhibitions and various diversions for children, and the day will be rounded off with the obligatory evening concert, headlined by Hue and Cry and an acoustic Deacon
28 The List 13 — 26July 1990