MUSIC RECORD REVIEWS

mm- (the infamous MK) formulaic handbag

production? It is true to say, though,

. that the ruthless club nature of Let’s THE NIGHTCRAWLERS é Push Itseems far removed from his let’s P0817 "(Final Vinyl) more soulful work circa 1992.

Tracks such as ‘Should I Ever Fall In Love’, which contains lingering traces Reid doesn’t deserve to compete with of the classic ‘llelpless’ by Urbanized, the best of America’s 8&8. This is the remind you that this is a Final Vinyl man who only a couple of years ago release and has a quality Iovers’ dub seemed to be lacing the pop abyss club feel to it. The three successful straight in the kisser; his career in singles are backed up with another limbo, his love life tormented through ? couple of swell efforts in ‘llow U Make transatlantic trips away from long- Me Feel’ and the title track. The rest? : time girlfriend Mary Kiani. He’s been 5 Mainstream in the extreme. Gorecki it working up to this album for the best ain’t, but then it doesn’t pretend to be

I I Alastair Mabbott wakes up 5 i

for long enough to sort through the new releases. Time to welcome two Scots songsters back from the cold. Firstly. lloyd Cole. whose ‘Like Lovers Do' i (Mercury) sneaks out ahead of his new album sounding like the perfect generic Lloyd Cole song. He could have made the same record ten years ago. Perhaps you could say the same about Mike Scott‘s debut solo single. ‘Bring ‘Em All ln‘

It’s not as if The llightcrawlers’ John

'.

(Chrysalis). but it emerges ' part 01.3 “903‘”, so Who am we to j - this is lUSt one Glaswegian 9‘” from somewhere deeper and i I _ denv him his moment ot glory as he , pining for his girlfriend. (Philip comes at you with a t / 1 ; cashes in his chips to Mark Kitchen’s ) Dorward)

mantra-like directness. l was all ready to dismiss " Garbage‘s ‘Only Happy 1

E[EDIE— "°"‘°"""“"““'“'"‘°'” i (Mushroom) as Spitting % l claustrophobic.

l These are songs made in takes rather

Intrigc's notion of

‘alternative rock‘. but it OVERKILL than overdubbed layers - check the beats both of their (very I [m The 0,390,, (Gwen) : false start to ‘lleed Some Air’, the way “we” p'°"‘."”‘ menses by i the drums seem to speed up on ‘The “knowlc‘ig”‘g mm pose“ Break’ (’scuse me tornot checking it

are the” ‘0 had up songs‘ " You heard them on the soundtrack of with a metronome, talks), the not the other way around.

in time, PIease's peter , Pit/P Fictiun With their reverb-ladeii occasionally unfocused soloing and Bailey may come to regard i VBI’SiOD 0‘ Nell Dlamontl’s Flrl, You ll show a band not content to revere . ‘Ifl Was God’ (Sugar) as a : Be A Woman Soon’, filling in the , America’s great garage band tradition youthful folly you‘ve read i middle ground between Nick Cave and but eager to be included in its toll of the title. YOU don‘t used to ' Chris Isaak. Well, normal service has honour, “9‘” "‘6 “’"g r b‘" "‘° “"‘ been resumed. and the audience they 5 Add to that Urge Dverkill’s obvious

"Cedlcs'm'mc'rw I picked up with that epic track might 1 love of pop hooks to Ieaven their [21:6 $2:H:.Scc‘)'ld l be dismayed to find Urge Overkill , sometimes harrowing tales and you “infidds’us'mm yam, is. g revealed in their true glory: a lot havean album to stack beSIde The I me, all a wonderful thing i scuzzier, riffier and rougher than they 1 Flamin’ Groowes, Big Star-and current ' And when Domino Rally 1 probably imagined. The widescreen , standard-bearers The POSIes. (Alastair i sing about ‘Art School 5 ambience is gone, and in its place i Mabbott)

Cool' (Modern Independent). they know what they‘re talking about. having been through it

W ' Gerrard sounds like an insatiable culture vulture, pulling strands from

themselves. This limited- Arabic, Indian and Eastern European edition green Vinyl 7“) turns ; indigenous musical styles (although 0"! ‘0 be a week if Shell“ The Mirror Pool (4A0) almost every track is an original

jangle with Postcardy overtones. On the flip. however. we're confronted with guitar abuse and a grimly earnest tract. The | Gang Of Four‘s ‘Anthrax’ springs to mind. As does ‘ho’. And ‘hum‘.

No such indulgence for Meth 0.0.. whose ‘Cyberbilly' (Human Condition) wants to be a steamroller. ()r soliiething else very large and heavy that can roll over things it

composition) and manipulating her Lisa Gerrard is one half of the creative rich contralto voice with the dexterity nucleus of Dead Can Dance, 4AD’s of someone brought up singing each of most commercially successful act on those native styles. She casts her net a worldwide scale. But then Dead Can 3 wide. historically as we" as

Dance have an obvious pan-global geographically, With a CFYStal

appeal, using instruments and drawing rendition of Handel’s ‘Largo’ and with inspiration from every continent. The an abundance 0' PaCilic mantras

/, next time your favourite indie band which recall monastic chants

e ' talks about their diverse influences, 7 another Dead (Can Dance) giveaway. mail them this album because - Dead Overall, there’s not the dynamism of Can Dance fans will gladly note - it is Gerrard’s collaborative efforts but certainly within the same bracket as ; thrown into a world of Blur versus

doesn‘t like. Life is not a Dead Can Dance, only minus the , Oasis it’s in a classof its own. The bowl ofchemes for the soothing, plangent voice of Brendan sound of the suburbs it ain’t. (Fiona singer. whose snarl is Peny. i Shepherd)

overshadowed only by the lead guitar going hogwild in the middle of the first song. sum“: t, 7 I ‘So Long. Glasgow‘ Because New Order are gods and ' (Radar) bid NEW ORDER therefore not for our sport? Because

Unsophisticates on an remixin the tabl drab four is like ungainly EP that's a (The nest on New Order (london) coloufisging old ML“ and white films? 9

El‘thPaCk ‘0 “‘9 days “'hc” Because most of these remixes - save 4 indie meant odd stop-start

, . _ _. I , Why does this sound so cheap and K-Klass’s relaxed ‘Ruined In A Day’ nasty and downright naff? Because and Howie B’s empathetic-but- Singer from The it’s a forced marriage between ice- visionary ‘Age Of Consent’ - are t Nightingalcs_ This music cool pop alchemists (who never made exercises in grandstanding that are will be lucky to make it on their music with any heed paid to the more concerned with their own l to even night-time radio. so exigencies and stringencies of the vainglorious huffing and puffing (look get out there and 100k for it. charts, of concerts, of dancefloors, ot mum, no tune!) than they are with the

fashion, of time) and of-the-moment brilliant sparks that burn in each of remix gurus (who do)? Because the original songs. Because someone fllleting out of all but the key lines heard about the hideous Blondie remix

(‘every time I see you falling . . .’) or album and thought it was a good tweaking songs out past their natural template?

dynamic (eight minutes and wilting) is Because it just is, okay? (Craig gilding the lily to the point of McLean)

38 The List 8-21 Sept 1995