album sets out to prove that ADF are as volatile on record as they are live. At gigs, guitar and vocals man Chandrasonic has a habit of shouting out ’That’s 1,000 years of Asian punk for you’ and if you mixed in a little dub, a healthy dose of QUleSIIVET rapping and a huge quantity of attitude then you can see where he’s coming from. Confrontational, righteous and lyrical, ADF put the passion back into politics and make it sound like the best party you've ever been to. (IT)
JAZZ
Tubby Hayes Quintet
Down In the Village/Late Spot At Scott’s (Redail) at it sir «k
These mid-price reissues of two classic and long unavailable British jazz albums are the harbinger of a new series from Verve UK, under the Redail imprint. The vast Polygram holdings now include a stockpile of master tapes of such rarities (the originals change hands in vinyl form at astronomical prices), and they are now being exhumed for long overdue reissue. These bOp-rooted live albums, recorded at Ronnie Scott’s in May, 1962, feature the saxophonist alongsrde trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar and pianist Gordon Beck, and still sound great, with Down In The VII/age a marginal preference. More such goodies are promised, including much sought after Joe Harriott albums. (KM)
COUNTRY
Kieran Kane
Six Months, No Sun (Dead Reckoning) w it i: *-
Kieran Kane's return to the recording arena after a three year hiatus (mostly devoted to setting up and sorting out the Dead Reckoning label) has been worth the wait. Recorded more or less ’live’ in the studio for a genuine performance feel, it has a gritty, darker-hued atmosphere than some of his previous work, but the closely observed songwriting is every bit as sharp as usual, and Kane‘s earthy vocals and evocative fingerpicking are supported by some fine playing from various members of the Dead Reckoning crew. The exception is ’Hysteria', a co-write with Andy White recorded in an Irish castle. (KM)
FILM
Goran Bregovic Ederlezi (Mercury) w w 3?
Serbian Croat composer Goran Bregovic’s acclaimed film music translates a little uneasily to a purely aural medium at times on this intriguing disc of excerpts from five films, including his three collaborations with Emil Kusturica, and Patrice Chereau’s La Reine Margot. Bregovrc’s trademark fusion of forms is evrdent in all of them, from Balkan choirs and gyspy music through to swelling electronic textures, producing a strangely warped soundscape which is alternately haunting and disturbing, sentimental and surreal,
brooding and dramatic. Featured vocal spots for Iggy Pop and Scott Walker (as well as Ofra Haza and Cesaria Evora) might help persuade the curious to try out this curious concoction. (KM)
FOLK & WORLD Rob MacKillop
Flowers Of The Forest (Greentrax) ****
MacKillop has a passion for the plucked string instruments of Old Scotia, and lectures in lute and guitar at Edinburgh’s Napier University. Here he has recorded 26 tunes from the available sources (Wemyss, Straloch, Skene and Balcarres manuscripts in the main) on modern copies of seven, ten and eleven course lutes, Cittern, mandour and an original 18th century wire-strung ’guittar’. The tunes, which last from one to five minutes, have a track each, a doddle to find on CD, but perhaps difficult to keep track of on tape. Played solo, at mostly medium pace, they offer a cross-section of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries when those instruments were part of the fabric of Caledonian society. If the recorded performances perhaps lack poetry, they are nonetheless highly skilled and make the album a necessary addition to the collection of anyone interested in Scotland's diverse musical traditions. (NC)
David Allison
Acoustic Movies (Smiddymade)
* 1k 1k k
In contrast to Rob MacKillop's musical archaeology, TV reporter Allison has released a wholly contemporary Scottish guitar album. This, his third, was recorded in Los Angeles and Glasgow, and beats the imminent Battlefield Band CD to the post as the first Scottish acoustic music/folk album to include multimedia, including Video playable on a computer CD-ROM drive. Using a looping technique he, er, plays With himself, and, With sparse use of harmonica, percussion and keyboards, constructs rooms of sound that are nearer New Age than Scots traditional, more ambient than iazz ~- but original, engaging, emotionally eloquent and very, very well played. (NC)
Hamish MacGregor
Scottish Love Songs (Tartan Tapes)
a 3k 9:
The pseudonym of Edinburgh concertina player Simon Thoumire, Hamish MacGregor is a marketing monicker for his homespun record company’s albums of Scots music for the tartan market. Here he arranges a dozen weeI-kent songs (’My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose’, ’Ae Fond Kiss’, 'Ca The Yowes’, ’Will Ye No Come Back Again’) for half a dozen weel- kent Singers (Tam White, Sheena Wellington, Alan Reid, Rod Paterson, Corrina Hewat, Elspeth Come) in an acoustic neo-folk idiom, With instrumental input from high calibre players like Phil Bancroft, Kevin Mackenzie and Eilidh Shaw. But the results are mixed, occa5ionally mowng, and sometimes unpleasant. Still, it's better to have loved and lost,than never to . . . etc. (NC)
Spiritualized
The Abbey Road EP (Dedicated) w****
Featuring new arrangements of 'Come Together’ and ’Broken Heart', these are the first new recordings since the sessions for Ladies Arid Gentlemen and a means of showcasing the new line- up. ’Come Together’ is, if anything, more Wired than the original; Pierce’s vocal is higher in the mix, provrding a tense-sounding anchor around which the gurtar and horn storm rages. New material would have been cool, but this is simply fab. (PR)
Jack
Lolita EP (Too Pure) er fir iv it
A strung-out, string-laden thing from this bunch of doomed romantics, Who first emerged With a trio of cracking singles too redolent of red Wine and downers to succeed in the midst of the Britpop knees-up. Perhaps today’s glumrock context Will see Jack capture the public imagination. Certainly, the Lolita EP boasts the kind of moodiness that makes Tindersticks look like Hooch-SWigging goofhalls. (PR)
Hefner
Pull Yourself Together (Too Pure)
311' if 1?
Imagine The Velvets’ 'Beginning To See The Light’ With a vocal by a sarcastic Screamer Monkey Who’s been obsesswely listening to The Modern Lovers’ ’Roadrunner'. That's what ’Pull Yourself Together’ sounds like and it rocks, so there. Who needs sanity when you’ve got two chords and a Vision? (PR)
Black Box Recorder Child Psychology (Chrysalis) 1: 4r First ’Unsolved Child Murder’, now this. What is it with Luke Harries and kids? ’Child Psychology’ is a gunkly, minimalist tale of famin dysfunction, mixing up delicate gurtar notes With Sarah Nixey's exact tones. But the chorus, ’Life is unfair/Kill yourself or get over it’ suggests parody, a suspicion confirmed by the cover of Brel’s ’Seasons In The Sun’ — officially the most hackneyed stab at melancholy ever. Get thee to a nursery, Haines. Irony is so 1996. (PR)
Annie Christian looking for their prince
Annie Christian
Someday My Prince Will Come Again (V2) fr at *
Hurtling, energetic, Jerky indie rock from one of Edinburgh's most hotly tipped bands. Annie Christian, like IdIeWIld, strike a blow for lTIUSlC as ioyuous racket. But ’Someday My Prince Will Come Again’, With its shades of Teardrop Explodes, suggests a greater range to come. Keep the faith (PR)
Magicdrive
Bang 2 Rights (Fontana) hr * Magicdrive are right to attempt ’alrnost perfect pop’ — total perfection Will always elude them as their influences are all over the place. ’Bang 2 Rights’ is an exuberant and catchy little bugger, but it’s the additional tracks which raise Magicdrive’s game. Staccato rhythms, ohoes and handclaps make ’Thievmg Magpie' the best thing here. Flaws are cool. (PR)
Lo-Fi Elvis On Acid
My Plan To Be A Genius * r
Rarely does a band’s name so aptly capture their sound -‘ the tinny drums, fuzzy gunar and Vegas yelp conjuring images of the King releasing split singles With Blood Sausage on Wiiiia. Sadly, this has got ".vacky’ written all over it and is thus condemned to an eternity of Rag Weeks from which not even the rather nifty B-side remix can save it. Contact: Seminal Recordings, 82 Oswald Street, Falkirk, FKI lGL, 01324 623 666. (PR)
Parker
Wanna Get Into You fir 1r
Catchy white-boy soul—pop from meaningful-sounding Scots, Parker. Things start well with acoustic strumming and a spirited vocal, but go terribly wrong with a truly awful guitar solo. Adult with the emphasis on 'dull’. (PR)
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE:
Norman Chalmers, Roger Evans, Kenny Mathieson, Craig Reece, Peter Ross, Fiona Shepherd, Lawrie Thomas, Jonathan Trew
STAR RATINGS * i: t at x Unmissable * ‘k * it Very ood t * * Wort a shot * * Below average * You’ve been warned
14—28 May 1998 THE usr 47