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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 1986)
NEW MUSIC Vital sounds brew underground Across America and the world, vibrant, vital sounds are brewing underground waiting to be discovered. Some bands are lucky to be signed to scrappy indepen dent labels like Homestead Records or Twin lone. Utners like Seattle s Young Fresh Fellows release music on their own vanity labels and tour, gamely trying to promote their records. Instead of bemoaning the paucity of good music, the potentially adventurous are encouraged to seek out these sounds. Whereas in the sixties, groundbreaking music could be heard on even top 40 radio, today's adventure has to be actively sought out on the left side of the FM dial and in challenging record stores. Pere Ubu (Cleveland) Terminal Tower. An Archival Collection (Twin Tone) Patrick Low (PL) — For the uninitiated, this collection of non-LP releases is a great introduc tion to the eccentric and disturbing music of this sorely underrated group. Pere Ubu is the only band that matches XTC and Talking Heads for melodic inventiveness, and they play better guitar, too. Paul Sturt* (PS) — Jagged, intense art-rock with a healthy sprinkling of fun. A revelation of great things that happened in 1970s Midwest. Translator (San Francisco) Evening Of The Harvest (415 Records, Columbia) PL — An album only brain-damaged acid heads still locked in a Sixties time-warp can listen to without wincing. For everyone else, if these insipid folk-rock melodies don’t make you nauseous, the lyrics will. PS — 1 like the album cover better than the record. After the opening track, "Standing in Line,’’ a harmonica-charged romper, it’s downhill to a homogenized soundscape of nondescript ballads and aimless Moody Blues ri Doffs. Young Fresh Fellows Topsy Turvy (Popllama Products) PL — Four lovable misfits from Seattle, Wa., redefine country, blues, punk and Sixties pop with outrageous verve and goofiness. Main songwriter Scott McCaughey may write mostly for laughs, but he's also capable of tossing out an absolute classic like "The New John Agar" when the mood is right. Topsy Turvy is as irresistible as it is frivolous. PS — Like falling in love, I played this record non-stop for two weeks trying to permanently ab sorb the.sense of fun, spontaneity and energy that bursts out of songs like "Searching U.S.A" and "Where is Groovy Town?” Distributed by Park Avenue Records. P.O. Box 19479. Seattle, WA 98109. Salem 66 (Boston) A Ripping Spin (Homestead) PL — Judy Grunwald is one of those rare natural singers who can convey passion and sincerity without resorting to any vocal acrobatics. The songs which her gorgeous voice embellishes on this album are equally powerful and unpretentious, performed only with guitars, bass and drums. This is a remarkably fine album that simply oozes feeling. Hoodoo Gurus (Australia) Mars Needs Guitars! (Big Time) PS — Big boom modern garage. Sometimes their stoneage jungle-rock imagery overwhelms their often transcendent songwriting. Violent Femmes (Milwaukee) The Blind Leading The Naked (Slash) PL — An album that proves more is not always better. With almost four times more musi cians on "Blind'' than their classic debut, the Femmes have somehow been reduced to a tenth of their former glory. Several tunes here sizzle, notably "Old Mother Reagan," "Heartache" and "No Killing." but elsewhere the bund sounds like a bad parody of themselves. Producer Jerry Har rison has committed the unforgivable crime of smoothing out Brian Ritchie's snarling bass into a tepid rumble. But what's even more disappoin ting is that Gordon Gano doesn’t even play one of his wildly chaotic guitar solos. Sometimes you can't even get what you need. Public Image Limited (Fngland) Album (Electra) Pl. — His Royal Beastliness, |ohn l.ydon. has finally found himself the perfect producer in Bill Laswell. Las well has rounded up for this project some of the most ferocious players in the rock biz to create a wall of fire-breathing sound to envelop I.ydon’s manic vocals. Side one of the album con tains probably the finest I’ll, songs ever penned Unfortunately, side two suffers from a touch of monotony. Still it's highly recommended —■ but not for the faint-hearted. Fine Young Cannibals (England) Fine Young Cannibals (IRS) PL — With this amazing album. Fine Young Cannibals have created a totally new hybrid sound that combines techno-pop. soul and jazz. Yet their approach is so obvious you wonder why nobody ever thought of it before. The melodies here are so juicy you'll still taste them long after the turntable shuts off. PS — Silky, soulful, propulsive pop featur ing one of our era's more distinctive voicus. a black Englishman aptly named Roland Gift who has teamed with two English Heat alumni. An outstanding if sometimes homogeneous debut. Celibate Rifles (Australia) Quintessentially Yours (What Coes On, Dutch East India) PS — A raveup of a record — listening to this might inspire thousands of Americans to buy one way tickets to Sydney. The Stooges and Radio Bird man taken to the nth degree. Sonics (Seattle) Full Force Compilation (Etiquette) PS — Music for spastic dancing in public and private. Gerry Roslie and his buddies started playing in high school in about 1963 and within two years were the pre-eminent garage band in the Northwest. If you thought the Kinsmen's "Louie, l.ouie" was crude, you won't believe the Sonics' ferocious version. One gets to wondering how they were doing this while the Beatles were playing “She Loves You." The Sonics knew throe chords but they did them better than anyone before them or since. 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