Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 19, 1991, edition 1 / Page 10
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Page 4 DTII Omnibus Thursday September 19, 1991 AHPf Listen to Wonderstuff once before The Wonderstuff Never Loved Elvis Polydor 12 'm looking on the bright side I wear it like a bruise I've never loved Elvis And I've never sung the blues" Statements like this are noth ing new for Wonderstuff Icadman Miles Hunt. Throughout their three album file, The Wonderstuff has never proved to be very keen to the retro culture of the Presleys, Lennons and others who still infiltrate our "mod ern rock" culture (just listen to the La's and Dread Zeppelin if you don't believe me). The Wonderstuff continues to look forward rather than backward, trying to break as much new ground as pos sible. Granted, because they too are deeply rixned in the sort of generic post-modern twang and rapid-fire trippy guitars that continue to thrive and surround the larger poprock scene, The Wonderstuff may be lim ited in their groundbreaking possi bilities. But their new Polydor LP, Never Loved Elvis, is a most mature step in a new direction more pol ished production, more elaborate, if not complex, song structures and a more diverse orchestration of indi vidual songs as compared to the last two LP's, the up-tempo polyester grooves of Eight-Legged Groove Ma chine and the explosive cosmic pop angst on Hu. Music that will make your The Candy Skins Space I'm In David Geffen Company The Candy Skins are the lat est addition to what might be called the third or fourth British Invasion. The first Invasion included the likes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones; the second, the Who and Led Zeppe lin. If the 1980s saw an Invasion, it consisted mainly of Phil Collins. Today's invasion is just like those gone before: it has an immediately recognizable, distinct sound. The new wave layers progressive guitar over a I OMNIBUS L Charles Marshall Never Loved Elvis kicks off with a slow, mellow feel on "Mission Drive," as the acoust ic gu i tars wh isper through intertwining blues riffs that gives the British band adrivin'n'cryintypeaura. But the restless, urgent power pop that is so prevalent and so crucial to The Wondcrstuffs appeal breaks through in mid-song, as the tempo accelerates into overdrive and the rhythm section races past the wah wah cry of the guitars. The faster, overbearing rock style continues onto the next song, "Play," which, despite Hunt's arrogant de nial in the liner notes, is very Morrissey-csque. It is also present on "False Start," a brief metallic clamor that serves as a strange introduction for "Welcome to the Cheap Seats," a polka-flavored folk-rock tirade that finally brings the rustic, folksy ele ments of The Wonderstuff to the fore front. Previously, the violins, accor dions and other backing instruments added a woodsy flavor to the other wise seemingly generic pop numbers. This time, the string sections help command the rhythm section more forcefully on almost all of the tracks. "Donation" is the most Manchester-like bass-heavy songonthcrecord. The guitars wail appropriately behind Hunt's dour and rather helpless lyr ics: "It's uglyand it's desperateand it's deserving if it's rotto separate those who have and have not." Again, despite Hunt's denial, the song al Matt Morgan snappy disco beat. Among today's invaders are the Stone Roses, Jesus Jones, Charlatans UK, EMF and, po tentially, the Candy Skins. But you can forget the "Right Here, Right Now" gang and that "Unbe lievable" "band." The listener will find no hair-in-thc-face with the Candy Sk ins, and no keyboardist who hits a note after thrashing for five minutes. The Candy Skins, hailing from London rather than Manches ter, share only two things with their fellow Brit-bands on their debut al bum, Space I'm In: timing and one song. ludes all too indiscreetly about church and state. As the songwriting matures and the rugged diversity of the songs con tinue to impress throughout the al bum, Hunt's unpolished prose remains a debatable issue. At first, one sees in Hunt the rest less, streetwise poet who cares little forcraft and a lot for content. But one has to wonder about overkill an bla tancy in his word choices. In "Maybe," Hunt attempts to write a kind of acoustic-based personal bio where he wrestles with the age-old fork-in-the-road identity crisis of youth. But is he not pushing it with statements like "Maybe I should take the micstand up tall like Michael Stipeand try to solve the problems of the earth." To be honest, however, such blatant name-dropping and contemporary allusions to rock culture are all too typical in Britain's most popular pop rock bands. Just ask Morrissey about the Krays, Piccadilly Square, Strangeways and the Manchester murders. The clever soundbites that have cluttered all of The Wondcrstuffs album are no doubt still present here, helping them retain their off the cuff spontaneity. "Hurry! time is running out we've all got to do something crazy before we die," is the phone-call intra into "Sleep Alone." This ballad makes a rather admirable attempt at slow-paced pop especially for a band who you can tell really has to make a concerted effort to slow it down from the adrenaline-based ragged rock style that seems to be their most natural musical state. But it's these slower, tuneful melo- The Candy Skins attempt the Manchcstersound-alikesong with the opening of the LP, presumably to get it out of the way. "So Easy" (not a G n' R remake) finds the Skins grinding their guitars and skipping along to the disco beat. Obviously, nobody told them that it's bad strategy to put your worst song at the front of the disc. But for all the EMF posing in "So Easy," the Skins show that their dif ference lies in their lyrics. Space I'm In has a recurring theme of surreal looks at feelings of attraction. Lead vocalist Nick Cope's dreamy drone and the spacey lyrics combine to set the pace for the rest of the album. Ditching the Manchester sound, the Skins move straight to the rock beat with "Submarine Song." Setting another style precedent, the Skins add an anthem-like sound to the gui tar melody. Although this song is the only real rocker, a distinct and pre dominant guitar line flows through the remaining pop songs. After the first two songs, the Skins begin their typical sound. Pop melo dies and a beat with strong electric and acoustic guitar solos support and power the songs and carry the listener along. The melodies are distinct .enough to be.mcmorable,.and excit-. dies like "38 Line Poem" and "Here Comes Everyone," which, despitecli mactic endings and choruses, lend so muchcredibility to The Wondcrstuffs new, more carefully crafted melodic styles. "Size of A Cow" and "Caught in my Shadow," are the two biggies on the album, at least for college radio. Both are available on CD singles and "Size of aCow," contains a great acous tic version of "Maybe." If you've never heard the Hoodoo Gurus, "Grotesque" is practically a rip off of the ir sweetened angst-dri ven pop, and if you haven't heard much of epidermis tingle ing enough to soar. Accompanied by Nick Burton's rollicking guitar lines, Cope provides intelligent lyrics and dreamy vocals. Mark Cope's rhythm guitar and simple but strong bass lines and John Halliday's pop drum poundings com plete the package. "Black and Blue" opens acousti cally, moving through whimsicalgui tar fi Us to the poprock rhythm. Cope mixes global concern with a budding relationship (if you can imagine such a thing), but returns this positive out look and feeling to the listener: there are just as many good things as bad in life. "In this world ... there's so much to see The sun going down and the spread of disease." The Skins expose their theme of personal attraction and unrequited love with "Never Will Forget You," the first love song on the LP. The Skins sound quite a bit like the Hoodoo Gurus' pop attempts here: a strong mix of pop and rock. That strong mixture happens to provide the overwhelming majority of the LP. "Freedom Bus," "Without Love" and "Third World Blues" are slight exceptions. In these songs, the Skins emphasize a poppy acoustic . sound, forgoing the individual guitar . you die w filiSiil the Inspiral Carpets (though you're not missing much), check out the eighth track, "Inertia." But despite the fact that they can replicate a lot of earlier pop styles so well, it must be noted that The Wonderstuff catalog is full of songs that sound a bit like so many different bands. It makes them that much more interesting and hun dreds of times as entertaining as most of their recycled, pre-processed Brit ish counterparts. If their tour reaches the States (supposedly this month), it should once again give American bands something else to keep up with. solos that move the rest of the LP. The change is pleasant, but these songs don't seem to weigh in with the others. Perhaps the most "original" idea on the disc is sampling the beat and Jaggershriekfrom the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" for their remake of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth." The combination gives the song a much needed facelift, speeding it along and lending a jazzy feel. The Candy Skins' first major ef fort wins four blobs for its refreshing synthesis of pop and rock. This com bination is by no means original, but it is too often ignored by the record ing industry. The Candy Skins do well to leave the Manchester sound to their peers, and they set down some tracks that every listener needs to hear. Buy the disc and play it loud. forget it wait for a bargain bin buy tape it from a friend buy it buy two copies
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 19, 1991, edition 1
10
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