18th September 1982, price 35p
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Sounds 18th September 1982, price 35p |
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| Page 1 · Pages 2 & 3 · Page 6 & 7 · Page 8 & 9 · Pages 12 & 13 · Pages 30 & 31 · Pages 34 & 35 · Pages 54 & 55 · Page 56 · Page 62 |
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Front Cover
BUDGIE · LEMMY AND WENDY · GUN CLUB BIG COUNTRY · TIK AND TOK · FANZINES GRANDMASTER FLASH · KRAUT · FUTURAMA Features a large picture of Matt Johnson of The The. REPEAT PERFORMANCE The The, page 12 |
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Pages 2 & 3
Siouxie's Slow dive SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES* (left), whose appearance at the Elephant Fayre in Cornwall in July was rumoured to be their last gig for some time because of Siouxsie's throat problems, have now lined up a British tour for September! Anxiety about Siouxsie's voice, which caused a series of gig cancellations earlier in the summer in Europe, is now receding following a visit to a London specialist. "I was told in May to rest for six months," Siouxsie said last week, "and we've only played a handful of shows since then so you could say that I have infact rested for almost that long, apart from studio work." Bassist Steve Severin added: "All through the summer we've been trying to find a location in London for a 'special event' such as the Elephant Fayre but we've been frustrated by regulations from the Greater London Council and Park Commissionaires. I'm sure we'll have better luck next year but in the meantime we have a dozen new songs which we are all anxious to get out and play." The band have a new single called 'Slowdive' released by Polydor on October 1 and a new album should be out in time for the tour but there are no details as yet. The tour begins at Birmingham Odeon on November 13 and then moves to Glasgow Apollo 15, Edinburgh Playhouse 16, Scarborough Futurist Theatre 18-19, Manchester Apollo 21-22, Southampton Gaumont 24-25, London Hammersmith 28-29. Tickets are and £4.00 and £3.50 everywhere except Glasgow which is £3.00 and London which is £4.00 only. * Siouxie And The Banshees appeared with Big Country on the same episode of Channel 4's "Wired" on 17th August 1988. Bauhaus uncovered BAUHAUS, who release a new album and single at the beginning of October, have lined up a British tour to coincide. The single comes out on October 1 on Beggars Banquet called 'Covers'. The seven-inch version is a double A-side featuring David Bowie's* 'Ziggy Stardust' and Eno's 'Third Uncle' while the 12-inch version will also have Lou Reed's 'Waiting For The Man' (featuring Peter Murphy and Nico on vocals) and a band song 'Party Of The First Part'. There are no details about the album as yet. The tour opens at Brighton Dome on October 9 and then moves to Bristol Locarno 10, Norwich East Anglia University 13, London Lyceum 14, Aylesbury Friars 16, Portsmouth Guildhall 17, Guildford Civic Hall 18, Nottingham Rock City 19, London Lyceum 21, Salford University 22, Birmingham Odeon 23, Stoke Victoria Halls 24, Liverpool University 26, Leicester De Montfort Hall 27, Coventry University (that's presumably Warwick University) 28, Sheffield Lyceum 29, Leeds University 30. * Big Country supported David Bowie on his 'Glass Spiders' tour in June 1987. Chrissie unchained THE PRETENDERS* release a new single on Real Records on September 24. It's called 'Back On The Chain Gang' and, as previously revealed in Sounds, Chrissie Hynde (above) and drummer Martin Chambers are joined by guitarist Billy Bremner who was previously with Rockpile and Big Country bassist Tony Butler. But it's stressed that this is a one-off arrangement and the remaining half of the band are now seeking permanent replacements following the death of guitarist James Honeyman Scott and the departure of bassist Pete Farndon. But there are plans to record an album before the end of the year play British dates in 1982. * Tony Butler was offered the role of bassist in The Pretenders but opted to stay with Big Country. |
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Pages 6 & 7
Page 7 - Full page advert for: Ultravox Reap The Wild Wind New single available on the Chrysalis label Produced by George Martin Engineered by Geoff Emerick* 7" CHS 2369 & 12" CHS 12 2369 * Geoff Emerick produced the 'Restless Natives' tracks on the b-sides of the singles 'Look Away' & 'The Teacher'. Mark Brzezicki also played drums on several Ultravox releases in later years. |
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Pages 8 & 9
Page 9 - Full page advert for: The Stranglers The Collection 1977-1982 An album or cassette featuring the best from The Stranglers: (Get a) grip (on Yourself) Peaches Hanging Around No More Heroes Duchess Walk On By Waltzinblack ———————————— Something Better Change Nice 'N' Sleazy Bear Cage Who Wants The World Golden Brown Strange Little Girl La Folie LBG 3053 AVAILABLE ON CASSETTE Big Country supported The Stranglers in August 1983. |
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Page 13
Vertical half-page advert for: BIG COUNTRY new single HARVEST HOME Count 1 |
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Pages 26 & 27
Full page advert for: 'NEW GOLD DREAM (81-82-83-84)' ALBUM OR CASSETTE ONLY £4.29 SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY Virgin RECORDS AND TAPES HI-FI IN PETERBOROUGH & PORTSMOUTH LONDON: MARBLE ARCH · OXFORD WALK · MEGASTORE 14-16 OXFORD ST BIRMINGHAM BRIGHTON BRISTOL CARDIFF EDINBURGH GLASGOW LEEDS LIVERPOOL MANCHESTER MILTON KEYNES NEWCASTLE PETERBOROUGH PLYMOUTH PORTSMOUTH SHEFFIELD SOUTAMPTON Big Country supported Simple Minds in August 1983. Derek Forbes would later play bass in Big Country after Tony retired. |
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Pages 30 & 31
COUNTRY COMFORTS Tony Mitchell rides into the sunset to meet exSkid Stuart Adamson, leader of THE BIG COUNTRY Stuart pic: Nicola Tyson SHOULD YOU arrive in Dunfermline on the sort of day which greeted us when we stepped off the Edinburgh shuttle flight from cold and drizzle-bound Heathrow, you'd have little difficulty in understanding why Stuart Adamson prefers his home town in Scotland to the English capital city. The sun shines birds sing and the smell of nearby pig farms hangs heavily on the hot, still air... it's a far cry from the diesel and kerosene cocktail airports that usually serve the weary traveller. Stuart has come wife-and-kid-handed to the airport to meet us — a necessity since he's only licensed to drive his motorbike and somehow I just can't see a journalist, photographer and press officer all riding pillion through the streets of Edinburgh even if it is festival — and therefore loony-time in that fair city. We pile into the little red Volkswagen and Sandra Adamson takes the wheel for the short but invigorating ride across the Forth Road Bridge and through green countryside under a sky growing ever more blue. This is Stuart Adamson in a light I've never seen him before — family man. Previously guitarist and prime musical motivator of the legendary Skids, he's now the complete frontman with his new band Big Country, who have emerged after a year-and-a-half of dedicated preparation to offer bright new hope for those who were touched by the Skid's power, and surely for many more besides. But today that side of his personality seems distant and it's very obvious that he thoroughly enjoys being a dad. A few weeks previously I'd witnessed the side of him that's more familiar to most of us, in action at the Brunell Centre in Swindon. With guitarist Bruce Watson, bassist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki, he pounded out his songs like 'Harvest Home' with a passion which had obviously been waiting a long time for release. Yes, there were elements of tunes and chord structures, aspects of delivery familiar from the glorious days of yore, but with Adamson writing and singing his own words there were vital differences which should save Big Country from being packaged and labelled merely as the new Skids. Although I always enjoyed Jobson's performances, his energy and his way with words, and will always swear that the Skids could not have been the Skids without him, what Big Country are doing now seems right, and full, and complete — more complete in a way for the very fact that Adamson is now both singing and playing. I sensed his sense of fulfilment, being out there in front, doing it all, stretching himself, reaching beyond that rewarding and yet ultimately unsatisfying function of just guitarist. Guitarists may write the tunes but it's the singer who calls them, out there, in front of people. The passion of singing and playing always beats the passion of playing alone. And it was his feeling that the passion had gone out of the playing which contributed to Stuart's decision to leave the Skids. "I don't like looking at things with the benefit of hindsight," he says. "For me, 'what should have been' is the dirtiest lie of all. But playing live is very important to me, being able to create emotion and evoke it in the people watching you is what appeals to me, and in the end it wasn't happening with the Skids. When I think about it seriously, I can't give one reason why I left, but I suppose I didn't find it honest any more. Not that I'm perfect, but I like to lie less to people, particularly to myself." OUR ULTIMATE destination on this particular day is the Adamson flat, a small but homely first floor residence in a house built from good solid local stone. First, however, comes a brief guided tour of the home town so that lenslady Nicola can take full advantage of the abundance of natural light. We head for the park, a lush undulating acreage where old ladies tempt grey squirrels with nuts and children safely play. The park was one of countless amenities donated to the town by the great engineer Carnegie, who built the Carnegie Hall in New York as well as the somewhat iess grand Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline and numerous libraries throughout the world. These facts are proudly conveyed by Adamson. The heritage of the town obviously means as much to him as it did to Carnegie and I wouldn't be surprised if, given the wherewithall, he'd like to build Adamson Hall there too, one day. He certainly wouldn't want to build it in New York, whence he's just returned after a couple of concerts. "I enjoyed the gigs," he says, "but I felt really scared by the place. You can see what this place is like — imagine the difference going to New York. I mean, there were 17 murders there the first night we were there. "The last time I went it was winter and I really enjoyed it but this time it was summer and the whole world seemed to be out on the streets. "It's not that I don't enjoy travelling. I like seeing other places, other people, seeing how they go about doing things, but I don't like flying at all. I hate it it's the most unnatural feeling ever. Yet my dad treats it like it was nothing at all — 'Oh I'm off to Shanghai tomorrow' sort of thing.' In fact his father currently is in Shanghai, where he's an engineer working on a four-year contract. He's only allowed two return visits during that time and I enquire if Stuart has considered going to see him, maybe to get a whole new angle on things, that could be of use in his music. "I'd like to go but I haven't got the time. It might be a good place to go for inspiration but if you're that desperate for inspiration, you're really struggling! It's a rather expensive way to do it." But can he really be that content staying North of the Border in a town where it probably makes front page news if someone falls of a bicycle? "Well it's like a family thing," he explains. "I like working in London, but it's good to know you have somewhere to go, a real home — not just a place that you live in — and security, people you can feel comfortable with..." And is that a good formula for creativity? "Yes. When you're relaxed, you don't worry about business affairs, you don't worry about how to hype yourself and you can concentrate on doing what do best." When does inspiration hit him? "Most of my ideas come to me at night when I'm reading or lying in bed." "You can say that again!" pipes up Sandra. "D'you know for months after I started living with him he was always getting up in the middle of the night and I thought he was suffering from diarrhoea!" And what does he find himself writing about during these outpourings in the small hours? "I tend to flit about. Writing lyrics is the hardest area for me. I have to be absolutely sure about what I'm saying, what I'm doing. Most of the songs don't have a particular message — they're more concerned with feelings, reactions to certain situations. That's the whole Big Country idea — it's a place for me to discover and explore." ONE IMPORTANT aspect of the route he's taking on this Voyage of discovery is his very conscious decision that Big Country is an all-guitar band. On the coach back to London from the Swindon gig, an entire bottle of wine consumed by this normally rather reserved Scot loosened his tongue sufficiently for him to take me to task for my admission that I didn't get so excited about guitars these days, and that my voyage of discovery was currently very much in the realm of electronic music. "How can you say that?" he'd demanded. "How can you be disillusioned with the guitar? That's a terrible thing to say." I tried to explain that it wasn't so much guitar playing as new guitars that I was talking about. "I never get excited about new models," he says, "just the guitar. The feeling of having it in my hands. I mean, I never go into shops to try guitars out or anything. For me there's still a helluva lot more to do with a guitar. For me it's an immediate instrument, it feels right straight away. It's a far more personal instrument than the synthesiser." Nevertheless the lad hasn't completely eschewed keyboards. In fact the initial line-up of Big Country included a keyboard player. "He was an absolute genius," says Stuart, "but it didn't work out on stage." Synths in future will thus be restricted to what he calls his "arty periods". It's just for the studio, he says. He'll never use it live, he says. But isn't that what they all say? "Well, aren't I allowed to change my mind five or six weeks later?" he laughs. "In the Skids, that's why I tended to shy away from doing interviews. There's such a tendency to contradict yourself. You become totally blinkered, you start telling people this is the true way, I am the guiding light, then later on you look back on it and think you've made a complete prat of yourself. "I feel very strongly about my music — don't get me — but I don't see wrong myself as the new hope of guitar music or anything like that." Isn't he worried, however, that the very originality of Big Country's music is going to hold him back at the moment because of the current obsession with glossy, superficial pop and throwaway cover versions? Is there any room in the charts at the moment for a band with true passion? "We're probably just as glossy and superficial as anybody else," comes the reply. "As much as I personally believe in what I'm doing, I have to admit that it will never have any great stake in people's lives. On the other hand, there might be a lot of depressing stuff around at the moment but it's not my fault! "We could easily bring in synthesisers, get the right producer, do cover versions, get in the charts that way... that's okay if that's really what you want. I'm scared of sounding precious here, but the fact is I'm doing what I really feel. I'm being dogmatic. I'm saying this is the way I feel a group should be. "Now there's not any point in having a group if you're not gonna have hit records. Hit records are great — but it's a question of what you're prepared to do to have hit records" — he pauses, searching for the words to convey exactly the point he wants to make — "Having a group that plays music which is not currently popular means the only way it'll become popular is by staying out on the limb you want to be on. It's like Dexy's — what they're doing now has no relation to what was in the charts before. You have to believe your vision of things, you have to stand by it. "I've spent a year and a half in the doldrums, but if people pick up on us I'll be well pleased. It'll mean that we see things in a certain way and other people see things the same way." BEING OUT on a limb is fine, of course, as lcmg as someone's picking up the tab, and it plainly irks Stuart that business people ultimately have control over whether the public has access to his music and vice versa. "But that," he concludes, "is a matter of finding the right record company." The right record company presumably is not the one that suddenly, out of the blue, gave Stuart just two weeks to write a whole new album when he was with the Skids. The effect that had on his health is not something he cares to go into too much detail about but it was plainly a harrowing experience. "I had to work ali hours of the day, round the clock," he recalls. "By the end of it I was in a complete daze — I didn't know who I was or where I was." "For a while it looked iike he was going to need a lot of treatment," adds Sandra, who has steered us round to the topic in the first place, "but fortunately it turned out that he just needed a lot of sleep. It was nervous exhaustion and he slept for days when it was all over." "It was a terrible experience," adds Adamson, vaguely embarrassed by these revelations. "I never want to go through it again." Appropriately, the timetable for recording Big Country's debut album is considerably more leisurely. It's being produced by venerable whizz-person Chris Thomas, and, explains Stuart, "We just do it when Chris is free." So far the band have enjoyed a fairly gentle launch period. Phonogram, their label. have not tried to foist them on an unsuspecting press/public in a blaze of tacky publicity, and their low key approach was exemplified by the trip to the Swindon concert which was a showcase but strictly not for review. "There's no reason why we should be hyped," claims Stuart. "I'd rather have it the way it's happened." But at least the Skids had a 'movement' with which they were associated, and the same feeling but a different movement certainly played its part in getting bands like Spandau Ballet into the charts; won't it be much harder for Big Country without such a vociferous 'underground' following? "I never felt like part of a movement," is Stuart's answer. "l don't honestly know if movements are really of any use to bands, but they are of use to young people. It's important to feel you belong to something, especailly(sic) when you begin to feel independent from your parents. I still feel like that too." Undoubtedly in his case these feelings are tempered by the choice to live in his home town, close to what he knows and a long, long way from the big city lights. Like the economic recession which is only now really hitting the record business, decentralisation is another factor of modern life which has made any impression on the music scene only in recent years. But if people like Stuart Adamson stick to their guns, the stigma which still attaches to musicians who dare hope to be successful without quitting their roots and resettling in the metropolis may eventually disappear. The quiet Scot who likes to play husband and father as much as guitar pours the last drop of Irn Bru from the bottle which has lubricated our conversation (such nectar should be available on the National Health!) and we're soon heading down the steps past the motorbike he was going to pose on but didn't, and out to the little red car which will speed us back to Edinburgh airport with moments to spare before the last shuttle. Midway through the flight, Kenny Everett appears from somewhere up ahead and saunters down the aisle to sit behind us but even this can't detract from the pleasures of the day past. |
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Pages 34 & 35
Frida* 'Something's Going On' (Epic 85966) ***½ "FROM THE day that Phil agreed to produce this album" purr Frida's sleeve-notes, "the hardest task began; choosing the songs". A hard task indeed. So hard, in fact, that it almost seems beyond the joint instincts of Frida and Phil Collins (not Oakey, in case you'd wondered) to choose a good tune. Given the colourful range of today's songwriters from which they could pick — from Costello to Rowland to Armatrading to Vince Clarke — the songs selected are a mute bunch of pastel shades. Really the problem begins with the cover; a washed-out soft-focus portrait of Frida that takes the inner bag's bold photograph and scrubs away all the vitality, spirit and gritty panache. Then they do the same with the record... Leaving only the single to sparkle. Drums that hammer at the heart and pleading vocals that tear at the soul, it seems a world away from the candy floss, that threatens to smother its pulsating, driving passion. The rest — despite songwriting credits that boast names like Ferry, Collins, Rafferty — is merely pop music with the pop taken out. Compared with Sheena Easton and Kate Bush, this is (I suppose) good, pleasant easy-listening pop. But it's not a comparison that does justice to Frida's undoubted talent, nor Phil Collin's ear for a good sound. The closing track is a hideous duo between the two, where they contrive to make Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson sound passionately tuneful. This aibum is just what you'd expect. Predictability has no place in music. JOHNNY WALLER * Mark Brzezicki played drums on several Frida releases in 1984. Reaching for the sky SIMPLE MINDS* 'New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)' (Virgin V2230****½) LET ME tell you about this beating heart... From the moment the needle slides into 'Someone Somewhere In Summertime', the pulse is racing, the senses heightened and the gleam in the eye turns to gold. Twinkle, twinkle, new gold dream! Simple Minds have found a smoothness that translates their big beat into a big treat, a summertime dream romance with love itself. This is the big beat romance, the swirling love affair that mixes drums and drifting vocals, sweeping melodies and a grandeur of swirling dancebeats. Shimmering on a golden pond, Jim Kerr gathers up his lyrical pretensions — titles like 'Big Sleep', 'Glittering Prize' and 'Somebody Up There Like You' are barely adapted from films - and shoots for the moon. The atmosphere is heady and intoxicating. Simple Minds are a smooth seduction. This music drifts and ripples, winks in joyous ecstasy and sends laughter lines creasing all over the page, all over your face, all over the place. It's like an ocean, this music. So vast, yet so gentle; so powerful as it breaks in crashing waves of furious intent, yet equally pacific as it eagerly laps around the edges of the giant unfeeling rock edifice. Like the very best musics, it has a momentum and energy all of its own — pulsing, coursing, flowing. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, the listener becomes immersed in the invigorating currents of the golden lake of aural showers. At its best, this music — with its similarities to Bowie, Roxy, Ultravox, Japan — ceases to be fixed into a category of 'music vinyl' and becomes much more elemental. This isn't great music simply because the Simple Minds are great, nor because they happen to make great records. It's much more basic than that. It's a reflection of the simple themes that reflect greatness, themes like love, ambition, desire. It's time for a new redefinition of realism and idealism in music, where the two can be intelligently and emotionally married to create an aware intensity of the senses. We must reach for a greater glory, a responsibility of attitude rippling with the determination of adventure. This new gold dream is within our grasp... JOHNNY WALLER * Bassist Derek Forbes would later play with Big Country from 2012 until 2015. |
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Pages 54 & 55
Gig listings 20 Carolgate, Retford, Notts. Tel. No. 0777 704981 Saturday 18th Sept, 8-2 Upstairs Presenting live on stage BIG COUNTRY (featuring Ex-Skids): STUART ADAMSON + support Adm £2.50 |
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Pages 56 & 57 STEPPIN' OUT By SUSANNE GARRETT and DEE PILGRIM The information here is correct at time of going to press but may be subject to change. Please check with the venue concerned. A star denotes a gig of special interest or importance (even if it's only good for a laugh or posing or a drink after closing time). WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 15 *READING, Top Rank, (57262), Simple Minds/Hey! Elastica STIRLING, Atom Club, Marillion THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 16 DUNDEE, Marryat Hall, (22399) Marillion FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 17 *BRIGHTON, Top Rank, (25895), Simple Minds/Hey! Elastica KEITH, Longmore Hall, Marillion SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 18 *AYLESBURY, Friar's, (84568), Simple Minds/Hey! Elastica *RETFORD, Porterhouse, (704981), Big Country WISHAW, Heathery Bar, (72957), Marillion SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 19 EDINBURGH, Nite Club, (031-557 2590), Marillion |
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Pages 62 & 63 VINYL SCORE UK SINGLES 23 40 GLITTERING PRIZE, Simple Minds, Virgin 34 — THE BITTEREST PILL (I EVER HAD TO SWALLOW), The Jam, Polydor 35 36 I KNOW THERE'S SOMETHING GOING ON, Frida, Epic 65 67 UNIFORMS (CORP D'ESPRIT), Pete Townshend, Atco 77 — DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME?, Culture Club, Virgin Compiled by RB Research AMERICAN ALBUMS 26 27 ALL THE BEST COWBOYS HAVE CHINESE EYES, Pete Townshend, Atco Compiled by Billboard AMERICAN SINGLES 21 23 BLUE EYES, Elton John, Warner Bros Compiled by Billboard DANCE FLOOR 19 MURDER RAP TRAP, Culture Club Featuring Captain Crucial, Virgin 12" Compiled by David Hopper PSYCHEDELIC 14 ASHES TO ASHES, David Bowie, from 'Scary Monsters', RCA 15 WALKING THROUGH HEAVEN'S DOOR, Phil Manzanera, from 'K-Scope', Island Compiled by Hugh McNeill of 'Coach And Horses Purple Pear Banana Bang Bang Club', Westburn, Cambuslang, Glasgow. |