852 lines
35 KiB
Groff
852 lines
35 KiB
Groff
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BANG SONIC!
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the Atomic-Powered alt.rec.misc.music.comp E-Mag
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Feb94 Vol.I Iss.6
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Bang Sonic! is published once a month as both a stand alone Macintosh
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document and as a text only file. Prepare to have your intelligence
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insulted: if you don't have a Macintosh, read the "text only". If you do
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have a Macintosh, get the stand alone "doc" and de-bin-hqx it (then
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"unstuff" it, but you already knew that.) It's just that simple. The
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cost is the same.
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Bang! is available in assorted Usenet newsgroups. It could show up
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anywhere, but look for it in:
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alt.zines rec.mag
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alt.music.alternative rec.music.misc
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alt.music.synth-pop rec.music.reviews
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misc.writing
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Barring natural disaster Bang Sonic! will also be available via:
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Gopher: FTP:
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etext.archive.umich.edu etext.archive.umich.edu
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gopher.well.sf.ca.us
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You can also get a copy of the most recent issue by writing to us at:
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ai983@freenet.buffalo.edu
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In this issue:
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k.d. lang / Fem 2 Fem / Aztec Camera / Sheep on Drugs / Tag Team
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lists / letters / releases
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the return of Frankie Machine
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********************************************
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k.d. lang
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Even Cowgirls get the Blues
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Sire
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HOWDY HOWDY
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There is little to say about k.d. lang that hasn't already been said. It
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is almost universally true that by the time Barbara Walters gets around to
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talking to you on TV, the world is just about sick of hearing the sound of
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your voice. It was only a couple of years ago that Sire Records was
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giving away k.d. lang samplers to anyone who would call an 800 number.
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Now she is big. Bigger than big. Vanity Fair big. But it's hard to hold
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it against her.
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It's obvious what makes k.d. lang North America's favourite lesbian and
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Phranc little more than a curiosity. k.d. hasn't ditched the cowpolk
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shtic, but she has expanded it to include lush, classic arrangements as a
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venue for her deeply powerful voice. k.d. definitely plays on the VH-1
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all-star team, but she doesn't sound like she has sold out so much as she
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has stolen Holly Cole's thunder.
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k.d. lang is so big at this point that she doesn't even need a movie to
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support her soundtrack album. It certainly isn't her fault that the movie
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has been repeatedly delayed due to critical revulsion. Probably the most
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interesting point to be taken is that if an album says "k.d. lang" at the
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top this year, it makes little difference what the rest of the title is.
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GIDDY-UP, GIT-A-LONG
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The first moderately important question is whether it is a soundtrack
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album or a pop album. Mathematically, it works out to about half and
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half. Nine tracks are instrumental/incidental music, four are faux
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country tunes, there are the two big disco-pop singles, and a lone
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lonesome torch song. This covers a lot of ground, but it isn't a bizarre
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debacle like the first Batman film that tried to find the common musical
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thread between Danny Elfman and Prince. There is purpose and consistency,
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as well as a sense of structure with regard to the order of the songs on
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the album. This isn't as single minded a collection as Harry Connick's
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"When Harry Met Sally", but the songs do work together to build an
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interesting vision.
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The two up-tempo singles both have the potential to carry weight on
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darkened dancefloors. "Lifted by Love" and "Just Keep Me Movin" stand as
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the two most likely candidates to start the "funky cowboy" movement since
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Goober and the Peas first album. "Just Keep Me Movin" is already doing
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business on the charts abroad. Its deep, organic groove is reminiscent of
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the Saturday morning jams churned out by Fat Albert and the Gang. The
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mike volume is turned way up so k.d. barely has to whisper until the
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chorus which demands slightly more heavy lifting of her. "Lifted by Love"
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is more spacious. Uncongested by horns and 70's funk guitar. As a result
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k.d. has an opportunity to really let loose with a soaring performance
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while the rhythm gently gallops underneath.
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The instrumental songs lack the trademark, the voice, but they don't fade
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into the background. Most of them are quiet, moody pieces that evoke
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lonesome images of the Great Western Plains. The set ends on the upbeat
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note of "Cowgirl Pride" which picks and twangs its way joyously into the
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sunset.
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Critical reviews aside, it is probably a terribly fortunate thing that the
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movie "Even Cowgirls get the Blues" has been postponed until long after
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the release of the soundtrack. For a while, these songs belong to their
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own little universe. Any images that director Tom Robbins links with this
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music will inevitably be inferior to the ones they conjure on their own.
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Vital Statistics
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k.d. lang - Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
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Released on Sire
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Catalog number 9 45433-2
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Total playing time: 40:04
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16 tracks
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Just keep me moving
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Much finer place
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Or was i
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Hush sweet lover
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Myth
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Apogee
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Virtual vortex
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Lifted by love
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Overture
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Kundalini yoga waltz
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In perfect dreams
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Curious soul ashtray
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Ride of the bonanza jellybean
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Don't be a lemming polka
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Sweet little cherokee
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Cowgirl pride
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Produced by k.d. lang and Ben Mink
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********************************************
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Fem 2 Fem
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Woman to Woman
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Critique Records
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I ENJOY BEING A GIRL
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While Howard Stern won't go down in history as the voice of a generation,
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he certainly displayed keen insight when he explained what Americans
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really want: hookers and lesbians. Of course, this doesn't apply to all
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Americans (or all lesbians for that matter) but like most sweepingly broad
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generalizations, there may be a kernel of truth to it.
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Seems that all of a sudden everybody loves lesbians. Ask George Costanza.
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Ask Warren Beatty. Ask Cindy Crawford. America loves lesbians. While
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pop culture has a fair number of gay women, they are, for the most part,
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politically correct, ready for PBS prime time lesbians. The kind of
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upstanding people you'd be proud to take home to Mom, or at the very least
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expect to find at a "Take Back the Night" rally.
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Fem 2 Fem are the women America has been waiting for. Cartoon lesbians
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ripped from the pages of Penthouse (or at least a good issue of Playboy.)
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Beautiful, shapely, long-haired women who love to love other women and
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love to sing about it. To hear them tell it, only one of them is gay,
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another bisexual, and the other two are straight. However, judging from
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the album cover, they are the kind of straight women who don't mind
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hugging other naked women.
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The cover deserves a few words because it is obviously one of the main
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selling points of the album (never underestimate the power of cover art.)
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Four women, clutching each other, nude, with their arms covering up each
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others' interesting bits. Even though you probably were not wondering,
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there are NO revealing photos in the CD booklet. This isn't a skin
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magazine after all. It's an album.
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I REALLY, REALLY ENJOY BEING A GIRL
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Not all of the tracks are gay rights manifestoes, but the better ones are.
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"Switch" is the big single, lead-off cut and, thankfully, is in no way
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connected to the movie of the same name. It is truly remarkable on a
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whole number of levels. As a dance song it is relentless. It has the
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traditional bullet-train rhythm section as well as trendy rave flourishes.
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The amazing thing about "Switch" is the male-fantasy lesbian lyrics. "Fem
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in the streets, butch in the sheets" they sing, feeling free not to mince
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words.
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That is the most endearing quality about Fem 2 Fem. They are what they
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are and the do not stand on pretension. At least not too frequently.
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During the best moments of Woman To Woman there is the definite sense that
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their tongues (God love 'em) are in someone's cheeks.
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Lyrically Fem 2 Fem are, for lack of a better word, blunt. However, as
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long as the train keeps moving through disco nirvana all is well. In
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addition to the afore mentioned "Switch", a number of the tracks bring all
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the ambiance of a gay disco into your living room. "Coming Out" carries
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forth at a blistering pace equaling anything on the L.A. Style album in
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either speed or intensity. The title track is like a 900 number at 122
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bpm. The "Erotic-Trance Mix" of "Switch" is more trance and less erotic
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than the normal Penthouse Forum reader would like, but from a public
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policy standpoint that may be for the best.
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When the tempo slows the results are less consistent. "Waiting in
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Tangier" is difficult to take seriously, but "I Lose Myself" is just
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pretentious enough to be embarrassingly appealing.
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Fem 2 Fem have the same magnetic, undeniable appeal as tabloid television
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and best selling author, Howard Stern. It should come as no surprise that
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they have appeared on Geraldo and the Joan Rivers Show. Now if they can
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only get Stern to make a guest appearance on their next album.
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Vital Statistics
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Fem 2 Fem - Woman to Woman
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Released on Critique Records
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Catalog number 01624 15417-2
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Total playing time: 55:47
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11 tracks
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Switch
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Obsession
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Woman to woman
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All about eve
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I lose myself
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Coming out
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Waiting in Tangier
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Charmed
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Freedom of choice
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Switch (erotic-trance mix)
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Woman to woman (extended mix)
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Produced by Peter Rafelson
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Fem 2 Fem are:
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L.D.
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Michelle Crispin
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Lynn Pompey
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Julie Park
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********************************************
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Aztec Camera
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Dreamland
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Sire / Reprise
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"From the mountain tops down to the sunny street,
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A different drum is playing a different kind of beat."
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-R. Frame (1983)
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OVERDOSING ON KEETS
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There's no truth in history but it bears repeating nonetheless. Roddy
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Frame was the angry young man with the world at his feet. With the crisp
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sparkle of a freshly strummed guitar and a cleverly turned phrase Aztec
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Camera sailed on the New Wave with young Roddy's steady hand on the helm.
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His songs were romantic with a capital "R", filled with all the power and
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beauty of a Hemmingway short story.
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The follow up album, Knife, quite remarkable, avoided the sophomore jinx
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and even improved on the formula in a great many ways. Then a strange
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thing happened. Aztec Camera released a moribund version of Van Halen's
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"Jump" which sounded like nothing so much as a flag of surrender being
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raised. After that, time passed.
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When Roddy returned in 1988 with the album Love, the magic was gone, and
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the angry young man had mellowed into a new demographic stratum. There
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were brief, shining moments. However, taken as a whole it did little to
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engender respect in the aging process. Stray from 1990 was a far sight
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better. At least Roddy sounded fiesta again. Sure, there was residue
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from England's summer of love, but at least it sounded like an Aztec
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Camera album again.
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THE BUGLE DOES NOT SOUND AGAIN
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Now, Aztec Camera has taken up residence in Dreamland. A mythical land
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where string sections follow you down the street and insomnia is unheard
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of. There seems to be a concept at work here and that is rarely a good
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thing. Progress can be a wonderful thing, but all too often it demands an
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exorbitant price.
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The opening notes signal the tone. Late model Prefab Sprout and all of
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the baggage that carries with it. There is plenty of production work here
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in Dreamland. Plenty. The e-z listening keyboards are everywhere, almost
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impossible to escape. Once in a while the trademark Aztec Camera guitar
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finds its way to the center of town and it makes all of the effort seem
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worthwhile. Then Roddy starts spelling again on "Valium Summer" and the
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citizenry is ready to revolt.
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Dreamland certainly contains its fair share of perfect little gems.
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Brief, passing moments where all the elements come together. "Black
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Lucia" has the sound and the lyrics, the moon and the stars, the whole
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nine yards. The chorus has U2 overtones, but even that can be forgiven.
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The unincumbered faux flamenco melody of "Spanish Horses" is as beautiful
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a moment as Aztec Camera has ever conjured. "Pianos and Clocks" has
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fantastically simple instrumentation which accentuates the vastly
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underused 3/4 time signature. While it adheres to the relaxed-tempo, law
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of the land, "Sister Ann" strings together some of the finest lines Roddy
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has ever penned.
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Alas, all is not well in Dreamland. There are more unpleasentries than
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would be polite to mention. Mostly bombastic love songs that have been
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crushed under the weight of a thousand pounds of production. Then there
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is the matter of Roddy Frame spelling his way through "Valium Summer".
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Please, for the love of God, someone stop him before he spells again.
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However, it isn't good to dwell.
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It sounds like Roddy is all grown up now. It's a tragedy that youth can't
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last forever.
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Vital Statistics
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Aztec Camera - Dreamland
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Released on Sire/Reprise
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Catalog number 9 45076-2
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Total playing time: 51:17
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11 tracks
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Birds
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Safe in sorrow
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Black lucia
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Let your love decide
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Spanish horses
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Dream sweet dreams
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Pianos and clocks
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Sister ann
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Vertigo
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Valium summer
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the Belle of the ball
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Produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Roddy Frame
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mixed by Julian Mendelsohn
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********************************************
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Sheep On Drugs
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Greatest Hits
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Smash Records
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BULLSEYE?
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Any band that puts a circular saw blade on its cover begs the question "do
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they get the joke or are they the joke?" Sheep on Drugs get the joke.
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The second obvious question is "What's with the name?" Sheep on Drugs is
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a reference to the lack of imagination displayed by modern youth culture.
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The rave scene has allowed narcotic use to drain away all sense of
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creativity and individuality in vast numbers of its leigionous following.
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As if to prove their point, Duncan, the lead singer himself, dealt with a
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heroin addiction for a number of years. Drug use is a recurring theme
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throughout the album, but the name is a mocking reference to the cultural
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turf from whence the band came.
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Finally, if you call a debut album "Greatest Hits", there is a better than
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average chance that you get the joke.
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EWE BET
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The sound is angry, zip-gun techno. A music classification that has been
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sadly underexploited. It's Carter USM on speed. It's Ministry with more
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hip-hop sensibility. It's a Jesus Jones nightmare. The music is dense
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with sound effects, but not Public Enemy, wall of noise, overkiller dense.
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Just enough helicopters and crowd noise to make the listener feel
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comfortably surrounded by the familiar cacophony of urban life.
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Duncan opens the album with the greeting "Hello sinners" and the stage is
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set for an hour long assault. The bits between the songs beautifully
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maintain the atmosphere so that the post-Blade Runner scene is never
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fouled by a momentary lapse of silent reality. Drive the trench
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expressways of Detroit for an hour with this playing and you'll be all set
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for a carjacking.
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As an album, "Greatest Hits" is relentless. Not a weak track in the
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bunch. Head to tail, the Sheep pound away with jackhammer intensity.
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Some might charge monotony, a malady which plagues many of Sheep on Drug's
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contemporaries. However in this instance the accusation would be unjustly
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leveled.
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"Greatest Hits" is a blistering racket. The dark and sinister tone is
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matched by lyrics that explore the ugliest sides of human nature. Then
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the album draws to a close with three minutes of sheep noises and, as if
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there were ever any doubt, it's obvious that Sheep on Drugs get the joke.
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Vital Statistics
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Sheep on Drugs - Greatest Hits
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Released on Smash Records
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Catalog number 162-888 006-2
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Total playing time: 60:02
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11 tracks
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Uberman
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Acid test
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15 minutes of fame
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Track x
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Suzy q
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Catch 22
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Mary jane
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Motorbike
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TV usa
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Chard
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untitled (3 minutes of sheep noises)
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Produced by Gareth Jones
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Sheep on Drugs are:
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Dead Lee
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King Duncan
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********************************************
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Tag Team
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Whoomp! (There it Is)
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Life Records
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I DIDN'T DO IT!
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This is an excellent album to listen to on compact disc. Because of the
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crystal-clear quality of CD sound? No, because it's much easier to scan
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to the next track after 10 or 15 seconds of each song.
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Last summer when the song was released (coinciding with the release of 95
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South's remarkably similar, yet vastly superior "Whoot! There It Is")
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countless millions of people incorporated "Whoomp!" into their collective
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vocabulary. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing "Whoomp! (insert
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anything here)." The battle cry so completely saturated the air waves,
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that when our neighbors to the north (Canadians) won the World Series last
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fall the stadium mockingly erupted with shouts of "Whoomp! Here We Are."
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Recently The Simpsons aired an episode in which Bart became famous
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overnight after accidentally uttering the words "I didn't do it." If only
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Tag Team's catch phrase were as innocently conceived. Perhaps then it
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would be easy to laugh at them too.
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WHOOMP!
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Can any one name any other song on the Whoomp! album? Chances are, no.
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It sounds like it was thrown together in a frenzy to capitalize off the
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success of a chart-topping single.
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"Whomp!" was such a rush job that they didn't even have time to list the
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songs in the correct order on the case. The trend in the direction of
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mis-labelling songs on the album cover must stop! This album was hard
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enough to understand as is, and forcing the listener to play a game of
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hunt and search for song titles, while trying to enjoy Tag Team's
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harmonious (sic) style (sic), is both aggravating and distracting.
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The opening track is, you guessed it, "Whoomp! There It Is," placed first
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so listeners don't have to listen to forty eight minutes of this drivel.
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Following the mighty "Whoomp!. . ." is "U Go Girl," with a bass line
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suspiciously similar to Doo Doo Brown's "Too Hype Brothers." The fourth
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or maybe fifth track (like anyone really cares), "It's Somethin'" includes
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the words "whoomp, there it is." Perhaps Steve Rollin, DC, and the Brain
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Supreme thought uttering the magic words would make this a hit too. Sorry
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guys, no such luck.
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Number nine, "Gettin' Phat," is unique for its Fat Albert sample ("Hey,
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Hey, Hey!) and its references to Captain Kirk and Klingons. But if you're
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a trekker don't rush right out and buy the album, the other three minutes
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and thirty eight seconds turns out to be a lesson in feeble rhyming.
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The album is, however, good for something. It is a reminder of how
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quickly we as a society forget things. Remember the pet rock? The
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dancing flower? Buy "Whoomp!", put it with your other compact discs, and
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in two or three years you can listen to it and laugh and laugh at just how
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stupid we were one hot Summer back in '93.
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Vital Statistics
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Tag Team - Whoomp! (There it is)
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Released on Life Records
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Catalog number LR 72000 2
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Total playing time: 48:10
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13 tracks
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Whoomp! (there it is)
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U go girl
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Free Style
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Just call me DC
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It's somethin'
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Get nasty
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Bring it on
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Funk key
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Gettin' phat
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Bobyahead
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Wreck da set
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Drop dem
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Kick da flow
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Produced by Tag Team
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********************************************
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THE NEXT BIG THING
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FEB 1994
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F. Machine
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"...events no longer have any meaning: not because
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they are insignificant, but because they have been
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preceded by the models with which their own process
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can only coincide." - J.Baudrillard
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Fin, the tender of bar here in one of the rare outposts of cocktail
|
|
society in the central time zone, really knows how to mix a martini.
|
|
Second nature I suppose, effortlessly wrapping shots of Tanqueray in a
|
|
dash of Vermouth and Bitters the way incendiary bombs were covered with
|
|
pictures of Betty Grable during the BIG ONE. Your brain never knows what
|
|
hit it. He offers either twists or olives, I recommend the twist -
|
|
actually a 30 cm. unbroken ribbon of lemon rind tied in a knot at one end
|
|
to ensure immersion - not that olives don't have their place, William
|
|
Powell would loath a twist - but tonight is a lemon night - you
|
|
understand. Never underestimate the importance of a garnish. This is
|
|
certainly better than a cold bath with someone you dislike.
|
|
|
|
Cocktails, one time totem of the cold-war suburban middle class, are
|
|
finally coming around again. It is good to see young people with haircuts
|
|
enjoying a nice martini, all those 70's associations with red shag carpet
|
|
and Neil Diamond have finally dropped away. Time purifies things. Now
|
|
when someone mentions a martini, you are more likely to think of second
|
|
hand Armani ties and Chet Baker. It's enough to make you think things are
|
|
getting better.
|
|
|
|
But on to the matter at hand, the NEXT BIG THING. I'm not sure my
|
|
predictions are worth much, in a way I wonder if everything isn't the Next
|
|
Big Thing. By the time a thing is known as next and big, it is usually
|
|
neither. To name it is to kill it. Fin thinks I should leave it at
|
|
that, just tell you that THE NEXT BIG THING has no name and you'll know it
|
|
when you hear it if you haven't already. Maybe he is right, but then I'd
|
|
be out of a job - so I'll take my chances. When the king falls, its good
|
|
to know who is next in line. The current kings are getting old and
|
|
tired. We need new paradigms. New Romanticism, Hi NRG, House, Acid,
|
|
Techno, Rave, Manchester, Bliss, New Psychedilia, the revived Ska revival
|
|
revival, Thrash, Grunge, the list goes on and on. They all have their
|
|
merits, but by and large our pop idioms are like the Law profession, too
|
|
many people joining up just because they can't think of anything else to
|
|
do. Modern music needs to take a cue from Hoagy Carmichael: it needs to
|
|
drop out of law school and hang around in smokey jazz bars enjoying
|
|
cocktails and making big plans.
|
|
|
|
In short, we need more COOL JAZZY DISCO, this month's NEXT BIG THING.
|
|
|
|
CJD has been bubbling just below the surface for a quite some time now,
|
|
with the "Jazz Dance Revolution" that never really made it out of the
|
|
Camden Ballroom and its recent descendant "Acid Jazz" seemingly doomed to
|
|
a life of trying too hard. Miles Davis even made his final bow in the
|
|
direction of Hip Hop, but only ended up compromising both jazz and Dance,
|
|
sounding more like an old Quincey Jones production than anything fresh and
|
|
new. Rap continually pushes itself to the edge of Jazz, only to back away
|
|
and cash in on genitalia references. SOUL II SOUL started cool and jazzy
|
|
but never lived up to the BIG promise. CJD is nearly tied with Reggae as
|
|
THE NEXT BIG THING that almost was. But between the beginning of 1994
|
|
and the end of 1995 CJD will rise to BIG THING STATUS. Radio stations
|
|
will format 48 hour CJD weekends, Clubs will set aside Thursday for CJD
|
|
night, and by 1997 Retro parties will be drenched in nostalgia for that
|
|
old COOL JAZZY DISCO. Ah, but I'm sounding like a half baked rock
|
|
journalist -- and I've got a martini to attend to.
|
|
|
|
Scotch and Soda, more on CJD and another NEXT BIG THING, next month -
|
|
This is Frankie Machine at the Blue Marlin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
********************************************
|
|
Hit Lists from Around the World
|
|
because you wouldn't want to be the last to know
|
|
|
|
British Top 20
|
|
as of February 4, 1994
|
|
20: Bitty McLean - Here I Stand
|
|
19: NEW ENTRY. Orb - Perpetual Dawn
|
|
Following the re-released Top 10 success of their first single
|
|
'Little Fluffy Clouds', the Orb return with the single that
|
|
really made their name back in the summer of 1991. A far cry
|
|
from their usual ambient paintings, 'Perpetual Dawn' is
|
|
actually quite a commercial piece of dub-reggae and now on
|
|
re-release becomes the massive hit it deserves having only made
|
|
No.61 first time around.
|
|
18: Rozalla - I Love Music
|
|
17: Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston - Something In Common
|
|
16: Eternal - Save Our Love
|
|
15: East 17 - It's Alright
|
|
14: Garth Brooks - The Red Strokes
|
|
13: Richard Marx - Now And Forever
|
|
12: Deep Forest - Sweet Lullaby
|
|
11: Chaka Demus and Pliers - Twist And Shout
|
|
10: Haddaway - I Miss You
|
|
9: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
|
|
8: Culture Beat - Anything
|
|
7: Celine Dion - The Power Of Love
|
|
6: Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl
|
|
5: K7 - Come Baby Come
|
|
4: Enigma - Return To Innocence
|
|
3: Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting - All For Love
|
|
2: Toni Braxton - Breathe Again
|
|
1: THIRD WEEK. D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better
|
|
Clinging onto the top, despite the appearance in the Top 10 of
|
|
their album. Time may well still be limited for D:Ream but the
|
|
odds on their replacement are wide open.
|
|
|
|
(This list is an excerpt from the always insightful Top 40 analysis
|
|
done every week by James Masterton. Contact him directly at
|
|
hid009@cent1.lancs.ac.uk -ed.)
|
|
|
|
**********
|
|
|
|
Dutch Top 10
|
|
as of February 4, 1994
|
|
10: Cher with beavis & butthead - I got you babe
|
|
9: Bryan Adams - Please forgive me
|
|
8: Chaka Demus & Pliers - Twist and shout
|
|
7: Culture Beat - Anything
|
|
6: Rod stewart & bryan adams & sting - All for love
|
|
5: Ace of Base - The sign
|
|
4: Take That - Babe
|
|
3: 2 brothers on the 4th floor - Never alone
|
|
2: Laura Pasini - Solitudine
|
|
1: Paul de leeuw & a de rooy - Ik wil niet ../Waarheen ..
|
|
|
|
**********
|
|
|
|
Australian Top 10
|
|
as of February 4, 1994
|
|
10. Urban Cookie Collective - Feels like heaven
|
|
9. Bryan Adams - Please forgive me
|
|
8. Mariah Carey - Hero
|
|
7. D.J. Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince - Boom shake the room
|
|
6. Denis Leary - Asshole
|
|
5. Twenty 4 Seven - Slave to the music
|
|
4. The M-People - Moving on up
|
|
3. Salt 'N' Pepa - Shoop
|
|
2. Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting - All for love
|
|
1. Cut 'N' Move - Give it up
|
|
|
|
**********
|
|
|
|
American Top 10
|
|
as of February 12, 1994
|
|
10. Janet Jackson - Because of love
|
|
9. Ace Of Base - The sign
|
|
8. Aerosmith - Amazing
|
|
7. Mariah Carey - Hero
|
|
6. Gin Blossoms - Found out about you
|
|
5. The Cranberries - Linger
|
|
4. Color Me Badd - Choose
|
|
3. Celine Dion - The power of love
|
|
2. Toni Braxton - Breathe again
|
|
1. bryan adams & sting & rod stewart - All for love [3rd week]
|
|
|
|
|
|
********************************************
|
|
Upcoming Releases of Note and Interest
|
|
look out! incoming!
|
|
|
|
When Who What
|
|
---- --- ----
|
|
1 Feb Kristin Hersh Hips And Makers
|
|
1 Feb Green Day Dookie
|
|
1 Feb The Other Two The Other Two & You
|
|
(the 2 in New Order who are not Bernard Sumner nor Peter Hook -ed.)
|
|
1 Feb <various> Alternative NRG
|
|
1 Feb Tori Amos Under The Pink
|
|
1 Feb Bulgarian Women's Choir Tour '93
|
|
1 Feb <various> Dancehall Underground...
|
|
|
|
8 Feb The Greenberry Woods Rapple Dapple
|
|
8 Feb Jawbox For Your Own Special...
|
|
8 Feb Moxy Fruvous Bargainville
|
|
8 Feb 13 Engines Perpetual Motion Machine
|
|
8 Feb Ben Harper Welcome To The Cruel World
|
|
8 Feb Slowdive Souvlaki
|
|
8 Feb Animal Bag Offerings
|
|
8 Feb Enigma The Cross Of Changes
|
|
8 Feb Beastie Boys Same Old Bullshit
|
|
15 Feb Pavement Crooked Rain
|
|
15 Feb Sarah McLachlan Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
|
|
|
|
22 Feb Right Said Fred Sex & Travel
|
|
22 Feb Terminator X Super Bad
|
|
22 Feb Bruce Cockburn Dart To The Heart
|
|
22 Feb The Veldt Afrodisiac
|
|
|
|
28 Feb Saint Etienne (UK) Tiger Bay
|
|
|
|
alledgedly, to be released sometme in February...
|
|
Feb Front Line Assembly <title unavailable>
|
|
Feb Sir Mix-A-Lot <title unavailable>
|
|
Feb Ice Cube/Dr. Dre Helter Skelter
|
|
Feb They Might Be Giants Get Outta' Here
|
|
|
|
1 Mar Sass Jordan Rats
|
|
1 Mar Yanni Live At The Acropolis
|
|
1 Mar Cell Living Room
|
|
1 Mar Pooka Pooka
|
|
1 Mar That Petrol Emotion Fireproof
|
|
1 Mar Downy Mildew Slow Sky
|
|
1 Mar Sister Machine Gun The Torture Technique
|
|
1 Mar Etta James Mystery Lady
|
|
|
|
8 Mar Morrissey Vauxhall & I
|
|
8 Mar Soundgarden Superunknown
|
|
8 Mar Groove Collective Groove Collective
|
|
8 Mar Sam Phillips Martinis And Bikinis
|
|
(easially the best album title in 5 years. -ed.)
|
|
8 Mar Alison Moyet Essex
|
|
8 Mar The Latin Playboys The Latin Playboys
|
|
8 Mar Failure Magnify
|
|
8 Mar Brian Setzer Orchestra Brian Setzer Orchestra
|
|
8 Mar Material Issue Freak City Soundtrack
|
|
8 Mar Jump In The Water Nothing Else Will Do
|
|
8 Mar Anthrax Live: The Island Years
|
|
8 Mar Vanilla Ice Mind Blowin'
|
|
8 Mar Pet Shop Boys Very Relentless
|
|
8 Mar Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral
|
|
|
|
11 Mar Those Darn Accordians! Squeeze This
|
|
|
|
15 Mar Tangerine Dream Turn Of The Tides
|
|
15 Mar Motley Crue Motley Crue
|
|
15 Mar Inspiral Carpets Devil Hopping
|
|
15 Mar Gil Scott-Heron Spirits
|
|
|
|
22 Mar Pink Floyd Awaken To The Sense...
|
|
22 Mar The Proclaimers Hit The Highway
|
|
22 Mar Yes Talk
|
|
22 Mar The Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works-Vol.2
|
|
22 Mar The Farm Hulabaloo
|
|
22 Mar The Charlatans Up To Our Hips
|
|
22 Mar Texas Rick's Road
|
|
22 Mar Galliano What Colour Our Flag
|
|
22 Mar Brand New Heavies Brother Sista
|
|
22 Mar Eazy'E Str.8 Off The Streetz...
|
|
22 Mar Overwhelming Colorfast Two Words
|
|
22 Mar Atomic Opera For Madmen Only
|
|
|
|
28 Mar Roxette Crash! Boom! Bang!
|
|
29 Mar The Church Sometime, Anywhere
|
|
29 Mar Hole Live Through This
|
|
|
|
Coming in March and April if they can get their act together...
|
|
Mar Yello Zebra
|
|
Mar Peter Gabriel <title unavailable>
|
|
Mar Shawn Colvin <title unavailable>
|
|
Mar Nelson Imaginator
|
|
|
|
Apr Sonic Youth Experimental Jet Set...
|
|
Apr David Byrne Between The Teeth
|
|
Apr Stone Roses Second Coming
|
|
Apr Crystal Waters Story Teller
|
|
Apr Violent Femmes New Times
|
|
Apr Boingo <title unavailable>
|
|
Apr Siouxsie & The Banshees <title unavailable>
|
|
Apr Marianne Faithfull <title unavailable>
|
|
Apr Paul Weller Wild Wood
|
|
Apr Frank Black <title unavailable>
|
|
Apr The Smithereens <title unavailable>
|
|
Apr Me Phi Mi <title unavailable>
|
|
Apr Deee-Lite <title unavailable>
|
|
Apr Adrian Belew <title unavailable>
|
|
Apr Seefeel Quique
|
|
Apr <various> Excursions In Ambience
|
|
Apr Elvis Costello/The Attractions Brutal Youth
|
|
|
|
|
|
********************************************
|
|
Mail From YOU to US
|
|
operators are standing by at ai983@freenet.buffalo.edu
|
|
|
|
|
|
A lot of people wrote in seeking help with the Macintosh Stand-Alone
|
|
version of Bang Sonic! It seems there is a problem when using any of the
|
|
"Stuffit" products (the dodgy bastards) to de-binhqx Bang!
|
|
|
|
The solution? Use either "Binhex v.4.0" or better yet "HQXer". They are
|
|
available here and there, mostly there. Check the Info-Mac archive or the
|
|
UofMich archive. If worst comes to worst, as so often it does, write us
|
|
and we'll send out a tow-truck to help you.
|
|
|
|
**********
|
|
|
|
Bang Sonic!
|
|
As you well know, last year saw the release of musical albums from
|
|
not one, but TWO of America's favorite television families. Both the
|
|
Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family recycled their finest musical moments
|
|
for the digital age. Coincidence? I think not!!!
|
|
As has become par for the course, the entertainment industry and the
|
|
media establishment conspired with the so-called Brady "Bunch" to rain on
|
|
the parade that rightfully belonged to Shirley Jones and her brood of
|
|
spunky offspring. The deception is over!!! SHAME ON YOU for assisting in
|
|
the perpetuation of this fraud on the citizens of the world.
|
|
I will expose you for the lackey stooges of corporate America that
|
|
you are!!! The truth must be told!!! The Partridge Family crush the puny
|
|
Bradys and all others who oppose them!!!
|
|
Sic Semper Tyranis!!!
|
|
Danny B...
|
|
|
|
This is just one of the dozens of colourful letters we inexplicably
|
|
received on the subject of the Brady Bunch conspiracy. Coincidence? We
|
|
think not. Conspiracies aside, the contest between the Partridges and the
|
|
Bradys is no contest at all. "Susan Olsen as Cindy Brady." Enough said.
|
|
-Ed.
|
|
|
|
**********
|
|
|
|
Dear Sirs,
|
|
I would like to call your attention to an error in the January issue of
|
|
your fine publication. In your discussion of "venereal warts" you used
|
|
the term "in uteri" when it would have been more accurate to say
|
|
"cervical".
|
|
Keep up the good work.
|
|
Dr. Francis Dinkins, m.d., d.d.s.
|
|
|
|
We think you probably intended to write to Details Magazine for Men.
|
|
Their address is . . .
|
|
detailsmag@aol.com
|
|
|
|
**********
|
|
|
|
In response to an inquiry last month, the research staff did a little
|
|
poking around to find out more about the television series "Lipstick on
|
|
your Collar." Here is what was discovered:
|
|
-There were a mere six episodes, originally broadcast last spring on
|
|
Britian's Channel 4.
|
|
-Shortly after its debut Michael Jones wrote in the London Times,
|
|
"Lipstick On Your Collar is a high-tech product of our contemporary pop
|
|
culture. It exploits the climate of permissive television to the full."
|
|
-"Splendid television," said the Financial Times. "Dependably
|
|
pleasurable," echoed The Independent. "Has the makings of a triumph,"
|
|
chortled the Daily Mail. London's Evening Standard went further over the
|
|
top by comparing Potter's new assault on the senses with Shostakovich's
|
|
Fifth Symphony.
|
|
-The Daily Express critic commented: "Spectacular sex."
|
|
-By the end of its run the critics were less enchanted. In a
|
|
year-end review of 1993's television offerings Craig Brown wrote,
|
|
"P" is for the verb to POTTER, derived from Dennis Potter's
|
|
disastrous Lipstick On Your Collar (Channel 4), meaning: "to sing yet
|
|
another set of old songs while dolly birds strip off and moustachioed men
|
|
say 'bum holes' at one another."
|
|
(Hard to believe that anything fitting that description could be
|
|
"disastrous". -ed.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
********************************************
|
|
Bang Sonic! is edited and reluctantly managed by Colin P. Macinnes.
|
|
|
|
Lending invaluable assistance with the more mundane aspects of day to day
|
|
life are:
|
|
Assistant Editors-
|
|
J.Patrick Ronan & Todd Matthews
|
|
|
|
Writers-
|
|
D. Carver
|
|
J. Burnett
|
|
B. Crull
|
|
T. Scodwell
|
|
|
|
Political Consultation and Bartending-
|
|
Scott P. Higgins
|
|
|
|
As usual, hats off to X-Mag Guru, Jeff Hansen
|
|
|
|
**********
|
|
"Let's go and drop a chicken!"
|
|
-Xuxa (Non-native English Speaker)
|
|
|
|
**********
|
|
Bang Sonic! is a monthly E-mag that has little concern for trivial matters
|
|
like quality or integrity. Yank our chain at ai983@freenet.buffalo.edu
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
|
|
|