45 REVELATIONS

45 REVELATIONS

Ken Barnes

If I had to pick my favorite recordmaker these days, I’d say Tom Petty. Springsteen (main rival) may tackle weightier issues, with more powerful impact at times, but Petty has a lightness of touch I find more appealing, and song for song his records simply sound better. He’s also no slouch lyrically: on the new LP, “Rebel’”s shift from the Personal to a century-old Confederate grudge is plenty deft, and the redneck bullying the punk on “Spike” is worthy of Randy Newman.

But this isn’t an album review. I don’t do albums. This is about another in a stellar series of singles that could fill a paragraph if I were paid by the word—the new Petty single, “Don’t Come Around Here No More.” Lyrically it’s one of his Tom Petulant “get lost” putdowns along the lines of “What Are You Doing In My Life,” not a real endearing stance. But the music is a glorious, eclectic clutter of sitars (!), cellos (always room for cellos), and, toward the end, an all-consuming wah-wah solo of the sort absent from the scene since Hendrix’s “Burning Of The Midnight Lamp” or the Electric Prunes’ first Voxx testimonial.

This is the record that makes me lunge for the volume control on the car radio. Walkaway single of ’85 so far (plus a neat Dylanesque non-LP B-side, too).

Along with the more publicized Arthur Baker (and his sometime partner John Robie), Mark Liggett and Chris Barbosa are the foremost architects of pop hiphop. They’re back with a new Shannon single, “Do You Wanna Get Away,” a monster. A welter of electronic effects makes a choice of vacation locale sound like a claustrophobic life-or-death decision, and a little bridge that breaks everything down to pure minor-key electronic pulse is breathtaking. Liggett and Barbosa also produced HiNRG (fast gay disco is most concise definition) princess Pamala Stanley’s “If Looks Could Kill,” adding welcome complexity to the usual pneumatic drill Hi-NRG beat and enhancing an attractive chorus.

Newcomer Rochelle has a stateof-the-art pop hiphopper in “Love Me Tonight”—winsome minor-key melody and everything but the kitchen synched into the elaborate production. Change boasts Luther Vandross and Jocelyn Brown among past vocalists when the group was a studio

fabrication. Long since settled into a semipermanent troupe, Change is good for a solid girl group dance record every year or so, and “Let’s Go Together” fills the quota admirably.

Rick James is on a roll. Instead of folding in disgust after Prince hit the jackpot, Rick struck back, first with the Mary Jane Girls and now with his best pop shot since “Super Freak.” “Can’t Stop,” pulled off the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack in a legal dispute, is all slick synthesizer, cushiony background vocals, and rock guitars, hit potential even for the forbidding Mr. James. The most consistent black/urban/pop crossover artists around, Kool & The Gang, bring out the Chic guitars or “Fresh,” another irresistible slice of man trie nursery-rhyme simplicity. Detroyt issues a rousing call to the dancefloor on “Back To Back,” crushing drums anchoring a tough electronic funk track.

Some albums John Hiatt doesn’t even get a single, much less a hit, so it’s encouraging to see his heartrending version of the Spinners’ “Living A Little, Laughing A Little” out in 7-inch form. Great vocal job (Elvis Costello helps, too) on the kind of ’70s R&B gem most rockers (I plead guilty myself) ignored all decade long. Chris Isaak’s debut single, “Dancin’,” is an atmospheric one chord midtempo rocker punctuated by stabbing guitar licks, a bit like a modern Creedence. Which makes a perfect segue to John Fogerty, whose “Rock & Roll Girls” crosses “Wild Weekend” and “Stay” to ebullient effect. Fogerty’s English one-manband counterpart Dave Edmunds provides plenty of rock ’n’ roll pleasure on “High School Nights,” with several nice touches below the simple surface.

Rickie Lee Jones is about the last artist I expected to show up here; her incessant bereting always got on my nerves. But “It Must Be Love” ranges from innocuous to gorgeous, and I keep listening for those couple of lines, not really a bridge, more a span in the bridge, that knock me out. I also wasn’t expecting much from Cars guitarist Elliot Easton, certainly not the aggressive attack and snarling guitars of “(Wearing Down) Like A Wheel.” Surprising garage rock spirit there. More conscious garage rock psychedelia comes from Washington, DC’s Velvet Monkeys on “Colors,” riffraff of an advanced order (from Bona Fide Records, PO Box 185, Red Lion, PA 17356).

Dred Scott has been playing around L.A. for years, suddenly emerging with a guitar-pop single suggestive of Television, the Buzzcocks, and the Only Ones. That’s on “Wouldn’t You Be Amazed,” the Aside; flip “Death Is For Stiffs” is more folk-rockish and just as potent. (Red Spot Records, 2007 Argyle Ave., #3, Los Angeles, CA 90068.)

The Jesus & Mary Chain hit the headlines in England for showing up onstage soused out of their brains, storming offstage after two or three shambolic numbers, and thereby provoking riots. They’ve also made a fascinating record, “Never Understand,” with howling feedback more feral than the Velvets dared vinylize smothered over the top of an apparent tribute to Ronny & The Daytonas. 45 Revelations staples the Smiths are back with a speedball express of a single, “Shakespeare’s Sister,” a fast-paced triumph for the Johnny Marr guitar army.

Strawberry Switchblade has its third winner in three tries; “Let Her Go’”s incipient preciousness is offset by full, punchy production and the vocals’ charm. Flip “Beautiful End” is quite pretty. The Cocteau Twins can be terminally precious themselves, but they achieve a cathedral-like production majesty when they’re on, as witness “AikeaGuinea.” There’s no meaning to be gleaned here, but the sound is glorious.

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Billy Bragg takes a little getting used to— one electric guitar backing a pronounced accent tends to throw off pop-oriented ears. But his strums and slashes accentuate his unadulterated message songs for an effective modern folk synthesis. Try “It Says Here” on his new Between The Wars 7-inch EP. General Public’s “Never You Done That” is not only “Tenderness” sideways, but has essentially the same chords as Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.” It’s also enormously enjoyable—this sort of glossy pop suits them, and even the “Georgie Girl”' whistling bit works. Nik Kershaw’s “Riddle Song” is similarly insidious, thanks to adeptly adapted traditional folk flavoring.

Reissue corner: The oft-raved-about Katrina & The Waves have a hot new version of former U.K./Canada single “Walking On Sunshine,” a testament to the lasting commercial appeal of the l-IV-V-IV “Sloopy”/“La Bamba”/“Good Lovin’” chord sequence. And the flip is the neoclassic, Bangles-covered “Going Down To Liverpool.” The Bangles themselves have a remix of “Hero Takes A Fall” out, and it sounds made for saturation airplay—but didn’t get it. Similarly deserving is John Waite’s “Change,” reissued from the Vision Quest soundtrack. It should have been a smash the first time around, but just missed then and, sadly, just missed again.

Over in New Zealand, Split Enz has split up, but leaves a superb single, “I Walk Away,” a dazzling pop concoction on the order of “I Got You” (speaking of singles that should have been massive hits). And the ever-impressive Chills depict the dullness of unemployment on the cleverly-titled “Doledrums,” a thoughtfully-conceived, admirably-executed pop anthem. (Flying Nun Records, Box 3000, Christchurch, New Zealand.) ^