45 REVELATIONS

45 REVELATIONS

DEPARTMENTS

You might have to do some serious searching to find the Single of the Month this time. It�s called �Closer To The Heart,� by an Irish group, Clannad, who used to sing principally in Gaelic and are still filed under Folk in those enterprising record stores that import their LPs. But �Closer To The Heart� is pure pop, with only an occasional nod to traditional folk in a harmony passage here or there. The tune is a pure delight, the kind you assimilate the first time you hear it; Maire Brennan�s vocals are crystalline, and the blistering guitar solos wouldn�t be out of place on a hard rock (or, these days, a hard funk) record. You�ll probably have to seek out the album (Macalla) to find the song, as I don�t know anyone who�s importing the single (need one myself in fact). So start scouring those folk bins.

By the way, for the thousands of completists who want to keep their Singles of the Month collections complete, the SOM in the Great Lost 45 Revelations column that became outdated during CREEM�s hiatus was �Black Kisses (Never Make You Blue)� by Holland�s Curtie & The Boombox. They deftly combined at least three great Sister Sledge songs (�Lost In Music,� �He�s The Greatest Dancer,� and, most obviously, �We Are Family�), added a screaming guitar solo from Def Leppard�s Steve Clark, and made a valiant stab at snaring an American hit last fall. I�m impressed by how uncannily European acts are adapting American black music styles—another good example is �Say I�m Your No. 1� by the lamely-named Princess, who doesn�t sound anything like Prince but did knock off an adept recreation of the cushiony ethereal SOS Band sound.

I also should put in a belated plug for Latin Quarter, a British band I�ve just caught up with. Two of their singles, the most recent, �No Rope As Long As Time,� and �Radio Africa,� are thoughtful but passionate commentaries on Africa (especially South Africa); �Radio Africa� in particular is an unforgettably plaintive song, a reggaebased exploration along the lines of the midperiod Police or, even better, �Remember Russia� by Fischer Z. Latin Quarter�s third single, �The New Millionaires,� has a female vocal and sounds like a poppier Steely Dan without the clinical detachment.

But what I find myself listening to most these days is modern country music. Most writers who pay any attention to country at all bemoan the way the modern sound has �betrayed� the music�s roots, and indeed there�s not a lot of honky-tonkin� or weepy steel guitar balladeering going on. What do show up frequently are the classically elegant, simpler melodic styles of early �60s rock, the clean, economical playing of the rockabilly era, and expressive, emotional singing that�s a treat to hear in a time when most pop singers either croon like Bowie or swell up like heavy metal frogs.

KEN BARNES

The Forester Sisters� recent country #1, �I Fell In Love Again Last Night,� is a gorgeous song that could pass for female Everly Brothers. The Judds� �Why Not Me� is a simple, three-chord ditty with an irrepressibly optimistic bounce and

some casually stunning vocal leaps into the higher register by Wynonna Judd. Their more recent �Have Mercy� is reminiscent of the similarlytitled Don Covay/Stones chugger with sprightly piano and easy-rocking momentum.

Sawyer Brown�s �Betty�s Bein� Bad� could be, instrumentally speaking, a Jerry Lee Lewis stormer of the �50s, while Eddy Raven�s �I Wanna Hear It From You� is a streamlined �80s rocker you�d hardly consider country by any traditional definition. Same goes for Rosanne Cash, whose transcendent �I Don�t Know Why You Don�t Want Me� started me on this kick. Her stuff, including the Tom Petty song �Never Be You� (first cut by Lone Justice�s Maria McKee on the Streets Of Fire soundtrack) that�s her latest hit, is in a class by it self, a new kind of pop.

Gall Davies makes excellent pop country records with �Break Away� approaching rock. Janie Frlcke�s �Somebody Else�s Fire� has bits of intense, smoky guitar picking Mark Knopfler would envy. Lacy J. Dalton has a supremely rich voice which tends simultaneously to overwhelm and ennoble songs like �The Night Has A Mind Of Its Own� or �You Can�t Run Away From Love.� Steve Warlner�s �Some Fools Never Learn� is probably the prettiest, saddest ballad of the year. The Whites have a luminous traditional family harmony sound, nicely showcased on "I Don�t Want To Get Over You.� And so forth—Ricky Skaggs is often excellent (great band), Gary Morris�s bluesy �I�ll Never Stop Loving You� is impressive, Earl Thomas Conley makes a lot of good records... It�s a scene worth checking out, and you�ll be reading about the highlights in future columns.

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You can finally get the amazing Divinyls Australian singles I�ve been raving about, �In My Life� and �Good Die Young,� plus another more recent single, �Casual Encounter,� on their new What A Life LP. It also contains their new U.S. single, �Pleasure & Pain,� a poppy rocker that broadens their commercial appeal without sacrificing the raw edge Chrissie Amphlett�s impassioned vocals give them. Good extended 12-inch (a rarity) too.

And the Hoodoo Gurus, whose �I Want You Back� will one day go down as an �80s classic, are back with �Bittersweet,� an artfully restrained performance that returns them to .the top of the pop-rock cl&ss.