45 REVELATIONS

45 REVELATIONS

BY KEN BARNES

There was plenty of competition for Single of the Month, but the winner is an American release that came out six months ago. I heard Starpoinf�s �What You Been Missin�� when it came out, thought it was OK, and filed it. It turns out to be one of those records that heeds to be heard a few times over the radio, and thanks to a new Urban Contemporary station in L.A. that�s been banging it in heavy rotation long past its chart peak, I�ve been able to let it sink in.

Over a spare beatbox backing and a simple, pretty three-chord riff, Starpoint�s singers, Renee Diggs and Ernesto Phillips, wail the stuffing out of a repentant man/unforgiving woman scenario, winding up in a guarded sort of reconciliation. If Prince were truly androgynous, and his female incarnation sang a duet with his male side, it would sound a lot like this.

It goes against my principles of economy (which hold that extended 12-inch versions append a slew of superfluous gimmicks, dub effects, and instrumental padding and should be shunned in favor of the 7-inch, otherwise known as �God�s configuration�), but on this one you need the 12-inch to appreciate the full scope. The 7-inch simply cuts off too soon. Look for it, and check their new one, �Restless,� more conventional upbeat funk but another Keith Diamondproduced gem.

There�s a wave of teenage black pop acts reminiscent of the early �70s Jackson 5/Sylvers era, and now the records are starting to approach that level. New Edition has always set my teeth on edge, but �A Little Bit Of Love� has a sumptuous chorus that sweeps away all resistance. The Jets, eight kids from a Tongan family based in Minneapolis, directly recall the J5 with �Crush On You,� one of those songs with so much going on that something in you will be moved, whether it�s your feet or just your admiration.

Jermaine Stewart upholds the New Puritanism on �We Don�t Have To Take Our Clothes Off,� yet another vivacious slice of teenage black pop. He says he�s �not just a piece of meat,� but it sounds like an excuse—after a look at the bizarre burnoose & Western vest ensemble he�s wearing on the sleeve, you figure he can�t figure out how to take his clothes off.

Rick James�s prize protegee, Val Young, proves she doesn�t need Rick�s direct involvement on the self-composed, outside-produced �If You Should Ever Be Lonely,� a more than worthy killer-groove follow-up to the superb �Seduction.� And Portland�s finest electro dance aggregation (Portland�s only electro dance aggregation, more likely), Nu Shooz, matches any of the

New York hiphop hierarchs with the crisp, appealingly melancholy �I Can�t Wait.�

In country, Rosanne Cash carves out another chunk of brooding brilliance in �Hold On,� single #3 from her album of the year (official 1985 45 Revelations poll), Rhythm & Romance. No excuse now for skipping this stuff—don�t wait till she crosses over.

Tanya Tucker was the teenage sensation of early �70s country, but she�s spent more time in the National Enquirer than on the charts the last few years. Still a thrilling, rich voice, though, and �One Love At A Time� is a likable welcome-back number.

Country purists and rock critics alike can�t bear Alabama—too slick, too plastic, everything that�s synthetic about soulless uptown modern country, they say. They�re wrong, as demonstrated on the band�s medium-paced chugger �She And I,� highlighted by the grittiest raw rock vocal Randy Owen�s ever laid down.

I was all set to trumpet the release of an actual American Robyn Hitchcock single (on Relativity Records), with a detailed historical essay and loads of glowing testimonials, when I picked up a copy of this magazine and found he�d been adopted as CREEM poster boy of the month or whatever. I couldn�t agree more, and �Heaven,� from his live LP, provides a

relatively straightforward but power-packed introduction.

If you want to hear a truly wigged-out piece of Hitchcockiana, by the way, run down a copy of British fanzine Bucketful! Of Brains (issue 14, 70 Prince Georges Ave., London SW20 8BH, England, $3 surface, $4 airmail), which includes a flexidisc called �Happy Golden Prince,� six-and-a-half minutes of surreal narrative pumped up with every overamped descriptive adjective Hitchcock can muster (and, take it from an adjectival connoisseur, that�s no small amount).

Everyone thinks the Animals copped �House Of The Rising Sun� from Dylan, but I always thought they got it from Nina Simone, who also provided Alan Price with his version of �I Put A Spell On You,� the entire group with scattered LP tracks, plus the hit �Don�t Let Me Be Misunderstood.� Anyway, Elvis Costello�s �Misunderstood� falls about halfway between Simone and Burdon, brittle with emotion, good stuff.

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�Baby�s Got A Brand New Hairdo� on the flip flashes back to �I Don�t Want To Go To Chelsea,� which is fine with me. And a belated plug to Echo & The Bunnymen�s stately �Bring On The Dancing Horses,� now that it�s out in this country; over the months it�s inserted itself among my favorites.

The flow of good records out of Australia and New Zealand continues, with the highlight being the amusingly-named Zimmermen and �Don�t Go To Sydney.� They advise* in melodious Move-like tones, �Don�t go to Sydney/lt�s a natural fact/The people there are obviously lacking in tact.� Right up there with Robyn Hitchcock�s rhyme in �Listening To The Higsons� (the flip of his new single), �The Higsons come from Norwich/And they eat a lot of porridge,� for Couplet of the Month. (Zimmermen c/o Au Go Go Records, GPO Box 542D, Melbourne 3001, Australia.)

Erstwhile CREEM poster boys the Church are back with �Already Yesterday,� more of what everyone (everyone who�s heard them, at least, which is an altogether different proposition) likes: seductive textured guitars, languid vocals, and lots of images about mechanical birds of prey, lizards, and brains. Flip side, �As You Will,� is a little edgier and probably preferable.

Veterans Mental As Anything, using ex-Blondie producer Richard Gottehrer, come up with in �Live It Up� a pop side of epidemic catchiness. And New Zealand�s Peking Man mix up funk and rock in the pop blender most effectively on �Room That Echoes.�

A reminder: I�ll listen to any 45s so cover me at 1930 Century Park West, 5th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90067.