Building a Library

wallow in the bitter aftertaste MacColl rarely toured — of D-I-V-0-R-C-E. Lillywhite she had stage fright and chil- produced the precious single dren —so she viewed the radio "Angel," another not-great work as achance to let loose moment in drum-machine for an audience she couldn't technology even if it anticipat- see. The acoustic, quasi-rootsy ed trip-hop, but MacColl's settings on What Do Aril), Girls now-ex was otherwise sup- Do? are in strong contrast to planted by Victor Van Vugt the ornate studio , and (Nick Cave, the Walkabouts, allow MacColl's voice and Beth Orton, Shivaree), credit- craft to shine on through. Here ed here as "Vic." Mark Nevin are excellent versions of sever- steps in as primary collabora- al Kite tracks, as well as early tor, co-writing seven songs, hits, B-sides, and marvelously with on board minimal takes on "" for one (the machine-gun gui- (mariachi style) and "Bad." tar-pop of "Can't Stop Killing There are also two priceless You") and former Ruts/Aztec duets with Bragg that are Camera drummer Dave Ruff-y essential for anyone who's nuking his first appearance in even half afan of either artist: the Scooby Gang. Pete Glen- "," 'latch, and ister and pianist Steve Nieve "Darling Let's Have Another (Elvis Costello and the Baby," apunk nugget (origi- Attractions) also do their parts. Immaculate Collection for career-spanning nally by pre-Damned Chiswick band has the harmony and pop scope, extra goodies, and track-by-track Johnny Moped) that they tackle Twitty- sense of Kite, but it's a riskier, more de-light. Eighteen indelible moments Lynn style. sophisticated, and very, very somber of bliss, plus those star-studded liner While fans reveled in past glories with that MacColl herself once com- notes. Galore kicks off with four singles Galore and What Do Pretty Girls Do?, pared with the English weather. When from the early years (it's the only place MacColl headed for Brazil and Cuba. the pace and tempo arc relatively upbeat to find 1985's "He's On the Beach"), This time, she got serious. She studied the dark content works, as on the title offers a taster menu of the three Spanish and Portuguese, hung out with track: "his ropes / my wrist, Inever albums, and, crucially, the Pogues musicians in both countries, considered knew there might be days like this," tracks: "Miss Otis Regrets" (from the pursuing adegree in Latin Studies, and MacColl sings with gusto, amid swirling Red Hot and Blue Cole Porter tribute) became involved in the Cuban Solidarity strings and jangling guitars. When the and "." In aeulo- Campaign. At the time of her death, she music matches the downbeat emotions, gy he wrote for Hot Press, the Popes' had just completed an eight-part docu- the results aren't as striking. The excep- Phillip Chevron described how it felt to mentary on Cuban music for BBC tion is "Bad," 2:45 of torch that's both perform the latter song when MacColl Radio 2. All that research and passion affirmative and self-lacerating: "I want a showed up on tour: came to fruition in Tropical Brainstorm brief encounter in astolen car /A hand "I could have been someone....The (2001, V2/Instinct INS557-2), a on my buttock in a Spanish bar.../ I rueful sound of Shane MacGowan typhoon-level success. It's MacColl's want to try something that I've never cursing the emigrant's luck. This was it, Graceland, only way more fun. had /look out world, I'm about to be the moment when, every night without And there's hardly aLatin player to be bad." The ominous noir arrangement fail, the tear ducts would do battle with heard. The record was written in Cuba reminds one of Van Vugt's Bad Seeds the heartstrings. Two thousand, ten and Brazil but recorded in the UK, with connection, while Kate St. John provides thousand voices raised in reproach, Pete Glenister and Dave Ruffy tweaking asnaky solo on English horn. united with our flame-haired cheer- the knobs —nearly all the percussion, Another standout, "Soho Square" is leader, our big sister, the Maureen horns, and sound effects arc computer- too pretty-sad to be an actual bummer. O'Hara of our brighter dreams: Well so generated, with Israel Lopez, Celina It's agracefully descriptive evocation of could anyone!!" Gonzalez, and Willie Bobo among the romantic loss featuring one of Mac- Galore ends with the Titanic Days out- sampled. The lush production rings out Coil's most vulnerable and stripped- take "Caroline" and aduet with Evan like amillion bucks without sacrificing down vocals — with, as the payoff, a Dando of the Lemonheads on Lou heat or heart. And while its musical direc- string- and oboe-swollen chorus worth Reed's "Perfect Day." tion makes Tropical Brainstorm asuccessor of Sgt. Pepper's. The song's ill-fated hope- What Do Pretty Girls Do? (1998, Hux to Electric Landlady, it also features fulness seems that much more poignant HUX001) is an equally beatific retro- MacColl's best songwriting since Kite: now that its singer is no longer with us, spective —and yes, if you're keeping wry, perfectly scene-set character sketch- a sentiment MacColl's fans embraced score, there arc exactly as many compi- es à la Davies or Costello, steeped in by installing an actual "empty bench in lations in MacColl's discography as sweat, mangos, and libertine behavior. Soho Square" as amemorial. there are releases proper. This one, Forget the Latin pop explosion — "Soho Square" is inexplicably absent culled from BBC sessions in 1989, 1990, MacColl dwarfs the sexualitrof Christina from Galore (1995, IRS 30257), though 1994, and 1995, has enough quality and or Slukira with one shake of the hip. If it's hard to quibble with the track selec- charm to make it more than just acurio anything, hers is a brighten feminized tion of a greatest-hits disc that's up for fans — it's her analog of the Smiths' take on Arto Lindsay's edgy trepicalismo. there with Endless Summer and The Hatfiel of Hollow. "I)on't be afraid of the rhythm it's

126 Stereophile, January 2003