Page 6, The Retriever, October 22, 1980 British rockers lead 'punk' invasion

by Jay Grubb contemplates life and a vacuum factory, The Comstat Angels. I'm really anxious to line bombs are decendingl This may be the "Five miles out of London on the Western hear a whole album of these guys to see if last thing I'll be rememberingi ... Oh oh there I personally promised some people a little Avenue/ Must of been a wonder when it was they can keep up such high quality. Like the was so much to dol Oh oh the summer of while ago that I would review Jeff Beck's brand new / Talking 'bout the splendor ofthe Gang of Four they use a sparse, crisp sound. '42." new album There and Back. Well, I haven't Hoover factory / K now that you'ld agree if but instead of fueling it with angry politics Sometimes a little too pop sounding, but and in order to stop the threatening glances you'd seen it tool It's not a matter of life or The Comstat Angels use a mysterious still a solid effort. they keep giving me I want to explain what death/ But what is? / It doesn't matter if I moodiness. This gives their music an eerie, happened. other worldly effect. One of our unselfish proofreaders take another breath/ Who cares? / Who Match their throbbing rhythms to brought in the album for me on a cool day cares?" thoughful lyrics and you have one of the that turned very hot. Being a considerate most interestIng bands I hear in a while. Also deserving of mention are the type, they carefully set up the album in the Already acclaimed in England is rockers, "(I Don', Want To Go To) Chelsea" back seat of their car so it could sunbathe a "Independents Day", a dryly realistic look at and "Tiny Steps ". In the latter song Costello little before I reviewed it. declaring the end of a relationship . . sings about a playboy's useless conquest, So by the time I got the record it was A warning though. The Comstat Angels "Tiny steps/ Almost real/ Tiny fingers / You suffering frolJl a bad case of over exposure, will have to be very careful that their distinct almost feel / Make her kneel/ Oh she's almost and closely resembled a surface map of the style doesn't turn them into a "How many human beneath it." Atlantic Ocean during a severe tropical ways can we do this same song" group. Made In Britain Polydor storm. Excell. These four "kids" make me sick. I Every once in a while the record A mall funeral service was held at mean, they're all eighteen or younger and companies do something intelligent (You dumpster No.5. Don't be sad. Remember, they're already playing music this good? It records are your best entertainment value, don't believe me, do you?). This is one of The Invaders - Test Card. those times. What we have here is an makes me feel so slow in my musical because vinyl never rots. Now for the attempts. And what's worse, they're I almost ranked this band first, because reviews that survived. introduction album to four new British becoming successful at it. they are the slickest of the four. After bands, The Invaders, Excel, Comstat EI\'is Costel/o-Taking Liberties Columbia Excel's music is tight rock/ pop with listening a couple more times though, I Angels, and Protex. Each of these groups First off. this is not really a new album. It healthy touches of wit. As in their anti­ realized they may be too slick for their own will have an album out, so I'll give you an is a collection of B-sides, English releases, nostalgia "Summer of '42''. "Summer of '42 good. Fancy production and echoes can at and some previously unreleased cuts. idea of what to expect. I'm not sure if Made brings back the memories/ Out on the long times hide the fact that what's going on Costello will have an album of new songs In Britain is available in the stores. beach down in the trenches/ No more beneath isn't all that dramatic. around January and a U.S. tour. I will look at each band in the order they adventures as far as I can see/ I'm not a hero Now I don't want you to get the idea that Many times compilation records are only I don't think I want to be / Not on the front The Invaders aren't good. They're very for die hard fans who would kill their own professional and their polish will give them mother for a recording of their idol spitting the best shot at appealing to American in a toilet. However, this album is more than buyers. The Invaders have many favorable that. points. With both a strong male and female Two things make Taking Liberties singer, there is more variety in the sound. worthwhile. One is the number of cuts, 20 on Luckily, Ruth Ellis isn't another Debby a single record. The other is the variety, Harry clone. She has one of the prettiest some go all the way back to when he started. voices around (although not that So with that many different types of songs expressive). there's got to be at least one good album's The Invaders are a fine band with fine worth of material. melodic tunes, I just wish they weren't so Elvis puts on a number of faces through predictable. the disc. In "Radio Sweetheart" we find Protex. Costello convincingly playing the country Another young band of teenagers from boy (This track has been getting good Belfast, Protex is sort of a top 40 punk exposure on some local stations). Then group. They got their name from a Clash switching to the rhythm & blues of "Getting song, but their music is much more light and Mighty Crowded" Elvis earns a pair of ray­ tuneful. Basically what Protex plays is ban sunglasses (Ask Jake and Elwood). catchy, tightly written rock. Turning again we find him doing a cover of They do suffer from a bit too much "My Funny Valentine", a tender insult song. repetition at times and from weak production. At their age they'll have some The other cuts are more typical Costello time to work on that. _ music. My favorite is the previously Protex should be coming by here on their unreleased "Hoover Factory" in which he Elvis Costello and the Attraction.s U.S. tour very soon. ~idler Plays self in "Madness" hy Knin Schoeler Seattle to Sydney. And it's surprising how A Public Service of This ~ & The Advertising Council II "In honor (~f my first trip to the North much she can invent without anything ever Countries, I come to you tonight mean as sounding the same. She doesn't even use a Scrooge and twice as horny, full of stories, lot of her older and more popular music; she songs and lillie peices ofexotic information mostly uses music from other artists, a~d YOli might not have known had you not songs from her later LP's. That's not saymg hought a ticket w see this demented there's none of the old stuff; here Bette does demiblonde. Ain't that right. girls? How the campy Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and What's the best manr of rou think I'm talking too fast? .. several other songs from earlier in her HO\~' I~a"'r of" rOll \'ote for 100 slow? .. career. I nsterspersed with the tunes are her How man): ol.~·o"u think I shouldjust shut up own wisecracks, dirty jokes ("from the files and go home?" of the late and great Miss Sophie Tucker"), blood type? from A Vie\\' From A Broadby Bette Midler and insults. Bette Midler has probably Imagine a buxom, curly-headed blonde insulted more people. places, and things just over five feet tall saying all of this in a than any person, ever. She even insults little more than a lungful of air. .. herself--making fun of her body: "Once you A reach thirty, your body seems to take on a regular donor. Bette Midler is back again on the big screen in Divine Madness, her second major life of its own.'- motion picture in less than a year. Don't go Technically the film appears amateurish. to Di\'ine Madness and expect to see The The editor must have taken an overdose of Rose. because this film is a big dose of just Midler madness when he was working on this particular film. Instead of being joined by smooth transitions, the different sketches pure Bette Midler--shockingly spontaneous. seem to have been just lumped together. American That's her magic. She insults Princess Anne: However, nice use was made of the many Red Cross "She loves nature in spite of what nature did angles caught by the seemingly countless to her." sings a dirty ditty about the leaders numbers of cameras. It seems almost as ifthe of the Nazi regime. and zooms about the film was edited with inserts for commercials. stage dressed as a mermaid. in an electric Also the sometimes uneven sound can be wheelchair to which a palm tree is attached. disct~acting because of the necessity of And that's only part of it. hearing every word. Actually Divine Di\'ine Madness was shot in Pasadena, Madness is no more than a filmed concert, California during her show there in 1979, but it's worth seeing, if only for the laughs. Call for your appointment today. following her world tour which she ~ Bette Midler could go on for hours if it '" The Amencan Red Cross 1979 chronicled in A View From A Broad. In was physically possible, so the end of the D;\'ine Madness, Bette retains few of her old film came rather abruptly after an hour and comic relief routines. Instead she depends a half. She did cover the best of her upon all new material which which she repertoire in the film, including some Rose invented as she blitzed the world, from numbers.