Arts.
The Michigan Daily Saturday, May 23, 1981 Page 11
PiL's latestLP
wilted 'Flowers'
Public Image Limited - 'The THE FOLLOWING cut, "Track 8,"
Flowers of Romance' (Virgin) Public however, strikes me the wrong way.
Image Limited has just released a third Over Levene's not overly exciting
studio effort, The Flowers of Romance. guitar work, Lydon sings like he is
It's only an ordinary album this time, reciting a nursery rhyme. The lyrics
plays for just over 31 minutes, and is, at are concerned with sexuality (his? who
best, a step sideways from the brillian- knows?); not only are the references
ce of the 1979 Metal Box. Comprised of bitter, but also misogynistic. "Imagine
nine tracks, the album features John that/A butterball turkey ... Come and
Lyndon, Keith Levene and the play/Total commitment/Pre-men-
mysterious Jeanette Lee (who's strual tension? alright, I finished."
photographed on the cover). Martin Lydon's doing a wonderful job of
Atkins drums for three songs. alienating at least half the world's
population in three easy minutes.
Lovely. The effect is zilch.
The title song and "Under the House"
conclude the first side. Both live up to
Metal Box expectations musically. The
layers of drums and synthed-guitars
don't envelope the vocal, surrounding it
instead in a very natural way. Lyndon
sounds at home singing here, comfor-
table enough to seem unleashed and
under control, simultaneously.
"Banging the Door" is the piece that
needs ex-band member Jah Wobble,
that distinguished bassist, the most.
This song about a persistent caller (a
lover? a fan?) could really be helped
The Flowers of Romance clearly em- with a more persistent bass line.
phasizes the drone factor. Unlike those PiL would like to have The Flowers of
marvelous 12" 45s, there is little tension Romance seen as a complete work,
in the songs. Repetition is the key here: built around one idea. They did that on-
Lydon and Levene won't let anyone ce already, with tremendous success,
forget the all-encompassing terror they and then complained afterward how
feel. boring it was to make records. With this
The album opens with "Four En- album, they have something very
closed Walls." Once you get past the typical and ultimately dull - one long-
silly rhyme ("doom sits in gloom in his playing record, complete with a single.
room") the song is overwhelming. What will be next from this "cor-
Lydon's wailing, over Atkin's sounds poration"?Hopefully something more
like water trickling on tom-tom drums, consistent.
a stunning juxtaposition. Regina Myer
Musique plaq
New heavy metallics
from Nugent, Priest
The Plastics - 'The Plastics'
(Island) Hey! What is going on?!
First the B-52's become dance-floor
Jetsons, then the Model Citizens try
their damndest to sound just like
singing Bettys and Wilmas from The
Flintstones (trust me), and now The
Plastics . .. oh, well, um, let's take
a wild shot and say that they're the
soundtrack that Speed Racer sadly
never had. One-dimensionality is
spreading like the plague, and what
are we going to do about it?? Dance,
of course.
The Plastics hail from Japan, and
I do mean hail ... and yip, sqeak,
wuwuwuwuwu and many other
fun things that you can try to imitate
in the privacy of your very own
home. You probably won't succeed
to the inhuman extent that lead
singer Chica does, though. She
makes all sorts of alarmingly
precise noises that twist the album's
-what-the-hell-are-they-saying Eng-
lish "lyrics" into more fun than
radio static. "Ohhhhhhhh you
BAStard!! ... cum here byyyy MY
side! she yelps, and you'd better
run. The rest of the group mans a
world-war-worthy array of syn-
copated instruments - this LP is
definitely in the shiny-artificiality
vein of most new wave pop, and who
needs naturalism? Machines are
funfunfun, and they can make you
dance like crazy.
Theur Pactics is sasvery fnny
will prbably wear itself out after
twenty listenings or less. Until that
moment arrives, however, it's
ingenious silliness, the latest
Ultimate Toy for the teen who has
almost everything. If you can't be a
cartoon, you might just as well listen
to one. -Dennis Harvey
Ted Nugent 'Intensities In 10 Cities'
(Epic) - Judas Priest 'Point of Entry'
(Columbia) Ted Nugent's latest LP is
comprised of ten new songs recorded
live in concert - not a common prac-
tice in the recording industry, but then
that is what makes Ted Nugent so at-
tractive to his fans. He can never be
expected to do the ordinary.
Security just isn't Ted's lifestyle. For
instance, while most rock performers
live in fear of objects being thrown at
them on stage, Ted ... well, Ted dares
people to try to hit him and them
proudly declares, "They haven't got me
yet!"
It's just like Ted to dare to release
new material recorded live, and his ef-
forts are commendable. In fact, Ted has
come a long way since his last live
album Double Live Gonzo, the release
that was really responsible for
catapulting his career into the major
leagues.
GONE ARE the aboriginal
screeches, aurally assaulting feedback,
and long, screaming soliloquies. Crowd
noise has been muted to the point that it
seems that the audience is hardly there.
The sound is basically clear, and guitar
solos are much less drawn out.
Ted has never been overly concerned
with perfection in his live performan-
ces, and higher voltage usually wins out
over comprehensibility. But Intensities
In 10 Cities is obviously recorded and
edited to bring Nugent concert into your
living room on something more than a
primitive level.
never change. The lyrics still reflect
Ted's preoccupation with animalistic
sex, power, and killing.
Highpoints on Intensities are "TNT
Overture," an exceptional instrumen-
tal (Ted's best guitar piece since
"Hibernation") and "I am a
Predator," a funky tune accompanied
by low, raspy vocals.
IT'S TOO BAD that some of the other
headbanger rock performers can't
show as much, um, versatility as Ted
has. Judas Priest's new album Point of
Entry is a good example.
Judas Priest has all the earmarks of
the archtypical heavy metal band.
They like wearing leather and chains,
lead singer Rob Halford drives a
motorcycle around stage, and their
lyrics generally revolve around like-
heavy-man topics such as sin, death,
and violence.
The band is highly regarded in their
homeland of Great Britain, but in
America their profile is low. Their sixth
album, Point of Entry, is unlikely tc
change that.
The album contains eleven tracks, all
with horrendously uniform rhythm and
fragmented vocals that occasionally
sound like a revamped Uriah Heep.
Stand-out cuts? Well, there aren't any.
In fact, the tunes are all so similar that
I'd bet that even the most dedicated
heavy metal connoisseur would be
lulled into a stupor before getting
through Side One.
Judas Priest seems to be paralyzed,
suspended ina state that prohibits them
from becoming a true force in the
heavy metal genre. Their last previous
release, British Steel, reeked of stifle(
ambition, and Point of Entry appears to
be more of the same.
--Tammy Reiss
Of course, some things about Ted will. - -.. ' tt;