21st September, 1998


It's National Comeback Week...

Single of the Week

"Jesus Says" by Ash

It may not be clever, but man, is it big. Ash choose a mighty scuzzed up ball of snarled-lip swagger to return to the scene, out Iggy-ing Mr Pop with a Stooges-style stomp, all leather trousers and snakeskin boots. Still sci-fi obsessed ("One million light years from home") and as cool as ever, Ash put all notions of subtlety back in the box and act out their rawk and roll fantasies in a refreshingly effervescent rush of a record. But just what is it with bands and The Stranglers these days? First the Manics with "If You Tolerate.."'s similarity to Duchess, now this which opens with the same garage trashing chords as "Something Better Change". Time for a Meninblack revival..? (and I ain't talking Will Smith).

Over on the b-side resides "Taken Out", a piledriving Pixies-ish number, complete with grungey quiet bit/loud bit. Trashy and discordant, it shows that the a-side was not a fluke, and Ash have appeared not to have gone down the "mature artiste" route (which is only to be expected, given that Tim must be all of - oh - 20 by now...) "Heroin Vodka White Noise" completes CD1, its blatant VU-rip off title concealing a mellow, but slightly menacing noise, Tim's trademark little boy lost vocals wandering around a graveyard at night, stalked by the devil playing blues guitar.

(insert gratuitous pun about Ash being on fire here)

Rating: 10/10

The Rest

"Perfect 10" by The Beautiful South

Somewhere along the lines, The Beautiful South fell foul of popular favour and went from being indie chart-conquering darlings, to much-maligned purveyors of apparently dull AOR crap. Perhaps Paul Heaton called the editor of the NME a tosser one night in the Camden Falcon or something, cos it's certainly nothing to do with their music; consistently maverick servings of ironic intelligent pop that frequently subverts from within with its barbed tunes and spiky lyrics.

"Perfect 10" (which, trivia fans, is the third song reviewed in as many weeks with the word "perfect" in the title - exciting, eh?) is no exception to this rule, although it is an exceptional sliver of malicious honky-tonk pop. A tune catchier than herpes, a male/female duet to evict Lodger from top of that genre and genuinely amusing lyrics ("She's a perfect 10, but she wears a 12 - baby keep a little two for me", "If he's XXL, then what the hell? Not every penny fits the slot"); all add up to "Perfect 10" getting a 9.

"If" is another goldie, a lounge act tune encircling Heaton's choirboy on 20 Marlboro a day vocals, and sharply-observed political lyrics, just like The Housemartins used to make. Only The Beautiful South would end off this single with an instrumental version of "I'll Sail This Ship Alone" performed by the East Yorkshire Motor Services Band. And only The Beautiful South could make it work.

Rating: 9/10

"Josephine" by Terrorvision

Dark surf guitar, Damned-style basslines and a song dealing with cross-dressing: odd to think that once Terrorvision were once at the vanguard of the new wave of British heavy metal. Now - admittedly with one foot still on the monitors, and a sock still stuffed down the trousers - they are closer to the likes of Silver Sun and A than...er...other UK heavy metal bands. Don't ask me - I don't read Kerrang. Which is a long-winded way of saying that "Josephine" is mighty fine, powerful sheets of guitar crashing around a chorus as crunchily addictive as pickled onion flavour Monster Munch.

After all that, "Reasons To Deceive" is old school hard rock, histrionic leather codpiece-busting vocals wrapped in chords played by leather-clad Valkyries astride armour-plated Triceratops in the gardens of Kubla Khan. (Maybe I should read Kerrang...) "Go Jerry" is a bit less strained, with its rude boy rhythms and huge raging chorus.

You can't help thinking however that maybe Terrorvision are more entertaining when the lead singer's on Never Mind The Buzzcocks than when you hear them on record...

Rating: 7/10

"The Weaker Argument Defeats The Stronger" by The Delgados

This is the last time I ever review a single by The Delgados. Which is a good thing for everyone concerned. It's a good thing for the band (and their fans), because it means I'll no longer mortally offend the fey, whimsical souls (send hate mail here). It's good for me, as I won't have to search through the thesaurus looking for alternatives to the word "shite". It's good for the cat, as it won't get kicked by me when the band's inane wimpy nonsense drives me to physical violence. And it's good for the world at large, cos if I never buy another Delgados single, their chances of making it into the chart and reaching wider exposure are lessened by that little bit more.

Can you tell whether I liked "The Weaker Argument Defeats The Stronger" or not yet? (The b-sides were both bollocks as well - although "The Actress" was mildly entertaining for a short while.)

Rating: 1/10

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