In a July [?] 1982 issue of UK magazine Melody Maker Richard Butler was chosen to review a selection of singles that came out at the time. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with any of these songs but here are Richard's thoughts...
The Raincoats: "No-one's Little Girl" (Rough Trade). If things were as they should be, this would be a hit record. It's absolutely great! If Laurie Anderson stands a chance with "O Superman", then The Raincoats certainly deserve it with "No-one's Little Girl". I think it's brilliant. Single of the week!
It's one of those things that hits you right in the chest. You can't really say what makes a good song. It just affects you. This has a really pretty sound, the violin break at the end... aaah! This is the only single I'm actually taking away with me. The B-side's great too...
Madness: "Driving In My Car" (Stiff). This isn't fair. I knew it was gonna be a favorite record out of this pile because I think Madness are absolutely great. They can't fail and I've already heard this one on the radio. They get better and better. I thought "Grey Day" was an amazing song and I think this one's amazing, too. I love the sounds they're using, they're so adventurous.
Of all the people that came out of that 2-Tone thing, Madness are the ones that seem to be pushing something away and yet still doing the basic loonie bit. This sounds awkward and strange – like they've got square wheels on the car or something. I can imagine Madness making a psychedelic single, easy! Let's play the B-side...
Funboy Three: "Summertime" (Chrysalis). A very calculated summer single, but unfortunately it's raining. I dunno... if Captain Sensible can cover an old song and get away with it then maybe they can do the same. I like their simplicity – "The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum" was great – but this is a bit obvious.
Bad Manners: "My Girl Lollipop" (Magnet). Another cover! It was Millie originally wasn't it? I used to like her version – I was a real little kid when that came out. Funny – Bad Manners and the Funboy Three both came out of 2-Tone and both are doing covers, though this lot have remained exactly the same, still using the reggae beat they always use. They've never developed the way Madness have, they haven't moved on. This is so easy, the only imagination used was picking out what song to cover. Not a lot more to say...
Samson: "Losing My Grip" (Polydor). I can remember kind of liking Free in my youth before I found out what was half decent and what wasn't. I don't like this because it's so predictable and I've heard it a million times before. I've been hearing it since Free brought out "All Right Now" and it's never stopped since then.
I can't even start to guess what the appeal of it is, but it's something that will carry on – it's going now and it will be going, probably, in another ten years. And, in another ten years' time, I still won't understand its appeal.
Chaotic Dischord: "[__] The World" (Riot City Records)/The Adicts: "Viva La Revolution" (Fall Out Records). Hard core punk is basically reactionary as bad, if not worse, than heavy metal. Probably worse! The Adict's cover is sub-Clockwork Orange and the riff sounds like The Ramones. Chaotic Dischord are a very amateurish four-piece punk band playing four different things at the same time. This has been going on since 1977 so we're what? Into fourth generation punk now? Awful. Terrible.
[Melody Maker]: At least The Adicts invest their dirge with a little humor to drag it out of its trough.
Richard: What, like the Anti-Nowhere League? I'm not interested in it getting out of its trough.
The Managers: "Shake It Up, Shake It Up" (Sire). Heard it before, heard it before.
Jackson Browne: "Somebody's Baby" (Asylum). Definitely part of the Bruce Springsteen heritage – "She's got to be somebody's baby/She's so fine"... If you're into these kind of lyrics and this kind of music then...
MM: You should be dead!
Richard: Maybe they play this type of stuff in modern American supermarkets. See, Jackson Browne does nothing objectionable. People can play his stuff on the radio and nobody ever complains about it.
MM: We're complaining.
Richard: Yeah, because it's so unimaginative. It's dross.
Glenn Frey: "I Found Somebody" (Asylum). Another one! You might as well walk around and review the soundtrack in your local supermarket as listen to this. There's nothing to criticize it for and there's nothing good to find in it. It just drifts in one ear and out the other. There's no point where you can say "That's awful – I disagree with that sentiment" or "Yeah! I agree with that!"
Pop music should educate people – you can either try to do something political like The Clash, which I find slightly self-defeating because anybody who buys a Clash album already thinks like that.
I mean, if you were to force Ronald Reagan to listen to The Clash, maybe it would be worthwhile, but otherwise it's preaching to the converted. Or you can try to educate people like Elvis Costello or Bob Dylan or even John Cooper Clark does; makes you a bit aware of what goes on around, making people, through your music, use their imaginations to listen to it like you did when you made it.
I think this is absolutely dry of anything approaching imagination.
Carly Simon: "Why" (Mirage). Yeah, why?
Allez Allez: "African Queen" (Kamera). Very Grace Jones. Humphrey Bogart probably wouldn't have liked it. I've spoken to the singer and I know the band are Belgian and that they're all working really hard but... I don't want to put them down that much because she's got the cutest bum I've ever seen at the Camden Palace.
Skankar & Bill Loveday: "Himalaya"/Will Sergeant: "Favourite Branches" (WEA). I don't like the A side at all – it's very Thunderclap Newman. The B-side, unfortunately, is "Listening Wind" by Talking Heads. It's worth mentioning that Will Sergeant is the guitarist from Echo & The Bunnymen, so maybe they're getting into Talking Heads... that might be a good thing.
Maximum Joy: "In The Air" (Y). Okay, I've heard "Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag" and I didn't like it – sounded like a fluke to me. I really don't wanna put people down – we've had enough of it, so I'd rather be positive about things, but it's a drag that the sax line and the vocal line are pretty much the same. The cover's great – like a Daz pocket... maybe worth it for the cover alone, but honestly, I don't think they've got any chance at all.
Tom Tom Club: "Under The Boardwalk" (Island). There seems to be a big thing about doing summer singles this year and really it's become cool to do a lot of things that weren't cool before. We're out of the punk thing now and right back into the business. Once it was considered uncool to be commercial, now it's considered cool, really cool to be going on "Top Of The Pops", really cool to be doing cover songs.
It's so easy... the thing is you've already got the tunes going round in your head, you know them already, so the first time you hear it you might hear a different arrangement but it takes so little time to latch on. This is like somebody tapping on your shoulder and saying: "Hey! You know this already! Buy!"
It's a cop-out. I mean, it's hardly being creative is it?
Sheena Easton: "Machinery" (EMI). Well, ha ha ha! It's a hit! I reckon it's a hit, I really do! Partly I like her because she's a big fan of the great bard John Cooper Clark, partly because it's so predictable. Don't put this in because it's so uncool, but it's got the same thing Madness have – they could really do something with this riff!
Maybe it'll drift out of my head as easily as it comes in but thinking on chart terms, I think it's obviously gonna be successful. You even get the fan club address written down here. I think I'll have to write off – "Sheena, I gave you a good review, will you write to me? Here's my address..."
Scritti Politti: "Asylums In Jerusalem/Jacques Derrida" (Rough Trade). I think this is great. The A side's very different from the AA side which is very admirable. "Asylums" is Stevie Wonder though I prefer "Jacques" which is The Monkees.
The Pencils: "Watching The Tears" (Next). It would be nice if they'd written it, the sounds are great, but it really is "Ticket To Ride" and the Hollies. It's very derivative, but it's also very good. I mean, sounds are constantly being regurgitated and sometimes it's worth it. The Jam re-doing "Taxman" as "Start" – they interpreted the sound more in a different way; they had an Eighties feel whereas this sounds more like the genuine article.
If I didn't know, I'd think this was off a Sixties album or something. It has nothing to say for now.
Tom Petty: "Refugee" (MCA). Everything that's invested in Bruce Springsteen is invested in Tom Petty. They're carrying on the flame of rock 'n' roll. It's derivative but it's still very good because he invests it with something of his own. These are two tracks off albums that have been out for ages – one of the best songs off "D*** The Torpedoes" and the B-side sounds like Bob Dylan's "Street Hassle" so the ethics are a little in doubt though the songs aren't.
Blancmange: "Feel Me" (London). I'm a sucker for this sort of thing. They ought to get Brian Eno in to produce. What else to say about it? Talking Heads meet Joy Division, somewhere between Depeche Mode and Soft Cell. I think they deserve a break.
Tjahman Levi: "Lend A Hand" (Jahmani). It's very slick reggae, very commercial and if Elvis Costello needs something to do after trying country music and psychedelia maybe he should try reggae because this is his type of melody. It's not really my kind... I'd rather listen to the dub stuff, I'm not into all the Jah business because I think that's a pile of bollocks.
Larry Elgart & His Manhattan Swing Orchestra: "Hooked On Swing" (RCA). The sort of record you ought to get with your hundredth birthday telegram from the Queen. For getting rid of old relatives that you don't like – play it and they might dance and have a heart attack.
