Roadrunner, March 1979

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Roadrunner   1978 May 1978 June 1978 October 1978 December 1979 February 1979 March 1979 April 1980 February 22  1980 April 1981 December  1982 July Australia publications  Newspapers Adelaide Advertiser The Australian Brisbane Courier-Mail Canberra Times Lismore Northern Star Melbourne Age Melbourne Herald Sun Melbourne Observer Nation Review Newcastle Herald Queensland Times Sydney Daily Mirror Sydney Daily Telegraph Sydney Morning Herald Sydney Sun-Herald Victor Harbor Times West Australian West Australian Sunday Times Magazines ABC Radio 24 Hours Adelaide Review Audio Technology Australian Musician Australian Nat. Univ. Woroni Australian Women's Weekly Black+White BMA Magazine The Bulletin Countdown Crowd DB Magazine Drum Media EON Extra Follow Me Gentlemen Inpress Juice Juke Melbourne Beat Men's Style Australia Mint Magazine The Music On The Street Rage Reverb Magazine RAM Reader's Digest Revolver Rhythms Rip It Up Roadrunner Rolling Stone Semper Street Fever Sydney Star Observer Time Off UNSW Tharunka Who Online publications AU Review Australian Stage Music Feeds Scenestr Tone Deaf — Armed Forces Elvis Costello Ross Stapleton The third album from Elvis Costello comes hot on the heels of his Australian tour so Costello fans have already been introduced to some of the material on it. However, as anyone who attended his concerts would testify the live Costello is quite different to the recorded one. This album immediately strikes you as being similar to his previous two but further listening reveals its true quality. Costello's vocal style is undoubtedly responsible for this initial impression because his distinctive style does not appear repetitive. There is no mistaking that tense and sometimes strangled singing, vehemently attacking the lyrics and bending vowels into the Costello mode. The production on this album is clean and precise highlighting Costello's singing and negating his guitar playing to the point of irrelevance... not that that matters with the Attractions behind him solid and strong all the way. The rhythm section of Bruce Thomas and Pete Thomas provide a consistent base for all the tracks here. Although it seems very basic and simple at first, close listening reveals an intricate rhythmic partnership. Now that may be more by design of the producer than natural partnership but whatever the case, it works. One thing that is certainly not contrived on this album is the piano and organ playing of Steve Naive. His playing adds color and depth right through the album despite the overpowering vocals. It provides a perfect complement to the melodies and certainly showcases his musical training for it is both lyrical and thoughtful. In fact, I think if it wasn't for his presence on the album, Costello would have had only a duplicate of his last album. Naive may be a petulant little shit on stage but he knows what he's doing when it comes to music. The cover and inner sleeve of this album deserve a mention because of their obscurity and the trouble taken with them. I'm not going to bother trying to interpret them because any meaning that can be read into them is purely subjective... they're a symbolist's delight. The lyrics are similarly obscure and the same applies as above. Only Costello knows what they're really about and anything you or I make of them is conjecture. This raises the question of whether the lyrics are important or is the music the thing? Costello may have had a grand theme for this album and his subject is obvious but its importance is debatable particularly when the music stands on its own merits. Yet something about Costello's style is disturbing. It's a feeling that you've heard it somewhere before although you know it wasn't the same. Just as he created a unique identity and labelled it with a synthesis of infamous names he synthesises a unique sound by combining various musical styles which seem obvious although you can never quite pinpoint them. American Squirm Nick Lowe Joe Camilleri This month, the singles are reviewed by Joe Camilleri of Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons, with help from Falcons roadies Geoff and Tony. At times the conversation deviated from the record at hand, but the sidetracks were often as interesting as the review comments so I've left most of them in - D.R. Joe: I don't think it'll do very well here. It's interesting because it's definitely directed at the American market. Interesting kind of work on that one with that jangling guitar, very sixties sound. I think it's a good record. It's one record that I find I have to listen to a few times. That's the second time I've heard it and I still haven't got right into it. Nick Lowe has that effect on me with his records, like with Jesus Of Cool. I didn't like that at first but it really grew on me. It's unfortunate that these singles don't get an opportunity except on stations like 3RRR or 2JJ. But even at their strongest peak those stations will never break through. I don't think 10 per cent of the people are aware that it's available to them. Maybe when FM comes in, 'cos it has to come in strong, there might be a little more awareness. Maybe if some of these commercial stations go FM it'll make a difference. This tune will probably be one of the top 10 tunes in the 3RRR top forty, but it probably wouldn't even get a hearing anywhere else. It's hard to tell, of course. Costello's breaking through and there's a few others. Elvis Costello Keith Shadwick Elvis Costello ran into problems prior to the release of the new LP and single: He pulled the same stunts at the Dominion in Tottenham Court Road as he had in Sydney, refusing all encores and generally giving the audience short shrift, while the band sounded tired and bored: It seemed for a couple of weeks as though the inevitable media reaction was to overtake him, but the new LP and another round of concerts in the last couple of weeks have revived his career. Only the older numbers sound tired now: "Detectives" was delivered as though he was sleepwalking. Either he's following managerial decrees for enigmatic behavior too closely or he's just sick of playing the same thing for two years now. Anyway, he's still in a pretty healthy position. Roadrunner, March 1979 Sue Denim reviews Armed Forces Joe Camilleri reviews the single for Nick Lowe's "American Squirm." Keith Shadwick reports on EC's Dominion Theatre stand. Also includes part 2 of Stuart Matchett's interview with Dave Robinson. Images Page scans. Out of the gutters The story of Stiff Records: Part Two Stuart Matchett Last issue, Dave Robinson described the circumstances that lead to the formation of Stiff Records in London — the rise of the pub rock circuits, and the dissatisfaction with the Establishment record companies, etc etc. In part two of the interview, Robinson goes on to recall the early days and growth of Stiff, the self-styled "undertakers to the industry." We had a tiny office and most of the room was taken up by these boxes of eight-track tapes which were the demos we had from the Hope and Anchor studio days. I've still got millions of them. If I had the time, I'd love to put together a 10-record set in a box. You'd sell about 2000 copies but the people who bought them would have everything there on record. Once it's on vinyl it becomes something special — well, to me, anyway. How did you go about signing up people for Stiff? We made a list, actually...a very quick list. Micky Jupp was the final person on it and we signed him recently, so we've actually completed our list of signings. It was run on a co-operative basis, like the pub rock thing, and we try to keep that in the record label. People who were doing well co-operated to help people who weren't doing so well — play on their records or give them a song — and it's worked out very well like that. Where did the idea for putting out the sampler album Bunch of Stiffs, way back in the beginning , come from? Well, we couldn't really afford to do albums on everybody. We started the company on about $600 Australian and as in the record business, you don't get your money until about three months after you've earned it. We still didn't have much. The Bunch of Stiffs was to show people the kind of thing we were into. To put out a sampler that would attract attention. I'm not into samplers or compilation albums that much, but I think it explains some of the different styles that you're involved in. Some of the singles which were on it had sold quite well compared to what normally happens to singles that weren't on radio. It was almost Stiff that revived the single, wasn't it? I think so. Well, I wouldn't like to say that we revived the single but I think we had a bit to do with it in that we started a lot of groups who up until then had been jamming and doing long, involved things and we came along and said: "Look, three minutes... 2½ minutes if possible. Let's be sharp." The speed we were working on was that the single was the art form for that kind of thing. We also wanted to turn a record around quickly. We'd hear the song, record the record the following day and have it out by the end of the week. We'd find little pressing plants that were prepared to press them quickly. So the whole style of it lent itself to the singles track. What about contracts? You didn't sign people up for five years, or whatever...? We signed them up for one single. That was the basis for it. We said: "If it goes well for you after that, we'll talk to you further." Now this was the direct opposite of the big companies where people are signed up for a long period, go off them but don't tell them and don't do anything with them but still retain them because maybe they're going to happen. You see, the big record companies did work on the principle that maybe they're going to happen. They weren't prepared to make it happen or at least happen up to a par with how good it was. So you have a single that is quite good and you try and sell it "quite good". You try to promote that band at least up to a par with the record. I believe it's "in the grooves" somewhat. A record can only go so far. It s very hard, though. A lot of tracks that I haven't liked, people in America have really loved and you've got to reach as big an audience as you can because they might like it. There were a few tracks that I didn't think were much cop but I liked the people involved. Like Larry Wallis' "Police Car." I though it could've been done quite a lot better but people in America loved it and a couple of stations on the East Coast programmed it quite heavily and we sold quite a few of that single. We started to export singles. Up until then, exports had been totally in albums. People weren't very interested in the single — it was too costly to import and then suddenly it became "I need THAT single". That was the other thing that punk music did. There was a belief in major record companies that if someone went into a record shop and wanted a Patti Smith album and they couldn't get it then they might buy an Eagles album. Now the New Wave proved that people go in with a very firm idea of what they want. They were prepared to go to five or six record shops to find that one record that they wanted. Suddenly you had an audience who knew what they wanted. The "business music" was starting not to sell and it worried the big companies and we were very cocky. We were jumping round and shouting all the time. What about the ads that Stiff took out? We said that our ads must mirror and attract attention to the artist. We do up our ads so that people say: "This is an interesting ad" — even if you don't like the record, it gives you an idea what the artist is like. Before that people were taking pages in music papers purely because the manager of the group hustled a bit. But nobody was applying themselves. The art department of a major record company were bozos. They were going "Ooooh, I've always wanted to use this lettering so I'll do the title with that." There was no relationship to what it was. Now pop music and punk rock became a total form where the ad, what people said in their interviews, the whole style was total. They believed in it totally. You were looking for ads that were provocative in the same way that the music was and the same way they looked on stage and the whole thing tied together in that way. Now a lot of big companies in Britain have started to rip off those ideas, and that's good. The newspapers loved it because people are buying more and more advertising than they used to. These things rarely come from a major record label. Polydor in England are doing very well at the moment because they've got a big disco RSO catalogue (Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Bee Gees, etc) and they've also got Sham 69 and Siouxsie and The Banshees who you d say were straightforward punk. I feel that there is always a time for things. I think "Stiff had its time. There was a time which was right for Stiff to launch itself and it did a lot of the work by itself. The musicians and everybody who was involved in it were talking about Stiff. Island Records and Virgin Records have had that kind of timing and style and put it across at the time and what is hard is to keep it up. I think that Stiff Records will stop at some time. It's got a built-in point where it just explodes just like lots of those bands. Where you put out 18 albums one month or something and the whole thing goes up. I look forward to it because I don't think lifelong careers in one company or one situation apply. What do you see as the major fault of the big record companies? The attitude by the companies that if the record doesn't sell they they say that the group can't be much good — which is bullshit. The record company s job is to sell the record. It's not to stand in judgement of the record but once they've decided that the group is good and worthy, they should encourage that band and then sell the record. That their job. That's what they're supposed to be good at and mostly what they're good at is whineing about the group and their management — that's what they mostly do. If you think about it, very few big record companies have broken any new bands lately. They buy them. There was a time when all the major companies were going out and offering hundreds of thousands of pounds to little punk bands who'd just got off the dole. Then when it didn't happen they couldn't understand it. It's like the Mersey boom back in the 60s. The Beatles couldn't get a record deal even though they went around all the companies — even George Martin wasn't that interested at first. But as soon as it happened, every record company was up to Liverpool signing everything that walked around with a guitar. In the punk era it was the same. Anyone who looked like a punk and played, they signed. They didn't know what it was. Is this good punk music or is it bad punk music? I don't know — so let's sign it up. We'll give them some money but there'll be options in there so we can get out if it doesn't work. It wasn't as if they thought it was important because the music business unfortunately takes — it doesn't give a great deal. It doesn't instigate things except in the rare case. It's a business. A greedy accountant's business. It's also a huge business. It's repulsive that one of the few pleasures that we have in this world and it's a luxury — it's not really an essential — it's repulsive that a bit more effort and time and creative talent isn't brought to bear on the bloody stuff. How did you come to be involved with the music from Akron? Well, Devo sent me a record which was Mongoloid and Joko Homo. Now we were getting maybe 50 tapes a week and it was getting very difficult to pick and choose out of that number. So one day you put them all on and say "yes, no, yes, no" and you make quick decisions. Also someone might have eight numbers on a tape and the last one might be the greatest thing you've every heard but if he hasn't got the klutz to put in on first then you ain't gonna hear it probably. So you're looking for somebody who not only can write but also has a bit of brain power behind what he does. The Devo record looked so interesting that I wrote back to them and said that I'd be very interested. I went out to Akron in December 77 in the middle of a blizzard and nearly froze to death and signed up Devo for three singles. Did they already have those singles recorded? Yeah. They had them made and I heard the tapes. They were also receiving some offer from Warner Brothers which was OK because I didn't want to be tied up with them forever because they were our first attempt and at American band and I'm a bit wary of Americans in general. Their attitudes and philosophies somewhat differ to British people. I don't know which is better but... While I was in Akron, I just found all these bands. They all just seemed to come around and they knew about Stiff which was very flattering because this was Akron, Ohio, which is about as far from anywhere as you can get. It's got absolutely nothing going for it. It's the "rubber capital of the world." It's got no gigs and all these bands had four-track Teacs in their Remaining text and scanner-error corrections to come... Cover.

External links

• ro.uow.edu.au
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