CD and Digital Reviews

Natalie Cole: Good To Be Back
EMI CDP 7 48902 2 (46m 54m) CD
Nat’s kid plus a load of hot producers who present her in a manner befitting Soul Train’s Vocalist of the Year. This set might be just too refined for today’s rappish market and she ain’t no Aretha, but she’s definitely her daddy’s daughter. And that means [A:1]. (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Destroy All Monsters: Live
Fan Club/New Rose FC050CD (45m 11s) CD
The antidote for those who think Iggy sold out when the Stooges split. Ron Asheton thinks it’s still ’69 and the Pistols are nothing more than a pending nightmare. Vicious, anarchic rock for the faithful. [C:1] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Dean Dillon: Slick Nickel
Capitol/EMI CDP 7 48920 2 (33m 35s) CD
Debut from one already known for ace song-writing abilities. New Country with deep roots in the Old, worth owning just for a cover of ‘I Go To Pieces’ and his own ‘You Sure Got This Ol’ Redneck Feelin’ Blue’. [A:1/2] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Jean Paul Gaultier: Aow Tou Dou Zat
Fontana 838 271-2 (52m 17s) CD
Yes, that JPG. And no, we can’t resist pointing out that his attitude toward clothing is reflected in this, his version of ultra-deep, nay subterranean house music. Fashion victims: this is your anthem. [A:1/2] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Dennis Greaves & The Truth: Jump
IRS EIRSACD 1003 (44m 53s) CD
Forget that Greaves has foresaken the retro-R&B movement and that he looks like he has the worst case of attitude this side of Hue & Cry. He and his band rock hard, rock well and deserve more than four lines in the back of a hi-fi mag. [A:1] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Helloween: Live In The UK
Noise International/EMI CDP 7 92371 2 (47m 21s) CD
There’s solid UK metal and then there’s Eurometal as only the Germans can translate it. What it lacks in originality is compensated for with power and enthusiasm…which raises it from [A:3] to [A:2]. On the Richter scale. (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Country Joe McDonald: Viet Nam Experience
Line/TM/PRT LICD 9.00418 (73m 02s) CD
Still around and singin’ about ‘Nam. A folkie anachronism which drifts in and out of the New Age both musically and conceptually. It was more fun when he got you to swear. [A:2] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

The O’Jays: Serious
EMI-USA CDMTL 1041 (45m 33s) CD
30 years on and the sound still works. This is pure, high-gloss circa 1989 discofied soul, yet there’s no mistaking that these guys have been around the block. Listen closely and you can still make out the smooth sensations of the original Backstabbers. [A:1] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Three Mustaphas Three: Heart Of Uncle
Globestyle/Ace CDORB 043 (60m 03s) CD
What looked like a remarkably prescient piss-take of world music turns out to be an act with real staying power. Now offering up samples of every ethnic genre likely to be favoured by Andy Kershaw or Time Out, the Mustaphas really do live up to their slogan, ‘Forward In All Directions!’. [A*:1] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Various: Night Of The Guitar – Live!
IRS EIRSACD 1005 (71m 17s) CD
The natural follow-up to the magnificent Guitar Speak, another showcase for some of rock’s most-respected axemen. Highlights of this live version include Randy California’s ‘Hay Joe’, Robbie Krieger reprising a Doors classic, and the all-together-now ‘All Along The Watchtower’. [A/B:1/2] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)

Various: Nite Flite 2
CBS MOODCD8 (61m 41s) CD
TV-advertised smoochers from Sade, Vandross, etc. [A/B:2] (Hi-Fi News, August 1989)