HIGH GEAR, PAGE 18

By Steve DelNero

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The B-52's and Visage have recently released American disco compilations, and our old friends Gary Numan, Ultravox, and John Foxx all have new singles out anticipating their new LP's, which you'll be able to find this month.

The B-52's escaped from Athens, Georgia about two years ago. Their hit "Rock Lobster" was one of the most popular songs in the discos for its time, making them and Devo top contenders for the "rock as disco" award. Like Devo (which has just released its fourth studio LP this month), the B-52's are holding on to their large cult audience by their unique humor and vitality. Warner Brothers (which also markets Devo in America) has remastered six songs from the two B-52 LP's and released Party Mix!, quite possibly the only record you'll need for your next party.

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Under the needle

New EPs by Visage, B52s

Opening with "Party Out of Bounds," the B-52's launch into what happens when a party gets uncontrollable. (“Yeah, we just thought we'd stop in! Where's your icebox?") The song is more danceable than the LP version because the producers have added new rhythm instruments, synthesizers, echo, and various noises, along with lengthening it and speeding it up. Vocalist Fred Schneider is insane. OK, who ordered pizza?

The producers use this technique on all six songs. My other favorite cuts on the LP include "Dance This Mess Around" and “52 Girls." In "Dance This Mess Around," the band tells us to do "all sixteen dances" to one of the more insistent bass riffs you've heard in a while. “Why don't you dance with me? I'm not no limburger!"

The LP closer, “52 Girls," is even better. Can you name the girls of the USA? Along with Kate and Cindy (the band's infamous beehived singers), there's also Tina Louise and Jackie O--who appears as “Jackie Yoyo" thanks to the echo.

It took me a long time to like the B-52's, but now I'm addicted. You may not hear them on the radio much, but you will. They're bound to be one of the big bands of the eighties. Grab 'em while they're hot!

Visage is another band to watch. They're the best of the New Romantic school--where supposedly music is as important as fashion. Of course, having Ultravox leaders' Midge Ure and Billy Currie on board doesn't hurt Visage, and neither does Steve Strange (no relation!) who last month arrived at a posh New York disco dressed like Rudolph Valentino. He rode there not by taxi, but on a real camel! Visage has just released a new 5song EP, a compilation of disco

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remixes from their first LP (also called Visage) and some non-LP British single sides.

The EP opens with the non-LP sides. "We Move" is more pop than disco, sounding half like Bowie's "Fame" and half like his "Fashion." "Frequency 7," though, is something else! An instrumental, it sounds like the same kind of headbanging disco that Ultravox has been toying with. Its great metallic rhythms and soaring keyboard "melody" will have you thanking God you were so blessed to be born in the electronic age.

Side Two, however, is relatively disappointing. The remixes of "Blocks on Blocks" and "Tar" are dull (even though “Tar"s antismoking lyrics are hilarious!). The only thing that saves the side is a remix of "Fade to Grey," which seems to be the runaway hit on the EP.

Just about the best pop/disco song to come out in 1981, we find an incredibly mellow (Bryan Ferry-ish) Steve Strange in a duet with "Brigitte" who sings in French. About the lushest dinner party dance music you can find.

Visage isn't a touring band, but fortunately, Midge Ure and Billy Currie have been concentrating quite a bit on Ultravox. With a brand new LP due very, very soon (Rage in Eden), Ultravox should shw us why they are the "grandfathers" of this whole movement of New Romantics--while all the time remaining in it. Ultravox are not afraid of entering new territory. Their new single, "The Thin Wall"/"I Never Wanted to Begin," is not as compelling as their last one, but it still hints that the Rage in Eden LP will be a killer! "The Thin Wall" sounds more like Visage than vintage Ultravox, and the flip sounds like a remake of the last single's "Keep Talking," but the band is still concentrating on making avantgarde dance music-meaning fractured rhythms, little melody, and nonsense lyrics ("Name that sin" repeated over and over as the chorus). Ultravox is about the most ingenious band to come out of England these days, and it's great to see that their American label, Chrysalis, is going out to push them. Now if they don't bypass Cleveland on their next tour (as they've done before more than once), I'll be in seventh heaven!

Ultravox founder and ex-leader John Foxx also has a new album in the works. (Actually two LP's, if you count a Canadian compilation of earlier solo singles). The 12-inch hint of his new studio LP, "Europe After the Rain"/"This Jungle"/"You Were There," shows quite a bit of promise! Foxx was

always more arty, more prétentious, and more overtly Romantic than any of his Ultravox co-horts, and this EP proves it. More rock than most of the New Romantic disco makers, Foxx's music suffers from the same old words and phrases. If I hear him rhyme "shimmering" and "glimmering" once more time, I'll scream! Foxx seems to thrive on innocence these days. The best cut of the three is "This Jungle," which closes with a noisy guitar/electronics drone. As Gary Numan's biggest influence, you can't rule out John Foxx's importance in bringing this whole world of new, mad music to us in this cold age.

Foxx's first solo LP, Metamatic, was released with little fanfare. There should be enough publicity by this time to sell him to mass market America. (Can you imagine? And so good looking, too!)

John Foxx isn't the only one trying to break out of the disco strangle-hold that has molded the New Romantics. Gary Numan is also becoming more obscure with every release. The import 12-inch single, "She's Got Claws"/"I Sing Rain"/"Exhibition," is certainly more ambitious than his last studio LP, Telekon. “She's Got Claws” opens with big band saxophone-huh?! Gary nearly goes disco on this, but luckily, there's enough electronic doodling and rhythmic mutations on this to keep you at least mildly amused. Strongly reminiscent of Bowie's disco period (did we ever think that Bowie's Young Americans LP was going to have any influence on anyone?), even the cover shows a flashy Numan with scars on his already over-painted face.

"I Sing Rain" is difficult to listen to because Gary's trying to be too artsy-fartsy on the vocals. If this is his version of psychedelia (how much phasing can we stand?), I feel sorry for him. However, "Exhibition" is about the best song we've had from Numan in a while. Slow ballad-type songs are Numan's forte, and the moods invoked in his classical keyboard motifs are inspiring. I get the idea that Numan has been looking into some of the German "New Impressionists"-especially Roedelius.

available. It features over 50 (!) Numan's new LP, Dance, is now minutes of progressive (!) music from the ex-android. It's easily the most important album Numan has made, and if it doesn't sell (I can't

imagine a hit single), it might be further proof that Numan doesn't really care about his record sales. Get it before it gets deleted.

Keep your heads up! Send all hate mail to me c/o HIGH GEAR, See you next month, ist gribu