ASSOCIATES: PERHAPS (1985)
1) Those First Impressions; 2)
Waiting For The Loveboat; 3) Perhaps; 4) Schampout; 5) Helicopter Helicopter; 6)
Breakfast; 7) Thirteen Feelings; 8) The Stranger In Your Voice; 9) The Best Of
You; 10) Don't Give Me That I Told You So Look.
Post-Rankine era Associates are generally
forgotten, since even the band name does not really make any sense when nobody
is genuinely «associated» with Billy Mackenzie any more. Naturally, if your
original image is built on the successful collage of «guy with guitar» and «guy
with ego», critics and fans alike will not be impressed when the «guy with
guitar» is gone, and you simply retain the original name for publicity
purposes. Perhaps took a fairly long
time to make — two years of recording only to get completely scrapped and
restarted from scratch — and when it eventually came out, it fared poorly.
Still reaching something like #23 on the UK charts, but it didn't stay there
long, even despite the sexy suit on the front sleeve.
But you know what? I actually found it much
more interesting than Sulk. At this
point, nobody pretends any more that this has anything to do with a «rock»
sound: the entire album is stereotypical synth-pop, with very few guitar
overdubs of any importance — and, instead of having Rankine, a modestly
inventive, but technically mediocre, player, handle the goods, Mackenzie hires
expert player Stephen Betts, a.k.a. Howard Hughes, as a full-time member. The
record is no longer produced by Mike Hedges, too, removing and discarding most
of The Cure associations; instead, there is a whole bunch of various
synth-poppers responsible for production, and it seems to me that their chief
task along the way was to steal away as much of Mackenzie's usual darkness and
schizophrenia as possible. Much of it still remains — at his peak, Mackenzie
was all darkness and schizophrenia,
so you couldn't steal away everything, no matter how hard you tried — but
overall, Perhaps is much less
disturbing than Sulk.
So, it is synth-pop, it is relatively lighter
and brighter than usual, it is a solo album masquerading as a band effort, a
re-recording made at the record company's insistence — by all these parameters,
it's a suckjob that doesn't even deserve its own review at the All-Music Guide.
But its opening number, ʽThose First Impressionsʼ, happens to be the most
beautiful song in Mackenzie's career. If you happen to be fond of stuff like
Roxy Music's ʽMore Than Thisʼ and other Avalon-era
creations, there is no way you won't be impressed by ʽImpressionsʼ — its more
than tasteful mix of minimalistic piano chords, quiet horn and guitar perks,
grumbly bass explosions, and, most important of all, a gorgeous vocal melody
from Billy. It may not be entirely true to his personality, but it is hard for
me to believe that the entire performance could be «faked» when it is such a
flawlessly executed vocal tour-de-force. Sweet, touching, danceable,
immaculately produced (the voice is not lost in the mix even for one second,
always dancing several feet above the instrumental surface), a genuine gem of
1980s electronic pop.
None of the other tunes can keep up, but there
is plenty of creativity anyway. ʽWaiting For The Loveboatʼ and the title track
are hook-filled, memorable pop-rockers whose choruses can potentially annoy,
but are definitely not senseless (ʽPerhapsʼ is at least as good as your average
Depeche Mode hit). ʽHelicopter Helicopterʼ is fast and crazy, not unlike a
goofy Oingo Boingo number with its robotic-funky horn and synth arrangements.
ʽBreakfastʼ places its faith in a French-tinged piano and strings arrangement —
it should be a particularly acquired taste, but it's interesting to see
Mackenzie try out something completely different. ʽThe Best Of Youʼ has an
excellent bass groove (although the vocals, courtesy of guest singer Eddi
Reader, are questionable). And minor melodic attractions can be found just
about anywhere.
All the way through, I kept pinching myself,
but the truth is out: I am really, really quite impressed by the record. It
does have one major flaw: almost all of the songs are drastically overlong —
they are not that good to deserve
five-to-six minute running times, so that a humble collection of just 10
numbers runs well over fifty minutes. This isn't really a «party» album to keep
the guests on their feet, no matter how many technically danceable numbers
there are — it is still an attempt to hew out some «art», and I would
definitely feel strange dancing to songs that reference "deeper days of
quintessential innocence" and such. Hence, no need to keep the groove up
and going once it has worked out its potential.
But other than that, it is an imaginative, diverse,
and honest attempt to make a progressive synthesis of old school chamber pop
and R'n'B with the new electronic inventory at hand. Like all such attempts
done in the mid-Eighties, it remains thoroughly dated (the drum sound, in
particular, is mostly horrible) — but repeated listenings let me look past
that, and simply appreciate the record for all of its little inventions, the
power of Mackenzie's voice, and the undeniable beauty of ʽThose First
Impressionsʼ. Thumbs
up.
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you...
ReplyDeleteOh wait, sorry. Wrong song.
Eddi Reader, eh? I didn't even know she was active in music at this point, but there you go. Then again, Fairground Attraction's debut was about three years away, so it's not a huge surprise.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I will have to check this album out, what with being a fan of Eddi Reader, and of Roxy Music's Avalon. Or at least just Those First Impressions and The Best of You.