4 —
“Mistrial”
Lou Reed
RCA Records
★★★★
I find it hard to believe the
same Lou Reed who wrote the
song on “Mistrial” rides a
Honda scooter. Reed is too
tough for a scooter, he needs a
Harley.
During the late ’60s, Reed,
along with John Gale, was the
creative genius behind the Vel
vet Underground. The Velvet
Underground never sold many
records but they were one of the
most influential bands in rock
’n’ roll history. Their music was
dark and mysterious and very
uncommon. The Velvet Under
ground’s lyrics dealt with sub
ject matter considered taboo in
popular music and was respon
sible for styles and ideas that
would later inspire Davie Bo
wie, the Cars, the Psychedelic
Furs, R.E.M., the Violent Fem
mes among others.
When the Velvet Under
ground broke up in 1970, Reed
embarked on an artistically, if
not commercially, successful
solo career. As a solo artist,
Reed continued to work on
some of the ideas he began with
the Velvet Underground. Reed’s
first hit, “Walk on the Wild Si
de,” a portrait of New York City
street life, came from his 1972
“Transformer” album. “Walk
on the Wild Side” has recently
been used by Honda to sell their
motor scooters. In 1973 Reed
released “Berlin,” a rock opera
looking at the dark side of hu
manity, which was a huge crit
ical success.
In 1975 Reed’s experimenta
tion peaked with “Metal Ma
chine Music.” “Metal Machine
Music” was a two-album set of
electronic noise and feedback.
No one is sure whether Reed
made the album as a elaborate
Hainan aiAQ|/Vf
joke on his record company or
as an insult to his audience.
Aside from “Metal Machine
Music,” most of Reed’s albums,
especially his live albums where
he re-interprets some of the
songs he wrote for the Velvet
Underground, have been pretty
good. Reed s last album, 1984’s
“New Sensations,” produced
the hit “I Love You, Suzanne”
and stayed on the charts for
several weeks.
“Mistrial” is Reed’s 17th al
bum. Like “New Sensations,”
it’s somewhat lighter in tone
and a bit trendier than his ear
lier albums or his work with
the Velvet Underground. But
the lyrics still have that Reed
flair for cynicism even though
Reed has received criticism
from those who don’t appre
ciate his new direction. Some of
“Mistrial” answers those critics.
The title track, which is
about growing up on the street
of New York City, is autobiogra
phical. Reed feels he’s been un
fairly labeled as a tough boy
and wants a chance to correct
that image. “Mistrial” features
some hot guitar work that does
nothing to prove that image
wrong. “Outside,” on the hand,
shows a tender side of Reed —
the side that is afraid of those
outside his intimate circle of
friends.
“No Money Down,” the first
single released from the album,
is about deals — both business
and emotional. The guitar work
is good but the drum mix is too
trendy for Reed. “The Original
Wrapper” attacks Ronald Rea
gan, Louis Farrakhan, Jerry Fal-
well, MTV, the consumer cul
ture and network news. Here
again there’s a lot of good social
criticism but the rap style
doesn’t fit Reed’s style.
Television takes its lumps on
“Video Violence,” an attack on
the news programs and dra
matic series that feel they have
to outdo each other on the gore
meter. Reed asks if video vio
lence is the cause or merely a
symptom of real violence.
The Velvet Underground got
their start by playing at Andy
Warhol’s Factory in New York.
“Mama’s Got A Lover” is an at
tack on«the shallowness of the
New York art scene, a shallow
ness Warhol helped create. Ma
ma’s new lover is a Warhol-like
artist who plays off his image
instead of his art.
One of the most striking
songs Reed wrote for the Velvet
Underground was a song about
sado-masochism called “Venus
in Furs.'' On “Don't Hurt a Wo
man," Reed is apologetic for
mistreating his woman. “Spit it
Out,” however, shows that
sometimes it's necessary to
blow off'some steam verbally.
Mexican pop star Ruben
Blades provides backing vocals
on “I Remember You" and “Tell
it to Your Heart.” “I Remember
You” is a ’50s-style number.
“Tell it to Your Heart” is a nice,
slow song about love and New
York City.
Listen to “Mistrial.” You
won't settle for walking.
“Feargal Sharkey”
Feargal Sharkey
A&M Records
★★
Every once in a while a new
voice comes along that blows
awav a whole generation of
singers. Feargal Sharkey has
one of those voices but his de
but album, “Feargal Sharkey,”
doesn’t give him the chance to
use it like he should.
Sharkey sounds like a combi
nation of Burl Ives and Johnny
Mathis with a certain
uniqueness that’s his own and
he looks like a girl I once dated.
He’s either a reincarnated old
English minstrel or a rock star
from the future. He can reach
very high notes and make his
voice tremor like an earth
quake.
Sharkey, a native of Belfast,
was a founding member and
lead vocalist for the Irish band,
the Undertones, from 1976 un
til they broke up in 1983. He
has since worked on songs with
members of Madness, Yaz, De-
peche Mode and the Human
League.
Although Sharkev has re
leased a couple of singles since
he left the Undertones, “Feargal
Sharkev” is his first solo album.
The album is produced bv Dave
Stewart, guitarist for the Eu-
rythmics, who also co-wrote
several of the album’s songs
with Sharkey.
As his work with Tom Petty,
Bob Dylan and his own band
shows, Stewart is a good pro
ducer but he missed the boat
with Sharkey’s album. Stewart
doesn’t seem to understand
that Sharkey’s voice is too
strange and different to be tied
down to typical top-40 style
pop. Sharkey should try either
traditional English folk, new
American folk rock or experi
mental music instead of the
top-40 version of all three at
once.
Some of the songs on “Fear
gal Sharkey” are pretty good
but would probably be better if
those who wrote them were
singing. “A Good Heart,” writ
ten bv Maria McKee of Lone Jus
tice, is bogged down with Stew-
art's over-synthesized
production. I hope to hear Mc
Kee and Lone Justice do the
song right one of these days.
Heartbreaker keyboardist Ben-
mont Tench’s “You Little
Thief,” with its soulful horn
section, would be fantastic if
done by Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers.
Bobby Womack’s classic “It’s
All Over Now” gets a workout
by Sharkey and synthesizers.
Sharkey’s vocals almost find the
groove but the song is too slow
and too computerized.
Sharkey and Stewart co
wrote the songs “Ghost Train,”
“Ashes and Diamonds,” “Don’t
Leave It To Nature,” “Love and
Hate” “Bitter Man.” “Bitter
Man” and “Don’t Leave It To
Nature” are the best but that
doesn’t mean much.
Feargal Sharkey has a fantas
tic voice but “Feargal Sharkey”
is a bad album. Sharkey’s voice
was the only reason I gave the
album two stars. Making Shar
kev sing these songs is like play
ing “The Cotton-Eyed Joe” on a
Stradivarius. Let’s hope Sharkey
can find some music soon suits
his voice instead of a top-40 ra
dio format.
by Karl Pallmeyer
music reviewer