— Dave Rimmer
Oh yes, Blank Mange: heavy metal veterans from Leeds, still searching for a hit and a national following. Not so much to my taste but I hear their live shows "rock" if you happen to like their brand of boozy power chords and songs about having rumpo with women and all that denim and long, greasy hair. I'd be surprised to be having to cover them in this space but nothing shocks me anymore — except for the Mange themselves.
What's that? We're not discussing Blank Mange but Blancmange? Not manly heavy "rawk" but spiritual synths drenched in exotic Indian instruments? Not dole queue long hairs in need of a wash but a short back and sides cropped duo who burn joss sticks and eat nothing but dal and nan? Not records about chatting up the lady folk over a few pints but meditation and the "mind's eye"? Not invisible scars left on dogs from parasitic bugs but a creamy gelatin dish made in a mould? Oh, that Blancmange!
Dave Rimmer is one of the most prolific critics for Smash Hits but it's been a while since we've encountered him in this space. (He was likely preoccupied by finishing off his outstanding account of Culture Club and the rise of British new pop — Like Punk Never Happened — and a move to Germany; his absence from the pages of the magazine at around this time may go some way to explaining why they had so many damn guest reviewers in early part of 1985) He hadn't "done" the singles in about eight months since he gave Single of the Fortnight "honours" to "Ave Maria" by West India Company. Picking up from right where he left off, he opts this time for "What's Your Problem" by Blancmange. The connection? Both projects were set within the musical vision of Stephen Luscombe, a synth-pop swami.
Never a major act, Blancmange nevertheless did decent business with their first two albums and a succession of singles that included three Top 10 hits. And they weren't just also-rans, even if that's how they may be remembered today. Once you move past major groups like Kraftwerk and the Pet Shop Boys, there's a tendency among synth acts to create superb records that seem anonymous (*cough, cough* Information Society) but Luscombe and vocalist Neil Arthur got past this by squeezing Indian music into their sound. Far from the kind of experimentalism that comes with years in the studio and on the road, this Asian influence was there from the off and is the main element behind what makes them stand out to this day. Their biggest hits featured sitars and tablas and the production and programming have an eye on the Subcontinent. Where other synth acts were fraying or trying to augment their sound with "proper" instruments, Blancmange were doing something new with electronics and it was beginning to catch on not only in Britain but in parts of Germany as well as Canada and New Zealand.
Luscombe's love for all things Indian (to the point of absurdity: in the video for their brave but failed cover of ABBA's extraordinary "The Day Before You Came", Arthur sings of how "there's not, I think, an episode of Dallas that I didn't see", which is either purposely or accidentally sent up by the TV screen showing a Bollywood movie) was such that he got sideman Pandit Dinesh to help him form the on again, off again "supergroup" West India Company. "Ave Maria" didn't sell but it was where his heart lay. His day job became an afterthought.
All that Indian stuff channeled in a side project, Blancmange regrouped with little left in the cupboard. "The Day Before You Came" hadn't been very good but it also managed to set a bad precedent — and it really exposed Arthur's vocal limitations. Thus, "What's Your Problem", a song that seems so much like a law-of-diminishing-returns fourth single off an album that it seems sad to be kicking off their third L.P. It has grown on Rimmer but he probably should have trusted his critical instincts. Sure, the tune is sturdier than you might think but it's also the first Blancmange original to sound so utterly ordinary. I didn't know groups could develop into something so boring. 'Scuse me while I go put on some Blank Mange.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
The Dream Academy: "The Love Parade"
The follow-up to the surprise worldwide smash "Life in a Northern Town" (a song you either know or just didn't know that you know) and I'm suddenly feeling well-disposed towards "What's Your Problem". I mean, at least Blancmange had a couple good years worth of material and their latest isn't terrible but this? Someone's running out of ideas. "Northern Town" had that ineffable quality of a song that you wake up to on your alarm clock and which stays with you throughout the day but this supposedly naughty account of polyamourous shenanigans leaves the mind as soon as it has finished up. Nothing to see here. (Also, where did Rimmer get his copy from? I can't find any trace of a Dream Academy cover of The Beatles' "Things We Said Today" on YouTube and Discogs doesn't have any record of it either. Strange. UPDATE: Found it! Not much cop for a pretty great Macca composition, is it?)
Oh yes, Blank Mange: heavy metal veterans from Leeds, still searching for a hit and a national following. Not so much to my taste but I hear their live shows "rock" if you happen to like their brand of boozy power chords and songs about having rumpo with women and all that denim and long, greasy hair. I'd be surprised to be having to cover them in this space but nothing shocks me anymore — except for the Mange themselves.
What's that? We're not discussing Blank Mange but Blancmange? Not manly heavy "rawk" but spiritual synths drenched in exotic Indian instruments? Not dole queue long hairs in need of a wash but a short back and sides cropped duo who burn joss sticks and eat nothing but dal and nan? Not records about chatting up the lady folk over a few pints but meditation and the "mind's eye"? Not invisible scars left on dogs from parasitic bugs but a creamy gelatin dish made in a mould? Oh, that Blancmange!
Dave Rimmer is one of the most prolific critics for Smash Hits but it's been a while since we've encountered him in this space. (He was likely preoccupied by finishing off his outstanding account of Culture Club and the rise of British new pop — Like Punk Never Happened — and a move to Germany; his absence from the pages of the magazine at around this time may go some way to explaining why they had so many damn guest reviewers in early part of 1985) He hadn't "done" the singles in about eight months since he gave Single of the Fortnight "honours" to "Ave Maria" by West India Company. Picking up from right where he left off, he opts this time for "What's Your Problem" by Blancmange. The connection? Both projects were set within the musical vision of Stephen Luscombe, a synth-pop swami.
Never a major act, Blancmange nevertheless did decent business with their first two albums and a succession of singles that included three Top 10 hits. And they weren't just also-rans, even if that's how they may be remembered today. Once you move past major groups like Kraftwerk and the Pet Shop Boys, there's a tendency among synth acts to create superb records that seem anonymous (*cough, cough* Information Society) but Luscombe and vocalist Neil Arthur got past this by squeezing Indian music into their sound. Far from the kind of experimentalism that comes with years in the studio and on the road, this Asian influence was there from the off and is the main element behind what makes them stand out to this day. Their biggest hits featured sitars and tablas and the production and programming have an eye on the Subcontinent. Where other synth acts were fraying or trying to augment their sound with "proper" instruments, Blancmange were doing something new with electronics and it was beginning to catch on not only in Britain but in parts of Germany as well as Canada and New Zealand.
Luscombe's love for all things Indian (to the point of absurdity: in the video for their brave but failed cover of ABBA's extraordinary "The Day Before You Came", Arthur sings of how "there's not, I think, an episode of Dallas that I didn't see", which is either purposely or accidentally sent up by the TV screen showing a Bollywood movie) was such that he got sideman Pandit Dinesh to help him form the on again, off again "supergroup" West India Company. "Ave Maria" didn't sell but it was where his heart lay. His day job became an afterthought.
All that Indian stuff channeled in a side project, Blancmange regrouped with little left in the cupboard. "The Day Before You Came" hadn't been very good but it also managed to set a bad precedent — and it really exposed Arthur's vocal limitations. Thus, "What's Your Problem", a song that seems so much like a law-of-diminishing-returns fourth single off an album that it seems sad to be kicking off their third L.P. It has grown on Rimmer but he probably should have trusted his critical instincts. Sure, the tune is sturdier than you might think but it's also the first Blancmange original to sound so utterly ordinary. I didn't know groups could develop into something so boring. 'Scuse me while I go put on some Blank Mange.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
The Dream Academy: "The Love Parade"
The follow-up to the surprise worldwide smash "Life in a Northern Town" (a song you either know or just didn't know that you know) and I'm suddenly feeling well-disposed towards "What's Your Problem". I mean, at least Blancmange had a couple good years worth of material and their latest isn't terrible but this? Someone's running out of ideas. "Northern Town" had that ineffable quality of a song that you wake up to on your alarm clock and which stays with you throughout the day but this supposedly naughty account of polyamourous shenanigans leaves the mind as soon as it has finished up. Nothing to see here. (Also, where did Rimmer get his copy from? I can't find any trace of a Dream Academy cover of The Beatles' "Things We Said Today" on YouTube and Discogs doesn't have any record of it either. Strange. UPDATE: Found it! Not much cop for a pretty great Macca composition, is it?)
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