— David Hepworth
Still trying to keep the new (but ultimately doomed) format afloat, David Hepworth describes his process of reviewing the singles in some detail. He has his Pile On His Left, a stack of fresh new records that he must evaluate which, once completely, begins to form his Pile On His Right. It sounds like a very organized system, with just a small turntable and a notepad in between the two stacks. Future issues of ver Hits that feature pop stars as guest critics are accompanied by photos of them posed on a spread of 45s and, in some cases, happily destroying discs and ripping up sleeves but it seems the paid staff behaved much more professionally — even if they absolutely hated the task in front of them.
I have written previously that Hepworth took no pleasure in reviewing the singles and it seems to be here that it was really starting to wear on him. Given what he's having to listen to here, who can blame him? I, too, shake my head at what was left of the post-Hotel California Eagles and their pitiful offering "I Can't Tell You Why". I'm with him on the lame, bloodless rock of my fellow Canadians April Wine and their single "I Like to Rock" which somehow became their biggest "hit" in the UK. Former sensations The Knack and M had difficulty following their smash singles "My Sharona" and "Pop Muzik" respectively and it is clear they didn't have anything left in the tank with their feeble latest releases. Yeah, alongside such company, I might also go a tad overboard with praise for "9 O'Clock" by Snips.
The alias of Stephen W. Parsons, who has subsequently gone on to some success composing film scores, Snips was one of those acts that was unlucky not to have broken through to a larger audience. Hepworth has long been an admirer but he's especially taken by his latest effort. Having Midge Ure twiddling the knobs behind a recording desk was probably a big key. Though his recording career has had at least as many downs as ups, one cannot deny that the man knows his pop inside and out. (A chancer he may be but there's an upside to going from seventies boy band to punk rock to touring with Thin Lizzy and on to new wave and synth-pop — and this was all within less than a decade!) The pairing of Parsons and Ure proves a bounty of pop rock scholarship, from The Beatles and sixties' Nuggets classics to Roxy Music's early work and all those great Electric Light Orchestra singles. It may sound spontaneous and fresh but its bedrock is the previous twenty years of British pop.
It is at first, however, a little disappointing. Upon first listening, it feels like little more than very competently made power pop. This, of course, may well be recommendation enough for some who worship at the alter of Big Star and get their rocks on to Cheap Trick. I'm not as thrilled by the genre as I usually find it far too formulaic. And, indeed, "9 O'Clock" sticks to power pop orthodoxy. Luckily, it has that dynamic Ure production and all those hooks that Hepworth can't get enough of. Snips' voice sounds like every new wave singer back in 1980 with that punk-esque urgency that dials back on the invective. Am I supposed to love this? Shouldn't it be better?
But it has grown on me as well. It's not simply a decent record that sounds better than it is held up next to a bunch of nondescript new singles; it lodges itself in the brain but only bits of it which means I've been forced to seek it out further than most songs I write about on here, particularly those that fail to excite me from the off. There's something to "9 O'Clock" that you just don't hear in every post-punk power pop record — I just can't quite put my finger on what it is. I might need to get back to you on this one — maybe, say, in about a year from now.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Joan Armatrading: "Rosie"
Ignored by Smash Hits for at least a month (Hepworth considers their negligence to be particularly shameful given her ability to sing a "VAT form and mak[e] it mean something" but those are always the performers we take for granted), "Rosie" is given a courtesy review even though it was peaking just shy of the top 40 this very week. Engaging as ever, it's a nice reminder that Joan Armatrading could do lightness just as well as she could do gravitas. She could also do a whole lot better though.
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