— David Hepworth
This again???
Music critics have a right to change their minds or even to alter their opinions ever so slightly — although I would've liked to have seen more of an explanation given back in the early part of 1998 as to why Oasis' universally praised album Be Here Now was suddenly being described as lackluster, self-indulgent and drug-fueled. David Hepworth previously reviewed The Human League's "Empire State Human" on two occasions and was more effusive with his praise the second time round. As he has stated himself, reviewing singles is something that's done over an unfairly short period of time and it's easy to make mistakes, miss something or just get a song wrong.
Nevertheless, it's nice to see that he isn't walking back his review from almost a year earlier. If anything, he appears to love it even more. The song initially grabbed his attention with those irresistible synth sirens that shriek all over the place in a manner that's sort of like The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" or ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" but manages to be different enough to sound original in its own right. But now he finds the time to wax about its "strong guitar/drums core" and the fact that Parsons' delivery is a hidden gem. His first evaluation comes after having "weathered" around two dozen dismal offerings of that issue's singles and in that context it's no wonder he liked it so much. That said, the pickings are much stronger this time round and he's still besotted by it.
With the distance of a few months since I last had a look, I can see why he still enjoys it. Looking at the singles from 1979 and '80, I began to tire of all that new wave/post-punk: all those deadpan vocals, those minimalist guitar licks, those many sub-Peter Hook-esque basslines, that bare-bones production. (I'll never be able to listen to Young Marble Giants again) Stephen W. Parsons, aka Snips, was much more musically open-minded than all those thin bands with thin ties making thin records but "9 O'Clock" still seemed too attached to that era. By 1981, however, the music scene was becoming increasingly awash in the New Romantics and synth-pop, the old cliches giving way to new ones. Some dynamic and explosive pop-rock would've been just the thing at the precise moment that the group once known as Joy Division was evolving into New Order and The Jam were tripping on soul music.
Combining power pop energy, a post-punk atmosphere and pop hooks, "9 O'Clock" deserved to be a hit in either 1980 or '81. That it never caught on in spite of multiple attempts and strong critical backing speaks to how many great singles there were at the time and how a quirky rocker like this could slip through the cracks. For all its pervasiveness, crashing new wave didn't guarentee chart success (even some of the most well-remembered bands of the era like Squeeze and XTC had up-and-down Top 40 fortunes). By '81, it stood almost zero chance of landing.
As for babbling its "virtues from the rooftops", I haven't heard much praise from Hepworth since. Snips hasn't appeared on the excellent Word in Your Ear podcast and Heps' love for "9 O'Clock" hasn't resulted in any of his sweeping, unbeatable theories for which he is rightly renowned. Does he still adore it? Has he forgotten all about it? Possibly but all he has to do is rediscover it and he'll be gushing over it to co-host Mark Ellen and the many WITY listeners/viewers. I can see it now: "I think you'll find that records age well because we age well..." — or something to that effect.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Hazel O'Connor: "D-Days"
Hepworth admits to donning "Red Starr's Russian fur hat" and engaging in a little "cossack dancing round the office" while the latest from Hazel O'Connor was playing. What she perhaps unknowingly created was this link between Ukrainian folk music and ska/rocksteady, a connection I had never noticed until now but one that I will never unhear. (This has no doubt occurred to everyone else before and I'm sure there's a fantastic reggae version of the Tetris theme out there) All this would be for nought if "D-Days" sucked but luckily it's quite outstanding. I had suspected that O'Connor falls closer to the wrong side of the Lene Lovich-Toyah divide but I'm happy to consider myself corrected on that matter. In truth, she doesn't have nearly the charisma of either but she makes up for it by having a strong set of pipes and a band that kills it here. A solid second to Snips in the Single of the Fortnight stakes.
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