— Dizzy the Dog with Chesney Hawkes (with more from a wonderful pet and some guy here)
The sixties are back. (BACK!!) Or they're still here. (HERE!!) In fact, they never left. (LEFT!!)
Indeed, the decade that people supposedly can't remember has never gone away. What has changed is the way we approach it. Some groups have tried to hide the influence, as though they were attempting to deny any connection, while others are proud/unashamed of their debt. This brings us to the nineties when everyone gave up and stopped pretending that the sixties didn't matter. They owed everything to that time and there was a whole new generation of rock stars who wanted everyone to know it.
The age of hippies and James Bond is all over the singles review in this issue of Smash Hits. Guest reviewer Chesney Hawkes is the son of Chip Hawkes, who was a member of beat group The Tremoloes (the same act that Dick Rowe signed to the Decca label instead of The Beatles; if "groups with guitars are on the way out" then The Tremeloes didn't get the memo). Lenny Kravitz was so open about his love for the sixties that he thought there was something wrong with people who didn't worship John Lennon. Jellyfish (see below) were adored by critics for their alleged return to old school power pop. Legends (both in their own minds and in reality) Cher and The Rolling Stones have new releases. A fast fading Bananarama have a cover of a classic from the golden age. Hawkes likens Milltown Brothers to The Byrds and (wrongly) thinks that Alison Moyet's "It Won't Be Long" is a cover of The Beatles (it doesn't even sound like them despite what he thinks). His nibs even saves most of his derision for records that aren't drenched in flower power and all that gooey stuff of old.
Not unlike Chet's own current chart topper "The One and Only", which may well have been the last number one single of the eighties. There's a big, shouty chorus, some big drums, a big, rockin' guitar solo. So very big. Though low on synths and with permed mullets strictly forbidden, it isn't an obviously blatant rip off of Richard Marx and Icehouse but the similarities are there. Nik Kershaw's songwriting talents are on display with hooks that are difficult to resist but after a month at number one in the UK it became almost a kiss off to a fast fading era. Rather than signalling Hawkes as a budding superstar, he began to fade almost as soon as "The One and Only" began going down the charts. (In North America he seemed like even more of a throwback when the single became a hit on the back of Doc Hollywood starring Michael J. Fox who didn't appear to have much of a future in the nineties — at least for the time being)
Lenny Kravitz was another rock star in waiting in the first half of 1991. I had assumed he was in his early twenties at the time but he was in fact nearly twenty-seven. Not a giant gulf, no, but it's notable that his rock 'n' roll idols back in the sixties had all made it at a much younger age than he was. His following was modest but he had influential backers. He was then married to Lisa Bonet from The Cosby Show and Different World, he opened for the likes of David Bowie and Bob Dylan, he co-wrote Madonna's "Justify My Love" and produced the noble but dismal Peace Choir cover of Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance". It was only a matter of time before he would become as big those he surrounded himself with.
But not quite with "Always on the Run" (aka "Mama Said", which would become the title of his second album released at around the same time). There's no doubt it's an excellent rock song — and not just because of a guesting Slash with a typically magnificent guitar solo. Kravitz has always been a bit of an underrated vocalist, able to do smooth and silky when called upon but with an equal facility for gusto-filled sandpaper singing as he does here. A classic for budding air guitarists everywhere. But it's hard to understand why he and/or the A&R people at Virgin thought it would be an ideal first single. As we'll see in a few weeks, he had a much more commercially viable record in the waiting that would put him over the top. Had they left "Always on the Run" on the shelf for a bit it would have made for an effective second single, one that would have thrown people who thought he was America's next soul music great.
Hawkes' review really doesn't get into the music a whole lot, preferring to praise Kravitz as "one helluva dude". With his image, looks, lifestyle and beautiful wife, there's a lot to admire in him even if his songs aren't to your taste. Being a wannabe rocker himself, our Ches may have looked up to a figure like our Len and who can blame him? Young men around the world who dreamed of being a rock star had few living role models and the job fell to him almost by default. Chesney Hawkes could be the "One and Only" all he wanted, we all yearned to be Lenny Kravitz, even those of us who could give or take his music.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Jellyfish: "Baby's Coming Back"
Beatle-esque — or so say miserable baby boomers who want nothing more than to spoil all the best music by claiming it's just a product of when they were young. I know my Beatles pretty well and I'm quite sure they never did a song that sounds like this. Still, Jellyfish had their influences and they weren't Duran Duran or Bon Jovi. While a part of this early-nineties' rock revivalism (if a fairly minor one considering they weren't exactly superstars), the San Francisco foursome were also suckers for pop and their videos and image made them stand-out from all those bands who were looking increasingly like ruffians on the street. Hawkes is impressed and hopes it will be a hit (it wasn't though it definitely deserved to be). He also observes that they sound like they're "stuck in a 60s timewarp". Of course, so was everyone in 1991. "Baby's Coming Back" is utterly brilliant, by the way. With all due respect to Lenny Kravitz, this is easily my favourite of the bunch this fortnight. They're time together would be short-lived and not overly successful but Jellyfish burned bright — or bioilluminated bright if you wish to be technical.
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