— Cliff White
Much like having a permanent host for the Olympics (an idea, granted, I could warm to), there's something uncomfortably logical about having a regular singles reviewer in Smash Hits. In future, no contributor could stand to face the burden any more than once every three or four months (if not longer) and, anyway, readers were increasingly "keen" on finding out just what the hottest acts in pop thought of the new releases by their competitors (and, indeed, of their own singles). Yet, inevitable complaints sent in had more of a purpose if the position was being held down by a single critic. The latest single by your favourite band or artist just got coated down by some know-it-all git with a smug profile photo or a pathetic boy band with records far more useless than any of the stuff they had to review? Well, at least there'd be someone else to look at them next time round. But a regular critic who just ripped into yet another Sham 69 record? Yeah, we're going to war.
Cliff White brings his half-year stint as a permanent singles reviewer to a close this fortnight. Wanting to go out in a blaze of glory by trashing as many records as possible, he's disappointed to discover that there's a lot of good stuff awaiting his approval. Did a small part of him get pangs of regret his decision to leave Smash Hits? Still, while he enjoys making light of all the letters of complaint his criticism inspired, perhaps it was time to move on. (While I have been enjoying White's analysis, I think prefacing each of his review round-up's with a mea culpa and/or admonishment of his readers is beginning to get stale; after-all, nothing says 'I don't care what you think' like reminding people just how much you don't care what they think)
His pick this issue isn't actually a new release and it's been saved for his closing remarks. Referencing Bev Hillier's column from the preceding issue, White anticipates a UK release of "I Wanna Do the Do" by veteran blues singer Bobby Rush "soon". This is a more promising outlook than two weeks earlier when "Boogying Bev" pessimistically wonders if it will ever come out in Britain but it will never end up getting a proper evaluation from any of White's predecessors in the singles review "chair". While he is pleasantly surprised by the overall high quality of the singles he has been given, none are given quite the same gushings of praise as "listen out for it. THIS RECORD IS FANTASTIC!!! Remember who told you about it first. And since this is his singles swansong I figure we might as well indulge the old scamp.
Bobby Rush is someone you don't hear about much anymore — and he probably wasn't exactly a household name back in his "day" either. A jobbing blues singer, he'd already been around for thirty years when he gave disco dabblage a "shot". Disco? Sure, the bass is nice and fat with a rhythm that will make many beyond White and Bev get on down and do whatever that "do" is but disco? Rush was forty-five and had become a genre unto himself by the end of the seventies. Raised by a minister father, he was schooled in gospel before joining blues groups as a teenager. But he was no purist and he was more than happy to indulge in whatever style was favoured in the black community. Just as James Brown's grunts and yelps found facility with funk, Rush was similarly right at home with seventies' dance floor trends. (Miles Davis was another African American who never let advancing age get in the way of exploring some of the new stuff) As I've attempted to suggest before, the shift from funk to disco was much subtler than it appears today and this is a prime example. With some seriously heavy harmonica and a lack of strings and production pyrotechnics, it isn't nearly as disco as it could have been. White predicts a massive hit but without said bells and whistles it's hard to see it being remotely possible. It appears that it did give Rush's career a shot in the arm and he has gone on to release more twenty albums just as he should have been slowing down.
"I Wanna Do the Do" is an apt final Single of the Fortnight for White, as well as an indication that he'd be right at home working for reissue label Charly Records. His knowledge and appreciation for black music would have been unparalleled in the UK at the time and he never let a record's commercial appeal (or lack thereof) get in the way enjoyment. Like Rush himself, he had no time for being a musical puritan: he didn't turn up his nose at Blondie's astonishing disco-fication "Heart of Glass" nor did he take old stalwarts like Herbie Hancock and James Brown to task for trying to be trendy. Ver kids may have complained when he trashed their faves but Cliff White knew what he liked and only cared a bit what they thought.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
George Harrison: "Faster"
Niki Lauda. Emerson Fittipaldi. James Hunt. Mario Andretti. They all raced with an effortless grace which is something not replicated by George Harrison's strained vocal. A jaunty melody with that distinctive guitar part that could only be His Nibs, there are elements to enjoy here even if it's a little by-numbers. It doesn't quite equal the likes of "Within You Without You" and "Long, Long, Long" in terms of lyrical profundity but apparently the story could apply to anyone. I guess if you're able to eat really quickly or type at super speed or channel surf rapidly then you too could be a "master of going faster". Perhaps he was better off sticking to weightier subjects for song: he could have directly addressed the recent spate of fatal or near-fatal accidents that had been blighting Formula One instead of just glorifying how much faster they all were. A curio.
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