Shaun de Waal
NEIL YOUNG: Mirror Ball (Warner Bros) ON this magnificent album, the godfather of grunge teams up with some of=20 his godchildren, namely Pearl Jam. Less eccentric than last year=D5s Sleeps=
with Angels, this is deceptively simple rock=D5n=D5roll exactly as it shoul= d be=20 =D1 three-chord-wonders (one after another), tangled in Young=D5s wailing,=
groaning, feedback-laced guitar, augmented by the interplay with Pearl=20 Jammers Stone Gossard and Mike McCready. One=D5s only complaint is that=20 some of the songs clearly wanted to stretch out beyond their allotted four =
five minutes. But, as it stands, Mirror Ball is a treat, frontrunner for be=
rock album of the year. Treasure it. (And, by the way, if you buy the=20 overseas pressing, you=D5ll get it in a special recycled-cardboard folder=
instead of the usual plastic case =D1 a concept worth endorsing. Pity the=
local manufacturers didn=D5t.) BOY GEORGE: Cheapness and Beauty (Virgin) THE twee androgyne of the mid-1980s has come out of the closet, written=20 an exceptionally frank autobiography, and =D1 perhaps most surprising of al=
=D1 made an album awash with punkish spite and serrated electric guitar. It=
kicks off with Iggy Pop=D5s Funtime, and the Boy goes on to dish his=20 (former?) friends, harden his heart against the drugs that nearly killed hi=
and sing his heart out. This is what he needed all along =D1 an edge.=20 Cheapness and Beauty is better than anyone might have thought possible. ARAPAHO: Wicked Wonder (Teal) ARAPAHO are a young Durban band, and this is their first album. Though=20 confident and competent, they clearly haven=D5t yet transcended their=20 influences (the 1960s, mostly). The opening songs are angsty ballads, but=
then we get a slew of hard-rockin=D5 numbers, some of which show promise=20 but none of which is really original. The press release makes mention of=20 Jimi Hendrix and the =D2raunchy=D3 quality of (the =D2uncharacteristically=
melodious=D3) Wicked Wonder, but there isn=D5t much real raunch in earshot.=
An instance of neatening-up for commercial reasons? Whatever the case,=20 with more work on songwriting and more time in the garage, Arapaho=20 could go far. (Oh yes =D1 they also model =D2hardcore surf apparel for the=
core few=D3.) DEVANT=83: Vibin=D5 U (Tusk) ALSO from Durban, Devant=8E are a five-man band who make slick, layered=20 hip-hop/soul in the mode of so many chic black (or blackish) American=20 groups =D1 the ones you see ad nauseam on Zero Hour Zone. Devant=8E=D5s=20 debut, Vibin=D5 U, is good enough, but entirely lacks any distinguishing=20 features. (Their average age is 17.) LANDSCAPE PRAYERS (Greenhouse) YET another Durban bunch, and the best of them by some distance,=20 Landscape Prayers are led by fine-picking guitarist Nibs van der Spuy.=20 They pull together various African and international influences to make=20 very listenable home-grown =D2world music=D3 soundscapes; the mbaqanga=20 groove of Greenhouse Effect, for example, is a delight. They are probably=
going to tire of the comparison very soon, but if you like Tananas, you=D5l=
enjoy Landscape Prayers. They certainly deserve to be equally successful. SPIRAL STAIRCASE (Spiral Music) IT should be enough to tell you that this is a heavy-metal band from=20 Pretoria (remember Jackhammer?). Six plodding tunes with far too much in=20 the way of routine guitar histrionics. I know they=D5re donating royalties=
from one song to child welfare organisations, but put Neil Young on again,=