MACH
SCHAU – Hoodoo Gurus (BMI/Capitol)
So
the Persian Rugs were a holding pattern and the main game, really, was getting
the Gurus back in the saddle after a hiatus? Well I can’t fully buy that
argument. The Rugs managed to produce one of THE albums of 2003, and were
more than just a curiosity live. What I can accept is that they provided much
of the momentum towards this reunion, their ranks 
containing
all four of the band at one stage. And what’s also beyond dispute is
that the Gurus are back with, if not the best album in their long and varied
career - only time will tell on that score – then a very good one.
“Mach Schau” demands much from the listener, so consequently takes
a little time to fully hit home. It lacks the quirky Nuggets sensibilities
of “Stoneage Romeos” or the instant pop-rock impact of “Kinky”
- and leans a lot on the big guitar roar of “Crank” for sonic impact.
But the distinctive things that make Dave Faulkner a great songwriter remain
intact. Check the layered lyrical nuances of the single “Nothing Changes
in My Life” and the ear-for-a-hooky-melody-line in “When You Get
to California” or “Dead Sea” (the latter as straight-forward
a comment on religion as you’re going to hear this side of the first
PiL album, although it’s doubtful Lydon and Co were an influence).
It is pointless playing Spot the Influence - there are way too many. Is it
coincidence that the album title (German for “make a show”) stems
from an audience chant from the Beatles’ earliest Hamburg club days?
As the band members themselves admit every Gurus discs is a melange. What
“Mach Schau” does sound like is very grown up, not in an affected
or world-weary way, but like a band fully in control of what it does and secure
in the knowledge it doesn’t have to deliver instant product for some
faceless label big wig (as in “Where’s That Hit?”).
A few words about the production (co-credited to Kim Salmon and the band):
It’s crisp, crystalline and big-sounding. This is arguably the best the
Gurus have ever sounded. There’s a touch of Salmon’s last band,
The Business, in the occasional special effects and those Herb Alpbert horns
on “When You Get to California”. None of which are obtrusive. Dave
and Brad’s guitars still roar and the bottom end has ample crunch.
One thing, though. The inordinate amount of dead air between “The Good
Song” and the final track, the trippy “Penelope’s Lullaby”,
had me scratching my head and the casual listener might not make it that far
(or if they do, they may find out it wasn’t worth the wait).
Winning tunes have to be the opener “Chop” (melodic bassline and
sharp dynamics), “Nothing Changes in My Life” (which sounds one
song pasted on top of another), “When You Get to California” (summery
feel and great Faulkner melody) and “Dead Sea” (Moses rides in on
surf drums).
Dunno how it was in your neck of the woods in the mid-‘80s but in Australia,
the Hoodoo Gurus were the band that put feedback back onto the radio. Maybe
there’s not as many style-over-substance, haircut bands sullying the
airwaves today, but do we need them any less? – The
Barman
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