Sar. Bruce Willis - The Return Of Bruno by Darrell Cole Our old pal from Moon- lighting has proved with this album that his only talent isn’t acting. We have all heard him singing in those famous Seagram’s commercials and asked the question, "What if he de- cided to put out an al- bum?” Well the question ihas finally been answered. This album is a knockout and the backup voices of the Pointer Sisters increase THE MUSIC CORNER the power of it. However if you are a fan of heavy metal of hard rock, then this is not an album for you. But if you are a fan of the blues then this is what you have been waiting for. The whole album is a collection of remakes of for- mer hit songs and that ap- pears to be one of the only weaknesses of this album. I feel the album could be improved by adding more original material. How- ever, Bruce Willis’ style and rusty voice still make this an entertaining album. Something that I like about the album is Willis’ fre- quent conversations with his band. This makes the album even more entertain- ing and even fun to listen to. : The first single on the album is ~Comin’ Right Up.” This is a good song the first song to be re- leased is “Respect Your- self.” Willis does a super job of singing this song and with the Pointer Sisters do- ing the background vocals, wow! ”“Under The Boardwalk” was a pop- ular song during the 1960s and 1970°s. Bruce Willis has stirred up more inter- est in this song giving it a re-birth in the 1980’s. I am sure that this will be the next release off this album. Another sure hit from this album is “Jackpot (Bruno’s Rap)” which was written by Willis with assistance from his producer Robert Kraft. This song is excel- lent with a sound beat and good lyrics. I am sure that if Willis writes more songs like this, then he wouldn't have to worry about re- making older songs. Other songs on the LP include: “Down In Holly- wood”, “Young- blood™, “Secret Agent Man (James Bond Is Back)”, “Funtime”, “Lose Myself”, and “Flirting With Disas- ter.” This album is a must for the rhythm and blues fan as Willis has found a home in this category. *The Return Of Bruno” should continue to storm up the charts. In all this album is ex- cellent and I hope Bruce Willis) can the magic on his next albums. continue Hopefully he will use more original material as “Jack- pot (Bruno’s Rap)” shows that he does have the tal- ent. He is an excellent singer and he has promise as a songwriter. In the final analysis I loved this album, so I give Bruce Willis - The Return Of Bruno a score of: Rating- &/10 The Mission: “God’s Qwn Medicine” By Danny Mullen When I first received the cassette of The .Mis- sion, then read the accom- panying information sheets about the band, I thought, “Sheesh, I’m not going to listen to this bunch of Screaming drug addicts!” However, I bit my lip and put the tape into the Player, and prepared to be assaulted by the mu- ic. The tape begins, and As if from nowhere, a voice choes out of the speak- rs, “I still believe in God, out God no longer be- leves in me.”. I begin to each for the power switch, hen suddenly, IT began... Wasteland”! : Thad heard this song on Rock Over London” sev- Pral months ago, but I did ot associate The Mission “ith the song at the time. Wasteland” is, well, hard to explain in its nature, but it seems to call out, like somne of the early Simple Minds stuff. It’s eerie in a way, but it’s also great mu- sic. The plaintive voice be- hind ” Wasteland” is Wayne Hussey, the group’s lead singer and guitarist. Hussey may bring to mind Sting (ex of the Police) in the fact that he also is the main songwriter for the group, besides leading the vocals and playing guitar. He is VERY strange, as one may note in the box accom- panying this review, but he can sing rather. well, just as his fellow band mem- bers do a very competent job with their instruments. They (Simon Hinkler on guitars, Mick Brown on drums, Wayne Hussey on mouth, and Craig Adams on bass) keep bringing to mind Simple Minds in several of their efforts, such as “Bridges Burning”, ”Garden of Delight (Here- after)”, and “Stay With Me”. “Stay” is probably more commer- cially acceptable then some of their other tracks, such as “Dance on Glass”, and - is likely to be the next sin- gle from the album, since the equally good “Love Me to Death” is too explicit to really make the-Top 40 charts on most stations. In fact, Sounds Magazine rec- ommends *Play this record while doing something won- derful with someone you re- ally love and just see if it doesn’t have THAT (epic, quite spectacular) sort of effect. One keeps the misery away.” dose a day The first time I played “God’s Own Medicine”, I really enjoyed the first four cuts from the “God’s Own Medicine” album, but I found some of the other tracks are not pleasing to listen to, but rather of an irritating nature. The second side of the album tears in with “Sacrilege™ in a mannerism that Billy Idol would appreciate, ~Bibles for the living damned...just die, there’s nothing you can do to stop this sacrilege.” After my third time through the album, I still disliked those first two songs on the “B™ side of the - album, but some common images seemed to appear through the fog, of danc- ing, and of faith (religion), then, simply living. The once dark, depressing lyrics seem actually. very posi- Thursday, March 19th 1987 tive, and are, at times, also somewhat The effect music may lead you to heave out your collection :of The Cult in favour of this, less-guitar laden sound from The Mis- sion. sensual. of their The fact that The Mission’s songs are not shallow, glib pop songs seem to end of the has not really affected the that always up on top charts band’s success. In the year that the band has together, they have won countless awards and praise from both the critics and the fans. Best Band, Best British Act, Best Live Act, Best Album, Best Promo Video, Best Male Vocalist, Best Musician, Best World- wide Act, and, get this... Number Two Person of the Year for Wayne Hussey and “Number Two Male Sex Object” for him as well. been Some people have all the luck. Well? Even though I have never heard this band before, I expect that we will be hearing quite a bit more from The Mission in the days and weeks to come. FIVE STAR The Mission’s Wayne Hussey "I play the game. I do interviews with the press that I know will make good reading. It*s very much a case of winding them up, and they wind me up.” Let me first describe Wayne Hussey. He has long hair, dark glasses, bangles, beads and frocks. He is re- puted to have thrown up in a wastebasket in his FOR- MER record company’s of- fices, and is quoted as say- ing. “I'd like to screw Ian Astbury (of The Cult) butd don’t wanna be him... Yes, we do speed, loads of it in fact... That’s how talented we are: we can screw about The only thing I worry about is what me mother thinks...” amongst other things. with Beatles’ songs... Two of Wayne Hussey’s songs debuted in the num- ber one position on the British charts, something no other British band has ever done. His group, The Mission, has been called “The New Led Zepplin”. Hussey played bass for his fellow Liverpool resi- dent, Pete Burns, in ‘Dead or Alive’ for two and a half years before leaving to join ‘Sisters of Mercy’, which eventually broke up, leaving Hussey and Craig Adams looking for good musicans_ to The Mission in January of 1986. After t with, you guessed it, The Cult, they released a sin- gle called “Serpent’s Kiss”, which helped to sellout con- some form touring certs all over Europe. They even managed to wind up with a _ follow- ing in the process. They call themselves the Eski- moes, and according to Hussey, ~They’re a bunch of good-humoured yobs, re- ally, who follow us around. They come to our gigs and get drunk and take their clothes off, dance about...”, something which Hussey is often known to do as well. The Mission will tour North America for two or three months starting in April, but Canadian dates have not yet been set. Per- haps this spring you too may join the ranks of fol- lowers of The Mission. Page 1