Copyright 1991 Times Newspapers Limited   
The Times
March 8, 1991, Friday
SECTION: Features
LENGTH: 509 words
HEADLINE: Musical literacy makes sound sense
BYLINE: David Sinclair
BODY:

     Jellyfish: Bellybutton, (Charisma CDCUS 3). 808 State: ex:el,
(ZTT 9031-73775-2). Morrissey: 'Kill Uncle', (His Master's Voice
CSD 3789).
     LITTLE is known about Jellyfish. They come from San Francisco,
there are four of them, favouring an outlandish,
hippie-remnant-shop dress code. Yet far from being the kind of
deranged waffle which appearances might suggest, their Bellybutton
debut is a l
ithe concoction in a musically literate pop tradition that
stretches via Squeeze all the way back to the Beatles. As such it
belongs in the retro-psychedelic vein of recent albums by Tears For
Fears, XTC and Lenny Kravitz.
     There is a crisp melodic snap to numbers such as ''She Still
Loves Him'' and ''That is Why'', while the single ''The King is
Half Undressed'' proceeds with an urgent impetus that suggests a
band able and impatient to make its mark.
     While Jellyfish adheres to a strictly conventional notion of
harmony singing and rock group instrumentation, Manchester's 808
State represents the dance-trance arm of latterday psychedelia. The
group's fourth album, ex:el already has two Top 10 hits to i
ts credit''In Yer Face'' and ''Cubik''and is as modern as it is
possible to imagine.
     Multiple layers of clanky, machine-generated percussion are
garlanded with buzzy keyboard lines, or startling shrieks and
whooshing. Occasional singing is provided by New Order's Bernard
Sumner (''Spanish Heart'') and Bjork Gudmundsdottir of the Sugarcub
es, whose eccentric wailing pops up on ''Qmart'' and ''Ooops''.
Such human touches are, however, purely incidental to the otherwise
computer-generated thrust of the Daleks' tea-party soundtracks.
     This kind of boffin-created dance music often provokes
complaints of the can't-write-songs-like-they-used-to variety, but
808 State demonstrate tremendous musical skill in manipulating
their rhythms and themes to the exact point where they mesmerise
with
out being boring. The grand design of ''Nephatiti'', where banks of
drum machines engage in chattering dialogue with swarms of blipping
synths, has not come about by accident. On the contrary, the
dynamic flair with which they harness the awesome potentia
l of all this good technology is an example of modern music-making
at its most inspiring.
     There has been a critical backlash against Morrissey. But,
while I yield to nobody in my delight at the crumbling away of this
tin god's inflated status, it has to be said that there is more to
'Kill Uncle' than meets the eye.
     It has taken him three years to produce a mere 33 minutes of
music, much of it conforming to the familiar pattern of neurotic
whimsy with a flatulent title:  ''(I'm) The End of the Family
Line'', ''There's a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends'' and so f
orth.
     But he taps a deeper vein with ''Asian Rut'' and ''The Harsh
Truth of the Camera Eye'', songs with a dark, dramatic flourish
worthy even of Marc Almond at his best. ''Found Found Found'', with
its pugnacious bass line, is another rare blast. For a moment
, it seems as if all the agonising might have been worth it.