Album title: Sportscar
Artiste: Judie Tzuke
Genre: Pop
Year: 1980
Label: Rocket Records
Producer: Paul Muggleton/Mike Paxman/Judie Tzuke
Chronological position: Second album
Notes:
Album chart position: 7 (UK)
Singles: n/a
Lineup: Judie Tzuke – vocals
Mike Paxman – Guitar
Bob Noble – Keyboards
Jeff Rich – Drums
John Edwards – Bass
Paul Muggleton – Backing vocals
How odd! After the success of the debut album, and with no singles at all taken from this – never mind any chart hits – Judie's second album managed to out-perform
Welcome to the Cruise to the tune of being placed seven slots higher, still her best ever chart showing. We can see now that mainstays Mike Paxman, Bob Noble and Paul Muggleton are on board, and this lineup would remain in place for at least another sixteen years. Interestingly, again, we don't see Judie's face on the cover, almost as if she is again refusing to use her sexuality as a marketing tool. She's even ensured (assuming the cover concept was hers) to wear loose, baggy clothing and really look about as unsexy as possible. The posture she's in could even indicate despair, or perhaps a descent into madness? It's quite childlike, reinforced by the idea of sitting at the bottom of the stairs with what appears to be a toy car at her feet. In fact, Judie would eschew using her face again on the next album – only allowing it to be stylised in a drawing – and would not actually appear fully on the cover until 1982's
Shoot the Moon, after which, perhaps paradoxically, her face would be on every album up to 1992's
Wonderland, and then not again until 2007's
Songs 1.
Review begins
Although this was only her second album, it was apparent that a subtle change had come over the way Judie wrote and arranged songs. In particular, she took over the production duties on this album herself, along with Mike Paxman and Paul Muggleton. The first track (also the title) roars into life as the pounding drums of Jeff Rich, the tinking piano of Bob Noble and the wailing guitar of Mike Paxman kick into a tale of flashy men with flashy cars, who think they are impressing everyone, when in fact all they're doing is making themselves look rather silly. The track is reasonably long, leading to there only being four songs on side 1 (yes, it's that old vinyl thing again!), but four fine songs they are. “Sportscar” obviously establishes itself as a crowd favourite for later on, something you can dance to and punch the air to, and proves to any who had doubts that Miss T. can rock with the best of them!
Slowing things down for the second track, “Nightline” has an almost spoken vocal, as Judie waits for her lover to come to her, and the sparseness of the lead vocal is counterpointed beautifully by the dramatic backing vocals on the chorus. “Nightline”was never going to become a classic, but it's certainly a good song, and another good example of the writing partnership of Tzuke and Paxman. “Chinatown” starts off with an amusingly oriental keyboard riff, as Judie paints a scene of the London Soho area:
"To the sound of the gun and the fivepenny run, they are free". “Chinatown” also features some nice backing vocals, and since they're all female and there's no credit to the contrary, I assume it's Judie doing the lot. Very nice. This song would be echoed some years later in the 1983 release, Ritmo, where again Judie sings of the darker side of London, though in “Walk don't walk” the slant is much more ominous, less light-hearted than here, where she sings
"Here come the boys from Chinatown, they don't want no trouble, they're just hanging around".
And so we come to the next ballad, the song that closes side 1 should surely have been a single, though it appears it wasn't. “Understanding” is a beautiful ballad, touching on the poignant relationship between two people, one of whom is finding it hard to make certain decisions, the other of whom is finding it hard to wait for him. As in many of her lovesongs, Judie gives as much (if you'll pardon the pun) understanding as she can, but eventually she has enough, and has to point out that things must change:
"Now the game that we've been playing has to change, and it's by my rules that we play." The vocal exchange on the outro to the song is beautiful, and sung really well by Paul Muggleton, in what is, as far as I can see, his first real chance to show off his vocal talents as other than a backing singer.
Things move into high gear then for “The choices you've made”, a boppy, toe-tapping number but yet with a sad message within:
"The choices you've made, I try hard but I can't understand it. And the windows are covered in rain, and the doorway is just as I found it." In her songs at any rate, love seems to constantly elude Judie. As in the next track, a slower number called “The rise of heart”, where the promise of a rekindled love affair is just too dangerous for Judie to take. Lovely backing vocals again, and Judie's soaring, soulful voice singing
"If we start the rise of heart I won't want to be a spectator". Which takes us to “Living on the coast”, where Judie has retired to get away from a former lover, and wonders if he were to join her there now
"Who would need the sympathy?". The scene is lovingly engendered by Judie and Mike's lyric:
"An evening with the sun, shining just enough to make you stay. You know the warm winds fool you..." The musical mood of this song fits the lyric: a relaxed, slow, almost jazzy number, and an almost lazy vocal: you can nearly hear the surf gently crashing on the beach...
“Molly” is a short, sad song, recounting the experience of a young, silly girl who fell in love with a sailor who, when he had had what he wanted, did what all sailors do: sailed away. Yet every day she goes back to the shore, hoping to see him again. The melody is quite simple, almost nursery-rhyme, or maybe carnival. Whether this is meant to mock the girl in the song or sympathise with her, only the writers know. And then the closing track, the first on which Paul Muggleton collaborated. “Rain on the hills” is a strange song, seemingly the tale of a man on the run in a foreign country. The music is jaunty, bouncy, and again you have to wonder if this is our Judie taking a little poke at the guy in the song --- oh well; if she is, she's entitled to, as she, Mike and Paul created him in the first place.To me though, the lyric is a little confusing, but then that's nothing new. Not the track I would have chosen as a closer for the album, as I've always found that I end up humming the last track as I pack the record away, but there you go.
Track listing and ratings
Sportscar
Nightline
Chinatown
Understanding
The choices you've made
The rise of heart
Living on the coast
Molly
Rain on the hills
Afterword:
As a second album,
Sportscar is not the juggernaut that its predecessor was, but is still a worthy follow-up, and sports (ahem!) many potential singles, though it appears none were selected. Interesting to note the difference an album produced by members of the band makes: though Welcome to the cruise was produced excellently, this album does I think suffer from slightly heavy-handed production, but then the three of them were finding their feet at the time, so they can be forgiven.Which is not to say that this is not a good album. I wouldn't rate it as my favourite, but I certainly don't dislike it. In fact, with the exception of the final track and possibly “Molly”, I like all the tracks on this album.
Sportscar was never destined to become a classic, but it's a solid rock album, and a great pointer to what Judie's music was to grow into, for those who were prepared to stick with her after she had ceased to be flavour of the month.
Rating: 