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Give 'em Enough ScopeTHE TELESCOPESBARK PSYCHOSIS DARKSIDE LONDON ISLINGJON POWERHAUS THE MORE I think back on this one, the more hellish it seems on reflection; a lame siding in Pop History. Afterall, we had high expectations here, all three bands having been touted as Ones To Watch. But was this a night to remember? Was Ceausescu a pretty humanitarian sort of bloke? Is Kenneth Clarke Father Christmas? 
Mistake Number One: ‚arriving too early (again) I get a fanzine with
swirly lines all over It, which - apart from a good My Bloody Valentine
interview - suggests people should SIT DOWN at Spacemen Three gigs ("Why
doesn't everyone down, it seems so obvious... to get the effect") Oh
God.
Three or four people heed the 'Zine's shoddy advice and plonk themselves
on their backsides in the middle of the floor as Darkside (featuring a
couple of ex-Spacemen) do their utmost to be completely tedious. They
are not A Band To Watch because there is nothing to see. Because they
can't translate their sullen psychedelics into the live situation -
leaving you with a morass of guitar stickiness, hanging stodgily in the
air.
Mistake Two: Darkside, in a late bid for sympathy, stumble across a
brilliant melody (possibly called 'Don't Stop The Rain'), sparkling with
an audaciously catchy chorus. Moving nearer the front, said song ends.
And the weight of the uninspiring noise really begins to take a hold
(consider possibility of sitting on the floor to get the eftect; but
instead retire to a corner).
Bark Psychosis, earnestly young, experimenting with moods and textures,
speeds and sounds, mix something angelic with something vicious to get..
something tortuous. Their faces look like they're being tortured when
they play. They are naive, angular, sensitive and just too jagged to be
comfortable with.
The last time I saw The Telescopes was in the tiny confines of the
Syndrome Club in Oxford Street, sweat-laden, suicidally loud and
precocious.
This wasn't one of their best gigs in comparison, though there were
moments of pure aggression. And (bear in mind) they have got a cracking
new single coming out called 'To Kill A Slow Girl Walking' which is the
best thing they've done and you won't be able to stop playing it if
you've got an ounce of sense in you.
BUT. This was mostly unconvincing tonight. Not the single, the show, or
rather the non-show, the Just Standing There On Stage side of things.
First problem is they construct the set quite oddly, which gives it a
lumpy (samey?) continuity. Secondly, they're not loud enough and thirdly
they don't leave you wanting more. Highlights of the set come in the new
45, the last one, the steadily burning 'Perfect Needle' and another new
track 'Tension' where the rock influences are given the razortreatment
and sliced into the present (the nasty 'SOs).
Vocalist Stephen Lawrie has something which was lacking in tonight's
other two bands. He is a focal point, an attraction. He moves about a
bit snarling out his lines while wrestling with the mic lead. Another
more heartening note. The Telescopes, once good but with lots of VOIs
(Very Obvious Influences) are starting to forge a more distinctive,
intuitive style of their own, taking their grinding guitars and
forcefulness into new areas. Hear the sudden bursts of serated guitars
on the new 45 for proof.
This tends to make tonight's 35-minute amble all the more frustrating
for its lack of conviction. But if you're looking ahead...Steve Lamacq Photo by Susan Moore Originally appeared in NME 20 January 1990. Copyright © NME Back 
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