Scenic Views

Bauhaus/Echo & the Bunnymen/Modern English producer/engineer Hugh Jones was brought aboard for the major-label debut of Boston's Rubber Rodeo, a group that had released music on Eat Records — an imprint owned by its manager, Don Rose. And Jones gave the group that glossy dance-oriented slick British sound. The problem is that guitarist/vocalist Bob Holmes (a different fellow from Til Tuesday guitarist Robert Holmes) and vocalist/keyboardist Trish Milliken don't have the personalities to bring the performances home. Though it is a sound Aimee Mann had success with (even utilizing Til Tuesday engineer William Garrett), that essential element — a quirky presence beyond the music — is absent. Their regional contemporaries, New Man, Down Avenue, and November Group all suffered the same dilemma and all met with limited success. The song "The Hardest Thing," which leads off side two, was remixed by Jones for a 45-rpm 12" extended from three minutes and 15 seconds to four and a half minutes, in what they called a "s-t-r-e-t-c-h-m-i-x," but despite the merits found in the execution and attitude the music was as plastic as the name. Manager Rose went on to create Rykodisc, an international label that caused a splash by reissuing the catalogs of David Bowie and Frank Zappa; the inclusion of even one of those personalities is the missing ingredient that could have lifted this perfectly played music to another level. "Need You Need Me" is exactly what the latter-day Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship would give the world in the 1990s, uptempo folksy rock with guy/girl voices, only here it is with a snappy dance beat. Of course, had a decent song like "Slow Me Down" found itself beaten into listeners' consciousness day after day on the radio waves, the result would have been an entirely different story. Another Boston group, Face to Face, did get its 15 minutes with this formula, and despite the derivative nature, Scenic Views is still a listenable and interesting effort.