The 1981 Listening Post - Joe Ryder - Joe Ryder

 Reviewed by Jim Coursey

Released: 1981 Joy Ryder Joy Ryder Genre: New Wave / No Wave Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Highlights: We Do The Bop Suitcase New Place Wearing New Clothes If you only listen to the first track or two of Joy Ryder’s debut album, you’ll likely walk away with a certain impression of the music. It’s punky, sassy pop rock with a modern new wave sound, topped by strong vocals adorned with the sneers, squeals and hiccups that read “cute, cool, and a little bit naughty.” Put “We Do The Bop” on a mix tape next to “I Know What Boys Like”, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, “Hey Mickey”, “Kids in America” and we’re done. Maybe Ryder’s tracks aren’t quite as catchy as the others, but they nail the vibe. But the album quickly flies off the rails, in the best possible way, going spiky, nervy, dissonant, even downright angry. On the cover we have Ryder applying makeup on the street, awash in oversaturated neon colors, and while the album as a whole keeps to bright and striking hues, her teeth come out as it goes on. “Suitcase” starts to take the “bop bop shoo bop” vibe into a more discordant direction, and by track 4’s Devo-ish “New Place”, what seemed like a touch of pop-friendly zaniness at the album’s opening turns full bore dementia. “You Belong”, “Shut Up and Kiss Me” and “Oh, Yeah” are more No Wave than radio-friendly new wave, intermingling downtown jazz and anarchic punk. Only “Wearing New Clothes” returns Ryder to the wannabe pop starlet schtick of the opening, which intentionally or not lays bare the transactional nature of her persona and the male-gaze-dominated entertainment industry that demands it: I’m wearing new clothes I got a new dress I gotta look good I can’t look a mess I want to look pretty You said ought to I want to look good I want to impress you Yes I want to impress you Impress you, impress you, impress you, So I’m wearing new clothes The best bio I’ve found of Joy Ryder is a 2015 obituary [1], which places her in New York City’s counterculture from the late 60s until 1980 when she left for Berlin and presumably recorded this album. (She had enough visibility there [2] that I found at least one German language obituary too.) While her eponymous release isn’t an unmitigated success – it lacks the couple killer tracks to push it over the edge – it does a good job walking the fine line between mainstream appeal and boundary-pushing. ********** 1. https://evgrieve.com/2015/02/rip-joy-ryder.html 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=razXnYpZFYk