Thursday, December 10, 2020

The 1981 Listening Post - Rupert Hine - Immunity

 Rupert Hine - Immunity


#63

February 27 1981

Rupert Hine

Immunity

Genre: The intersection of Bowie and Numan. 

4 out of 5


Highlights:

I Hang On to My Vertigo

I Think a Man Will Hang Soon

Another Stranger



If you are like me, when you see the name Rupert Hine do you think, “The Pina Colada Song” guy? But that’s a different Rupert, isn’t it. 

Rupert. 

Is there a name that is less rock than Rupert? I want to say “Lester” but before Kiss, there was Wicked Lester so, no…Rupert. 


But…this is what I expected Suicide to sound like when it was described to me. This is goth Cars. It’s Numan but less robotic. It’s Peter Gabriel if he was slightly less paranoid and MORE paranoid at the exact same time. You know what I mean? Neither do I!!!

This record is unlike what you would expect from any of them (save David Bowie, it freaking smells like a Bowie record, especially “Surface Tension”) but fits nicely into any collection that appreciates all those bands. 

Fine has ideas in his head and he makes them happen in a way that other musicians just can’t. “Psycho Surrender” should be an annoying Sparks-like meander but there’s a brilliant theatricality to it that makes it impossible for me to turn away. 




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-R7zBoT9lI

No comments: