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Melody
Maker
BY the year 2050, the world
population will be 8.7 milliards and 50 milliards
200 years later.
There won't be enough food to feed
them. We are told that any country that does
not invest in space research will be overwhelmed
by the technical revolution. Britain is years
behind and already beaten by China and Japan.
Some of the world's oldest religions
and racial quarrels, long thought forgotten,
have swept to the surface like scum and threaten
peace in a wave of terror and anarchy. The hippie
movement, seen as the young generation's call
for sanity, has been under attack by its own
people.
The songs of the Beatles and Bob
Dylan lie in the mud of the wrecked festivals
under the boots of new Nazis. The words of Professor
AJP Taylor that men learn nothing from history
ring in our ears.
Little wonder that pop fans huddle
together under blankets, light candles and listen
to the jollity of Christie, with the silent
thanks of a refugee receiving a cup of lukewarm
gruel.
This is a pretty, cheerful record,
nostalgic and conforting. A HIT.
Record
Mirror
 A
single which has to face up to the stern facts
of pop life. Yellow River
got away purely as a song, with no artist identification.
Now the group has built that identity.
Repeat success? Well, this is certainly
a directly commercial production. It has a jangler
of a rhythm, banjo-y and brisk.
A philosophical sort of thing —
you can't find peace of mind away from the old
homestead. Jeff Christie sings well, within
the melodic limits.
Built on this sort of simplicity,
and already hammered home by the disc gentry
on radio, it pretty certainly can't miss out.
Maybe something a bit more ambitious
next time out? Maybe, but for now this looks
and sounds a good top 10 bet .. for Christ-ie's
sake! A chart cert.
 Disc
and Music Echo
The late, great
Kenny Everett was hard to please. But he
definitely liked San
Bernadino.
This review was actually the most positive
review of all new releases that week.
Songs which he panned included
the Hollies' Gasoline
Alley Bred and Don Fardon's Indian
Reservation.
New
Musical Express
It takes an extra-special disc to follow
a No 1 hit, specially when it's by a comparatively
new group.
This doesn't strike me as being
quite as good as Yellow
River but I still think it's strong
enough to make its mark in the chart.
It's
another jaunty and bouncy Jeff Christie
song — with a contagious beat, a happy-go-lucky
feel and that persistent jangling sound
which also characterised the group's previous
disc.
It's
good, simple, instant pop and its appeal
is instantaneous. It's a song that grows
on you, because I've now played it five
times and I find that the melody is now
firmly registered in my mind.
And
it's bound to get a lot of spins on Radio
1 on the strength of Christie's previous
hit, so I'm confident it will make the chart.
Sounds
CHRISTIE have been busy in the recording
studios completing their first album.
All
the tracks are Jeff Christie compositions
except for New York
City, which was written by the other
two members, Vic Elmes and Mike Blakley.
Jeff
was determined that Yellow
River would not be just a one hit
wonder.
With
this in mind he set about writing a new
single, San Bernadino,
and created another euphonic and exciting
sound that will assure the group of a place
high in the charts. It's a very lively record
with a definite country/rock influence.
Billboard
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