Back on this day 25 years ago............FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9th 1977
1977
 DATE INDEX
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
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  'Dancing The Night Away'
(Virgin VS186).
I think they're gonna be the Status Quo of the New Wave - and that's meant as a compliment to all concerned' Not that the Motors are simply a heads-down boogie band, nor do they have much in common with two-chord punks. But they are propelled along by a mighty multi-layered guitar sound and a piledriving rhythm which is going to strike a chord with rock fans whatever their length of hair. , And their experience (Ducks Deluxe etc) has equipped them with a feel for arrangement and melody which makes their debut album (see album pages) an exercise in quality as well as I powerdriving excitement.
'These boys'/I kick your ass so hard it'll fall off'
-Shock claim by saddle-sore critic
 '1'(Virgin V2089) ****1/2
LISTENING TO The Motors '1' album properly would probably make you deaf. Mind you you're gonna be hearing it a lot anyway- it's destined to be one of those classic debut albums, if only for the opening track, 'Dancing The Night Away', which will grow on you like the hair on your head (it's no accident that it's also the band's debut single).
 The Pistols' album will be Virgin's other major rock album release of 1977.Not that The Motors are punk. (I know, just when you're getting used to the idea that spiky hair music represents the saving of rock'n'roll some joker in SOUNDS sez there's something else.) Well, the Motors are something else. - they're about music,' though the way their music's delivered would make you wonder if The Motors aren't more about world domination - half-assed it ain't!
Live their performances seemed a bit of a fiasco, everything - musicianship, subtilty, presentation - seemed to be sacrificed for the sake of volume. (The Motors are one of the few groups that would give Ted Nugent's fans a bad head ache.) If they could achieve something near to the clarity and separation on the record the material that's revealed would make the assault on the ears well worth it.The band comprises Nick Garvey - guitar and vocals (and occasional splashes of piano), Bram Tchoikovsky - guitar and vocals, and Richard Wernham (a.k.a. Ricky Slaughter) - drums and vocals. (For a comprehensive history of the group check-out the SOUNDS Motors feature, coming soon.) Nick and Andy write the songs and the Motors '1' album you play laud, see. No, it ain't another indue heavy metal, head banging, backdrop; you got to play it loud 'cos The Motors are about power. They got music that played loud reveals solid, deadly POWER. The Motors have got some of the best, no-nonsense rock songs (remember songs?) that have been writ for a long, long time. They ain't complicated and they ain't pop either 'cos the way The Motors present them would shake the eyeballs out of most of your Radio One jocks (John Peel being a hardy exception).
A misleading, almost delicate guitar line suckers you into the opening track, the previously mentioned 'Dancing The Night Away', just as you get used to the tinkling guitar three hammer blow chords start the dramatically built-up intro to the song proper. 'Dancing The Night Away' more than anything else on the album defines the band's sound - compelling, relentless power. A guitar sound like a steel wall,
going back for miles; bass and drums are ruthless and precise driving home the hooks of the songs.
The vocals - predominantly Garvey - are also very strong, with four vocalists in the band it isn't surprising. The material is described far from adequately in a record company information sheet as comprising of 'high-energy big-beat-ballads'. What you get is uncluttered, driving rock, with excursions into reggae ( a razor-sharp song called 'Cold Love') and boogie (a power drive stomp called 'Whisky And Wine') And the boogie ain't none of that lame lurch along hoedown stuff the Yanks have been shipping over here for years, this stuff will kick your ass so hard it'll fall off. It's the strangest straight rock album debut I've heard for ages, and you will be buying it very soon. - (Dave Fudger - Sounds sept 10th 77)
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