The Guardian du lieu suivant : London, Greater London, England • 42

The Guardian Friday October 13 1995 Music I 1 5 the writing comes as a revelation. Not to be misssed. (ASm) Green Day Insomniac (WEA) 14.99 FLESH ii YOU have to assume that ultra radio-friendly, American nouveau-punks Green Day owe something of their sudaen and massive success to Kurt Cobain RIP and a reaction to post-Grunge gloom. Their last LP, Dook-ie, reportedly sold a cool 10 million units on the strength of its neat some would say too neat mastery of the laxative three-chord thrash genre of pop writing. But here, Green Day are offering nothing new, just more tidy, recycled riffs and (even more) unremarkable melodies.

With the whole punk canon to take inspiration from, why have they plumped for Generation and the UK Subs? (ASm) Hksut Mill Willi II lUMi in IMI ii ilimiMMIIlMi III MM I IN MM mm Patra Scent Of Attraction (550 MusicSony) 14.99 THE DEEJAY queen who helped turn dancehall nights into fertility rites has been on the fast track to success ever since she overcame early rejection and teamed up with crossover merchant "Specialist" Dillon. Rivals' resentment dogs a career taking in acting, pop promotion and presenting MTV's Reggae Soundsystem. But the ambitious Patra knows what the punters want: sexy, legs akimbo chat. Banned from playing several Caribbean islands, she imbues innocent everyday objects with lascivious suggestion a banana goes a long way in Patra's hands. Carry On-style innuendo vies with slick, mostly souliul grooves, such as the excellent title track, a duet with Aaron Hall.

It wouldn't sound awry alongside TLC or Jodeci, which is both the album's strength and its weakness. (RG) Our guide to the highlights and low lifes of the UK's most popular clubs Where? At the Hacienda, 1113 Whitworth Street West, Manchester. When? Not very often. FLESH used to be monthly, these days it's just one Sunday night every couple of months or so. Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen? Exactly.

Promoter Paul Cons is determined to keep FLESH with star DJs, high-as-a-kite production values and, above all else, the sort of excitement few of us can't manage on a weekly or even monthly basis. Sounds a bit precious to me. Well, maybe you've got to be a bit precious about clubs to make them work. The Divine Right of kings was precious even la-di-da but you've got to admit Louis XIV was more jolly than Chirac, and Charles II more fun than John Major. If you like things humdrum, the world's your oyster everywhere you look there's something flat, grey and miserable.

But why not get some glamour in your life and go to a good clubnight brought to you from A Bit Ginger? A Bit Ginger? What's that then? It's cockney rhyming slang, innit ginger beer queer, and the FLESH team call themselves A Bit Ginger because they're a bit queer I suppose. More to the point, though, they throw good parties, like Northern Attitude where all of the northern clubs get together to put on a fashion show, or this year's Mardi Gras when Boy George and John Pleased DJ-ed. So it's trendy big name DJs in frocks and lippy, is it? No. It's locals like Dave Kendrick, Tim Lennox, Kath McDermot, and they never wear dresses. So when can I go then? FLESH is one of eight top clubs taking part in the United Clubs of Manchester City, a benefit for the homeless on Saturday October 14 one passport (15 from Manto's and the Dry Bar) gets you into all of them.

And better still, FLESH'S fourth birthday party, Natural Born Queers, is on October 25, with special guest, Mrs Wood. James Collard Iron Maiden The Factor (EMI) 14.99 IT'S ironic. Just as the music press decide that heavy metal is okay, hip almost, the number one band in the genre, Metallica, declare that metal-is dead. Any band with any sense had already mutated into grunge or new punk. Which leaves a swashbuckling, loin-grinding, bludgeoning Boys Own Adventure band like Maiden flailing.

These forerunners of the late seventies new wave of heavy metal movement and a British institution have had to deal with the departure of charmis-maticfrontman Bruce Dickinson and arrival of new vocalist, Blaze Bayley, who doesn't yet seem up to the epic task. Factor sounds restrained and polite at its best at its worst fatuous and dated. (SS).