Niki Daly
Whitey in Love

Tracks:

1. When Eddie Comes Home (3:57)
2. Zeitgeist (3:36)
3. Bumper to Bumper (3:59)
4. Leo Says (3:58)
5. Turn off Your Radio (4:54)
6. I'm Not Going to Meet Anyone This Way (4:26)
7. Be Bop Traffic Cop (3:01)
8. Just Like You (7:50)
9. Hunter of Hearts (0:00) that's the time given on the label!
10. Your Number (4:26)
11. Sunny South Africa (5:46)

Produced by Murray Anderson

Musicians:

• Niki Daly: Vocals, Keyboards
• Murray Anderson: Guitar, Bass & Drums

Release information:

September 1977, Polydor Records, Cat. Number 2398 013 (Cassette 3162 103)

Review:

Niki Daley sounds like a psychotic philosopher. His clever lyrics are delivered in an almost bored lecturer style, but there is an ever present hint of madness that makes the vocals edgy and interesting.

Responsible for the deliciously infectious 'Is it an Ism or is it Art?' which appeared on his 'Living in the Suburbs' album in 1984, Daly revisits this quirky formula on 'Be Bop Traffic Cop' but wisely refrains from making an album of 11 isms (or should that be 11 arts). Side 1 has mostly a relaxed almost lounge jazz sound and this somewhat lulls the listener into a false sense of security as side 2 gets more and more edgy and tense.

Opening track 'When Eddie Comes Home' is a sad intro but does feature some warm brassy bits. The pace picks up with 'Zeitgeist' and by the time the first side is finished, you are sitting with your feet up, nodding you head in time to the rhythm and probably feeling slightly melancholic. It is in such a frame of mind that you get up to turn the record over and just as you're about to settle back, sounds start eminating from your speakers that are somewhat like the sounds you hear in movies as the baddie gets up to mischief and you can't settle down. Daly's voice starts become cracked and desperate. At times it feels like you're in Falling Mirror terroritory with the guitars replaced by keyboards.

By the time you reach 'Sunny S. Africa' you are are quite on edge and the half whispered vocals on this closing track, along with it's uncomfortable anti-apartheid lyrics, leave you shifting uneasily in your chair, not quite brave to look your speakers directly in the tweeters. The song ends with Daly listing the statistics regarding reclassification of people to different races and concludes with the stark 'No blacks became whites and no whites became blacks' this album is too quirky and dark, let alone far too political to gain mass appeal in South Africa, but if you like your music to be challenging, give this a spin.

John Samson, SA Rockdigest #128, October 2001

Webpage:

• Niki Daly

All info supplied by John Samson, March 2001.