I wonder which incarnation of Bowie Alastair Riddell will channel in 2023?
But seriously, Out on the Street is one of my favourite songs ever. It wears its Bowie influence heavily, down to the Mick Ronson-style guitar, but it’s entirely its own beast too. So much glam swagger.
I remember seeing the band on New Faces in ‘74; my 11 year-old self was both totally shocked and seduced by Riddell’s androgynous charisma. Long black hair, eyeshadow, Isadora Duncan scarf, hip-hugging flared pants, platform heels, camp English accent and fey pouts, he was a transfixing vision in a New Zealand whose one-size fits-all version of masculinity was still short-back-and-sides and rugged farmer inarticulacy. My parents couldn’t stand them, and neither could Nick Karavias, one of the judges. But another judge — I think it was Phil Warren — said “this is what the young people love,” and I thought, “I’m young people and I’m in love with Alastair Riddell.”
I followed Space Waltz ardently after that — I was broken-hearted when they lost the New Faces final, but cheered when they released Fraulein Love. It sounds a lot like a certain other NZ band from that era — think Jamboree meets Parrot Fashion Love, sung by Suffragette City-era Bowie. Similarly, Love The Way He Smiles, from Space Waltz’s album, initially sounds like something from Mental Notes, until it starts channelling Moonage Daydream and John I’m Only Dancing. (Eddie’s piano work on this is something else — jazz-prog acid trip brilliant.)
Too bad they broke up so early. They would have been a great companion/foil to Split Enz as the latter went supernova. But the battle over which band would get to keep Rayner would have been fierce.