POP BEAT : STATION BORROWS POWER FROM DURAN DURAN

With all the high-pitched screams emanating from Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Thursday night, you’d have thought that super-teen idol band Duran Duran was on stage. And, you would have been on the right track.

Actually, the headliner was Power Station, but the group’s key members are two guys on loan from the hot British quintet: guitarist Andy Taylor and bassist John Taylor. The presence of these two Duran-ites was more than enough to trigger the vocal cords of the shrieking females, who outnumbered the shrieking males by about three to one.

The Taylors are joined in Power Station--which also will appear Sunday at the Greek Theatre--by former Chic drummer Tony Thompson and ubiquitous singer Michael Des Barres, who comes to Power Station after fronting another recent “supergroup”--Chequered Past.

Taking over the vocal duties that on record were handled by white soul singer Robert Palmer, Des Barres, whose gruff vocals are limited both in range and dynamics, seems an odd choice to lead Power Station, a group formed ostensibly to make “the ultimate disco record.”

The quartet--whose remake of T. Rex’s “Get It On (Bang a Gong)” is a Top 10 single at the moment--was supplemented by an additional percussionist, keyboard player, two male backup singers and a saxophonist, but the resulting sound was essentially one-dimensional.

Where Power Station’s original songs are danceable, they are at best musically routine and often lyrically sophomoric. Take “Murderess,” with its refrain: “She’s a murderer, murderer/She likes to go for the jugular.” Or “Go to Zero,” which observes: “I do this and I do that and when it’s cold, I wear a hat.” It makes one yearn for the penetrating wisdom of Dr. Seuss.

Based around the album’s eight songs, the 90-minute performance was rounded out with Duran hits “The Reflex” and “Hungry Like the Wolf” as well as renditions of Martha Reeves’ “Dancing in the Street,” Rod Stewart’s “Some Guys Have All the Luck,” and--astonishingly--a 15-minute rendition of the vacuous “Obsession,” Animotion’s recent hit that was co-written by Des Barres.

But talking about the group’s lyrics, its musicianship or its stage presentation skirts the main issue. The real power of Power Station is the presence of the Duran Duran members, which became clear when the biggest ovation of the evening was given to John Taylor after he stepped up to the microphone early in the show and said, “Good evening.”

The Untouchables opened with a lively 45-minute set that proved equally as inspiring to the feet and eminently more satisfying to the head than Power Station. Expanding its horizons beyond the joyful blend of ska, reggae and ‘60s soul music that has typified the group’s sound for years, the Los Angeles band introduced several songs from its forthcoming “Wild Child” album and proved themselves capable in the funk-rap arena with a new song, “Freak in the Street.”

Once considered little more than a faddish byproduct of the recent mod revival, the nine-man band has turned into a visually and musically compelling unit.

LIVE ACTION: Tickets will go on sale Monday for Tom Petty’s Aug. 6 and 7 dates at the Wiltern Theatre, which will be filmed for a documentary on the band’s tour. . . . Tickets will also go on sale Monday for Paul Young and Nik Kershaw’s Sept. 7 show at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and for the Miles Davis-Crusaders show Sept. 19 at the Greek Theatre. . . . Tickets will be available Sunday for two new Universal Amphitheatre shows: the Herbie Hancock Quartet (Sept. 3) and Vicente Fernandez (Sept. 29). . . . The Palace has added these shows: The Untouchables (Aug. 10), Simon Townshend (Aug. 17), B-Movie (Aug. 23). . . . Tickets will go on sale Monday for Paul Horn at the Beverly Theatre. Peggy Lee’s Aug. 17 concert there has been canceled. Refunds are available at point of purchase.