[Mors Hus 1974 English Subtitle Zipl
Fabulously Favuzza
The Naked Carmen [Mercury, 1970]
The aptest instance of overpretension in the history of rock-is-art. It makes more sense to do a rock/pop take-off on a vulgar work in a vulgar genre than to collaborate on derivative moderne with Zubin Mehta (the Mothers) or stick your amps in front of a notoriously venal symphony orchestra (Deep Purple). The c&w version of "The Toreador Song" is perfect. Great package, too. I may even keep it. C
Super Black Blues Volume II [BluesTime, 1970]
On the first volume T-Bone Walker, Joe Turner, and Otis Spann joined an extraordinarily mellow studio jam that found all three in good humor and good voice--an unique document. This live sequel is a solid sampler, blues one step closer to jazz than Muddy Waters or B.B. King (who emcees). Turner and Cleanhead Vinson do their standards with a one-man horn section; Walker and Leon Thomas work with a combo that includes congas and bongos. Thomas is something of a ringer, but he certainly sounds a lot more earthbound here than with Pharoah Sanders. Recommended to blues fanatics, blues novices, and anyone lucky enough to find it in a bargain bin. B+
Woodstock [Cotillion, 1970]
"I left one thing out of my Woodstock article," says Tom Smucker, author of a good one. "I left out how boring it was." And though you can be sure it's not like being there, this three-record set does capture that. As is inevitable in a live album featuring stage announcements, crowd noises, and sixteen different artists, not one side is enjoyable straight through: CSNY are stiff and atrociously flat in their second gig, Paul Butterfield sounds wasted, Sha Na Na should never record, Joan Baez should never record, and so forth. But a substantial proportion of this music sounds pretty good, and three performances belong to history: Ten Years After's "I'm Going Home" (speed kills), Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My Friends" (mad Englishman), and Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" (wotta ham). Also, the stage announcements and crowd noises are better than most. B
The Concert for Bangla Desh [Apple, 1971]
The five rock sides--not counting 22:35 of Ravi Shankar, who has one-fourth of the music in this piece of rock history--average about thirteen minutes. They offer exactly what I heard at the Garden: five clear, straightforward, moving protest-era oldies from Bob Dylan, two clear, strong rock and roll oldies from Leon Russell, and Ringo singing "It Don't Come Easy." Plus eight songs by George Harrison and one by Billy Preston. And if you mail your check to the United Nations Children's Fund for Relief to Refugee Children of Bangla Desh you can avoid the middleman. B-
Woodstock II [Cotillion, 1971]
I don't understand why, but Butterfield, Baez, and especially CSNY all sound more together on these selections than they did last time. I do understand why there's a whole side of Hendrix, and it's not the amazing ritual repetitions of "Jam Back at the House," but I'll settle--he makes what would be an engaging but dispensable piece of history into something more. B
Echoes of a Rock Era: The Early Years [Roulette, 1972]
[Along with You Must Remember These: Volume One, a] basic collection for connoisseurs of long-playing grease. [This one] is "all top 10" and is as conventional as that claim implies. It includes a couple of Chuck Berry songs that any self-respecting nostalgic already owns and a couple of entries from old Roulette artist Jimmy Rodgers that really don't belong at all, but will probably please the casual reminiscer. Statistics: 20 songs on two discs for $5.98. A-
You Must Remember These: Volume 1 [Bell, 1972]
[Along with Echoes of a Rock Era: The Early Years, a] basic collection for connoisseurs of long-playing grease. I prefer the Bell; in fact, I think it is the best oldies package to reach the market in years. It includes a couple of acceptable sleepers I'd never even heard and some long-lost esoterica by the Turbans and Lee Allen, not to mention the Five Satins, the Channels, and the Nutmegs. Statistics: 16 songs on one disc for $4.98. A
Africa Dances [Authentic, 1973]
What The Harder They Come does for reggae this sampler attempts to do for the American-influenced urban music of Africa. Its scope is necessarily broad, but only once does an alien-sounding rhythm (Arabic tarabu) interfere with its remarkable listenability. The mood might be described as folk music with brass, for although the horn techniques are familiar from big-band jazz, r&b, and especially salsa, the overall effect is much less biting than that would imply. There's something penetratingly decent, humorous, and even civil about this music, as if the equanimity of tribal cultures at peace at least with themselves has not yet been overwhelmed by media-nourished crosscultural complexities. If this is my misapprehension, perhaps it is reinforced by the fact that the lyrics aren't in English, although I don't get anything similar from salsa. Anyway, a find. A
This Is Reggae Music [Island, 1974]
Unlike The Harder They Come, which collected the best songs of artists whose music was either unavailable or not rich enough to fill an LP, this sampler serves no function. The two cuts from the Wailers are not their top work, and a Maytals album that includes both should be available here soon. Some of the rest (Heptones, Joe Higgs) is pretty good; some of it (Lorna Bennett, Zap Pow) is pretty discouraging. C+
Beserkley Chartbusters Volume 1 [Beserkley, 1975]
The Berkeley rock underground? Featuring Earth Quake, a failed heavy boogie band from A&M and Jonathan Richman, reputed to have squandered numerous Warner Comm bucks studioing with the Modern Lovers yet here sounding as if he prefers to record in the WC? I played this sampler twice and shelved it. But a more sympathetic listening suggests that maybe rock and roll undergrounds are the same everywhere--tough-minded, spare and loud, and committed to an eloquent simplicity of form no matter what the embroidering tastemakers in the biz consider art. This shared commitment makes the four artists exhibited here sound as if they're all on one album, instead of a bunch of cuts, and the album is a good one. A-
The Outlaws [RCA Victor, 1976]
No truth-in-packaging awards here--you'd never know from the label that most of this has been heard before in other configurations--but how about a cheer-and-a-half for the programming? Me, I often find Waylon and Willie (and Tompall and Jessi) a little tedious over a whole side. This never gets boring. B+
Disco-Trek [Atlantic, 1976]
You can't deny that disco gets more music out there. If it weren't for this remixed collection of eight mostly rare "disco hits" I might never have heard Sister Sledge's "Mama Never Told Me" or the Valentinos' "I Can Understand It." And since the music isn't brand new, its tone is more soulish than is the current norm, making this a more attractive sampler than any of Motown's Disco-Tech collections. I'm not always crazy about its hyped-up, spliced-in feel and instrumental riff-raff, but I have to admit that they actually improve Jackie Moore's "Time," so who knows. Social note: Boers overrunning South Africa were history's most prominent trekkers. How about retitling this Disco Tracks? B
Get Down and Boogie [Casablanca, 1976]
Though the claim on the jacket is excessive--it's not "38 minutes and 47 seconds of continuous play" unless one of your eunuchs turns it over for you--this disco-oriented and -segued compilation from the premier disco label is long overdue. Two Donna Summers, two Parliaments (which way do they disco?), and good filler. Finds: Jeannie Reynolds's "The Fruit Song" (she likes bananas) and Giorgio's "I Wanna Funk With You Tonight" (a/k/a "What'd He Say?"). B+
Live at CBGB's [Atlantic, 1976]
I know these are Our Bands (all eight of them?), and that none of them has ever recorded before. This collection still ain't Beserkley Chartbusters. It's still a live double-LP: the arrangements and recording still tend toward the half-assed; the programming is still so erratic that only side one is wholly tolerable; the groups are still so erratic that only Tuff Darts can advance to Studio without pausing at Stop and paying dues well in excess of $200. B-
Max's Kansas City 1976 [Ram, 1976]
If the musicians at CBGB like to pose as punks, then those at Max's wish they smelled like flowers of evil. This smells like week-old all-you-can-eat instead. Emcee Wayne County begins by naming seven mythic (or at least recognizable) New York bands on the title cut, but they're not the seven who follow. In ascending order: Cherry Vanilla (pickles and ice milk), Harry Toledo (Bert Cincinnati), Suicide (the two stooges), the John Collins Band (terrific name), Wayne County (cute lisp), the Fast (good for a laugh), and Pere Ubu. Pere Ubu actually evoke the Velvets, and I'd like to see them sometime. Unfortunately, they live in Cleveland. C
Assalam Aleikoum Africa Volume One (Progressive and Popular Music of West Africa) [Antilles, 1977]
Unlike John Storm Roberts's Africa Dances anthology, this LP and its companion come from one location--Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Thus, they're a little limited. On this one, the same musicians tend to reappear in different permutations, and their interests are more specifically "progressive" than "popular" (which can mean almost anything in a place where folk culture still thrives). That is, they like horns--great sax break on the catchy "Dogbo Zo N'Wene"--and are fascinated by electric guitars. Something called "Ode to Hendrix" is pretty remarkable, as is the title cut and much of Charles Atagana's bass playing, but the same cannot be said of "Live in Peace," which clocks in at a progressive 11:39 and supports neither its length nor its English lyric. B