MORE WALLS

MORE WALLS

KICK OUT THE JAMS - MC-5 Elektra EKS-74042 Ramblin’ Rose; Kick Out The Jams; Come Together; Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa); Borderline; Motor City Is Burning; I Want You Right Now; Starship.

Rob Tyner, lead singer/Wayne Kramer, Fender guitar/ Fred “Sonic” Smith, Mosrite guitar/ Michael Davis, Fender bass/ Dennis Thompson, drums.

This music doesn’t make any' sense if you don’t feel good.

“Starship” is easily the best song on the album. The five have' absorbed Sun Ra’s music very well, better than I have, and they take the inter-galactic trip with the’ convincing conviction of Space mutations.

And if you feel too good you can’t communicate in subtle terms there’s little thats subtle about this' music. !

The body and mind is fed' cancerous waste material and ascream cleaning is necessary to rid usi of the filth. The MC-5 scream cleaning is necessary to rid us of the filth. The MC-5 scream clean away the deadening debris of TV2 Cass Ave. Motor City fear of bodies and minds etc. Or at least they try. None of the five will die of cancer.

“I Want You Right Now” - Libido energy transfered into sound - flesh vibration transmutated into electric vibration. Another high light.

‘‘Rose’’, “Jams”, and “Borderline” are less interesting, less necessary.

The words are often obscured but it’s not important, they’re generally not saying anything anyway (in terms of a spoken message). It’s the overall feeling thats important with the words and music blended - like the man points out theres no seperation here.

I would compare this to Coltrane’s “Ascension” in intensity, only there’s something missing - like the moment where John Tchicai crystallizes the meaning of these screams and banshee wails, letting us know why the purification is necessary by hinting at what will come next - the five seem to be at an early stage - perhaps they will evolve to the point where “Starship” will be intermission music.

I haven’t mentioned revolution. You don’t mention revolution, you do it.

Richard C. Walls.

STEVE MARCUS

Count’s Rock Band - Vortex - 2009

Theresa’s Blues; Scarborough Fair; Drum Solo; Ooh Baby; C’est Ca; Back Street Girl; Piano Solo.

Marcus, Acoustic and electric saxes; Larry Coryell, guitar; Chris Hills, bass and rhythm guitar; Mike Nock, piano and harpsichord; Dominic Cortese, accordion; Bob Moses, drums; Chris Swansen, arranger and percussionist.

This is Marcus’ second album on Vortex, the first one being “Tomorrow Never Knows”, reviewed in Creem 2 (and due to some wierdness in the basement of the Mixed Media, the last two paragraphs of that review disappeared). Marcus’ head is still in the same place that it was on that first album and its a nice place to be - heavily influenced by Trane with a tone of plantive ecstacy.

There’s something wrong with this album - although there are seven songs listed there are really only four and only two of these are heavy. “Drum Solo” is 35 seconds of rumbling, nothing more. “C’est Ca” is a 19 second accordian solo which serves as an introduction to “Backstreet Girl” - it’s a logical outgrowth of the French sounding accordion in the original Stones version. “Piano Solo” is a 51 second impressionistic thing, rather pretty but so what? The point is that an obvious effort has been made to decieve the casual glance.

“Scarborough Fair” is like “Half A Heart” on the first album - stated briefly with some embellishment - a rest period. “Back Street Girl” belongs to pianist Nock, who is nice, but seems a bit too impressionistic for the gut level of Marcus’ concept. Also, although the beauty of the original version remains intact, the irony of Jagger’s lyric is missing (such visciousness stated in such elegant style)!

“Theresa’s Blues” and “Ooh Baby” are the monsters on the album, and Coryell is the heart and

soul. Fantastic guitarist. On his entrance to “Blues” it sounds as though he’s playing a soprano sax. He has the right combination of fire and logic, mind and body. Marcus’ message seems an abstraction in comparison. Listen to this record to discover Larry Coryell.

Overall rating: 1254 balloons.

Richard C. Walls