Juke Box Jury

Juke Box Jury

GREG SHAW

Best Record of the Year! (so far)

Jan. 19, 1972

I suppose it had to happen sooner or later: a slow month for singles. Must be the postChristmas slump, I guess. But slump or no slump there’s always something unexpected to be found on those funny little records, and this month’s surprise just happens to be the Record of the Year (so far).

(“Mariposa”/“Rock and Mole” Instant Ralston - Sceptor SCE-12338)

Ralston has a sound that grabs you immediately, fading in like John Kongos on “He’s Gonna Step On You Again” and surging along with hand clapping and solid tom-tom drumming. On “Mariposa” the tempo is the same too, so you can’t help thinking of Kongos* but the tone is more light-hearted, people whopping it up and calling out remarks as though the record were being cut at a party, a carefree kazoo solo set nicely in the middle, and semi-nonsence lyrics. The song offers more of a feeling than a message, and it’s an exuberant, goodtime feeling. If you want the heavy stuff, you’ve got to turn the record over. Here again the sound is the same, the same components and all, but this time there’s a message. This might be the first Don McLean-inspired record. It opens with the drunken chorus singing “wop wop wop, wop wop a nanna nanna” like in Ernie Maresca’s “Shout Shout (Knock Yourself Out)” and then Ralston comes along with a lyric about seeing a mole with 22 eyes come out of a hole and start doing some kinda dance step. Then from the .background someone screams something that can just barely be made out as “sing yer ass off baby!" and suddenly everyone is chanting in a demented semi-chipmunk falsetto “we want rock and mole” over and over to the same melody as Danny & the Juniors’ “let’s go to the hop.” If side one sounded like Kongos in tempo, this one sounds like the Legendary Stardust Cowboy’s record of “Paralyzed” or some of the things on the Godz’ first album, especially around the guitars. The effect is definitely one of lunatic inebriation. The whole thing is so ambiguous you can read what you want into it. You can hear “rock and roll” for “rock and mole” if you want, in which context the following line “we don’t want so soul” makes more sense, so you could call it an overt rock & roll anthem even if the simple sound and style weren’t enough to convince you this is one hell of a great record.

Quick Spins: While we’re on the subject of strange records, don’t miss “Country Kangaroo” by Mary-Lou Buttons (London 45-167) if you ever see it for a, dime. The licks are country, but the voice is that of some young English lass who could be even more cloying than Melanie if she set her mind to it. But in the context of a song about a kangaroo who decides life in the Appalacians beats living in the zoo and so builds himself a log cabin, I can find no fault with it.:: If you long for the days when there was nothing more to worry about than The Bomb you’ll like “The Bomb” by Jubal’s Children (Beverly Hills 45-9357). The lyrics include such gassers as “Let’s shake hands and come out kissing/No one wants their country missing.”:: Deram is trying to cash in on Cat Stevens’ new popularity by reissuing his early stuff, which is fine with me because I like it better. My favorite early Stevens track, “Kitty” has just come out again (Deram 45-85079) and it would be nice if it became a hit, as it’s the closest he ever came to rock & roll. :: If you didn’t take me seriously when I announced the return of 1965, take note: Gary and Randy Scruggs have released a new version of “Rock and Roll Gypsies”, a Roger Tillison song made famous on the west coast by Hearts & Flowers way back then. It was one of the supreme folk-rock anthems, never failing to stir me with the chorus line: “and the rock ‘n’ roll gypsies are ridin’ tonight!” This record (Vanguard 35142) doesn’t seem to have the same zing, but it’s a good sign. Now maybe somebody will cut “Where Were You When I Needed You.” :: More shades of the past are called up in “Hosanna in the Highest” (Fraternity 1251) a pseudo-gospel number by Bob Harris, Sr. and the Casinos. Yes, the same Casinos whose 1967 “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” roused memories of the 1958 New York vocal group scene. I had no idea they were still around, but these 10 clean-cut guys have apparently teamed up with the first Sr. in rock & roll to produce a record that, unfortunately, isn’t very good.

I was one of the few who didn’t like’ the Little Feat album (too much R&B influence, I thought but I really dig their new single “Easy to Slip” (WE 7553) so if you did like the album you’re sure to love it. Or maybe not. It’s more commercial, extremely well produced, sounding a bit like Crazy Horse. :: Elephants Memory, reportedly under consideration for John Lennon’s touring band, has a good rocker in “Skyscraper Commando” (Metromedia 210). :: Shakey Legs had a rather mediocre album, but “Back in Line” (Paramount 0143) sounds just fine on a single. :: “Chinatown” by the Move, originally released on MGM as noted last month, has been withdrawn and released again on UA. Both are owned by the same parent company; it was just one of those little slip-ups that record collectors love so much. It’s now out as UA 50876 and it’s the most bubblegummy thing yet for the group, whose interest now evidently lies more in their upcoming incarnation as the Electric Light Orchestra.

A couple of readers have asked me to comment' on “White Lies, Blue Eyes” by Bullet (Big Tree 123). I don’t care much for it. It’s OK as AM filler songs go, just like Earthquake’s “Tickler,” currently getting much airplay here, but it’s not the sort of thing I’ll want to hear again after it leaves the charts and I think we can do a lot better in the hard rock dept. :: You all remember Jonathan King, the English dude who started off singing “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon” and ended up writing and producing dozens of hits for all kinds of groups. Well, get a load of his latest single, “I Don’t Want to Be Gay” (Parrot 45-3029). I’ve had my suspicions about the London pop scene but never dreamed it had gone far enough to produce a record like this. It’s a tender ballad, the kind girls used to sing when they liked a guy but had to tell him they “have another, whose love is true.” Jonathan doesn’t say if he’s attached or not, but he does make it clear (if somewhat regretfully) that he’s slightly less than receptive to the advances of the young fellow to whom the song is addressed. Good for you, John, we knew you could hold out.

Donnie Elbert’s followup to “Where Did Our Love Go” is the much weaken “Sweet Baby”(All-Platinum 2333) but then what’d you expect? I certainly didn’t expect to see him leading a one-man early Motown revival, which was the impression I got when I heard “I Can’t Help Myself’ (Avco 4587). Is he on two labels or did he record this earlier? Who knows. I know I like this better than “Sweet Baby” and think he’s found a good groove. There’s a lot of good old songs in this bag I’d like to fiear him work out on. :: I know some people who like Elton John’s “Levon” (Uni 55314) because they think it’s about Levon Helm and others who dig “Stay With Me” by the Faces (WB 7545) because it sounds like “Ft’s All Over Now.” I like ’em because they’re both good records, especially the latter. If Elton John gets much better he might even be tolerable. :: One thing I’ve discovered about “American Pie” since reviewing it here is that it wears on you awfully fast. Like once you’ve taken in and understood all the lyrics, you just don’t want to hear it again. I reached that point soon after it entered the charts, and am now thoroughly sick of it, as I’m sure you are too. Oh well, it was a good flash.

Some of you might not be aware that this column is here to serve you. If you have any questions about singles, past or present, or anything to do with buying and collecting records of any kind, please send them in; the more general questions will be answered here, and specific ones will receive personal replies if stamped envelopes are enclosed. Send ’em directly to me at 64 Taylor, Fairfax, CA 94930.