ROCK-A-RAMA

EARLY FACES - THE SMALL FACES (Pride — MGM):: I had this classic disc on a hideous German pressing, but Mike Curb (who has been the subject of many recent articles considering his auteur status) did it up right and it sounds great. The Small Faces were in their Who period for this collection and they shake til they break. Steve Marriot was the heart of the group, but the same pieces don’t fit in Humble Pie, probably because now he and his two pals think of themselves as musicians, not mods who copped the rock from the rockers. “Layla” this ain’t, but then neither is Meet the Beatles.

JEANNIE - JEANNIE C. RILEY (Plantation):: Turns out Jeannie wasn’t just a one shot cutie with “Harper Valley P.T.A.” I don’t know what kinda shit she’s doin’ these days for major record companies, but this is as fine a country rock album as you’re likely to hear anywhere. “One Toke Over the Line”?

ELEMENTARY DOCTOR WATSON - DOC WATSON AND MERLE WATSON (Poppy):: Speakin’ of country-oriented folkoid stuff: Goddamit, this is good. Or, as the folkie in the woodpile said the other day on Bandstand, “I’ll give it a 95; it sure is mellow, and it sure does flow.”

MONGREL - BOB SEGER (Capitol):: An absolute must. Seger really is the Fogerty of the Midwest, it ain’t no regional hype. This album is his only good one, but it’s a killer, both in terms of songwriting and jams: “Wasn’t born lookin’ back/ I can’t tell white from black/ Kesey next to me now darlin’ straighter than a railroad track/ I been so high/ My mind were fried/ I had to dodge the farmers on their midnight ride/ And that ain’t all/ I seen 'em dumpin’ garbage/ In my rivers and lakes/ I seen ‘em send up John Sinclair, you know two joints is all it takes/ And I ain’t even got me a congressman I can call...” (which redeems all this stuff, as the least selfconscious “Summertime Blues” reference ever).

SMOKIN’ O.P.’S - BOB SEGER (Palladium) :: This should be a great album, but it isn’t. Thin or overdone material (“Love The One You’re With,” “If... Carpenter,” “Hummingbird,” “Be Diddley,” “Turn ... Lovelight” is more than half of it) drags the LP. “Heavy Music” is here, though, and kicking off side two is perhaps the toughest version of Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock” ever cut. The sound is dense, the singing is fierce and deftly arranged, and the organ and guitar accelerate until you feel that train picking up speed and you wonder if the road gang really will make it off the track in time. Mike Bruce plays the purest rock guitar I’ve heard since Dave Edmonds’ “Lover Not A Fighter” from the Rock pile LP, maybe better; the groove that used to be defined by Keith Richard is now in his hands. Give this man a medal and don’t let him get away. If “Let It Rock” doesn’t come out on a 45 I say let Seger and his boys have 24. hours to make it over the border before we come after them with everything we have.

JIMMY CASTOR BUNCH (RCA):: These guys had one of the greatest jive records in years with “Troglodyte,” parodying and advancing soul music at the same time and really seperating the men from the boys where sensitivity is concerned. I suppose it was too much to expect their album to live up to * this, and it was. The version of “Troglodyte” here is no longer, and the other songs are either run-of-the-mill funk or semi-autobiographical concept numbers, blecch. Only one other interesting song, “I Promise to Remember,” which Castor wrote for Frankie Lymon in 1957 and recreates here. Not worth the price — go buy the single.

JAZZ BLUES FUSION - JOHN MAYALL (Polydor):: Something obviously went wrong here. This album is actually enjoyable, and Mayall has had enough taste not to reprint the lyrics; maybe he was too busy workin’ on the speedfreak chart on the back cover, titles, keys, times, total times “with applause,” and “who gets featured chorus to chorus.”

THE DEVIL’S HARMONICA - SHAKY JAKE HARRIS (Polydor):: Now this is more like it, number 2 of Mayall’s Crusade series, good competent, boring blues.

JUST ANOTHER BAND FROM L.A. - THE MOTHERS (Bizarre — Reprise):: Just about every reviewing mag in the biz has tagged this one: essentially boring after the first few listenings. That’s okay by me, though. I’ve always pictured Zappa as sorta the Eleanor Roosevelt of our generation: He’d rather light a fart than curse the darkness.

WILLIS ALAN RAMSEY (Shelter):: Leon (Russell) pulls switchblade on James (Taylor). Willis watching from the nearby bushes loses guitar pick. Jamey runs. Leon loses place. You lose too. Tough tittie.

CYCLEDELIC SOUNDS - DAVEY ALLEN & THE ARROWS (Tower):: Most records on Tower are worth having for one reason or another, but this is one you can actually listen to. Souped-up fuzztone feedback motorcycle impressions. Play it loud.

which reminds me of PLAY IT LOUD -SLADE (Cotillion):: They had one on Mercury as Ambrose Slade that really ate it, but this is a good, brutal, pounding record. A hard cut was released as a single, but no one but Greg Shaw over at Juke Box Jury noticed it; one of the softer, more orchestrated songs was a hit recently; but most of it is sheer British workingclass ferocity, and well-played, too. “Know who you are/ Know where you’re going to/ Run round the world taking all that you want/ You’re not bothered ...” Produced by Chas Chandler. FREAKOUT

SATURDAY MORNING PICTURES -STRAY (Mercury):: To avoid confusion that title should read “Saturday Morning Punks”; these guys ain’t no troubling troubadors. It’s whining electric goodness, and every bit of it has something to do with Bob Dylan.

TAKE A LITTLE LOVE (AND PASS IT ON> - ROY ROGERS (Capitol):: Yup, that’s right, Roy Rogers. While Dale sits at home writing letters to God, Roy yearns for the old days and superstar status. Roy ain’t had it up since he stuffed Trigger; this one ain’t any exception. Hope none of you former little kiddies buy this.

666 - APHRODITE’S CHILD (Vertigo -Mercury):: How about a Greek ‘.‘rock and roll” band? Two records worth, devoted to the Book of Revelations. Jesus freaks take note; you deserve it. Everybody else can buy it for the fine paranoid death on the highway picture on the inside. I’m gonna give mine to an old timey Holy Roller friend. You do the same, unless you’re a ‘67 psychedelic hotshot, in which case you may wanna keep yours.

ROCK AND ROLL RESURECTION RONNIE HAWKINS (Monument - CBS):: This is a good record, like all Hawkins but unlike the tasteful Cotillion sets, Ronnie is closer to his own story: a sordid, drooling brawl. Sort of “Willie and the Hand Job.”

DOUBLE SHOT OF MY BABY’S LOVE -THE SWINGIN’ MEDALLIONS (Smash):: Finally broke down and bought this and boy was I glad! A buncha fraternity brothers from Birmingham, Alabama playing drunk whoopup versions of “Louie Louie,” “Wooly Bully,” etc., just like when you (or I) were in high school. Title cut is also the first in rock history to draw a metaphorical analogy between sex and regurgitation, and it also predated Night Games (You mean you don’t remember ...?). It all works, and besides, the hit was number one, which makes the lp a crucial part of rock history, right?

MAD RIVER (Capitol):: Apotheosis of the San Francisco Methedrine Nightmare. Frenzied playing, bizarre lyrics (“Merciful monks in your caves of ether/ Grant us peaceful dreams/ In frozen streams ... I could take a broom AND SWEEP THE BURNING NOSTRILS INTO THE SEA!!!”... or how about “Clear it away/ This grease that’s on my hide/ High all the time/ And no one looks to me/ Like they’ve come here (I can’t go on, this stuff is too awful - typesetter). Anyway, not to be confused with their second, folky album, where Richard Brautigan sat in, which is a classic of its kind too.