Juke Box Jury

�Can�t you feel it growing, day by day? People, get ready for the Move!� Something�s growing, that�s for sure, and the Move have a lot to do with it. Their latest single is �California Man� (UA 50928) and it�s one of the finest takeoffs on Jerry Lee Lewis I�ve heard, but man, dig the flip side! �Do Ya� is such a natural pop record it makes me glow all over, yet UA neglected to even press it on their promo copies and it was out for months before I heard it. It moves from the start with the assurance of any Stones single, goes into a perfect chorus of �do ya do ya want my love,� then after another verse there�s a bridge that�s right out of the Sell Out Who, rising gently to a cliff-edge drop into the heavy �Can�t Explain� chording. Another couple of verses and it ends with a shout of �lookout baby, there�s a planet coming!� Amazing record. I only wish it were on the record.

Meanwhile there are enough brilliant singles on the air that I�m beginning to wonder if another pop renaissance isn�t just over the horizon. It�s not just the number of good records, it�s something about them and the way they fit together. There�ve been plenty of fine sounds all along, but where a Creedence single in 1970 was like an oasis in the desert, the best records now taste more like goblets of wine served in some pleasure palace of Baghdad — if you can follow that analogy. The standards are going up, too — already �Long Cool Woman� seems rather lame.

One of my favorite songs at the moment is the one whose opening line is also that of this column. �Listen to the Music� (WB 7619) is a fluke, a gem of a record from a basically lame group. There is nothing on either Doobie Brothers LP to match it, and if it�s the last thing they do it�s still earned them a place in pop history, alongside �Go All The Way� by Raspberries (Capitol 3348), a record that has passed my ultimate test, sounding better every time, even after several hundred spins.

One thing these records have in common is that they were clearly designed for AM play — the whole structure, tone, thrust of the music is into the center of pure pop, with catchy melodies, flashy guitar hooks, traditional verse-verse-bridge-verse construction, and above all no portentious moralizing. Yet at the same time, the groups that made them have by and large a background of underground acceptance. What this means, I hope, is that the best groups can once again record for AM without losing integrity in the public eye, and also that some of them have begun to see through the myth of �underground� rock. This ties in with what we said about Pink Floyd�s new single last time. I see AM as rock & roll�s salvation because it is more open to change in many ways — its standards revolve around simple popularity, while FM is still dedicated to upholding an outmoded hippie orientation. Hippies are the squares of the 70�s and the less they have to do with rock & roll, the better.

End of sermon. Let�s get back on the floor with Johnny Rivers, who always seems to be around when something�s happening. His �Rockin� Pneumonia� (UA 50948) is easily the best version since Huey Smith�s original, with Larry Knetchel on piano and one of the hottest studio bands in LA, where the record is getting mucho airplay and brightening a lot of minutes. It�s on his new LA Reggae album, which I think you�ll love.

You might not want to wait for it to come out in America, so why not order �Slow Death�/�Tallahassee Lassie� by the Flamin� Groovies on English United Artists UP 35392 and get a nifty picture sleeve too. The lyrics of the B-side have been rewritten for your bopping pleasure, and if you liked the early Velvets you�ll probably flip for �Slow Death,� the Groovies� own statement on the drug problem. Incidentally, you can now get your import singles (also EPs and LPs) fast and cheap from Jesse Farlowe of Bedloe�s Island (a good magazine) who has started a service called �Fish and Chips Imports.� Write to 459 Madison Avenue, Toms River, NJ. 98753�.

I think LA must be the best city in the country for radio. Not only are they playing the Rivers record and Uriah Heep�s �Easy Living,� but you can hear Hawkwind�s �Master of the Universe,� all 7 throbbing minutes, hourly op one of the top AM stations. Yet oddly, nobody is playing their nfew single, which has been Top 5 in England for some time. �Silver Machine� (UA 50949) is another of those great records that set my mind running off on all sorts of tangents. As Marty Cerf observed, it�s like the Beach Boys �409� on a 2001 level. Here�s this kid, polishing the chrome on his space-time machine, and extolling its virtues: �she flies sideways through time! Do you wanna ride? See yourself going by the other sky, on my silver machine!� The winds of time howl through this one as on all the group�s records, but for once they really fit. And furthermore, the whole thing is built on a primal Chuck Berry rhythm, bringing it all back home and at the end a falsetto voice chimes in (reminding me of the way Roy Wood sings Jan & Dean harmony with himself on his forthcoming solo LP, an astonishing album that should set the pop music world on its ear. Where�s all this fabulous stuff coming from all of a sudden?) Make no mistake, this is a classic car record — if you don�t believe me, just play it in yours.

And the best is yet to come. There�s a record out that�s so powerful it�s got me almost speechless.Mott the Hoople is a band I�ve always liked without being overly impressed, but they�ve taken a David Bowie song called �All the Young Dudes� and turned it into a record with the stately majesty of �Hey Jude� (but with real depth in place of plaster elegance) and the kinky atmosphere of �Lola� (but without the cutesy-pie shallowness). There�s humor in it, of a jaded, worldly sort (�hey you there, with the glasses — come over here, I want you. Heh, heh, I�ve been wanting to do this for years. There you go — how�s it feel?� and if you turn the volume up real loud at the end, you can hear him mutter, �sick.�) This record also continues, with its depravo-poetic lyrics, the influence of William Burroughs in pop that started with �Memo From Turner.�

White Angloid pop ain�t the only thing happening either. R&B is getting better and better. The O�Jays �Back Stabbers� takes the message of �Smiling Faces� and puts it across far more effectively. I don�t think I�ll ever come to hate this record the way I did the other — it has a dynamic flow that elevates it above the merely formulaic. The Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose adhere more closely to the formula, but I still dig their records and �Don�t Ever Be Lonely� (UA 50954) is as good as any of them.

It�s gonna be fascinating to watch the spread of reggae in this country. Thus far we�ve averaged about one reggae hit per year — last year it was �Double Barrel� and now it�s �Rock & Roll Pt. 2.� Just wait til all the Trojan stuff starts getting released here — man! Currently, the British pop press is much concerned with �rude lyrics� in reggae, with songs like �Big Six� by Judge Dread and �Don�t Stroke My Pussy� by Katina. Can you imagine what records like these sound like? Chances are they�re better than your imagination. If you�d like to see reggae records promoted more heavily Stateside, why not drop a line to Max Needham, Trojan Records, Music House, 12 Neasden Lane* London NW10, and vent your feelings. Tell him I sent ya.

In other disc action, Little Eva�s �LocoMotion� has been reissued on Bell 45, 264, now that it�s a Top 10 hit in England. The flip is �Will You Love Me Tomorrow,� previously available only on a very rare album called Dimension Dolls. Also reissued and rising on the charts is �Nights In White Satin� by the Moody Blues (Deram 85023). A big ho-hum if you ask me, but at least you get �Cities,� one of the best of their obscure B-sides. Another, reissue, in conjunctions with A&M�s release of the first two T-Rex albums, is �By the Light of a Magical Moon� (Blue Thumb 212), but where�s �Summertime Blues� and howcom nobody�s put out the really rare early Bolan sides here?

I don�t know if this one�s a reissue or not, but odds are �Morning Dew� by Duane & Greg Allman (Bold 200) is pretty old. It�s produced by Steve Alaimo and my copy is pressed on red plastic. It�s a very tasty guitar and vocal thing, a must for Allman fans. �Should I� is Peter Noone�s third or fourth Single since the breakup of Herman�s Hermits, and it�s produced by Mickie Most. It�s kind of a nice light pop thing, nothing special. Ditto for �Baby I�m A-Want You� (Mercury 73310) by Aaron Neville, another name from the past. And also ditto, unfortunately, for �Good Rockin^ Tonight� by Big Merle Kilgore (Starday 45-950), Gary Paxton�s latest country production. A look at the label promises greatness, but don�t be fooled.

We�ve spoken before of private enterprise in rock fandom. Now Bim Bam Boom, one of the leading R&B collectors magazines, has its own label and a big batch of great releases. Foremost among these is �Stormy Weather� by the Five Sharps, which some of you may recognize as the rarest rock record of all time. It�s worth at least $500, probably more like $1000 on the original Jubilee label, and few have ever heard it. This is a legal reissue, and now. all can have it for $1. Also available are the very rare �The Slide� by the Schoolboys, �Love or Infatuation� by the Videos* and several others, plus �Cry Like I Cried� by the Heartspinners, an old-style song recorded this year by a new group of streetcorner doowoppers. For information on all releases and their fine magazine, write Bim Bam Boom at Box 146, Brooklyn NY 11223. And mention this column when you do — a little grease never hurts.