ROCK-A-RAMA

ROCK-A-RAMA

ROY ORBISON - All Time Greatest Hits (Monument), BUDDY HOLLY - A Collection of Rock & Roll (Decca), and BO DIDDLEY - Got My Own Bag Of Tricks (Chess):: Chuck Berry’s getting all the attention lately and, even though the King deserves every Billboard bullet he gets, there’s other royalty to be recognized. Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley all have new two-record anthologies out and each is a must for anyone who is even remotely concerned with Rock & Roll Roots. All three are unreservedly recommended.

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL (Columbia):: There is a scintillating thirty-second violin run at the beginning of this album. Perhaps it’s a leftover tape splice from Mahavishnu Orchestra’s set. In any event, be it Jerry Goodman or David LaFlamme, it’s the album’s highlight.

COUNTRY GAZETTE — A Traitor in Our Midst (UA):: This here is one sooperb bluegrass band, on a par with Flatt & Scruggs, Jim & Jesse, or any other purveyors of this unheralded, archetypically American music. Here’s three-time National Fiddle Champ Byron Berline, banjo ace Alan Munde, guitarist Kenny Wertz and astounding acoustic bassist Roger Bush, flailing the absolute bejesus out Of their instruments. Plus, the tightest, funniest, sharpest country singing you’ll ever hear. Get this here recordin’, folks, and stomp yer shitkickers ’til yer arches fall!

WHITE DUCK - In Season (Uni):: Their second shot at the big time and a passable bid to wear the neo-Tex Mex mantle, now that Brinsley and G. Dead have shuttled through the territory. Sloshing around ankledeep in Band mud, we find McCartney (“Thank You”), Garcia-Brinsley bootlegs (“You Caught Me Laughin’ ’5) and one G. Campbell, whose “Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife” mighta sired “A Girl Who.” “Laughin’ ” has got the finest pronunciation of “gurrl” since Little Feat. Fairly tasty stuff.

R. CRUMB & HIS KEEP-ON-TRUCKIN’ ORCHESTRA (Ordinary):: Yas, yas. Krupp Comic Works, “publishers of fine underground comix since 1970,” has come up with its first single (78 RPM, Mr. Naturally) on its new record label. The single is “River Blues”/ “Wisconsin Wiggles” and the label is Ordinary Records (setting “a high standard of standardness”) and it’s tantalizing, titillating, toothsome, and totally terrific from first groove to last. With yer fave comix cavorters, R. Crumb and Denis Kitchen, conducting the Orchestra (which sounds like a string band to me), you can almost tell which instrument Flakey Foont, Angel Food McSpade, Projunior and Pam Goodvibes are playing. If you’re interested in obtaining information regarding this cosmic disc, write to Krupp Comic Works, Inc., P. O. Box 5699, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211. Kitchy-Koo, you bastards!

ATOMIC ROOSTER — Made In England (Elektra):: The new Atomic Rooster is pretty much a vehicle for keyboard whiz Vincent Crane. But that’s quite all right. Pd rather hear Crane work the basics as well as he does than have Keith Emerson dripping his secretions on my turntable. Were there any justice in this cold, hajrd world, this album would break it wide open for Atomic Rooster. Too bad there ain’t.

ALLAN CLARKE — My Real Name is ’arold (Epic):: It seems as though Clarke has at long last deserted The Hollies to go it alone, a not-unjustifiable move in the light of this record’s general excellence. Clarke does have a truly basic rock’n’roll voice, and by avoiding association with cranky egocentrics and aging hippies, he’s already set himself far above Graham Nash.

FIRESIGN THEATRE - Not Insane (Columbia):: There’s a lot of good, sardonic wit here and one or more of these guys is an expert producer, but the whole thing is so thick and heavy that it is not only not very funny, but downright hard to listen to unless you’re totally zonked. There’s something monomaniacally neurotic about a record that demands the kind of attention this one does and there is a question in my mind as to whether it is worth the effort. It looks like this could be the last Firesign Theatre album, at least for a while, so the group might just feel the same way.

GUNHILL ROAD (Kama Sutra):: If you can take these holier-than-thou lyrics seriously, you’ll probably enjoy the clean, earthy vocals and instantly likeable melodies. Kenny Rogers produced it, and it’s probably one to look out for on the MOR playlists.

PAPA JOHN CREACH - Filthy! (Grunt):: I don’t care who his fucking friends are; I don’t care if it is better than Long John Silver; I don’t care if there are “occasional flashes of brilliance”; this record still bites the funky banana.

SKIP BATTIN (Signpost/Atlantic):: Kim Fowley is probably the best novelty songwriter of all time, but this album has no substance for his off-the-wall compositions to play against. Skip Battin’s tunes are just plain silly and his singing accentuates their burlesque vacuity, making this record a parody of parody. Any one of these nostalgia-tinged songs could have been the worst cut on the next Byrds album.