Juke Box Jury

Juke Box Jury

RECORDS

GREG SHAW

BY

No Bunk Punk, Just Sum Fun

May 19

Here in the back of the magazine, past all of Lester and Robot�s punkoid ravings, the original spirit of CREEM lives on. We�re into burgers too, in fact we just consumed a passel of �em and some pizza too. Now it�s time for some great music, god knows there�s enough of it around, and I don�t mean no Loggins & Messina either. Actually when I think about the outrageous injustices being perpetrated by today�s radio programmers, I get downright MILITANT! That�s right, up against the wall Dusty Street! Off the Pigs! Free John Now! Get down and get with it!

I�ve lost track of the progressively more fantastic records Slade and the Sweet are putting out. I get the English copies and play �em to death; when it finally comes out here and dies they�re usually three hits on in England. All the Slade stuff is out here now — �Gudbuy T� Jane� and �Cum On Feel the Noize� included, and they�re both number one around my turntable, battling it out with the Sweet�s �Wig Warn Bam,� �Blockbuster,� and the new �Hellraiser.� There are, in fact, enough great new high energy pop singles coming out these days that there�s hardly any need to hear anything else, anymore than we had time to listen to Jan & Dean�s �Yellow Balloon� records in 1967.

One of the most exciting things I�ve heard in awhile is �Good Grief Christina� by Chicory Tip (Epic 10984), whom you�ll recall from their cover of Giorgio�s �Son of My Father� a couple years back. This record is just — too much. It starts off with a combination �papa oom mow mow�/ hot rod sound, has a structure kinda similar to �Hey Little Cobra,� the latest studio gimmickry, lively singing, and magnificent lyrics concerning a guy�s attempt to convince this girl that rock & roll, the way it used to be, is ever so,much better than the sludge she was brought up hearing. The words are hard to make out, but this record is its own best argument. Definitely worth your buck.

Ditto for the latest by Spring, now American Spring. �Shyin* Away� (Columbia 4-45834) is a brilliant Brian Wilson composition, far advanced over Spring�s 1972 recordings on UA, perfect summer pop hit material. The beauty of �Shyin� Away� is equalled by the delicate softness of the flip �Falling in Love,� written by Dennis Wilson. It�s a record you can just keep turning over and over again. And there won�t be an album for a long time, so buy it now.

You know, there are enough songs already glorifying the rock of the sixties that we could almost call it a genre. The best is probably Blue Ash�s �Let There Be Rock,�. but it�s not on a single yet so we can�t mention it. More interesting anyway is �The Beatles� Thing� by Moran (Epic 10987). Columbia/Epic really seems to be happening lately, and the same goes for the Montreal rock scene, which now boasts Pagliaro and the Wackers, and Toronto with Thundermug (newly signed to Epic). The vintage Beatles sound is very big around those parts, and that�s wliere Moran is from as well. This record sounds a bit like the Raspberries, but it�s the lyrics that count:

It�s so sad to say, each has gone a different way

We�ll never see them play anymore.

It�s so sad to see, they�ve changed the melody

Will they ever let it be, anymore?

It seems such a waste, no wonder one�s amazed

At the change that�s taken place since only yesterday.

The world was at their feet, now guitars gently weep...

It goes on in that vein, quoting more song titles and mourning the passing of the Beatles and their harmonies. In 1973! Something is clearly afoot. . . . we�ll have further reports as the plot thickens.

While we�re sort of on the subject, a few good echoes from the past are out this month. Another faceless Bell group, this one called Friends, has done a cover of my fave Mamas & Papas song, �Twelve Thirty,� backed with �Set You Free This Time� (Bell 332). All right, nothing great. Interesting that folk-rock, girl group rock, surf music and English Invasion rock are all undergoing musical revivals simultaneously, and all so thankfully free of self-conscious nostalgia. It shouldn�t be long before we see a creative synthesis arise from it all, I�d venture to predict.

v Little Richard�s first for Greene Mountain Records (owned by Charlie Greene of �& Stone� fame) is �In the Middle of the Night� (413), a gospel-tinged song done originally by Jimmy Holiday on Minit. Ronnie Hawkins is back with what must be his millionth version of �Bo Diddley� (Monument 8573) and not the best either, but not too bad. �Papa Oom Mow Mow� by the Rivingtons has been reissued on Wand 11253, with some distracting psychedelic guitar noises added so it sounds like you�re hearing two different records at once. Pointless. Not quite pointless, but certainly ridiculous, is the story of �Shotgun Wedding� by Roy C. An obscure non-hit when it originally came out on Alaga Records, it became a freak hit years later in England, and now Jonathan King has re-released it here on UK 49012. It�s an amusingly crude blues novelty disc, of little interest except for the fact that it has seemingly allowed Roy C. to pick up his recording career again, with a new release on Mercury 73391 called''�Don�t Blame the Man� that�s really quite good, as soul records go.

Paul McCartney is a guy who really understands singles. He has so much contempt for the album audience that he has personally made sure all his best stuff, such as �Oh Woman, Oh Why,� �Hi Hi Hi� and his latest triumph, �The Mess� are available only on singles. �The Mess� (Apple 1861) is the B-side of �My Love,� and it was recorded live somewhere in England. Bet ya didn�t know Wings could rock out just like Deep Purple and the other heavy metal boys, eh? Well they can and this record is the proof. All�s forgiven, Paul.

The Purp themselves are lookin� fine with �Smoke On the Water� (WB 7710), the live version on one side and studio on the other. Live wins out, this one�s a hit all the way. Super chording, great factory-hammer riff. Even Pink Floyd is making good records these days, witness �Money� (Harvest 3609) in a newly-reserviced �censored� version. Keith Hampshire�s sequel to �Daytime, Night Time� is �First Cut is the Deepest,� (A&M 1432) a Cat Stevens song I first heard by P. P. Arnold on Immediate Records. Really nice 1968 English progressive pop sound. Is that stuff being revived now too?

Some superb English pop singles have come out recently. Tin Tin is in top form with �Talking Turkey� (Polydor 15055), a kind of modified Bowie sound with lotsa power chording. I�m strongly smitten with �Over and Over� by the James Boys (Penny Farthing 55,002), an English subteen duo who may not be outstanding vocally, but with this great song (co-written by Daniel Boone)' and arrangement, they�re hard to resist. One of 'em is wearing a Stones tongue on his knickers, so try and get a copy with the picture cover.

There�s something about crass imitations that really appeal to me, especially when the record being copied is one I like. That�s a large part of the Sweet�s fascination - without shame, they rip off Bowie, Deep Purple, Led Zep, etc. And strangely enough, as on �Blockbuster!� they often end up improving on the original. That�s not the case with �Tear the House Down� by the Mob (MGM 14519), but for this group, veterans of a thousand sessions and minor labels, it�s a tremendous improvement as well as a totally blatant copy of Slade�s �Gudbuy T� Jane,� down to the handclaps and the shouts of �all right, all right, all right.� Utterly shameless, and they even claim composers credit (of course).

Cashing in is also the motive of �Where Do They Come From?� by Jeff Thomas (Bell 354). Nobody�s written songs like this since long hair stopped being controversial:

He stands eight feet tall with his boots on,

Four foot nine with them off

He got suede shirts, transparent trousers and a Tijuana cough

He�s got purple blush on his eyelids;

Maroon gloss on his mouth;

A orange hair-do that looks like he did

And a boyfriend from the South

CHORUS:

Where do they come from?

Them rave, fave, top-pop and teeny-bop kings

Somebody�s been overworking the woodwork

To bring us a batch of these big-time bizarre beings.

Great potential, but unfortunately a lousy horn-laden record. Jonathan King could�ve done it right.

Paul Simon�s new one is called �Kodachrome� (Columbia 4-45859). I like it a lot. He�s out of his reggae bag (not that I don�t dig reggae, but I�d rather hear the Maytals do it) and back to pseudo-protest songs about growing up in New York. In other words, what he always did best. As for reggae, this month�s only release is Dave Collins, sans Ansel, doing an old Lee Dorsey thing titled �Ride Your Pony� (Capitol 3584). Good lively beat, nowhere near as weird as �Double Barrel,� almost commercial.

My final pick to click this time is �All I Really Need� by Rose (Kama Sutra 573), a lovely harmony-filled ballad in the Big Star/ Stories mold. Fans of the old Hollies must be in heaven with all the marvelous records in this style now coming out. And you can count me among them. It�s all happening this year, folks; everything great that rock & roll ever spawned lives again as a real, growing trend. There are even rockabilly bands playing around Hollywood these days, and a kid who sings and plays guitar as well as Elvis or Carl Perkins ever did. And it�s not even too soon for the first signs of a punk-rock revival (by the way I want all you guys to stop using that term without my permission).,

I have in my hands a record guaranteed to melt your speaker cones. It was made by a group of teenagers from Van Nuys, California, recorded in their manager�s living room, and it has all the punch and raunch of the groups whose songs are redone: the Sonics and the Shadows of Knight. Yes, you heard right. The name of the group is the Droogs, and they�re dedicated to the music of the Seeds, Music Machine, Standells, etc. just like the Stones were to Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. The Sonics cut the early Kinks to shreds with �He�s Waitin�� and the Droogs do a crude, high-energy interpretation of the song. �Light Bulb Blues,� on the flip, is also strictly from boss city. The record is on the Plug �n Socket label, and you can get it for $1.25 from Box DH, Panorama City/CA. 91402. While you�re at it, send another $5 and get their official, legal reissue of the fantastic Sonics album, with copious liner notes and a sound you won�t believe. The MC5 were sissies compared to these guys - and that�s no bunk, punk.