I Don’t Want Art I Wanna Dance!

Charlie Gillett has a great column in the English magazine Let It Rock in which he regularly lists his top ten records of the moment, whether they�re new or old. I�ve always liked the idea of a diary, especially when it�s kept by someone you care about, and Gillett�s form was so handy for keeping track of immediate, passing tastes I decided to steal it one time. What follows, then, is a list of ten records — singles, album tracks and albums — that are taking up nearly all of my /listening time right this moment. Tomorrow it will be different and certainly by the time you read this it will have changed completely, but this is merely documentation, like a series of polaroids, for today, June 24, 1973. The greatest influence on my listening recently has been my getting back into dancing. Much of the music I listen to now, especially instrumentals which I was never into before,-is best appreciated when dancing hard and many things that I would have passed on last year sound very hot to me all of a sudden. Like I would always skip the. longest cut on an album, figuring it was bound to be the most wastefully excessive. Now I check out the longest cut first,, cause it�s usually the major dance production number — it may still be excessive but when it�s hot it�s hot and it�s nice to keep going long as you can. All this tends to be appallingly uncritical or at least unintellectual but if I�m dancing I don�t care. This hasn�t become the only criterion but it�s become pretty high on the list so its influence should be kept in mind when looking over the list below. For anyone really interested in the music being played at discotheques, Glenn O�Brien keeps very upto-the-minute in his �disco pix� listing in Inter/view monthly.

�Angel.� Aretha Franklin. (Atlantic) Aretha�s album with Quincy Jones is so uneven I find it difficult to listen through one whole side but then all her recent work takes some growing into and I�ve had Hey Now Hey less than a week now. Too many of Jones� elaborate backings seem to drag Aretha down, like a strong undertow, but Franklin is an accomplished swimmer* as she proves with a fine version of Bobby Womack�s �That�s the Way I Feel About Cha,� the West Side Story �Somewhere� which almost sounds like an outtake from her gospel album, and �Angel,� the single release. (Oddly, �Master of Eyes,� the last single and the first Franklin/Jones co-prodiiction break, is not included on the lp.) �Angel� begins with Aretha talking the sort of introduction I find irresistible: �I got a call the other day. It was my sister Carolyn...� Carolyn�s message is the song, �Too long have I loved so unattatched within/So much that I know that I need somebody so,� which Aretha sings with such aching hope and desperation you have to scream along. �Gotta find me an angel in my life� — who doesn�t? It�s Aretha�s most emotionally tearing work in some time (outside the high emotion of Amazing Grace) and the song of the moment for me.

�Misdemeanor.� Foster Sylvers. (Pride) A couple of weeks ago, a guy called and said he was having trouble defending his taste in music to his friends. For instance, he was crazy about �Misdemeanor� and instead of sharing his excitement, some girl was demanding artistic comparison with Eric Clapton and early Dylan. I told him to just tell her and his other friends to go fuck themselves. I�d take Foster Sylvers over Clapton or Dylan any day, but I�d prefer not to make the comparison in the first place. As the song says, �I like what I like because I like it� and who needs some creep coming up and telling you your favorite song isn�t a great Work of Art? To paraphrase Archie Bell, �Lemme put this hamburger down. I don�t want to Art — I wanna dance!� But if you must have Art, �Misdemeanor� is hardly lacking in fine qualities. Leon Sylvers is a strong, clever lyricist and he fleshes out a brilliant idea (�She stole my heart/ But it�s just a misdemeanor�) With style. The various voices of the Sylvers comment from the background on Foster�s dilemma, assuring him �it�s no big deal/ she�s not for real�: �It�s just another set-back in his life/ (Like when you get your first ticket for illegal parlting).� That�s putting heartbreak in its place. The interplay of voices is rich and complex and the production appropriately jumpy and dense. I just wish I could understand all the words. I don�t know if this is significant, but my previous playedten-times-a-day favorite was another song with a crime motif, �Armed and Extremely Dangerous� by The First Choice, practically the only great girl group song since the early 60�s. Of course the scene of the crime was the bedroom and we never really get a description of the weapon.

Fresh. Sly and the Family Stone (Epic) I�ve only had this for a few days and it�s been on a lot without involving me in any specific way. Everything sounds fine — there�s a sort of we�vepulled-through feeling here, not selfsatisfied but decidedly on the up-swing after the darkening panorama of There�s a Riot Goin�On — but I haven�t focused in yet. It�s attractive but not fascinating. So far I�ve avoided looking at the lyric sheet, not wanting to complicate things. Sly�s songs do demand a certain understanding or at least a coming-to-terms but I want to see how they feel first. Everyone seems to be highly impressed and when asked, I�ve said, Yeah, I really like it too,, but I don�t think I�ll be playing it next week. Ask me again next week.

�I�ll Always Love My Mama.� The Intruders. (Gamble) This cut has lasted for weeks and still makes me jump. A supreme Gamble-Huff production job, giving the first half of the six plus minutes to singing (and oh my god does the lead have a weird, off-key voice), the second half to a semi-jive, totally delightful exchange of boyhood memories among the group. With not one let-up in the beat. If you don�t dance this may not excite you much, but if you do, it�ll drive you/Crazy. Available as a two-part 45 or as the best track on Save the Children.

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Eddie Kendricks. (Tamla) This is sort of fading now — from five times a day, especially first thing in the morning, to once a day. It reminds me of ^arly Temptations and the best of Smokey ' Robinson and that�s enough to hook me on anything. One very good hard dance cut, �Keep on Truckin�,� the rest mostly sweet, emotional Love Songs, among the best around. �Darling Come Back Home,� with steel drums in the background, is about the best.

�No Matter Where.� G.C. Cameron. (Motown) Cameron�s last single, �Don�t Wanna Play Pajama Games� (�I wanna do more than sleep with you�), was written and produced by Smokey Robinson and sounded exactly like Smokey. This one sounds just like Curtis Mayfield, but better. Plaintive screaming and a driving, double-beat back-up. �No matter where you are, girl, I will meet you there.� Flute, a frantic girl chorus — it smokes, but so far seems to be generally ignored.

�That�s How I Feel.� The Pointer Sisters. (Blue Thumb) An incredible piece of scatting and vocal distortion (or is that a guitar) constructed like an elaborate filigree palace, stretching for more than seven minutes. Totally unlike the other cuts on the Sisters� excellent first album, this one turns their voices into jazz instruments. The other tracks are more conventionally sung, if these four extraordinary voices could be Called conventional. A lot of their nostalgic references are lost on me but a long version of Allen Toussaint�s �Yes We Can Can� and an even longer, very tough �Wang Dang Doodle� are knockouts. If you bought this record just for the cover you wouldn�t be disappointed — these girls are hot.

�Doin� It To Death.� Fred Wesley & the J.B.�s. (People) Gonna have a funky good time. This is James Brown and orchestra at their best, just made for the Soul Train line and going crazy in your living room. More than five minutes and every second hard-as-nails funk — and James wants to take us higher? Oooowee.

�There You Go.� Edwin Starr. (Soul) Starr has always, been a favorite, even since �Agent Double-0 Soul� in his pre-Motown days. This is his first decent record with the company in some time and, while not spectacular, I find myself playing it constantly. The B-side is an instrumental version with organ added and doesn�t stand up on its own as well as, for instance, the instrumental B-side of Chairmen of the Board�s �Finder�s Keepers,� another tight dance cut.

El Juicio. Willie Colon. (Fania) Latin music is terrific, especially if you�re feeling up, and this album, though a year old, is one of the best I�ve found. The vocals, which are often rough and far from what Americans would call �good voices,� and the relative lack of electric instruments may take some getting used to, but the rhythms and constantly changing structures are addicting. Colon�s horns are sharp and his vocalist, Hector Lavoe, is fine. �Aguanile� is the stand-out, beginning with jungle sounds and chants and carrying on for more than six minutes. May be hard to get outside of New York but it�s worth it.