ROCK-A-RAMA
LEO KOTTKE - My Feet Are Smiling (Capitol):: Recorded live, this is about what you�d expect; not much new material, and slightly smudgier sound, but the production is excellent, and Kottke is one of the best guitar players in the world. His on-stage wise-cracks are pretty funny, too.
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ROCK-A-RAMA
LEO KOTTKE - My Feet Are Smiling (Capitol):: Recorded live, this is about what you�d expect; not much new material, and slightly smudgier sound, but the production is excellent, and Kottke is one of the best guitar players in the world. His on-stage wise-cracks are pretty funny, too. Much like the first Takoma album in tone, with the bonus of a few vocals. �Hear The Wind Howl� is magnificent.
ARTHUR, HURLEY & GOTTLIEB (Columbia):: This is what America would sound like if they traded the guy with the Neil Young voice for a songwriter. N.B. This is not the Michael Hurley of Armchair Boogie/Hi Fi Snock Uptown fame — no cartoon freakout on the jacket, y�see.
BACKMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE - (Mercury):: Randy Backman has made so many enemies in the music business with his scrupulous financial handlings and uninvited appearances that the only people he can get to play with him these days are his two brothers (both square-faced and squat like brother Randy) and ex-Brave Belter C.F. Turner. Nepotism strikes out on this over-heavy pot-pourri of sound-alikes. Old Randy' can still twitch those fingers prettv goojl, though. NORMAN CONNORS - Dark of Light (Cobblestone):: Sort of a mellow jam-session, featuring a full complement of New Jazz lights. Nothing particularly profound, but a good introduction to the way things are going in jazz these days, and it makes real good background music.
JIMMY BUFFET - A White Sport Coat and A Pink Crustacean (Dunhill):: Jeez, is Martin Mull spawning imitators already? Not exactly - Buffet�s his own man, and while his lyrics are distinctive, they aren�t quite distinctive enough. Still, there�s some funny stuff here, and he�s a talent to watch, for sure.
MICHAEL MURPHEY - Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir (A&M):: Lobotomy music, one cliche after another. Who listens to this stuff? Who can tell one of these wimps from another? It must be too cosmic for this po� reviewer.
MOSE JONES - Get Right (MCA/Sounds Of The South):: A1 Kooper shoulda left this quartet in the bar where he found them until they could forge some kind of sound of their own. Gimme a car, gas, and a plane ticket to Dayton and I could round up a dozen similar groups, but since I ain�t A1 Kooper I probly couldn�t get anyone to listen to �em.
THE VIOLIN ARIES - Groovin� With Jesus (Checker), Spirit and Soul (Jewel):: The Fabulous Violinaires are part of the �new sound� of Gospel, which means ripping off things like Oits� �Good To Me� and turning it back into a spiritual. The Jewel album is mostly routine screeching, while the Checker album is better-planned, featuring everything from the wild title cut to Buddy Miles� �We Got To Live Together.� It�s different — check it out.
DAVID BLUE — Nice Baby and the Angel (Asylum):: It may be that you�ve gotta be into Blue�s earlier work to be able to appreciate where he�s coming from, but if you don�t find his lyrics too elusive and devoid of the substance his mannered vocals suggest, this is a quasi-pop masterpiece. Blue is one artist who seems to be able to use the whole Geffen/Asylum sugar-coated studio trip to advantage, even if it has cost him his rough edge. Dave Mason�s guitar work is beautiful.
J. GEILS BAND — Bloodshot (Atlantic):: The first chords of �(Nothing But A) House Party� are enough to drive the most jaded androgenous flake into fits of rockin� shuck and jive. It�s true that the boys don�t sustain that level throughout (Magic Dick is especially disappointing), and that they should have come up with some of this material ages ago, but they�re a hard-working, bad-ass bunch of muthas, and when Peter Wolf screams out �Scramble My Eggs, Honey!,� you know everything�s allright. They even pull off a reggae number. (�Give it To Me�) and turn it into a rocker. Whatta gas.
LED ZEPPELIN - Houses of the Holy (Atlantic):: Two good songs. About as much as you can expect from a group of this stature.
GENTLE GIANT - Octopus (Columbia):: Involuted, torturedly dull, sterile and totally unlistenable, Gentle Giant has still managed to come up with a great album jacket.
WASHRAG — (TMI):: If you miss Booker T. & the MG�s as much as we do, you�ll love this trio fronted by ex-MG Steve Cropper. It�s mainly just jam-session funkathizing in Cropper�s Memphis studio with some of his musician friends, and it�s Cropper�s best effort since the MG�s broke up. And will Miss Washrag please call our California office?
CHARLES MINGUS AND FRIENDS - In Concert (Columbia):: The band may be a little big, but the soloists can really blow. Some earth-shattering moments, of which the vocal on �Eclipse� and Bill Cosby�s fatuous MCing are not among. In fact, you can almost hear Mingus wanting to kill Cosby for misannouncing �Ecclusiastics,� but it and �Little Royal Suite� are definitely worth the price of the alburn.,^
