Rock-a-Rama

Rock-a-Rama

ADRIAN SMITH (MCA):: �I paid for your goddamn voice lessons, Adrian, and I paid a lot. You�re going to be an entertainer or I�m gonna know why.� �But Mom!� Wait a minute, you two. Mrs. Smith, she�ll never be an entertainer because her voice sounds like a frog. And Adrian, here, these are for you. You�ll like them — they�re chocolate flavored, and quick-acting.

MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR - Cielito Lindo: En Espanol (Columbia):: On this record the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings in Spanish. En este disco, canta el Mormon Tabernacle Chora en espanol. Does this news make you happy? iTe justa esta novedad?

SUN RA A^D HIS SOLAR ARKESTRA -Space Is The Place (Blue Thumb):: Forget the side with the repetitive and silly title cut. On the other side is a full range of Sun Ra�s abilities, from a kind of cosmic Ellingtonia to his famous Space Opera style.

HERBIE HANCOCK - Sextant (Columbia):: Strange sounds, not as disjointed as his previous excursions into these areas, but the sum total is... what? .

STEELY DAN — Countdown To Ecstasy. (ABC/Dunhill):: More modified samba-rock from this enigmatic unit, with rock�s first mention of avant-garde soprano Cathy Berberiah. Huh?

JIMMY BUFFETT - A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (Dunhill):: Just what the world needs: a Florida shitkicker with a sense of humor. Well, it does. I didn�t think I�c| like it, but Buffett won me over with such compositions as �Why Don�t We Get Drunk� and �The Great Filling Station Holdup;� Plus it don�t hurt that such folks as Vassar Clements, Steve Goodman, Mike Utley and Sammy Creason dropped in to pick.

JOE WALSH — The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get (ABC-Dunhill):: Walsh again proves who was the brains behind the original James Gang. Whether backed by real Americans (James Gang) or street-gang waps, like here, he displays proof enough that he has his finger right on the pulse of the FM dial. His fans will love it.

EDWARD BEAR — Close Your Eyes (Capitol):: The temptation for the glib young critic is to dismiss the album simply by saying �close your ears�, but that wouldn�t be fair. Close Your Eyes is another batch of Larry Evoy-centered MOR pop. Evoy, the lead singer on both �Last Song� and the title hit, has been around the Canadian scene as long as nearly anyone, and deserves anything he gets. His songs are stylish, lyrical, and perfect for young (and young at heart) housewives to reminisce by.

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD - We�re An American Band (Grand Funk/Capitol):: �.. .if the band bends to the critics and makes �music,� Grand Funk will be through. They may sell more records, but. they won�t matter. The kid who fought his way in and stood in line for Live Album will no longer be part of an audience; he�ll be a consumer. There will be that sense of loss... Grand Funk will be accessible to everyone, but no one will care.� - Greil Marcus, �Rock-A-Hula Clarified,� CREEM, June 1971.

FREDDIE KING - Woman Across The River (Shelter):: Freddie�s association with Leon continues, and Freddie sounds more like Agnes Moorehead every day.

CARLOS SANTANA AND JOHN MCLAUGHLIN — Love Devotion Surrender (Columbia):: Both these ashen-suited zealots have been grinding out the same riffs now for a trifle too long. The album is exactly what you�d expect - a hodge-podge successor to Caravanserai and Birds of Fire, and just listening to it brings on an eerie and disturbing sense of despair. Santana can do better, and the Mahavishnu should go meditate up some new licks. Fanatics only.

GLENCOE - The Spirit of Glencoe (Epic):: An English band about which little is known except that this is their second album, and that they were thought to have expired after the failure of their first. It�s a spry, likeable album with lots of toe-tap potential (if you like to tap your toes, that is) and hummability. Very English, they could be another Argent with the right kind of publicity and exposure.

SHARKS — First Water (MCA):: Comprising ex-Free: Andy Fraser and ace sessionmen and ex-Battered Ornament Chris Spedding, Sharks� first album rates as one of the best English thump-rock workouts of �73. Vocalist Snips (just Snips) can grpwl and grunt with the best of them, his full-bodied vocal strains belying the spindly build seen on the back cover.

NAZARETH - Razamanaz (A&M):: You gotta feel sorry for these guys, brains totally eaten away by all sortsa vile drugs; evidence, the choice; of name, �Nazareth.� Jesus rock it ain�t, but because of the name you ain�t gonna believe me when I tell you that these Scots have finally whacked off a metal duster/ ass buster, flawed only by the choice of tunes on side one: the inclusion of Leon�s ever dumbass �Alcatraz� and hunk hunk �Vigilante Man�; side two�s excell.

ALBERT HAMMOND - The Free Electric Band (Mums):: Al�s the poor man�s Cat Stevens. How you feel about that depends upon how you feel about Cat Stevens. Poor man.

GINO VANNELLI - Crazy Life (A&M):: A combo on middle period Donovan and Brasil �66, two perennial CREEM readers� favfes; Herb Alpert came in his britches when he heard Gino�s demo tapes. You ain�t likely to go^in yours.

PAUL KANTNER, GRACE SLICK & DAVID FREIBERG — Baron von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun (Grunt):: This trio of Marin County has-beens is pushing forty these days, and it shows in everything from the politics to the paucity of new ideas, but for a real thrill check out Paul�s �White Boy.� Verry interresting, Herr Kantner.

JACK TRAYLOR AND STEELWIND -Child of Nature (Grunt):: A pleasant-enough sounding unit, with some nice acoustic guitarflute stuff, made totally unlistenable by Traylor ruminating about ecology, technology, and the end of the world. Too bad.

JOE E. COVINGTON�S FAT FANDANGO (Grunt):: Weeeird! Joey seems to think he�s Curtis Mayfield - not without reason, mind you - but he doesn�t seem to have the heart to bring his soul music ambitions to fruition. For one thing, the band is very weak, and Joey�s still feeling things out. One to watch.

OGANOOKIE (Oganookie):: Oganookie was a Santa Cruz commune band who played enough gigs around Berkeley and 'San Francisco to get well-known and then broke up. They did a kind of weird folk-rock music that was good more often than not, and had the good sense to record live. Some of this makes it, some of it don�t, it costs four bucks postpaid from 307 Vine Hill Road, Santa Curz/ 95060 and is probably a better investment than the next Dead album and the next Van Morrison album.

NORMAN BLAKE (Rounder):: Norm is New Nashville all the way — why, he�s even backed Joan Baez! But he�s also a monster guitar picker, even if he is a bit obsessed with trains. A bit self-conscious, maybe, but essential for guitarists and other interested parties.

GUESS WHO - No. 10 (RCA):: The Guess Who have found their groove, and probably won�t move, from it for a while now. All this stuff could have been done the same day as the stuff on Artificial Paradise. Nothing new here, just solid, competent rock and roll. The most interesting thing though, is the cover. After reviews in both this mag and Rolling Stone in which the boys were referred to as something less than matinee idols appearancewise, No. 10 brings out the true narcissist in the whole herd. Indirect lighting, new rock�n�roll duds, and the fat guys hide in the background. Now they almost look as good as they sound. (Not a Spider from Mars in the bunch yet, tho.) ^