Rock a Rama

Rock a Rama

PHIL MANZANERA - Diamond Head (ATCO) ::Okay, straight out, who's the premiere British guitarist of the 70's? Eric Clapton? (A great cure for insomnia.) Jimmy Page? (By the sounds of Physical Graffiti he's running out of riffs.) Jeff Beck? (Blow by Blow merely pays tribute to Roy Buchanan and Jeff s favorite songwriters.) All-out of Yafdbirds, how about Mick Ronson? (His live gig with Hunter almost restored my confidence in him. Almost.) How about -Roxy's own Cuban flamethrower Phil Manzanera? Remember "Remake/Remodel," those psychedelic searings that shot out of the past right into the future like the present didn't even exist? Well, this is a guitar player's solo album. Full of passionate chops and shattering leads. Four solid Manzanera instrumentals, two Eno songs, a Robert Wyatt song sung in drunken Spanish, a John Wetton song (all co-written by Phil) and a song that reveals what his prior band the Quiet Sun was all about. I call that one hell of]a package, and yes he gets my vote. T.M.

ANDY MAC KAY - In Search of Eddie Riff (Island Import) :: Roxy's sax symbol records an LP of twisting in the sand beach instrumentals circa "62 Pipeline/Telstar/Wipeout. Cruise! (And cop it, again, from Jem Records, since it'll probably never be released over here. —Ed.)

K.M.

ELLIOTT MURPHY - Lost Generation (RCA),:: The reasons why 1 play the hell out of Murphy's first LP but gave this one back to the distributor are probably clear to Robert Christgau; however I suspect that it's the same ones that have kept me from listening to a song on the first called "Marilyn" all the way through. "Thinkin" about Brian Jones" today, huh, Elliott? P.L.

THE DICTATORS-Go Girl Crazy! (Epic) :: I ran into these guys, along with what's left of the Dolls, at CBGB in NY a couple weeks ago, Dictators get more points for Better Acne, Better Beer Guts, General Sports Knowledge ("Hey, yuh a wriddahf Ya know Meltzer? Lives in my neighborhood. He's a card, dat Meltzer!") and General Rocksacrucian Attitude. We all know they will be the critic's darlings, but there's something about lines like "Eddy threw up in the car/ If he does it anymore/We'll make him eat it off the floor!" (that transcends critique. Sorely needed in the hearts and minds of Our Nation's Troubled Youth. • 1 P.L.

TELEVISION * Live Performance at CBGB, New York City:: No, they don't have a record out yet, and theyll probably be hard to translate fully onto vinyl (records don't have eyes like Tom Verlaine), but these people play with the tactile intensity of those who've looked hard and long at things they could never have. "Fire Eng'ne" and "Breaking In My Heart" are as good as anything the Velvet Underground ever cut, and since it's 1975, maybe much better. You got to watch. P.L.

MAGMA - Kohntarkosz (A&M) :: This group (German natch) is the greatest in the history of progressive rock, because not only do they make weird noises (Gerard Bikialo on Yamaha organ and "Loulou" Sarkissian, "Mekanik" stage rhanager—so say liner notes) but they made up their own language for lyrics and the first Magma alburp's hype sheet included a Magma Baedeker's. So you'll for sure be seeing more about them in this MAG's continuing coverage of. futurok. But the best thing about this LP is not the title selection, which lasts 30 minutes and is not nearly so bouyant as "He Loved Him Madly" on the latest Miles', album, but the merely 5-minpte "Ork Alarm" ("The people of ORK are marching upon us. The people are made of indescribable matter which to the machines is what the machines ar6, to man. [Eat your heart out, Lou!] The alarm is sounded. ..ORK ALARM! The pedple of ZEUHL WORTZ are preparing for BATTIK..."-SQ say Jiner notes), which sounds like jail of the minions in.the hall of the mountain king grunting while/being masticated by a printing press, and so inspired me that I not only spilled my Johnny Walker Black and water all over the couch but seeing the droplets wiped them up with the ass of the jeans I slept in last night and kept 6n. Rock still knows its place. I have come to terms with their Southernness.

L.B.

THE KINKS - Soap Opera (RCA) :: Dear Ray: I ain't got no ducks, on my wall but I have this neon moon that hangs over my bed. That Preservation Act was okay for a while, but then it got out of range, like selling Indian blankets on the moon. Instead of doing another concept album about wprking class heroes (who incidentally don't wear white suits and live in the Palace of Versailles) how about writing another song as good as "Till the End of the Day"? ' T.M.

FREE * Best of Free (A&M) :: And it's 1975, Bad Company and the Stones are so insipid that this great stuff ("All Right Now," "Little Bit o" Love j" "The Stealer," "Fire & Water") sounds better in perspective now than it did then. If you can't get The Fjee Story on import (Which you can from Jem Records—see ad elsewhere herein . — Ed.), then pick up on this. T.M.

JERRY JORDAN • Phone Call From God (MCA) :: If ^ou accept the tenets of this record (whether o* not you take it seriously), there is only one obvious, inescapable conclusion: God is an asshole. L.B.

THE SHADOW BOX THEATRE - SeeMore's Surprise (Independent) :: Sinatra, Elvis, the Beatles,, and now...The Shadow Box Theatre. The Next Big Thing is here, daddy! (Available mail order only for $2.75 from Shadow Box c/o J. Ariola, 297 W. 12 St., New York, NY 10014.) R.D.

[This, month's Rock-a-ramas were written by: Tony Mastrianni, Kathy Miller, Peter Laugher-, Robert Duncan and Lester Bangs.]