ROCK 'A' RAMA
BOHANNON—Dance Your Ass Off (Dakar) :: Funky with chic! Not only do I agree with Christgau that calling disco shit may be code for “nigger music,” but (incest all the way, I say) Simon Frith is right when he says that disco is the real avant-garde.
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ROCK 'N' RAMA
BOHANNON—Dance Your Ass Off (Dakar) :: Funky with chic! Not only do I agree with Christgau that calling disco shit may be code for “nigger music,” but (incest all the way, I say) Simon Frith is right when he says that disco is the real avant-garde. This record bites like a barracuda, and if you think all the Ramones’ songs sound the same, and you like it that way (1 do), you gotta hear Bohannon or you ain’t, heard the most monomaniacaljy driving shit around. This record will turn you into an animal. But don’t just sit smoking dope and bother listening to it (as I saw a bunch of arty types do when 1 put on the J.B.’s at a party one time), and forget about all your flashing-dancefloor disco doldrums—just dance (it never killed anybody). Or pretend you’re listening to Eno playing machete.
L.B.
RAMONES (Sire) :: They are clean but not tired.
L.B.
ROLLING STONES— Black & Blue (Roll ing Stones):: They are tired but not clean.
L.B,
BEATLES—Rock & Roll Music (Capitol):: Station to Station is better:
L.B.
BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS-Rastaman Vibration (Island) :: MOR album of the month. If you liked this, buy the new Toots & the Maytals and Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey for a taste of something a bit closer to the, uh, roots. There’s a big hype out on this guy but he is not the Armageddon of pop music. Or reggae, for that matter. As a matter of fact, he’s downright bland, which may be one reason why this LP did so well.
L.B.
DAVID BOWIE er BOWIE-Changesbowieone (RCA) :: Wanna take odds he discovers Finnegans Wake next?
L.B.
RAMONES (Sire):: Perhaps the smartest band in America.
L.B.
ROLLING STONES-Black & Blue (Rolling Stones):: Charcoal on the cheeks?
L.B.
RAMONES (Sire) :: Better than Changesbowieone.
L.B.
RAMONES (Sire) :: Travis Bickel demanded Total Organization. This is it, plus total economy. Aren’t you sick of flab? I am. None here.
L.B.
THE RUNAWAYS (Mercury) s: These ain’t runaways; they’re throwaways.
A.B.
THE J.GEILS BAND—Blow Your Face Out (Atlantic) :: ’Round ’bout the middle of the night/And Wolf ain’t feelin’ right/No sense in gettin’ tight/Ain’t no sin bein’ white/You think you’re a sight?/Juke Joint Jimmy’s ready to fight/Six Beantown Jewboys clever/Bestest white blues ever/Ahmet sez: “Pull yo’ own lever." /Sevdn scorchin’ sets up yo’ shever/ Meahs it’s time for double live endeavor/Don’t tell me blues ain’t forever/But the critics say: “Wake up, Wolfuus/Ain’t no arty growth in constant self-abuse/Time to put the inspirational goose/On yo’ own natchl-born muse." /But my life is the blues/I’m gettin’ a short fuse/Would you rather study pre-law at Brandel Use?
R.M.S.
BOXER - Below The Belt (Virgin) :: Patto were the foremost overachievers of British rock a few years back. Mike Patto wrote and sang some great off-the-wall lyrics and Ollie Halsall was that wondrous rarity: a man able to play guitar with a jazzman’s technique and a rock ‘n’ roll head. They fooled around with their, “take one, take two, boom, it sounds like us, great, put it out” recording approach, eventually coming up with one near-classic album (Rock ‘Em, Smoke ‘Em...) and then broke up. Their work apart (Patto with Spooky Tooth, Halsall with Tempest and Kevin Ayers) has been at least respectable but this rematch just reeks of underachievement. It doesn’t even make it on, say, a bloated Bad Company level. It just lies there on the locker room floor.
M.D.
THE BILL EVANS TRIO-Since We Met (Fantasy) :: Recorded at the Village Vanguard, this is just what you’d expect—introspective, graceful and relentlessly committed to a depth of feeling so often missing in recent releases but rarely missed. Buy it before such delicately intense emotional expression becomes extinct.
R.C.W.
HUMAN ARTS ENSEMBLE - Under The Sun (Arista) :: Ain’t no animal arts that I can think of right off. Anyway, this is one of those avant-garde albums that’s imbued with a sense of fun despite the portentous cover and title. Not necessarily play but. . . fun. Joy. Maybeplay too. The "Way my dog manipulates me into letting him out of the house may be an art. I’m not sure.
R.C.W.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN-Shakti (Columbia) :: Surprise! It’s good. Doesn’t lumber thru your brain like a Toho monster so Mahavishnu Orchestra fans might be somewhat disappointed the music (McLaughlin on acoustic guitar interplaying with four Indian musicians) insinuates itself into your mind like a good jazz jam. Hyper and laid back (the cool burn) with engrossing tension-release structures and call and response patterns, this one really cooks.
R.C.W.
BILLY SWAN (Monument) :: Far and away Swan’s best effort so far, and a must to anyone who favors basic roadhouse rock & roll. Much has been made of his rockabilly roots, but that’s not the whole story; dig that great jump blues sax riff that opens and closes “I Just Want to Taste Your Wine.” Mostly adult love songs that stick to the ribs as well as the heart.
J.X.M.
This month’s Rock-a-ramas were written by Lester Bangs, Arnold Brown, R. Milton Siegal, Michael Davis, Richard C. Walls and John X. Morthland.
