ROCK • A • RAMA
THE RUNAWAYS-Queens off Noise (Mercury)::Listen, all you sexists and ageists, STOP PICKING ON THE RUNAWAYS! When’s the last time you paused and reflected that these gals are only 17 and 18, i.e., at least 2 or 3 (sometimes 15 or 20) years younger than most of the male “punk” competition to which they keep getting unfavorably compared? At that rate, they’ve got more raw growth potential than already-peaking whizzes like the Ramones.
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ROCK • A • RAMA
THE RUNAWAYS-Queens off Noise (Mercury) ::Listen, all you sexists and ageists, STOP PICKING ON THE RUNAWAYS! When’s the last time you paused and reflected that these gals are only 17 and 18, i.e., at least 2 or 3 (sometimes 15 or 20) years younger than most of the male “punk” competition to which they keep getting unfavorably compared? At that rate, they’ve got more raw growth potential than already-peaking whizzes like the Ramones. Uh huh! That said, even this partisan has gotta remark that Cherie Currie’s shrill Bowie-idolatry makes her the most expendable Runaway (heresy!), gimme gimme Joan Jett (electric Connie Francis, resident Lennonesque auteur) or Lita Ford (lovely bitch-in-boots charisma plus Hendrix-rattler guitar solos) any day. R.R.
JAMES TALLEY-Blackjack Choir (Capitol) ::Hey, is this what having a populist piez means? That we gotta listen to folk (damn near what it amounts to) all over again? Helll-fire! Praise the Lord and pass the Led Zeppelin, Jimrrtfy! R.R
JOHN MILES—Stranger In The City (London) s:Okay, okay. This sophomoric effort proves that Miles ain’t no flagrant Bowie imitator, but he isn’t exactly self-effacing, either. A semi-pro vocalist/songwriter who can play a few decent guitar bars arid bit of piano. Though hardly a Renaissance man, a Rupert Holmes production enhances his vocal capabilities (which are limited) and creates a glistening orchestrated aura that surrounds these songs which, though uneven, includes two gems—“Manhattan Skyline” and the title track. T.M.
YVONNE ELLIMAN-Love Me (RSO)::So Yvonne E.’s back on the charts with Barbara Lewis’ ancient “Hello Stranger,” that’s good news and right in the grand tradition of that happy Bob Stigwood family, too—Clapton and the Bee Gees have been swiping all their best moves from retired Negroes for years. (Though Yvonne does have some authentic 3rd World blood of her own—Polynesian, isn’t it?—so she’s more entitled than those Limeys, anyway.) Contemporary soul stylings meet bright mid-60s ; you read itherefirst. R.R.
STEVE HUNTER-Swept Away (Atco):: Steve Hunter’s guitar, a bunson burner for fueling Mitch Ryder, Lou Reed and more recently Peter Gabriel, has burned its way into the heavy metal hall of fame as a best supporting instrument. But as a headliner Steve Hunter is just another guitarist trying desperately to construct his own personal niche. A bolstered version of “Eight Miles High” and a clever take of “Sail On Sailor” cannot save this album from the abyss of mediocrity , which can no better be evidenced than by Steve’s own vacuus compositions. A Burgess Meredith maybe, but a Brando he ain’t.
T.M.
FOREIGNER (Atlantic) izA minor super group featuring three American rock journeymen and the same number of seasoned English vets of which ex-Spooky Tooth guitarist Mick Jones and former King Crimson mellotronist, saxplayer cum critic/producer/sideman Ian McDonald are most renowned. But the biggest surprise is that though you might expect a heavy dose of stuffy supercilious junk, this is but a batch of spunky upright r&r power guaranteed to rock yer socks off. T.M.
OFFENBACH-Never Too Tender (A&M):: No classical associations herein, this is “Offenbach” as in the OFT-discussed BACHman Turner Overdub, i.e., another invasion of crafty Canucks with metal on they minds. These fellows hail from everlovin’ Que-bec, though, so you get uptown Montreal inflections in place of BTO’s prairie-dawned purity. Pretty fair heavy metal they lay down, too, nothing like new blood from the Francophone culture to revive a half-dead genre. R.R.
SHAKTI WITH JOHN McLAUGHLIN-A Handful off Beauty (Columbia); RALPH TOWNER—Diary (ECM)::Two acoustic axemen go head-to-head with back-to-back releases. McLaughlin may have cut down the wattage a lot buthe’s still a spiritual speedfreak and still manages to pick violinists that steal the show—L. Shankar’s control in ranges I can barely hear is the highpoint here. Towner’s approach is more varied even though he’s his only accompanist. Piano, percussion and guitar overdubs are added with careful spontaneity, leading me to believe that he’s been together for years. M.D.
ARMAND SCHAUBROECK—I Came To Visit, But Decided To Stay (Mirror) :KDn a scale of one to ten this gets a nine where THE IDIOT would get a two (maybe). If you can get into a concept album about a priest who screws a nun, who then commits suicide (the penguin, not the priest), plus a nine-minute rock-blues version of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells”, then this one’s for you, brother. Me, 1 like it just fine. P.L.
WHILES—Deep Voices (Capitol) sd’ve heard all this stuff about how intelligent whales are but it wasn’t till I heard this record that I was convinced. Their “songs” sound like they’ve been listening to Anthony Braxton or Sun Ra... or could it be the other way around? One of Ra’s early tunes was called “Atlantis”,.. M.D.
This month’s Rock-a-ramas were written by Richard Riegel, Tony Mastrianni, Michael Davis and Peter Laughner. . A
