CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

by

Robert Christgan

THE GREGG ALLMAN BAND: “Playin' Up A Storm" (Capricorn):: One expected the new band to cook, but the spiced-up song formulas are a surprise—and the timing, grit, and passion of Gregg’s singing simply astpnishing. My wife thinks Cher must be the first woman ever to make him feel something, while I suspect a sibling rivalry is brewing with Dickey. First round to (Cher) (big brother). B +

“Dickey Betts & Great South* era" (Arista):: I believe those who insist 1 missed some great rockaroll when Betts’ new band blew through town in April only because they tell no such tales about this album. C +

CACHAO: "Cachao y Sn Descarga *77'Vol. 1" (Salsoul):: Despite a decade east of Avenue B, I’ve never responded to salsa, which is a quirk, not a judgement; it must have to do with my clumsy dancing, my lack of Spanish, my finickiness about horns Even Grupo Folklorico, who I love live and admire on record, rarely find their way to my turntable. But I play this for everyone I can. Cachao—real name Israel Lopez—helped invent salsa, and here recreates two phases of its evolution. The style of side one dates from the 50’s and sounds more or less like the small-group salsa of today; although I appreciate the dynamics of its percussion, I’m not drawn to it. But the style of side two—which dates from 1938, when Cachao claimed the genteel danzon for black rhythm in Havana—I find breathtaking in its conjunction of restrained swing and elegant romanticism. Because it is simultaneously suave and audacious, it reminds me a little of early Duke Ellington, although finally it’s more conventional. But Duke Ellington never tempted me to leam mam bo. A-

ORNETTE COLEMAN: "Dancing In Yonr Head" (Horizon):: Some may hope the greatest saxophone player alive will go the Weather Report route on his first small-group record since 1971, but I’m reminded more of the programmed synthesizers of Eno and Philip Glass; basically, the record consists of charged repetitions of one motif from Coleman’s symphony, Skies of America. The difference is that where most such music aims for a hypnotic effect, Coleman wants more: a sustained and formally satisfying version of the kind of galvanic intensity John McLaughlin used to create at climactic moments. He gets it, too. A

CHICK COREA: "My Spanish Heart" (Polydor):: From the schlock pomp of Romantic Warrior to the schlock funk of MusicmagiC, Return to Forever’s recent work has been so far from galvanizing that I’ve tended to ignore Their Leader, but this double-LP includes the subtlest playing he’s done in years. As it’s playful and passionate enough to make an unashamed Nordic like me wonder about duende. At its worst it features a soprano “vocal choir” who prove once again that the notions of beauty and spirituality inspired by L. Ron Hubbard aren’t much different from those inspired by Percy Faith. B +

BRIAN ENO: "Discreet Music" (Antilles):: That’s discreet, not discrete —the title side consists of one rather minimal synthesizer piece more than 30 minutes long and the other of three mathematical variations on a schmaltzed-up Renaissance canon. Anybody who thought Another Green World sounded too much like radar blips or musical furniture should definitely avoid this, which was originally available on Eno’s Obscure label in England. Me, 1 consider Another Green World positively lyrical and find that this encourages a meditative but secular mood (good for hard bits of writing) more effectively than any of the other rock-identified avant-garde music now coming our way. That includes the two Fripp & Eno albums now available on Antilles, Evening Star (although the scratch that decorates “An Index of Metals” is one of the most reassuringly fallible moments ever recorded) and No Pussyfooting (despite Fripp’s unrestrained snake guitar on the unfortunately titled “Swastika Girls”) .A“Foreigner" (Atlantic):: You’ve heard of Beatlemania? I propose Xenophobia. C

MARVIN GAYE: "Marvin Gaye Live at the London Palladium" (Tamla):: Especially considering how awkward Gaye can be on stage, this isn’t bad for a live Motown album—the arrangements are finky, but some of Marvin’s more interesting vocal quirks seem to have survived editing. Which is not to suggest the live stuff is worth owning. “Got to Give It Up,” on the other hand, is his quadrennial studio masterpiece, and its 11:48 are cut up on the single. Still, at $7.98 list, I think that’s what I’d buy—while petitioning for a disco disc. B-

DEXTER GORDON: "Homecoming" (Columbia):: Listed at $7.98 this offers more than 100 minutes o; well-recorded music from the master of bop tenor and group, and its availability is gratifying, but trumpeter Woody Shaw plays and composes like the worthy journeyman he is, and I know that when I want to hear recent live Dexter I’ll turn to one of the European blowing sessions with Jackie McLean (I prefer The Source to The Meeting) now available here -on Inner City. Even more scintillating musically (although duller aurally) is the Blue Note twofer, Dexter Gordon, featuring performances from the early 60’s, and lots of great sidemen. And if Savoy’s Long Tall Dexter, from the middle 40’s, didn’t run all the alternate takes together, it would probably be the best ofall. B +

MICHAEL HURLEY: “Long Journey” (Rounder):: Fingers trembling, the oft-cynical critic opened the new LP by the playful, sardonic folkie recluse. Without the Rounders or Jeffrey Fredericks to change paces, there was no way it could be another Have Moicy! (Aw.) But it might be woozy and charming, like ArmchairBoggie. (Hey!) Or cute or dull, like Hi-Fi Snock Uptown. (Duh.) Also, the critics might fall asleep before finding out. Four months and many snoozes later, he arrived at a verdict: sardonic, charming, playful, cute, woozy, and only rarely dull. Highly recommended to Have Moicy! cultists. Hitbound: “Hog of the Forsaken.” Whoopee. (Available from Disconnection, Box 544, New York, N.Y. 10009). B +

GEORGE JONES: “All-Time Greatest Hits: Volume 1" (Epic):: This ain’t best-of, but it ain’t bad. George Jones aficiandos may well, object to his re-recording his old standards, especially since some of the originals are still in catalogue on RCA and Musicor. As someone who’s come late to Jones, however, I must admit that I find the sound quality, relatively schlock-free arrangements, and lightness and brightness of performance here always likable and often preferable to what I hear on the originals I have access to. A-

BARRY MANILOW: “Live** (Arista):: So rock and rollers can’t stand him and what else is new? Well, two apercus. One, he is beyond the pale of New York chauvinism. And two, all the best commercials in his notorious “Very Strange Medley” were written by other composers, just like his hits. C-

THE MARK CLARK BAND: “Double Take** (Columbia):: Twin brothers who play twin grand pianos, among the five highest-paid unrecorded acts in America after doing three shows a night in Fort Lauderdale for four years, the Seymours have finally agreed to take Ferrante & Teicher to the rock and roll masses. Inspirational Verse: “A world without feelings, they’re just cold corporate dealings/ You beg, borrow and you steal/There is nothing real.” D-

BETTE MIDLER: “Live at Last** (Atlantic):: Her fans may find some of the material on this live double-LP repetitious—I could do without five minutes of “Delta Dawn” myself—and her overripe singing will offend those she offends anyway. But she’s never recorded 15 of these 25 songs, a fevtf repeats are enhanced by the particulars of this performance, and others gather meaning in theatrical context. A typical stroke: prefacing the glorious tearjerker “Hello in There” with campy, occasionally unkind patter about ladies with fried eggs on their heads, so that the song’s romanticized heroine and the weird and depressing fried egg ladies both seem to have something in common with Bette, and therefore with each other. A-

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THE STEVE MILLER BAND: “Book of Dreams'* (Capitol):: Fly Like an Eagle was a clever little pop record, but I found its refusal to own up to its own meaninglessness annoying, and now I’m sorry. Because the followup doesn’t even try to sound significant —it’s as aggressively banal as a CocaCola commercial. Only it doesn’t have as many hooks as a Coca-Cola commercial. Not to mention Fly Like an Eagle. C

MOTHER MALLARD'S PORTABLE MASTERPIECE CO.: “Like a Duck to Water” (Earthquack):: Synthesizer mantras recommended to those exploring the space between Eno

and Philip Glass, with the warning that they’re more sober than the lighthearted name-title-label might make you hope. (Available from New Music Distribution Service, 6 West 95th Street, NYC 10025.) B +

JONATHAN RICHMAN & THE MODERN LOVERS: “Rock & Roll with the Modern Lovers” (Berserkley):: This all-acoustic record is even further in general tough-mindedness from Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers than that fey testament was from The Modern Lovers; it defines the difference between a child who is cute and a child who knows adults think children are cute. Sometimes I think I should hate it. But in fact I don’t, because its self-indulgence represents not the manipulative arrogance of a star but rather the craziness of an almost powerless case of arrested development, and you can hear that. However unattractive a child Richman may be, he does sometime convey the fragile lyricism only children are capable of. B

JOE TEX: “Bumps & Bruises” (Epic):: Tex is a novelty artist whose subject is morality, so that in one song a little old lady brains a mugger with a can of sauerkraut, in another Tex advocates tolerance for “sissies,” and in a third he sings a humorous chorus about having his hands cut off— all over some very punchy lance tracks by James Brown out of Stax-Volt. I loved him 10 years ago and haven’t played his bestrof in five, but this is amazingly rich and spirited for a comeback album off a freak hit. - B +