But Can You Dance To It?

But Can You Dance To It?

To be fair, even the most die-hard Kiss fanatic would have to admit there’s a world beyond his. idols’ flash pot perimeter. And if he dared take his eyes off the Masked Marvels for one minute, he might even discover something else worthwhile Out There. In an effort to keep you abreast of the rest of the times, therefore, we would like to present a sampling of what else is hot in rock, the so-called “other” new rock sensations. Now c’mon, guys, just one quick peek... AEROSMITH (Columbia)— First of all, you should be informed that some people are saying that these Bad Boys from Boston are duking it out with Kiss for the number one slot in Teenage America’s heart. Certainly they are one of the few bands in the country who sells as many records and concert tickets. But then Aerosmith has been around longer, having begun their endless touring trek back in 1970.

Led by Carly Simon/Mick Jagger lookalike Steven Tyler on vocals and the similarly sneering and liverlipped Joe Perry on lead guitar, Aerosmith boasts one of the rawest sounds in rock today. If Kiss can be said to hearken back to Cream, then Aerosmith goes back to the much sloppier, more frantic Yardbirds before that. And still that anarchic blues-based music continues to strike a resonant chord in the guts of rock ‘n’ roll fans today, and the band has a string of hits—“Walk This Way,” “Sweet Emotion,” and the Yardbirds’ “Train Kept A-Rollin’ ”— to prove it, as well as a slew of gold albums.

Their last LP, Rocks, went platinum, as did the one before that, Toys in the Attic, of which the title cut is our fave Aerosmith cut of all time. The boys are in the studio right now with their longtime producer Jack Douglas (he also produced Patti Smith’s Radio Ethiopia) laying down some new vinyl—that they hope will turn to precious metal!

PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC

(Casa/Warren)—You want crazy? You got it! The guys in this band (which is actually sort of two bands in one band which almost splits in two and...well, we said it was crazy!) probably come from the planet six blocks down from Ace’s home base, somewhere in the galaxy of Truly Weird. They have their own specialized version of English that revolves around the word “funk,” and their stage show is a stormy display of odd birdlike costumes, spacesuits, and flying saucers that rivals Kiss. Which is not really surprising, seeing as Casablanca, the record label for both, seems to go in for this kind of madness and, furthermore, that P. Funk’s stage set was designed by Jules Fisher Associates who also did the Destroyer staging.

P. Funk’s Great Bearer of the Funk is the insane George Clinton, who descends to the stage in a spaceship at the opening of their show. Clinton and Parliament weren’t always this way, though. Back in 1967, as an almost totally different group called the Parliaments, Clinton and the guys had a gospely pop hit with “I Wanna Testify.” Today, their sound is far from the church origins of gospel music, delving deep into realms of futuristic funk. Even their fans are far from ordinary fans, billing themselves as the United'Maggots of Maggotropolis!

The answer to the question posed in the headline of this section is unequivocable here: If you can’t dance to P. Funk, then you haven’t got funkifiedl

ANGEL (Casablanca)— On the other side of evil, beyond the bestial leather-and-metal dream/nightmares of Kiss, lies a place that is sparkling white and deceptively quiet at first— this is the place of Angel. But go forewarned: it is not heaven! While their latest LP may be entitled On Earth As It Is In Heaven and while they dress in white and affect angelic poses, the music that Angel plays can be among the most frightening heavy metal space music there is. Angel is Casablanca’s “good” group, intentionally promoted as the flipside of the Kiss experience. While they have yet to make the big splash of their alterego band, two solid albums, they take a distinctly non-heavenly Black Sabbath/Pink Floyd view of the world, and a year of constant touring puts them right at the edge of rock ‘n’ roll sainthood.

STARZ (Capital)—IfAngel is white and Kiss is black (and P. Funk is some soul crazy-quilt), then Starz is gray. Starz is gray because they are dirty. Where Kiss is unexplainable evil, Starz is naughty little boys playing rock ‘n’ roll dirty-doctor in the mud.. Like Aerosmith, Starz is a Bad Boy group in the great tradition of the early Rolling Stones. Just last year on their debut album, Starz, the band gained national notoriety for their forthright and irreverent song about sick people stuck on machines. The song was called “Pull the Plug” and indignant citizens figured it was a nasty mockery of the Karen Ann Quinlan situation.

Not so. The song was one of the statements that only rock ‘n’ roll can make, the kind of statement that rock ‘n’ roll is all about: an honest expression of gut feelings that nobody wants to admit to.

Currently, Starz has a new LP out called Violation—and it is just that, and true rock fans are snapping it up. In the meantime, like their big brothers on the label, Kiss, they are touring incessantly. If they eventually scrap to the top of the rock heap, it’s only because they did it their rock ‘n’ roll way!

THE DICTATORS (Asylum)-On their first album two years ago they went Girl Crazy, but now they’ve honed their sound to the contours of a cruise missile and are headed straight and true for their Manifest Destiny. Speaking of technological warfare, try their monstrous “Science Gone Too Far!” on the new Destiny LP—heavy metal madness guaranteed to grow hair on your palms!

A lot slicker and, so, a lot more accessible than their brilliant but raw debut album on Epic, this new Asylum disk showcases head songwriter Adny Shernoff’s amazing pre-Bronx literacy, frontman Fiandsome Dick Manitoba’s incredible Wonder Rasp, and lead axist Ross the Boss’ ear-knife guitar technique. But the cold-sweat urban nightmare cover of the album (from the Studios of Roni Hoffman/ Veronica Drew Ink) is reason enough to get yourself a copy of Manifest Destiny! If Kiss keeps their eye on number two contender Aerosmith for. too long, the blackand-chrome regime just might find themselves overthrown by a bunch of Dictators!